Nicaraguan bishop: Irrationality and cruelty are tragic characteristics of the dictatorship

Forced to leave Nicaragua in April 2019 for defending protesters opposing the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, during a crackdown that left more than 350 people dead, exiled Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Báez of Managua decried the “irrationality” and “cruelty” of the countryʼs dictatorship.

“One of the most tragic characteristics of this dictatorship is its irrationality. Along with that irrationality is cruelty. But the irrationality of this system is shocking,” Báez said in an interview with the Nicaraguan newspaper Confidencial.

The interview took place in Madrid, Spain, where he had recently traveled to attend a conference in Ávila. The exiled bishop resides in Miami.

On April 18, 2018, in response to the brutal repression unleashed by the dictatorship, he had said: “I call upon Daniel Ortega and his wife to stop the violence and repression. Do not jeopardize the countryʼs peace. Learn to listen, engage in dialogue, and have the maturity to correct so many errors. For the sake of Nicaragua, be sensible!”

The bishop said this message “has become even more relevant today. I would repeat it to their faces, the very same thing…