Nicaragua: Anti-Christian Persecution Continues While the US Imposes Sanctions on Some Politicians of the Regime

(ZENIT News / Managua, 06.19.2026).- The latest report, Nicaragua, A Persecuted Church, seventh edition, was delivered to Pope Leo XIV on October 2, 2025, during the Jubilee of Migrants. It documents 1,010 episodes of persecution against the Church in Nicaragua between April 2018 and July 2025: attacks on churches, restrictions on religious life, and offenses in places of worship that curtail freedom of worship, public religious activities, and the forced exile of priests and nuns.

Nicaraguan lawyer in exile Martha Patricia Molina Montenegro monitors and reports the violations against the Catholic Church in the country. She documented a new escalation of systematic persecution by the Sandinista government: «Agents go to churches daily to photograph and record the faithful during Mass and internal clergy meetings.»

Martha Patricia reported that during the last Holy Week, the Sandinista dictatorship imposed restrictions on 6,135 processions honoring the Saints and only allowed them inside churches, under the control of the authorities. Thus, since 2019, 28,904 restrictions on processions and acts of popular devotion have been documented.

In this context, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, announced on June 8, 2026, visa restrictions for more than 100 Nicaraguan officials of the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship, following the death of political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera. The press reports: «Today the Trump Administration took decisive steps to impose additional visa restrictions on more than 100 officials of dictatorships and their family members.»

The measure attempts to stem the «dictatorship’s responsibility for the horrific death of political figure Brooklyn Rivera,» according to the press release, an indigenous leader and political prisoner who died at age 73 after being held incommunicado by the Murillo-Ortega regime for 970 days: «Despite the enormous and immense medical efforts undertaken to restore the health of our Brother Brooklyn, whose physical and neurological deterioration was the result of a bacterial infection triggered by the COVID-19 virus, we regret to confirm that, sadly, he has passed away,» stated a press release dated May 31 issued by the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health.

Rubio’s statement directly implicated Luis Alberto Ignacio Campbell, a member of the regime, who denied Rivera medical attention and prevented the prisoner’s family from burying his remains. «The United States government has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on more than 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and their families for their complicit role in the dictatorship of Rosario Murillo and Daniel Ortega,» Rubio said.

The tragic incident involving Rivera adds to the religious persecution by the dictatorship, which restricts the celebration of the Sacraments and Mass, carries out enhanced surveillance, secret disappearances, and arbitrary detentions. Furthermore, at least six of Rivera’s relatives remain in detention, according to the U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

The case of the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta shows the level of persecution. They never raised their voices against the dictatorial regime: «We dedicated ourselves to caring for the poorest of the poor. We had a nursing home for elderly people who didn’t have pensions and a daycare center to look after the children of women who had to go around selling fruit and vegetables on the street. We also had a soup kitchen for 133 people and gave food to families in need. And, in Granada, a home for girls who had been abused,» Sister Paola explained to Alfa y Omega.

The nuns’ legal status was revoked, and they were subsequently expelled from the country. «They had passed a law requiring 70% of the Sisters to be Nicaraguan. We didn’t meet that quota, so we asked for help, and on June 13, they summoned us to the Ministry of the Interior.» They received «accusations that I prefer not to comment on because they were very unfair, and they dismissed us in a very rude manner,» Sister Paola stated. Then, «they stopped our work, investigated all our paperwork, which was in order, and shortly afterward, they expelled us.» On Tuesday, July 6, 18 nuns from three different Communities left the country.

Regarding the people they cared for, «The day before we left, a group from Sant’Egidio came and took the elderly to the Houses of other Orders. We had to close the nursery. And the girls who had been abused, all between 8 and 13 years old, we had to return to their families. Imagine what it was like for them to go back home. They all left crying. And so did we.»

Regarding religious persecution, the nun said: «Absolutely. There is no doubt that there is clear persecution against the Church. For us, it has been agony. We have been able to become one with Christ on the Cross and with Mary at the feet of her Son.»