- Feb 5, 2002
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A Nicaraguan priest addressing the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., under the cloak of anonymity described how the regime of President Daniel Ortega “arrested, insulted, beaten, [and] imprisoned” him.
“If I’m here, it’s not because I wanted to fly to Washington to enjoy three days off with paid travel,” the priest told the crowd from backstage, using a voice changer to alter the sound of his voice.
“No, I have done so while knowing that the lives of my family, of my loved ones, are in danger in Nicaragua, that in front of my family’s house there is a Sandinista Police patrol watching every movement, 24 hours a day,” the priest said.
“If I have agreed to come, even exposing them to any reprisals or revenge of the dictatorship, it is for two reasons: because I believe that there is a God who cares for us and because if we Christians, who believe in democracy, in freedom, in social justice, do nothing, no one else will,” he said.
The anonymous priest is one of dozens of clergymen who have been arrested amid Ortega’s persecution of Catholic clergy, nuns, schools, and media outlets. In 2023, the government held at least 46 members of the Catholic clergy in custody, including two bishops and four seminarians. Many of them were forcefully expelled from the country.
Continued below.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
“If I’m here, it’s not because I wanted to fly to Washington to enjoy three days off with paid travel,” the priest told the crowd from backstage, using a voice changer to alter the sound of his voice.
“No, I have done so while knowing that the lives of my family, of my loved ones, are in danger in Nicaragua, that in front of my family’s house there is a Sandinista Police patrol watching every movement, 24 hours a day,” the priest said.
“If I have agreed to come, even exposing them to any reprisals or revenge of the dictatorship, it is for two reasons: because I believe that there is a God who cares for us and because if we Christians, who believe in democracy, in freedom, in social justice, do nothing, no one else will,” he said.
The anonymous priest is one of dozens of clergymen who have been arrested amid Ortega’s persecution of Catholic clergy, nuns, schools, and media outlets. In 2023, the government held at least 46 members of the Catholic clergy in custody, including two bishops and four seminarians. Many of them were forcefully expelled from the country.
Continued below.
‘Insulted, beaten, imprisoned’ Nicaraguan priest details persecution
“If I’m here, it’s not because I wanted to fly to Washington to enjoy three days off with paid travel,” the priest told the crowd from backstage.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
