Will Nicaragua Crackdown Hit Catholic Church Next?

Photo: Agencia Brasil

WILL NICARAGUA CRACKDOWN HIT? On Nov. 7, 2021 Nicaragua will vote for the offices of President and National Assembly. But President Daniel Ortega has already arrested seven candidates running for President or VP. He used an anti-treason law passed by his political allies in the National Assembly. Furthermore, if found guilty, those candidates could face 15 years in prison.

So is the Catholic Church next in line for political persecution?

Nicaragua has already imprisoned more than 140 political opponents, according to the Nicaraguan Pro-Human Rights Association. Moreover, the leader of that group, Alvaro Leiva, fled the country in 2018.

2018 was the year of mass protests against Ortega and his wife, the vice-president. Security and pro-Ortega paramilitaries cracked down on them. 300+ people were killed. Therefore, others sought refuge in Catholic Church, where priests offered them protection and medical aid.

Ortega and Catholic Church exchange criticisms

Managua’s auxiliary bishop Silvio Baez became the most prominent church opponent of the crackdown. But a year later, Pope Francis recalled him to the Vatican, where he remains indefinitely.

But the Archdiosese of Managua is still criticizing the regime. On August 10 it charged the government with making fair elections all but impossible, as well as jailing opponents, violating freedom of speech, mismanaging the recovery and aid to last year’s hurricane victims, and restricting foreign priests’ visas. That came after a rambling speech by Ortega criticizing the Catholic church. “They were the ones who went into exile, and every day they are exiling themselves more.”

Furthermore, the vicar of the Archdiosese, Carlos Aviles, said, “We’re the only sector in the country that the regime has not cracked down on yet. Signs have increased over the past few years that they’re planning to persecute the church as well.”