Religious persecution is starting up again in Nicaragua and the media do not seem to be interested.
The small Central American country suffered a similar persecution from 1979-1990. At that time, the nation was ruled by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a Marxist-inspired guerrilla group. The Sandinista victory was made possible thanks to the decisive contribution of the so-called liberation theology current. Their goal was a Christian socialist experiment that mixed Catholic teaching and Marxist doctrine.
In ten years, this “Catholic-communism” experiment dragged the country to ruin. Industrial production collapsed as inflation soared. Nicaragua sank into economic and social chaos. This provoked a very strong popular reaction that overthrew the Sandinista dictatorship, leading the center-right to victory in the 1990 elections.
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Having learned his lesson, Daniel Ortega, head of the FSLN, abandoned his subversive rhetoric and recycled himself as a “populist” candidate, following the example of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. He succeeded in winning the 2006 presidential elections with just thirty-eight percent of the vote. Once in power, he threw off his moderate mask and returned to his old communist vices.
He arranged for the Supreme Court to forbid moderate parties from participating in elections. He then had Congress pass a constitutional reform that allowed him to remain in power indefinitely. The script is very familiar. Since 2006, Ortega has remained in office. At the same time, Nicaragua began to follow in Venezuela’s footsteps. The people once again began to suffer hunger and oppression.
In the seventies, the Catholic clergy had largely supported the Sandinista insurrection. However, it is now concerned with Daniel Ortega’s dictatorial and populist drift. The bishops have started to speak out against the regime’s brutal persecution.
The government’s response was not long in coming. For many months now, attacks on clergy and the desecration of sacred places have multiplied.
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One of the most recent episodes of persecution was the assault on the Basilica of Saint Sebastian in Diriambo. In this case, the Sandinista militias attacked a group of Franciscan missionaries, who then barricaded themselves inside the church. A group of prelates led by Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Bishop Silvio Báez, and Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Waldemar Sommertag, tried to rescue the Franciscan missionaries. They were attacked by the communists and given a bloody beating, their episcopal insignia torn from them and trampled underfoot.
The international media are noticeably silent about this real and ongoing religious persecution. Perhaps it is because Daniel Ortega is one of those Latin American “populist” figures in the Marxist pantheon that are so dear to the Left and certain currents inside the present pontificate.
Here is the video of the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJbkuburPNA
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Brutal Attack Against Catholic Bishops in Diriambo, Nicaragua
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