The government of President Daniel Ortega revoked the legal status of hundreds of evangelical groups as part of its crackdown on institutions that do not bow to its authority.
The Nicaraguan government on Monday canceled the legal status of 1,500 nonprofit organizations — many of them evangelical religious groups — in the authoritarian government’s continued effort to quash people and institutions that are not allied with the government.
More than 5,000 nonprofit organizations, including church groups,have been shut down in Nicaragua since 2018. Monday’s sweep of 1,500 civic and religious groups was by far the largest in a single day.
The measure came just days after the government banished from the country two Catholic priests who had been detained earlier this month.
Monday’s decision was notable because President Daniel Ortega’s government had until now focused its ire on the Roman Catholic Church, particularly in regions where high-profile bishops and priests had spoken out against human rights abuses.
Evangelical pastors had largely stayed out of the political fray. But the elimination of hundreds of their churches on Monday shows the Ortega administration is expanding its effort to silence religious leaders and close off any independent space not affiliated with the government, said Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer who tracks attacks against churches and clergy.
“All of their properties are going to be confiscated,” said Ms. Molina, who fled Nicaragua in 2021 and now lives in Texas. “This is an attack against religious freedom.”