Nicaragua’s government is relentlessly persecuting opponents, especially the Catholic Church

Feb 15, 2023 by Dave Doveton

By Mamela Fiallo Flor, Mercatornet.

Deporting hundreds of opponents is the latest step

Nigeria, China and Pakistan are not the only countries where Christians are persecuted today. In Nicaragua, a Central American republic of about 6 million, the government is savagely suppressing dissent.

The President, Daniel Ortega, views the Catholic Church as a threat to his increasingly dictatorial hold on the country has governed since 2006. Late last year he gave an extraordinary speech denouncing it as a “perfect dictatorship”.

“Who elects the priests, who elects the bishops, who elects the pope, the cardinals, how many votes, who gives them to them? If they are going to be democratic, let Catholic vote … It is a dictatorship, a perfect dictatorship, a perfect tyranny,” he said.

The latest move against the Church took place last week. About 220 people, including four priests, student activists, business people, journalists, and political opponents, were taken from detention, stripped of their citizenship, pushed onto a plane, and deported to Washington DC.

Read here.