In a letter delivered to the Nicaraguan embassy in Spain, the Spanish Evangelical Alliance expresses its concern about the “harassment and demolition of freedoms” in the Central American country.
Headquarters of the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance in Managua, capital of Nicaragua. / Photo: J. Bolaños, [link]DC[/link].
For months, the Nicaraguan regime has been applying a repressive policy towards evangelical and Catholic organisations, NGOs and churches, which has culminated in the disqualification of more than 1,500 independent entities this summer alone.
Recently, even the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance (Alianza Evangélica Nicaragüense) has suffered from the government’s attacks, with the cancellation of its legal status, along with 168 other entities affected by the new measures approved by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
In view of this situation, the Spanish Evangelical Alliance (AEE) decided to make a formal complaint to the Nicaraguan government. In a letter sent to the Nicaraguan consulate in Spain, the AEE states its “enormous concern” about the current situation.
The AEE denounces “the persistent action of the government of your country in its progressive escalation of closure of entities, churches, associations and evangelical missions, along with Catholic and other character”, which the Spanish evangelical entity considers unfounded actions with no justification.
“The actions and activities of evangelical in Nicaragua have contributed all kinds of wealth to the country (material, cultural, spiritual and values)”, the AEE states, emphasising that “as Evangelical Christians we value as a fundamental principle and right of the individual their freedoms, in all their manifestations: of expression, conscience, thought and religion”.
The entity representing evangelical Christians in Spain expresses an “absolute rejection of your actions, which have recently culminated in the closure of the Evangelical Alliance of Nicaragua, which represents the evangelicals of your country in the Latin Evangelical Alliance, and in the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA)”.
The statement goes on: “We ask you most respectfully and firmly to not only stop, but to reverse your harassment and demolition of freedoms in Nicaragua. Although you may not realise it, the first to suffer is the government itself and the country as a whole”, the EEA board adds.
“We convey this rejection of ours to the European Evangelical Alliance and World Evangelical Alliance, and to the politicians of our country, in the hope that together we can bring this terrible disaster back to sanity”, the letter concludes, asking the government to “come to its senses and turn away from the evil that stains its hands and actions”.
By the count of independent organisations, the Ortega-Murillo regime has cancelled more than 70% of the 7,227 NGOs that existed in Nicaragua in 2017.
Following the mass closure in August, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has denounced this action against civil society as “deeply alarming” and even more so in a country that has seen its civic space “severely eroded” in recent years.
Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the UN body, said: “The serious impact of these measures on the rights to freedom of association and expression, as well as on religious freedom, makes it increasingly difficult to defend human rights in Nicaragua”.
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