The Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Báez, exiled in the United States, asked this Sunday to pray for the suffering of political prisoners, but also for the “anxiety of a persecuted Church and the humiliation of priests accused with hatred and irregularly.” .
The request of the religious took place in the Santa Agatha church, in Miami, arises in the context of the recent arrests of two priests in Nicaragua, which have been accused of various crimes and exposed in the media related to President Daniel Ortega.
Báez, who left Nicaragua in 2019 amid death threats against him, assured that the prayer provides “greater awareness of our responsibilities.”
“When we pray, we also welcome social pain in our hearts: the drama of the poor, the suffering of political prisoners and exiles, the anxiety of a persecuted Church and the humiliation of priests accused with hatred and irregularly,” he said. .
In less than two months, justice in Nicaragua has arrested two priests. The arrests followed a series of disqualifications by President Daniel Ortega, who has accused the clergy of colluding with opposition groups to try to stage a coup.
On July 13, the priest Leonardo Urbina, who presided over a temple in the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, was arrested. Urbina was accused of alleged rape to the detriment of a minor.
The initial hearing against the priest that took place on Thursday, July 21, was widely reported in the official media of the Ortega government, causing criticism from human rights experts who questioned the exposure even of the alleged victim.
“Without referring to Father Urbina’s guilt or not, I must say that according to the law, (the case) should be treated with discretion so as not to re-victimize the procedural victim,” said lawyer Yader Morazán, who worked for more than five years in similar cases.
He also recalled that according to the Nicaraguan Code for Children and Adolescents, the right to personal and family privacy is granted to all adolescents, and it prohibits the publication and disclosure of any investigation or process data that directly or indirectly makes their identity possible.
“Doing so is illegal,” stressed the exiled expert in the United States.
On June 1, the priest Manuel Salvador García had been arrested in Nicaragua. He was accused of several crimes, including psychological injuries and injuries to the detriment of a woman, who was also arrested for refusing to declare that the attack was intentional.
Vice President calls to break the silence
Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo called on Thursday to denounce and break the fear.
“The denunciation is difficult, we recognize that it is not always achieved, because there is a cultural root and a fear, but well, when it is achieved it is true, not only moving, but one is seeing the strength of character of Nicaraguans when we achieve , on issues as sensitive, as intimate as these, overcome fear and shout our truths, and demand punishment for the guilty”.
Analysts have said that the recent arrests, more than an act of justice, are “political actions”, since during the fifteen years of his government, there had never been a similar precedent.
“In these two situations of these two priests, the action has been extremely expeditious. One has to think badly and at least ask what is behind these accusations, ”he told the VOA opposition activist Ana Quiros, member of the Blue and White National Unity organization.
Nicaragua remains immersed in a serious human rights crisis that began after the 2018 protests. Ortega has reiterated that these protests sought to remove him from power through a “coup d’état.”
Ortega has branded the priests, some of whom housed protesters in the temples, in public speeches as “coup plotters” and “devils in cassocks.”
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