WASHINGTON — Nicaragua’s dictatorship will continue to persecute religious groups unless international financial institutions stop financing the regime of President Daniel Ortega, the chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Stephen Schneck, told the Register.

In its annual report released Tuesday, the bipartisan U.S. government commission that monitors the persecution of religious belief around the world found that Nicaragua’s record on religious freedom “remains abysmal.” Once again, the religious-freedom watchdog issued a recommendation that the U.S. State Department redesignate the Central American nation a “country of particular concern” (CPC), triggering continued economic sanctions for violations of religious liberty committed against Catholic clergy, evangelical leaders, religious organizations, charities and the lay faithful. 

According to Schneck, however, if the repressive regime continues to receive funding from international organizations, U.S. sanctions will be ineffective.

“I think that what’s going to move the needle is coordinated international effort. I think that the situation in Nicaragua needs to be raised at just about every international, at the level of every international organization,” Schneck told the Register. "In particular, I think it would be very interesting to talk to organizations like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank about the situation there,” he said.

In the aftermath of the regime’s violent repression of the 2018 protests in Nicaragua (which left more than 300 dead), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have reduced their lending to Nicaragua but have continued to provided funding to the government for COVID and hurricane relief. 

A Washington Post investigative report published last August found, however, that the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), which has been funded in part by the U.S. government, lent $2.65 billion to Nicaragua between 2018 and 2022.

“Loans are still being made. Frankly, it’s encouraging to start to see European countries, the EU and so forth, begin to recognize the situation,” Schneck said. 

Last month, the European Parliament approved a resolution condemning the Ortega-Murillo regime for “targeting human rights defenders, political opponents and religious communities in particular.” The resolution called for ending all European Union economic aid to the country.

“But, unfortunately, they have the support of places like China and Russia and Cuba and Venezuela, and so it’s increasingly difficult to find areas of leverage. But I think, in particular, that economic sanctions, economic leverage, provided by international organizations like the IMF and the World Bank can make a difference,” he told the Register.

In 2024, the dictatorship of Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, “continued its crackdown on freedom of religion or belief by arbitrarily arresting, imprisoning, and exiling religious leaders and adherents,” the USCIRF report said. The regime also engaged in “canceling the legal status of religious organizations and harassing and intimidating worshipers.”

Many of the violations of religious liberty recorded in the report were committed against Catholics, who make up 43% of Nicaragua’s population. 

Over the last year, authorities arbitrarily arrested, imprisoned and exiled Catholic clergy and religious, including several priests who were flown to Rome and handed over to the Vatican in November. Bishop Carlos Herrera was also arbitrarily arrested and sent to Guatemala. And in December, the government ordered all religious sisters to leave the country.

The Ortega-Murillo regime also canceled the legal status of more Catholic entities, including Radio Maria Nicaragua, a Catholic broadcasting company, and Caritas of Matagalpa. Since 2018, the government has shut down more than 5,400 non-governmental organizations, many of them run by Catholic and Protestant organizations. 

The commission’s report found that authorities had threatened and intimidated Catholic Nicaraguans. During Holy Week last year, the government sent approximately 4,000 police officers to Catholic churches around the country to keep them from taking part in processions. 

Ortega, who rose to power as a leader of the left-wing Sandinista junta that overthrew the Nicaraguan government in 1979, was elected president in 1984; after being defeated at the polls, he was elected again in 2006. He is now serving his fifth term in office as leader of an increasingly repressive regime that has been sanctioned by the U.S. for its antidemocratic practices and human-rights violations, including the arrest and imprisonment of political opponents. 

“I think what we’re seeing is just pure authoritarianism. This is a dictatorship that doesn’t want any recourse to validate some source of power or authority or truth beyond the government itself. So I think that’s what we’re seeing here — state authoritarianism, I’d call it,” Schneck said.

In addition to securing the cooperation of international financial organizations, Schneck suggests that the U.S. should work within countries in the region for a “stronger response” to the situation in Nicaragua.

“I have to say I’ve been particularly pleased with the Vatican’s work in Nicaragua as well, and I hope that they would be at the table in whatever plans are made internationally to address the situation there,” he told the Register.

In 2023, the Vatican closed its embassy in Nicaragua after the Ortega regime called for a “suspension of relations.” The Nicaraguan government, upon releasing Catholic priests from jail and sending them to Rome, said that the Vatican had been involved in the negotiations for their release. 

While Schneck said he has been encouraged by the Trump administration’s recent statements on religious freedom, he stressed the importance of continuing to fund programs to help victims of religious persecution.

“I was pleased to see at the National Prayer Breakfast that President Trump spoke strongly about religious freedom there. And I’ve seen Vice President Vance also speak strongly about religious freedom,” he told the Register. 

Schneck added, “However, as you know from reading our report … we are concerned about the freezing of funds that have gone to assist those persecuted by religious freedom around the world.”