SW News: The homeless people on the streets of León in Nicaragua are a hungry lot ever since the missionary nuns from the Institute of the Poor of Jesus Christ, a Brazilian congregation, were expelled from the country on July 3 by the Sandinista regime. The sisters were not permitted to continue their work in the Central American nation by President Daniel Ortega’s government and they were forced to relocate to El Salvador.

According to the local newspaper La Prensa, numerous people who used to receive daily hot meals from the missionaries are now unable to find assistance anywhere else. In León, as in every Nicaraguan city, there is a large population without a roof over their heads. Volunteers who worked with the nuns said the homeless are now helpless. These people belong to a wide spectrum including drug addicts, and a number of them suffer from psychiatric conditions.

The three missionaries, including two Brazilians and a Paraguayan, were taken to Managua and then deported to El Salvador, where colleagues from the order’s Salvadoran mission welcomed them.

Father Gilson Sobreiro founded the Institute Fraternidade O Caminho in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2001. Fr. Sobreiro started assisting drug users on the impoverished fringes of the city with the aid of the sisters and lay missionaries. The fraternity quickly expanded to include young missionaries as well as former addicts who turned to God and joined the group's activities. Currently, the Fraternidade O Caminho operates missions in Mozambique, Africa, the Americas, and Europe.

Dissidents in Nicaragua and the Brazilian church expressed fury upon hearing of the expulsion of the nuns. Bishop Pedro Luiz Stringhini of Mogi das Cruzes said that the diocese repudiates the persecution that the Church is suffering from the Nicaraguan regime.

Bishop Stringhini said Ortega intends to remove all foreign missionaries and clergy as part of his campaign against the Catholic Church. He added that devout Nicaraguans who work abroad and attempt to return home have also been turned away. Over 3,000 civic organizations, including several Catholic institutions, have been shut down and their possessions confiscated. Several clergy members were either detained or forced to leave the country. Those who resisted exile are imprisoned such as Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was incarcerated for 26 years.

Meanwhile, a CID Gallup survey reveals that 56% of Nicaraguans consider that corruption in the country has increased in the last six months. The survey was held between June 14 and 20, 2023, and some 823 citizens took part in it. The survey also shows that 75% of Nicaraguans have no sympathy for any political party, while only 13% identify with the Sandinista National Liberation Front.

The CID Gallup survey also identifies the Catholic Church as Nicaragua's "most credible" institution. This acknowledgment occurs despite the dictatorship and its agents' attacks, threats, and deceitful campaigns against the Church, its bishops, and priests.

The Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime put more pressure on the Catholic Church in 2022 when it started to shut down Catholic radio stations, desecrate churches, expel priests and nuns (there will be more than 80 until July 2023), ban processions, and imprison them through its repressive apparatus, which is led by the National Police.