Eleven Nicaraguan pastors were among 135 prisoners released and expatriated to Guatemala on 5 September after an agreement was reached between Nicaragua and several other countries. The pastors (pictured) worked with Puerta de la Montaña, the Nicaraguan branch of Texas-based Mountain Gateway ministry. They had spent more than eight months in prison. Two US lawyers representing the Puerta de la Montaña pastors were among the released prisoners.
The US State Department announced that 135 “unjustly detained political prisoners” had been released through a deal arranged by the US government, and stated: “Nicaraguan authorities unjustly detained these individuals for exercising their fundamental freedoms of expression, of association and peaceful assembly, and of religion or belief.”
The released prisoners include Catholic laypeople, students and others whom President Daniel Ortega and his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo consider a threat to their regime. US government representatives told Christian Solidarity Worldwide that the released prisoners will have the opportunity to apply for humanitarian parole in the US from Guatemala or relocation to another country.
The eleven pastors were arrested in December 2023 following a large evangelistic event and were charged with money laundering. During what ADF International described as a “sham trial”, the government was unable to produce any evidence of the alleged illicit activity or unlawful funds and while it allowed lawyers to be appointed it failed to provide them with any charging documents or files to prepare a defence.
The pastors were convicted on 19 March 2024 and sentenced to between twelve and 15 years in prison and over eight million dollars in fines per person. During their time in prison they were barred from contacting their families or legal counsel.
Among those imprisoned were 34-year-old Puerta de la Montaña minister and administrator Marisela Mejía, who was arrested shortly after giving birth, and her husband, lead pastor Walner O. Blandón. Each was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $80 million.
Kristina Hjelkrem, Legal Counsel for Latin America for ADF International and lead lawyer on the case, commented: “No one should be punished or prosecuted for their faith, and these eleven leaders should have never been unjustly imprisoned in the first place. ADF International is privileged to have advocated for them. We thank God for their release and will continue to pray for them as they recover from this ordeal. The fact of the matter remains that the situation in Nicaragua is dire. People of faith have been openly and systematically persecuted and harassed by their government.”
Puerta de la Montaña was legally registered in Nicaragua in 2015 and its work includes discipleship, church planting, holding mass evangelistic events and providing food and clothing to those in need and aid during natural disasters.
In December 2023 the Nicaraguan police issued a press release announcing a money laundering investigation into the pastors and stating that police had arrested eleven Puerta de la Montaña representatives and would investigate US citizens involved with the organisation. Puerta de la Montaña’s registration as a ministry in Nicaragua was revoked and the government seized its property and assets. The ministry denied the allegations, stating that it had followed all legal requirements in the US and Nicaragua that apply to non-profit and faith-based organisations, and the leaders maintained their innocence.
Diplomatic negotiations
The release of the pastors followed months of diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Nicaraguan governments. Several US senators advocated for their release, calling on the Biden administration to “implement strong, targeted sanctions following the repeated and escalating violations of religious freedom in Nicaragua”, and 58 members of Congress signed a letter to the Ambassador of Nicaragua expressing concern over religious freedom violations and calling for the release of the pastors.
In April 2024, in response to a petition from ADF International, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on Nicaragua to address the pastors’ imprisonment and ensure their human rights protections. In July 2024, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights called for their immediate release and restoration of contact with their families and legal counsel.
Crackdown
The Nicaraguan government has become increasing hostile to Christians, viewing them as political opponents. Catholic and Protestant church leaders have been threatened, harassed and imprisoned as part of a wider crackdown on opposition and civil society organisations following nationwide anti-government protests in 2018. Over 5,500 NGOs, private universities and civil society organisations have been closed down on government orders.
The regime has targeted the Catholic Church in particular because of its support for political protestors and its criticism of government repression, and has arrested and exiled many priests, shut down church-run public services and revoked licenses of Catholic universities. In 2022 Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison for his criticism of human rights abuses. He was released from prison in January 2024 but was stripped of his nationality and expelled to the Vatican.
On 3 September 2024 The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report documenting the deterioration in Nicaragua’s human rights situation in the past year. It found that the authorities are persecuting “not only those who express dissenting opinions, but also any individual or organisation that operates independently or does not fall directly under their control” and described a dozen cases in which detainees were tortured through sexual abuse and electric shocks.
Religious groups affected by recent cancellation of organisations
On 29 August 2024 Nicaragua’s Ministry of the Interior published a list of the latest 169 civil society organisations to have their legal status cancelled, among them 92 religious organisations including scores of Protestant churches, the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance and the Latino-Islamic Cultural Association. This follows the cancellation of the legal status of 1,651 civil society organisations earlier in August and brings the total number of organisations that have their legal status cancelled since 2018 to 5,552. The government announced that all property associated with the cancelled organisations, including buildings, land and furniture, will be transferred to the government.
Among the organisations affected are two historic Protestant denominations: the Episcopal Church of Nicaragua, part of the Global Anglican Communion, which has had a presence in the region since 1612; and the Moravian Church of Nicaragua, established in 1847. Churches affiliated with both denominations ran schools in deprived areas operated schools in the area. A historic church in the capital, the First Baptist Church of Managua, founded in 1917, which has had its legal status cancelled ran schools, a seminary, a hospital and a radio station. There is great concern for those who depended on the services these churches provided, especially schools and hospitals.
(ADF International, BBC, Church in Chains, Christian Post, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, International Christian Concern, New York Times)
Photo credit: ADF International/Mountain Gateway Order, Inc.