Church calls for an end to the siege against religious in Nicaragua

The Archdiocese of Managua demanded this Saturday the cessation of the police siege against two parishes in which two religious who have been critical of the government of Daniel Ortega, in Nicaragua, are being held.

“We have called on the national police to put down this unnecessary attitude (of siege) and we invite you to pray (…) to create a climate of national understanding”exhorted the Archdiocese, presided over by the Cardinal and Archbishop of ManaguaLeopoldo Brenes, in a press release.

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Since Friday, the police have surrounded the Santo Cristo de las Colinas parish in Managuawhere the bishop Rolando Alvarez He took refuge on Thursday night and declared himself fasting in protest at the persecution he said he suffered all day by the police.

Alvarez He is bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí (north). He is also in charge of the communication of the Episcopal Conference.

The religious, who has questioned the repression against opponents, said he will fast until the authorities agree to respect his privacy and his right to free movement.

On its side, the church San Juan Bautista in the southern city of Masaya, run by Father Harvy Padilla, has been under police surveillance for a week. The priest has criticized the repression.

“We express our solidarity and closeness to the faithful and priests” of these parishes, “They live in an atmosphere of anxiety due to their personal safety and the impossibility of exercising their right to live and celebrate their faith in an environment of peace and freedom.”, the Archdiocese said.

The incidents come amid ongoing tense relations between the church and the government.

Ortega has accused the bishops from “putschists” for sheltering in their temples demonstrators who fled or who were injured during the repression of the protests that broke out against the government in 2018.

The crisis “has stagnated our society in an environment of insecurity, polarization and intransigence”, lamented the archbishopric.

On Friday, the regulator of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office (Telcor) ordered the suspension of Canal Católico, which was broadcast on cable television.

“The siege from the police to the priests of the church Catholic reconfirms that in Nicaragua No one is freed from the incessant persecution of divergence, of the demand for justice, and now of pastoral work,” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OACNUDH) claimed on its Twitter account.

At least 182 opponents of the government are imprisoned in Nicaragua. In the 2021 elections, Ortega achieved a fourth consecutive term since 2007.

Source: Elcomercio

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