Former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) is sounding the alarm on religious persecution in Nicaragua, with the Latin American country making its first appearance on the World Watch List, an annual ranking of the nations where persecution is most prevalent.
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Brownback, who served as America’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom from 2018 to 2021, highlighted a controversial case centered on Nicaraguan Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez.
Álvarez, 56, was arrested by the nation’s communist regime, found guilty of undermining national integrity, spreading false news, and treason, and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
The faith leader, known to be a strong and vocal government opponent, was given this sentence after refusing to leave Nicaragua at the behest of government officials.
Álvarez was imprisoned just one day after 222 government opponents of President Daniel Ortega were sent away to the U.S., an expulsion the bishop refused, NBC News noted.
Brownback believes persecution is at play.
“It’s a communist regime in Nicaragua, and communism and religion don’t get along,” he told CBN’s Faithwire. “The communists always just view religion as something that can upset their order, that can be used to undermine them.”
This is why he believes communists so often take aim at religion, seeing it as a threat to their existence.
Watch Brownback explain:
“That’s what you’re seeing now become very obvious and stepped up in Nicaragua and the Ortega regime,” Brownback said. “The regime doesn’t want its authority challenged. The bishop and the church, to some degree, challenge it because they’re saying, ‘Look, we should have democracy here. People should elect their own representatives.'”
The former ambassador continued, “Ortega, in this last presidential election, he imprisoned his seven leading opponents prior to the elections.”
These critiques of the regime haven’t gone over well. Álvarez was previously on house arrest and, when he refused to go peacefully with other dissidents exiled and stripped of their citizenship, Brownback said they immediately put him through “a kangaroo court and they sentenced him to 26 years in prison.”
Brownback stressed the importance of religion in Nicaragua, calling it the only institution with enough size and scope to stand up to a rogue government.
He said Ortega has upped the ante on his hostility toward religion since winning reelection in 2021.
The former ambassador encouraged Christians to call out such actions if and when they unfold in nations throughout the world and to be a voice for the voiceless.
“I think we need to call it out. I think you need to call it evil … this is wrong,” Brownback said. “I think we need to speak with clarity about religious freedom, that it’s a right of everybody around the world, regardless of who they are, regardless of the country they’re in.”
Álvarez’s case appears to be part of a broader trend in Nicaragua, with the nation’s first-time appearance on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List recently making headlines. People like the bishop and associated institutions speaking out against corruption are treated as enemies by the government.
“Churches in Nicaragua that speak out against injustice and human rights violations by the government are viewed as destabilizing agents,” according to Open Doors US. “This makes them a target for hostility, which can include intimidation, harassment, monitoring, arrests and even attacks. Roman Catholic churches are particularly susceptible to opposition.”
The persecution level in Nicaragua is currently considered “very high” — a disturbing fact considering 6.4 million of the nation’s 6.8 million residents are Christians.
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