The Nicaraguan dictator took the occasion to attack the Catholic Church. He said he was raised in Catholicism and then after railing against the Catholic Church, the popes, and Spanish colonialism stated that “Christ was always solidary. His message was of peace and then they tortured him. They killed him. But Christ didn’t die; physically they killed him on the cross. But Christ rose in the peoples and he lives in Christian peoples, not by the example that the priests, bishops, cardinals, and popes can give, who are a mafia.”
After accusing the Church and the Vatican of “crimes,” Ortega questioned: “What respect can I have for the bishops I knew here in Nicaragua, if they were Somoza supporters? I was a boy when Somoza’s funeral took place, where the bishops went, burying Somoza like a prince, like a cardinal of the Church, simply because Somoza was a henchman, who gave all the advantages to the Church.”
“He was a servant, an agent of Yankee imperialism, and they treated him like that,” added the Nicaraguan dictator, who has been in power for 16 years, since Jan. 10, 2007.
In this fluid context, Ortega was referring to Anastasio Somoza García — who died in 1956 — the father of President Anastasio Somoza Debayle who was president of Nicaragua from 1974 to 1979, the year he was overthrown by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a left-wing guerrilla group and now Ortega’s political party.
More attacks by Ortega
“I don’t believe in popes or kings. Who elects the pope? How many votes does the pope get?” Ortega continued in his speech.