by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Nicaragua’s communist dictatorship imprisoned six Christian women on account of their faith in the last year, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Ruled by President Daniel Ortega, who has intensified the persecution of believers, Nicaragua ranks 30 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
The six women include five Catholics, namely María Asunción Salgado, Evelyn Guillén, Adela Tercero, Gabriela Morales, Maricarmen Espinosa Segura, and one Protestant, Marisela de Fátima Mejía Ruiz, ICC said.
Threatened by the impact of Christianity on Nicaragua, the Ortega regime arrested and detained the six women on various charges of “religious belief, activity, and association,” religious activity and expression,” and “undermining national security,” ICC reports. Two of the women were accused of possessing marijuana and selling it. Neither of the two women was allowed an attorney.
Earlier this year, US Congressman Chris Smith said in a statement about the situation in Nicaragua: “Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled their country to avoid persecution since 2018, when Ortega’s government cracked down on widespread anti-regime protests, killing hundreds of people, injuring thousands and arbitrarily detaining many.”
In June 2024, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) confirmed in a separate report: “Nicaragua’s social and political crisis, which began in April 2018 with the government’s violent repression of peaceful protests, has had devastating ramifications for Catholics and Protestants.”