Spain - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights held its first-ever hearing on religious freedom in Latin America. Experts from Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF) called for attention to the crisis sweeping Mexico and Nicaragua.
At an Oct. 29 hearing held in Costa Rica, Tomás Henriquez, ADF International’s director of advocacy for Latin America demanded that the commission take concrete action against the violations of religious freedom in Nicaragua, Mexico, and Argentina, among other countries in the region.
“Latin America is currently experiencing a surge of human rights abuses in the area of religious freedom. What we are seeing is indicative of an alarming disregard for this foundational human right, with severe consequences not just for people of faith, but also for the future of democracy in the region as a whole,” stated Henriquez.
Nicaraguan persecutions
On Aug. 19 the national police abducted Rolando Álvarez, the bishop of Matagalpa, in the middle of the night after having forcibly confined him in his chancery since Aug. 4. He was transferred to Managua, where he is now under house arrest.
At the start of this year, Ortega’s government expelled the Missionaries of Charity of St. Teresa of Calcutta and the Religious of the Cross of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from the country without due process.
The regime has harassed and forced the exile of more than a dozen Catholic priests. Many others have been detained, including Fr. Oscar Benavidez, Fr. Ramiro Tijerino, Fr. José Luis Díaz, Fr. Sadiel Eugarrios, and Fr. Raúl González, diocesan priests, as well as seminarians Darvin Leyva and Melquín Sequeira, together with cameraman Sergio Cárdenas.
The regime removed the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference’s channel from its television broadcasting system in May, and in August it forcibly shut down several Catholic radio stations.
For Henriquez, what the Nicaraguan dictatorship is carrying out is “one of the worst persecutions in recent history since the human rights system began to exist.”
The dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, is also responsible for the closure of social services and 13 parochial schools in the Diocese of Esteli.
The regime also provoked the forced closure and expropriation of the Agricultural Catholic University of the Dry Tropics.
Henriquez asked the commission to take “urgent action” against the persecution suffered by the Catholic Church in the Central American country.
Restrictions in Mexico
Henriquez also referred to the abuses against religious freedom suffered by the Catholic Church in Mexico, where it has been illegal for members of the clergy to speak publicly about politics for more than a century, with regulations dating back to 1917.
Cardinals Juan Sandoval and Carlos Aguiar and priests Ángel Espinosa de los Monteros and Mario Ángel Flores were found guilty this year of violating Article 130 of the Mexican Constitution, which recognizes “the historical principle of the separation of the State and the churches.”
Henriquez said that silencing religious leaders “not only violates religious freedom and freedom of speech but is also discriminatory, since it affects a certain group of people because of their religion.”
The ADF expert said that the commission must also act in this situation as well as face other threats to religious freedom contained “in the constitutions of Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.”
-ADF/CNA