Nicaragua’s crack-down on political, business, and media figures has finally caught up with the only remaining opposition: the Catholic Church.

Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa has been under house arrest for the past two weeks; processions have been banned for “internal safety” reasons; priests have been imprisoned, kidnapped or had their documents seized; and Catholic radios and televisions have been forcibly closed by the government.

Though the clergy continue to speak up in favor of democracy and forgiveness, and condemn oppression and the country’s growing poverty, the pace at which the government is threatening and arresting Catholic priests might mean that resistance to the regime will soon fall almost exclusively in the hands of Nicaraguans living abroad.

The founder of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation said she believes Ortega has launched a war against the Catholic Church because today the bishops are the “grassroots leaders” and among the few with “credibility.”