BBC News Brazil Nicaragua: Ortega government’s actions against the Catholic Church in the country 25/08/2022 16:58

Catholic publishers in the Central American country are also shut down due to the indifference of the Pope and the Vatican.

Relations between the government of Daniel Ortega and the leadership of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua are going through a sensitive period.

The final episode was the arrest last Friday (19/08) of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, the last voice openly criticizing the government of the Central American country currently under house arrest.

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In a statement, the Nicaraguan National Police accused the 55-year-old Bishop of Matagalpa of “organizing violent groups, inciting them to commit acts of hatred against the population, creating an atmosphere of anxiety and disorder, disrupting peace and harmony”. denies the accusations of the religious, “with the aim of destabilizing the State of Nicaragua and attacking the constitutional authorities”.

Álvarez was known for his authoritarian stance, condemning the human rights violations of the Ortega government, which has been the target of criticism from international institutions and organizations in recent years.

Another bishop who has been critical of the government, Silvio Báez, went into exile in 2019 after receiving numerous death threats.

The BBC’s Spanish service, BBC News Mundo, tried to get the Nicaraguan government’s opinion, but got no response.

What happens in Nicaragua?

After his first term as president in the mid-1980s, Ortega came back to power in 2007 and his wife, Rosario Murillo, has been accompanying him as vice president since 2017.

The last elections in November 2021, which Ortega won with 75% of the vote, were held with the arrest of seven opposition candidates and allegations of corruption by international organizations.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has documented the imprisonment of more than 190 political prisoners, some in inhumane conditions, as well as torture and other human rights abuses committed by Nicaraguan authorities over the past four years.

Ortega, backed by the Cuban and Venezuelan governments, called these accusations “inventions” in a campaign to “give Nicaragua a bad name in front of international organisations”.

He also accused the country’s bishops of “taking sides” and allegiance to “putschists” and supporting the creation of “evil sects”.

The relationship between Ortega and the Church

In this context, the relationship between the government and the high Catholic hierarchy in the country is at a difficult point.

“Ortega hit the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference with two main names: the strategist bishop Dom Báez has been exiled. And the bishop who organized it, Álvarez is in prison,” Nicaraguan sociologist and political analyst Oscar René Vargas told the BBC. to the BBC.

Also, in the past year and a half, authorities have deported the papal nuncio (the representative of the Papacy in the country) and 18 nuns of the Society of Charity Missionaries founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, arrested seven priests, and closed several stations. Catholic radio.

According to a report by the NGO Observatorio Pro Transparencia y Anticorrupción, the Catholic Church received nearly 200 attacks in Nicaragua between April 2018 and May 2022.

Political scientist Manuel Orozco, director of the Immigration, Remittance, and Development program at Inter-American Dialogue, believes that Ortega “has always been an anti-clerical individual, as evidenced by his persecution of the Catholic Church during the Sandinista revolution in the ’80s.”

“Like any autocratic leader, anything that goes against his cult is a threat. And religious faith in Nicaragua is superior to any other cult.”

Despite losing its monopoly of faith against emerging evangelical groups, the Catholic Church remains the most influential institution in this country, characterized by the strong religious affiliation of its 6.6 million population.

Thus, the political scientist points out that in the first decade of this century, Ortega formed a “tactical alliance” with the country’s Catholic authorities whose influence on Nicaraguan society would help him win the vote in 2007, or at least not hinder him. elections and the next.

Changes in 2018

The April 2018 protests in Nicaragua marked a turning point in relations between the government and the Catholic Church.

A controversial reform of the pension system led to mass street protests that the government saw as part of the coup attempt.

Pressure from security forces and militias related to Sandinismo has left 200 dead, recognized by the government, 328 by the IACHR, and more than 650, according to civic organizations.

According to the IACHR, about 2,000 injured and 1,600 people were also arrested.

The Nicaraguan Catholic Church supported protesters who took refuge in the cathedral in the capital, Managua, after the violent reaction of the security forces.

Its highest authority, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, emerged as a mediator in the failed dialogue between the parties and strongly condemned Ortega’s persecution of the Church, which brought him into the limelight of the authorities.

The president has hardened his rhetoric against clerics, whom he has labeled “putschists” or “terrorists” on several occasions.

But three years later, there are those who accuse the cardinal of softening his stance against the government. He failed to openly condemn recent events, such as the arrest of Bishop Álvarez last week.

In early August, Brenes demanded that authorities “stop all acts of violence against the Church, priests and believers”, but said “We are not enemies of the government”.

“The Church is divided over how to take a stand against the regime, and the cardinal plays that role, the role of maintaining the relationship,” says analyst Oscar René Vargas.

Vargas says the top of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua was divided, and some chose to maintain ties with the government at a time when evangelicals were winning areas protected by the president.

“As in Brazil, most of the Protestant denominations are in favor of President Jair Bolsonaro, here they support Ortega. To compete with that fact, many bishops in the country want to maintain a close relationship with Ortega,” he says.

He also states that “the history of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua is one of affinities to power.”

The church maintained a close relationship with the Somoza family, who exercised authoritarian power in Nicaragua between 1936 and 1979. Despite some internal divisions between the conservative and leftist factions, he generally collaborated with Sandinismo in later years, though more aligned with Liberation Theology. .

What does the pope say?

The Vatican and Pope Francis have taken a controversial stance on allegations of persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.

Finally, the pope spoke this Sunday (21/08).

He asked God through “la Purísima” – the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Nicaragua’s patron saint – and “an open and sincere dialogue” to “find the foundations of respectful and peaceful coexistence”.

His statements were disappointing to those who denounced the repression.

“He didn’t mention the attacks on the church, or the arrest of Bishop Álvarez, or the arrest of the 11 priests who were arrested. It seems he’s talking about another country, not ours,” complains Vargas.

Political scientist Manuel Orozco also finds the Vatican’s intervention in the conflict with the Nicaraguan government inadequate.

“The horror of many Catholics in Nicaragua and Latin America at the Pope’s silence on Cuba and Nicaragua is costing him the loss of his loyalists, at a time when the Catholic Church is trying to win back its followers around the world. It’s a very wrong tactic. . . the world.”

Orozco said the Vatican and Cardinal Brenes’ restrained stance put Nicaraguan citizens “between a rock and a hard place”.

“On the one hand, they accept the injustice and ill-treatment of the Church against an oppressive regime, but on the other hand, they are very loyal to the Catholic hierarchy. They were handcuffed for their loyalty to Cardinal Brenes,” he thinks.

“The question is how long this tolerance for the injustices that exist in Nicaragua will last,” he says.