Nicaragua: Bishop freed, but tight control continues

In recent months, in particular in the run-up to Easter (Holy Week), there were many incidents involving government action against the Christian community:

• 15 January 2024: Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez, sentenced to 26 years in prison in February 2023 for the alleged crime of treason, was released along with 18 other imprisoned church leaders following negotiations with the Vatican. Apart from one who remained in Venezuela, all have been welcomed as ‘guests of the Holy See’ in Rome. All had been involved in the defense of human rights and had called for the government to adhere to democratic principles (Christian Post, 15 January 2024).
• 19 March 2024: Eleven pastors associated with the US-based organization “Mountain Gateway”  were sentenced to 12-15 years imprisonment on charges of money-laundering and made to pay a heavy fine. They were also prevented from having contact with their families and lawyers. In the previous few months, the Christian organization had held several evangelistic events with many thousands attending, and it can only be assumed that such popularity was seen as a threat to the interests of the Sandinista regime (ADF International, 27 March 2024).
• 1 April 2024: For the second consecutive year, the Roman Catholic Holy Week processions were only allowed to take place inside the church grounds of the almost 400 Catholic parishes in the country. The government was responsible for prohibiting the processions and compliance was monitored by over 4,000 police officers (Aciprensa, 1 April 2024).
• 4 April 2024: The organization “Monitoreo Azul y Blanco” denounced the arbitrary arrest of at least 7 young people in Leon and Managua, who were participating in Holy Week activities. Three of them were later released. An event organized by evangelical churches in Managua was also cancelled. Altogether in Holy Week there were 23 incidents of rights violations recorded. In Holy Week in the previous year (2023) there had been 70 incidents; the decrease can be seen as a consequence of self-censorship (Swissinfo, 4 April 2024).

World Watch Research analyst Rossana Ramirez comments: “Although pressure from the international community had a positive outcome in securing the release of the majority of imprisoned church leaders at the start of the year, attacks on the Church continue unabated. The incidents listed above demonstrate the government’s continued interest in keeping the Church under tight control.”