Another innocent man has died at the hands of Nicaragua’s brutal communist regime. Mauricio Alonso Prieto was found dead in a Nicaraguan prison this week after being arrested alongside Christian pastors and church leaders in July. The 62-year-old political activist was taken from his home by hooded police officers during midnight raids targeting religious communities.
Prieto’s family received a cold phone call from government officials telling them to come pick up his body. No explanation was given for how he died or what happened during his 38 days in the notorious La Granja prison. The Ortega dictatorship simply dumped another dead body on grieving relatives and walked away.
This death is no accident. Prieto was arrested alongside Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas and other Christian leaders who dared to speak out against Nicaragua’s socialist tyranny. The raids happened right before the anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, showing how much these communists fear the truth.
Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo have turned Nicaragua into a prison state where Christians face constant persecution. They have shut down over 3,000 religious organizations and thrown dozens of pastors and church workers into jail. This regime truly hates everything that represents faith and freedom.
The timing of these arrests tells us everything we need to know. Ortega wanted to silence critics before his propaganda celebration of the revolution that destroyed Nicaragua. He cannot tolerate anyone who reminds people what real freedom looks like.
Americans need to wake up to what is happening in our own backyard. A communist dictatorship is murdering Christians just hours from our southern border. This is the same socialist poison that the radical left wants to bring to America.
President Trump must take immediate action against this criminal regime. We need tough sanctions that hit Ortega where it hurts most. Every day we wait gives these murderers more time to kill innocent people of faith.
The death of Mauricio Alonso Prieto should be a wake-up call for every American who values religious liberty. When governments start arresting pastors and killing political opponents, freedom dies for everyone. We cannot let Nicaragua become a model for what the left wants here at home.
