Religious liberty is a national security issue. Where the right of people to worship as they desire comes under assault, bad things, sooner or later, will most assuredly follow. In this podcast, we go to Central America, to Managua, to talk with a brave Catholic priest on the frontlines of an increasingly brutal war where several Americans have died too.
Indeed, religious liberty is under assault in Nicaragua, yet Father Raúl Zamora believes a lot of good can come of this crisis once democracy is restored and the people free again. Father Zamora counsel we must first shed indifference and bear witness to what has taken and will continue to take place. The Ortega-Murillo regime is resorting Cold War-era tactics of the Sandinistas and is waging an open war against people of faith, particularly the Catholic Church. According to the State Department's 2019 International Religious Freedom Report," [m]any of the same religious freedom violations and abuses committed by the Ortega regime and its supporters against the Church and its followers in the wake of the 2018 protests continued into 2019."
In this episode, Jason Poblete speaks with a Catholic priest in Managua, Nicaragua who is on the front lines defending religious liberty for persons of all faith traditions, Father Raúl Zamora. During the First Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom on July 26, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence called Father Zamora who was also in attendance at the Department of State gathering, a "hero of the faith." The week before the Ministerial, the Ortega-Murillo regime laid siege to Father Zamora's Divine Mercy Parish, where more than 200 students sought sanctuary during peaceful protests against the Ortega-Murillo regime. Two students were assassinated, one in the Church, by snipers under the command of the Ortega-Murillo regime.
On July 31, the same day we recorded this podcast with Father Zamora, a chapel inside the Cathedral in Managua was firebombed with a Molotov cocktail by, as of this recording, unknown assailants. They spoke about that incident; however, the podcast talks more about the future, the importance of bearing witness to the mass crimes taking place, potentially politicide or genocidal act against groups of persons with specific political ideas and from distinct socio-economic backgrounds, and the need to restore democracy. Father Zamora shares his hopes and aspirations for Nicaragua as the people of that Central American nation weather a political crisis that could result in more violence in the months ahead.
Further reading:
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Annual Report.
"Crucifix in Managua cathedral torched in ‘hatred of the Church," Vatican News (August 1, 2020).
Night of Terror: Inside the Catholic Church attacked by Nicaragua's paramilitary, Catholic News Service (Dec. 21, 2018).
State Department Condemns Cowardly Attack on Priests, Breitbart (July 25, 2018).
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Religious Liberty Under Assault in Nicaragua; Catholic Cathedral in Managua Fire Bombed