International Christian Concern (ICC) is condemning the Marxist dictatorship of Daniel
Ortega for its extreme religious intolerance and growing tyranny.
“The regime has been hostile towards Christianity since day one, but it has grown much worse recently with a brutal crackdown on Catholics and now the evangelicals,” says Jeff King, International Christian Concern president.
Since 2018, President Ortega and his wife, the vice president, have staged more than 529 attacks against churches and religious organizations, according to an estimate in The Hill. These include an altar boy’s murder, and the arrest of dozens of priests, bishops and Christian leaders.
“They have frozen multiple bank accounts and thrown Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, into the ‘Hellhole,’” the newspaper reported. “The Hellhole is a gloomy prison block at the Jorge Navarro La Modelo Penitentiary, located in the Municipality of Tipitapa.”
“Ortega sentenced him to 26 years on false charges for his continuous criticism of Ortega’s regime and their abuses of power.”
“Government forces and citizens sympathetic to the regime have routinely harassed Catholic clergy and worshippers,” says the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Catholic clergy have recently come under direct persecution.” In addition, 11 protestant pastors linked to the U.S.-based Mountain Gateway ministry were convicted in absentia last week on fraudulent charges.
Before an audience of 1,500 in January at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., a Nicaraguan priest told of his beating and imprisonment. Behind a screen and using a voice scrambler, he spoke of the need to stand for human rights in the face of severe persecution.
“I have agreed to come,” he said, “for two reasons—because I believe that there is a God who cares for us and because if we, as Christians, who believe in democracy, in freedom, in social justice, do nothing, no one else will.”
“Every Sunday, patrol cars full of police are parked in front of the country’s Catholic churches. The faithful who attend the Eucharist on Sundays are photographed [and] the homilies delivered by the remaining priests are being recorded.”
In July 2022, Nicaragua expelled 18 nuns from the Missionaries of Charity order, founded by Mother Teresa.
“As a church, we are living through the worst moments in our history in Nicaragua since its arrival more than 500 years ago to the present moment,” the priest told the gathered audience.
On January 1, Pope Francis condemned Nicaragua in his annual address, citing the arrests of “at least 14 priests, two seminarians and a Bishop,” according to an article on the ICC’s persecution.org.
The U.S. Department of State in 2022 added Nicaragua to the Countries of Particular Concern list, which cites nations that severely violate religious freedom.
“It’s important for Christians around the world to stand with the persecuted church,” King said. “They need to know that fellow believers are praying for them and working on their behalf.”
Since 1995, ICC has served the global persecuted church through a three-pronged approach of assistance, advocacy, and awareness. ICC exists to bandage the wounds of persecuted Christians and to build the church in the toughest parts of the world. Learn more about International Christian Concern at its website, www.persecution.org, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube pages: How The Whisper Will Change Your Life, My New Book, The Whisper, Is Live on Amazon!, and Sneak Peek from My New Book: The Whisper.
