Daniel Ortega has an “imbalance,” says Pope Francis when he denounces Nicaragua as a “rude dictatorship”

Pope Francis described Nicaragua as a “gross dictatorship” on Friday and stated that President Daniel Ortega has an “imbalance” in a interview with the Argentinian online newspaper Infobae.

The pope’s statements come just days after the Central American country’s government decided to close two universities linked to the Catholic Church.

“With all due respect, I have no choice but to think about an imbalance in the person leading,” said Francisco, referring to Daniel Ortega, in power since 2007 and consecutively re-elected in contested elections.

In the interview, the Argentine pope referred to him without naming him Catholic bishop Rolando Álvarez, sentenced in February to 26 years in prison for, among other things, undermining national integrity.

“There we have a bishop in prison, a very serious man, very capable. He wanted to give his testimony and did not accept exile,” he said.

The 56-year-old bishop of Matagalpa had been imprisoned since August for conspiracy and refused along with others 222 opponents released and expelled for being “traitors to the fatherland”.

“It’s something outside of what we experience, it’s like bringing the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitler dictatorship of 1935, bringing the same thing here (…) They are kind of rude dictatorships,” added the Holy Father.

Nicaragua is facing a wave of condemnation from the international community over the authoritarian drift of Ortega’s executive, who rules alongside his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.

With the constitutional reform, Nicaragua has made 222 opponents stateless; there are another 10 million people in the world without a nationality

Hundreds of opponents were detained in the country as part of the repression that followed the massive anti-government protests of 2018.

Since then, the government has also clashed with the church world and church leaders who have criticized its policies.

Almost a year ago, for example, the government removed Apostolic Nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag from office.

On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry revoked the legal status of Juan Pablo II University — from the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference — and the Autonomous Christian University of Nicaragua (UCAN) for “violation” of laws.

That same day, the official gazette also announced the dissolution of the Catholic charities Caritas Nicaragua and Caritas Diocesana de Jinotega.