The government of Nicaragua banned at least 18 Christian groups from operating within the country as persecution from the Latin American nation’s regime worsens.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide said in a report published last month that they were able to identify 15 Protestant groups and 3 Roman Catholic groups stripped of legal status in 2025.
“Affected institutions were schools, religious radio and television outlets, and faith-based charities, including Lutheran World Relief and Food for the Hungry,” the group said.
The Independent Fundamentalist Baptists were also stripped of their legal status.
After revoking legal status, the government has in some cases taken their property.
One religiously affiliated school was allowed to operate for nine months after having its status revoked, with leadership told it would eventually be turned into a state school.
But the premises were instead used as a police station.
A Protestant nonprofit had the perimeter of their headquarters sectioned off with yellow tape, and leaders were told that the buildings and its contents thereafter belonged to the attorney general.
Any group deemed disloyal to the Nicaraguan regime faces repercussions in the country.
Christian leaders also experience severe consequences.
Some have been “questioned about the content of their sermons, prayers, and other teaching.”
“Threats were regularly reported in retaliation for statements or other forms of expression perceived as critical of the government,” Christian Solidarity Worldwide said.
In some cases, Nicaraguan Christians have been arbitrarily stripped of their citizenship upon leaving the country.
Jalder Hernandez, a Roman Catholic priest, was visiting the United States last year when he was told in an email from the airline that he would not be allowed to board the plane, and that any questions he had could be directed to the government of Nicaragua.
A journalist and Protestant pastor who wrote about religious issues faced similar expulsion.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide therefore recommended in their report that citizenship should be restored “to all those, in and outside the country, from whom it has been arbitrarily removed.”
They also suggested that the regime “reinstate the legal status of all civil society organisations which have been arbitrarily made illegal,” including by unfreezing their bank accounts.
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