Nicaraguan Priest Denied Entry by Ortega-Murillo Regime
The authoritarian regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has once again demonstrated its hostility towards the Catholic Church by denying entry to Nicaraguan priest Juan Carlos Sanchez. The vicar of the San Francisco de Asís parish in Bologna, Italy, had travelled to Bolivia for a priestly ordination and later visited relatives in Miami, United States. However, when he attempted to return to Nicaragua, the airline informed him that he was prohibited from entering the country.
Martha Patricia Molina, a lawyer and author of the Nicaragua Report: A Persecuted Church, which exposes the regime’s attacks on the Catholic Church, brought attention to Father Juan Carlos Sanchez’s case through her social media accounts. She declared that she had received information confirming that the Sandinista dictatorship had barred his entry into the country.
This incident is just one among many instances of the Ortega-Murillo regime’s repression of religion since April 2018. The regime has employed various repressive tactics to target both national and foreign religious figures, including denying them entry, canceling their residence permits, and even expelling them from the country.
According to Molina’s Report, since 2018, at least 80 men and women of the Catholic Church have been forced to leave Nicaragua. This includes the apostolic nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, who represents the Holy See. Furthermore, the report reveals that 32 nuns from different congregations have been expelled, and 39 religious individuals are currently in exile. Molina believes that the actual number of affected nuns may be even higher since many cases go unreported, and their absence may be less noticeable within Catholic communities.
The Ortega-Murillo regime’s targeting of the Catholic Church and its religious figures is a concerning development. It raises questions about the regime’s commitment to religious freedom and human rights. The international community must condemn these actions and exert pressure on the Nicaraguan government to respect the basic rights and freedoms of its citizens, including the freedom of religion.