Religious Persecution in Latin America Today

Serious religious persecution is occurring in a number of Latin American countries, state persecution in Cuba and Nicaragua, but persecution by non-state actors in Mexico and Colombia. This and a tenuous situation in the region at large was the focus of a breakout session at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C. on January 31. 

It was noted  that both Cuba and Nicaragua have been placed on the State Department’s Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) list (countries that are particularly bad violators of religious freedom and the deserve American attention to improve religious freedom in those countries). It was pointed out that “Cuba and Nicaragua have an abysmal and worsening record on human rights, including freedom of religion or belief. Freedom of religion or belief is inextricably related to other fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and freedom of conscience. It is a foundational part of our culture, where the rights of all are protected, and upheld alongside the rule of law. And it is to our detriment that we dismiss it as a lesser right.” It was also pointed out that threats to religious freedom come not only from oppressive governments, but from corruption and “large scale organized crime.”

Antonio Garrastazu, Senior Director, International Republican Institute for Latin American and the Caribbean, listed the different abuses that have occurred in both Cuba and Nicaragua, including people “targeted for their faith, disruptions in religious ceremonies,” destruction of houses of worship, and imprisonment of religious leaders. Persecution of important religious leaders includes the imprisonment of Bishop Rolando Alverez in Nicaragua (now banished to Rome), and Evangelical pastor Lorenzo Rosales in Cuba. Additionally there is the expulsion of religious groups, such as Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity, which were expelled from Nicaragua in 2023. Garrastazu recounted religious freedom violations in Cuba,  using a survey of the Cuban population conducted in 2023 by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, based on Madrid.

Cuba: a Repressed Religious Population

The sample of the Cuban population surveyed consisted of 1,300 people “randomly interviewed across 15 provinces.” This gave a representative sample of the Cuban population. It found that 76% of Cubans surveyed “identified themselves as believers.” This is “remarkable,” he said, given the anti-religious policies of the last sixty years of communist rule. The survey found that 68% of respondents reported that “they themselves or someone they know” has experienced anti-religious harassment. Thus, “almost seven out of ten people are familiar with individuals who have suffered persecution for their religious belief.” The most commonly cited reason for persecution was “having a political stance based on their faith (59%).” Also, “speaking publicly about their faith (45%)” and sharing religious literature were given as “primary causes” of persecution. For professed believers in the survey, 66% knew of some religious leader who had been harassed.

Specific violations of religious freedom in Cuba included denial of permits to hold religious events (54%), denial of permits to build or repair houses of worship, and denial of permission for religious processions (63%). The government’s Office of Religious Affairs attempts “to regulate every single aspect” of religious activity in Cuba. He said that 68% of religious believers in Cuba “consider this office to violate or repress the rights of religious leaders and members of religious groups.”

The survey disclosed that religious institutions are the most trusted institutions in Cuba. The level of confidence for religious organizations (about 40%) was the highest of any institutions in Cuba and contrasted markedly with that of the government (13%) and the communist party (8%), which had the lowest ratings. Garrastazu also said that while the session was focusing particularly on Cuba and Nicaragua, religious freedom is also a problem in Venezuela, and it is important for advocates of religious freedom “to take note and address this issue.”

Alberto Reyes Pias, a priest of the Diocese of Camaguey, Cuba, spoke further about violations of religious rights there. He said that one of the worst “mechanism[s] of evil” is something called “normalization.” It is really an attempt to say that what is evil is really normal, by conveying a “lie about the Cuban paradise that does not exist.” It is important for persecuted Cuban Christians “to know that others who will not play along with official propaganda,” and “to know that there are others who day-by-day pray for us to God, asking for the desired freedom,” for the conversion of the Cuban people, and for the oppressors who “need to open their souls to God.”

War against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua

A video presentation on Nicaragua spoke of church desecration and forced exile of clergy. The Sandinista government of the 1980s, headed by the current president, Daniel Ortega, was hostile to the Catholic Church at that time. Then in 2018,  the church sheltered protesters against the government, and the government has been quite hostile since. Bishops, priests, nuns, and seminarians have been expelled. More than 3,000 Catholic processions were banned during Holy Week of 2023. There were 235 attacks against Catholic churches in Nicaragua in 2023.

Martha Patricia Molina, a lawyer on the editorial board of the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa said that even figures presented in the video were out of date. Anti-religious attacks are continuing on a daily basis in Nicaragua, she said. Just a few hours before she spoke, a chapel of the Archdiocese of Managua was desecrated. Daniel Ortega’s wife and Vice President, Rosaria Murillo, is spearheading the rhetoric against the Catholic Church, and “has given the green light for the Church to be attacked.”

Anti-religious violence is met with “impunity” by the government. A total of 813 attacks against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua since 2018 have been documented by Molina, as well as 70 attacks against Evangelical churches. The army, national police, and “paramilitary groups” are complicit in these attacks. Agents of the dictatorship carefully monitor the activities of the clergy and the people. These exist “in every community, and neighborhood, and state institution.” 3,645 religious processions have been banned and more than 250 Evangelical and Catholic organizations “have been arbitrarily shuttered.” There have been 317 persons deprived of citizenship, of which 19 “are members of the clergy.” In May 2023, the government “froze the bank accounts of the Catholic Church.” This includes accounts of “various dioceses and archdioceses, parochial schools, the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, as well as the personal accounts of priests and bishops.” Retired priests are not receiving their pensions.

The church is being investigated for money laundering, although it has never been accused of this in the past. Simultaneously, the government continues to charge the church with real estate taxes, although government regulations dating from 1995 specify that both Catholic and Evangelical churches are tax-exempt. She said that the government’s objective is to “economically asphyxiate the Catholic Church” in order to make Nicaragua’s “bishops and priests stop preaching the gospel.”

Molina said that while democratic governments condemn the dictatorial actions of the Ortega dictatorship, they continue to finance the dictatorship through the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. Molina fears that other Central American governments will begin to imitate the authoritarian policies of the Nicaraguan government. She said that the Nicaraguan government should be pressed to free the more than 100 political prisoners that it holds. Their only crime is being Catholic and being close to Bishop Rolando Alverez “who is currently banished to Rome.” 

Non-State Actors in Mexico and Colombia

Kyle Wisdom, Deputy Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom then discussed the role of non-state actors in perpetrating religious persecution. This is kind of persecution is particularly found in Mexico. Such persecution can result from crime syndicates feeling threatened by religious groups. He related the account of a young man who had served as “an errand boy” for the drug cartels. Conflicting responsibilities between serving the cartel and participation in a soccer team (organized as an alternative to involvement with the cartels by his pastor) resulted in his death. The pastor also “received multiple death threats.” Such violence is often not recognized as religious persecution.

Drawing on data from the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Latin America, Wisdom identified Mexico and Colombia as the most important in terms of threats of religious persecution against indigenous communities. Key threats to these communities are “lack of recognition” in the wider world, organized crime, extraction of natural resources by both legal and illegal organizations, social breakdown on contact with the wider world, and dispossession of the indigenous communities’ land.

Tracking Persecution

IIRI has ten researchers working globally. More than 6,686 violent incidents have been recorded on its Violent Incidents Database over the last decade. It covers incidents of state persecution, but also incidents arising from “the often overlooked area of organized crime.”  Another resource from IIRF assesses religious freedom in Latin America in light of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In response to question about the database, Wisdom said that the database would only capture about ten percent of the violations that IIRF knows about if the database was held to standards of verification that would be required in a court. So the database in fact has lower standards, but it relies on public news sources “and our researchers are going out and we have tiers of lists of things that are of greatest trust, and upper tiers and lower tiers [of confidence] and we’re looking to complement all the records with multiple links if possible. And we show all of our work.” IIRF strives for full transparency and corrects errors in records when they are discovered.

Molina responded to a question asking about whether or not Evangelical churches were complicit with the government in the persecution of the Catholic Church. She said that in fact they are not. She has documented several violations of the religious freedom of Evangelical churches. As noted above, there have been 70 attacks against Evangelical churches. “These have been terrible blows,” she said. There are clergy in Nicaragua who are complicit with the government, but it is not particularly an Evangelical versus Catholic problem, she said.

Another questioner asked if the Chinese Communist Party has been involved in the threats to religious freedom  in Latin America. It was asked particularly if China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the general Chinese penetration of Latin America might figure into this. Wisdom responded that “we’re seeing the foreign interference in Latin America with great concern. You see it definitely in Nicaragua. You see it really across the entire region, and not just in the closed spaces, but China has really become one of the top political and trading partners of the region. You see it in Chile, you see it in Argentina, you even see it in more conservative countries such as Uruguay.” China has “a lot of money.” He also said that at least to some extent, China is able to “control political discourse.” Chinese influence is especially noticeable in Panama, where, he said “they control the Panama Canal.” China’s money gives them the ability to exploit corruption in Latin American countries, giving them influence “not only politically, but also socially.” Additionally, Russia and Iran are important influencers in the region. Both Cuba and Nicaragua have a substantial Russian intelligence presence.

Like sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America is a region easily overlooked by U.S. media and the public. For many people, it does not have the glamour of Europe, nor the religious interest of the Middle East. But there can be no area of greater importance, since the Western Hemisphere is where we live. Problems in Central America are precipitating a massive immigration to the United States. But more than that, as Christians we should be concerned for the welfare of fellow believers in Latin America, whether they are victims of state or non-state persecution. Greater attention and pressure can move hostile or indifferent governments to better accommodate their religious citizens. And most importantly, we need to keep their tribulation and deliverance in prayer.