{"id":1907114,"date":"2023-03-30T06:11:25","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T10:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nicaraguas-violent-persecution-of-christians-part-of-regional-transformations-analyst\/"},"modified":"2023-03-30T06:14:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T10:14:39","slug":"nicaraguas-violent-persecution-of-christians-part-of-regional-transformations-analyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nicaraguas-violent-persecution-of-christians-part-of-regional-transformations-analyst\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicaragua\u2019s Violent Persecution of Christians Part of Regional \u2018Transformations\u2019: Analyst"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnicaraguas-violent-persecution-of-christians-part-of-regional-transformations-analyst%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1907114&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0329\/800afa3f-c684-4ad1-931b-3dafaa12bce6\/audio.mp3?length=5308173&#038;duration=442\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Catholic Church has been an enduring symbol of Nicaragua\u2019s resistance to the regime of President Daniel Ortega since 2018. Consequently, the institution\u2019s peaceful defiance has firmly placed church leaders and the faithful in Ortega\u2019s crosshairs.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions escalated between the Catholic Church and Ortega on March 18, when the Vatican closed its embassy in Managua.\u00a0Earlier that week, Ortega had lashed out at Pope Francis, who\u00a0compared\u00a0the president\u2019s administration to a Nazi dictatorship during an interview with Argentine news organization Infobae.<\/p>\n<p>Ortega denounced Catholic leaders sympathetic to the opposition as \u201cterrorists\u201d and called the Catholic Church a \u201cmafia.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2562343\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Demonstrators stand behind a barricade during clashes with riot police during a protest against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega\u2019s government, in Managua, Nicaragua, on May 30, 2018. (Oswaldo Rivas\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The pope\u2019s remarks were in response to more than 400 attacks over the past five years against the Catholic Church, and its priests, bishops, and parishioners.\u00a0Ongoing assaults by police and other actors within Ortega\u2019s regime have resulted in dozens of church leaders fleeing the country, lest they face imprisonment.<\/p>\n<p>Among those who have been imprisoned is Bishop\u00a0Rolando\u00a0Alvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison in February for \u201ctreason\u201d and spreading \u201cfake news\u201d about Ortega\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Catholic Church is the last, the loudest voice against his regime,\u201d Rep.\u00a0Maria Elvira\u00a0Salazar (R-Fla.) said during a March 22 subcommittee hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the strikes against the faithful include the siege of the\u00a0Church of the Divine Mercy in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Nicaraguan police and paramilitary actors riddled the church for 15 hours with bullets while 200 students, volunteers, religious leaders, and journalists huddled inside under gunfire that killed at least two people.<\/p>\n<p>Months of university student-led protests against the Ortega regime spurred the attack. In total, the 2018 protests left more than 300 civilians dead.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, one of Ortega\u2019s agents threw a bomb into a cathedral in Managua, destroying a 400-year-old sacred icon of Christ.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Ortega dissolved hundreds of nongovernmental organizations and expelled 18 Catholic nuns from their missions in poverty-stricken areas of the capital. His administration also closed 19 Catholic TV and radio stations in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Just last month, Ortega exiled 222 political prisoners to the United States. Among them were priests, key opposition leaders, and former presidential candidates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Managua, the message is clear. Ortega has made Nicaragua a prison for anyone who kneels to God the father,\u201d Salazar said.<\/p>\n<h2>Lifting the Veil<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI think Ortega has ratcheted up the authoritarian manner since 2018. Unfortunately, I think that will remain,\u201d\u00a0Joseph Humire, the executive director of Washington think tank Center for a Secure Free Society,\u00a0 told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>He says Ortega\u2019s behavior in Nicaragua follows a predictable path of authoritarian leaders in the region, which he called the \u201c14-year benchmark.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Historically, Latin American officials have a time frame, during which they maintain the appearance of running a democracy. According to Humire, that\u2019s usually about 14 years. After that, he says, a leader\u2019s true intentions are revealed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou either change governments or you lift the veil,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Humire noted that Ortega has been selling the socialist utopia angle to Nicaraguans since his return to office in 2007, even as stark economics don\u2019t support his vision.<\/p>\n<p>Nicaragua has remained a desperately poor country, dogged by an economic crisis that began in 2018 and minimal foreign investment outside of fellow draconian allies such as Russia, China, and Iran.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4540867\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) attend a welcome ceremony at an airport in Managua, Nicaragua, on July 11, 2014. (RIA-Novosti\/Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service\/AP Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Coupled with the second-highest poverty rates in the region, Ortega\u2019s passionate speeches about strength and nationalism are reaching fewer ears these days.<\/p>\n<p>Some Nicaraguans believe that\u2019s the impetus for Ortega\u2019s crackdowns on the Catholic Church, since maintaining a vice-like grip on power means silencing dissent from any source.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBishop Alvarez is in prison simply because, from the pulpit, he expressed the following beliefs: \u2018A Christian cannot have false neutralities. He who remains silent in the face of human rights violations has already decided,&#8217;\u201d former Nicaragua presidential candidate and political prisoner Felix Maradiaga\u00a0told\u00a0the U.S. Congress on March 22.<\/p>\n<p>But Ortega\u2019s persecution of Christians isn\u2019t limited to those who speak out against his authority. In recent months, Maradiaga said there had been incidents in which Sandinista police forbade Christians from receiving communion in the church.<\/p>\n<p>Maradiaga called Ortega a\u00a0\u201cRelic of the Cold War.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe embodies a legacy of oppression against human dignity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>Grand Transformations<\/h2>\n<p>Ortega is\u00a0a former Sandinista revolutionary who helped end the Somoza family\u2019s 44-year rule in 1979. He then ushered in a new era of extreme leftist rule via the\u00a0Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) with the support of Cuba and Russia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FSLN was actually founded and organized in Cuba,\u201d regional analyst and author Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat told The Epoch Times. \u201cThese totalitarian regimes see Catholic[s] \u2026 as the true spiritual and philosophical opposition to their designs.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2841942\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Riot police are pictured during a protest against the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in Managua, Nicaragua, on March 16, 2019. (Oswaldo Rivas\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While Ortega\u2019s FSLN has Cuban roots, it has always been more of a \u201cviolent, esoteric Marxist cult\u201d than a traditional communist party, Boronat says, although both appear to share a common desire to eradicate religion and faith.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has a deep-seated rejection of Catholicism at its root for both spiritual and political reasons,\u201d he said, adding that Ortega\u2019s FSLN has a long-term plan for totalitarian rule based on Cuba\u2019s Castro dynasty and also the Chinese Communist Party.<\/p>\n<p>Humire shares that sentiment, saying Ortega\u2019s political and religious persecution will become the \u201cnorm\u201d in Nicaragua and other countries with entrenched authoritarian leaders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the lesson from Russia and China,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re living in a period of history where grand transformations are taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than that, he says Ortega\u2019s actions are symptomatic of big regional changes. Some of these include expanded relations with China, Russia, and Iran. It\u2019s a situation that Humire says the United States can\u2019t afford to ignore.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) also expressed concern over the Ortega regime after the chain of violent attacks on Nicaragua\u2019s Christians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder President Ortega, Nicaragua has become a pariah dictatorship in league with other human rights abusers like Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and the People\u2019s Republic of China.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Catholic Church has been an enduring symbol of Nicaragua\u2019s resistance to the regime of President Daniel Ortega since 2018. Consequently, the institution\u2019s peaceful defiance has firmly placed church leaders and the faithful in Ortega\u2019s crosshairs. Tensions escalated between the Catholic Church and Ortega on March 18, when the Vatican closed its embassy in Managua.\u00a0Earlier that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":334,"featured_media":1907115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[23024,9139,7072,23088,19118,21696,3947],"class_list":["post-1907114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-transformations","tag-analyst","tag-christians","tag-nicaraguas","tag-persecution","tag-regional","tag-violent"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/334"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1907114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1907115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1907114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1907114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1907114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}