Nicaragua’s Relentless Crackdown on the Church Continues
Even with the recent release of imprisoned priests, Ortega’s regime continues to target Christian organizations with an “absolute intolerance for dissent.”
Bad news has been the norm for Catholics in Nicaragua, where clergy and church groups have been frequent targets of a wide-ranging crackdown for years. But on January 14, 2024, they received a happy surprise: The government unexpectedly released two bishops, 15 priests and two seminary students from prison and expelled them to the Vatican.
Those released included Bishop Rolando Álvarez, a high-profile political prisoner who was detained in 2022 for criticizing the government and then sentenced to 26 years in prison for alleged treason.
Ortega first led Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, after his left-wing revolutionary organization, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN, spearheaded the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. In the 1980s, the FSLN clashed with the Vatican and church hierarchy over the group’s socialist politics, even as many poorer Nicaraguan Catholics embraced them.
Unexpectedly, Ortega’s popularity and his relationship with the church came crashing down in April 2018, when the government announced cutbacks in social security benefits for retirees. Nicaraguans from all backgroundstook to the streets, and Ortega and Murillo responded with a furious crackdown, unleashing police and pro-government paramilitaries armed with military-grade weapons.
In 2019, the pope recalled Silvio Báez, the auxiliary bishop of Managua and a prominent critic of Ortega, from Nicaragua. Yet other bishops and priests still found themselves in the regime’s crosshairs.
Some fled into exile or were blocked from entering Nicaragua if they traveled abroad. Others who stayed were kept under surveillance. Priests who expressed support for political prisoners or continued to criticize the regime, even in vague terms, could be arrested or beaten.
The government expelled 12 formerly detained priests to the Vatican in October 2023 after what the regime called “fruitful conversations.” But Álvarez, the highest-profile political prisoner, was still held by the government and was stripped of his citizenship after refusing to go into exile in February 2023.
Broader patterns of repression
Attacks on the church are a symptom of the Ortega regime’s absolute intolerance for dissent.
[Editor’s note from CT: This year, Nicaragua saw the sharpest rise on Open Doors’ World Watch List due to restrictions on religious freedom, seizure of church and ministry properties, and the arrest or exile of Christian leaders.
The government’s decision to expel clergy on January 14 is also in line with its tendency to either block opponents’ reentry into Nicaragua or force them into exile. In many cases, Nicaragua has then revoked critics’ citizenship, as when it expelled 222 political prisoners in February 2023 to the United States.
When imprisonment or threats have not shaken critics’ resolve, Ortega and Murillo appear to have decided that keeping them abroad is best. Not only does this reduce the risks of anti-regime action in Nicaragua, but it may diminish international scrutiny of political prisoners’ mistreatment.
Cautious criticism
Since 2018, repression in Nicaragua has come in waves, with the brutal violence that repressed the protests shifting toward an environment of constant surveillance, legal actions against independent institutions and opponents, and periodic arrests. Moments of seeming calm, however, have often been followed by harsh crackdowns, such as a slew of arrestsahead of the 2021 elections.
In January 2024, however, Francis pointedly called attention to the crisis during two speeches, days after a dozen priests were arrested. One week later came the release of Álvarez and his colleagues – free to leave Nicaragua, but not to come back.
Catholic leaders remain Nicaragua’s most popular figures, according to independent polling. This makes them a continued threat to Ortega and Murillo’s quest for total control. Ezequiel Buenfil Batún, the priest detained January 16, belonged to a religious order whose legal status was revoked that same day, along with several other nongovernment organizations.
As many Nicaraguans lose hope of conditions improving and dozens of political prisoners remain jailed, any positive news like the priests’ release is welcome. But it holds no guarantees of broader change ahead.
Kai M. Thaler is assistant professor of global studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This article originally appeared at The Conversation.