Pope Francis accuses the regime of Daniel Ortega: “It’s like a Hitler dictatorship”

Pope Francis in a file photo.Pope Francis, in a file photo REMO CASILLI (Portal)

Pope Francis has unnuancedly indicted the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua. The Pope described the drifting away of the Sandinista apparatus, which a month ago sentenced Bishop Rolando Álvarez, one of the Catholic Church’s most critical voices, to 26 years in prison as a “crude dictatorship” with hints of a “Communist or Hitlerian”. Dictatorship.” Nicaraguan and symbol of oppositional resistance. “With all due respect, I have no choice but to think of an imbalance in the person who is leading,” the pope said in reference to Ortega. “There we have a bishop in prison, a very serious man, very capable. He wanted to testify and didn’t accept the exile,” he continued in statements to the Infobae portal about Álvarez’s refusal to board a plane that was taking 222 political prisoners into exile in the United States.

“It’s something that’s outside of what we’re experiencing, it’s like bringing the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitler dictatorship of 1935 and bringing the same thing here… They’re kind of a gross dictatorship. Or, to use a nice distinction with Argentina, guarangas,” said Francisco, who will celebrate his 10th papacy on Monday. The regime of Ortega and Murillo escalated the conflict with the Church and intensified the persecution of religious. The President recently turned against Catholicism, saying “the priests, the bishops and the popes are a mafia”. One of his latest decisions was the ban on Holy Week processions in all parishes in the Central American country.

Bishop Silvio Báez, another prelate persecuted by the presidential couple, now in exile in Miami, celebrated the pope’s words via Twitter: “Today he told you what you are: an unbalanced dictatorship, vulgar and anachronistic, Hitler-style and communist . I think it’s not the first time he’s seen her like this and it’s not too late to say.”

During the call, Francisco also spoke about the political situation in Venezuela and expressed confidence in the possibility of a cycle change. “I think so,” he replied when asked about it. “I think so, because it’s the historical circumstances that will force them to change their way of dialogue. I think so, that means I never close the door on possible solutions. On the contrary, I encourage it,” he added. The Vatican’s mediation to facilitate negotiations, both in Venezuela and in Nicaragua, has so far ended in a dead end.

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