The Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office (Telcor), closed this Monday, August 1, five stations of the Diocese of Matagalpa, in charge of its bishop, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, who is also administrator of the Diocese of Estelí.
The closed stations are Radio Hermanos; radio Our Lady of Lourdes de La Dalia; Radio Our Lady of Fatima of Rancho Grande; Radio San José de Matiguás and Radio Monte Carmelo de Río Blanco, reported the Diocese in a statement.
Telcor justified the closure of Radio Hermanos because since January 30, 2003 they do not have “the current enabling title.”
However, the Diocese explains that Monsignor Álvarez, in a meeting held with the former director of Telcor, Orlando Castillo -now deceased-, presented on June 7, 2016 the documentation required by the state entity requesting the valid titles of seven radios. Said document was received, but never answered, they point out.
Of the seven stations for which permission was requested, five were canceled this Monday, despite the fact that the letter sent by the general director of Telcor, Nahima Díaz Flores —daughter of Police Chief Francisco Díaz, Daniel Ortega’s in-law— to the Diocese, he was only referring to the closure of Radio Hermanos.
The Diocese indicates that all permit documentation is available to Telcor and the national and international community.
At the same time, the Diocese denounced that Telcor’s decision violates freedom of expression and religion in Nicaragua. For its part, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) described the closure of the stations as another “act of provocation” by the “Ortega-Murillo dynasty” against the Catholic Church.
?In the social networks of the Diocese of Matagalpa, information circulates about the closure of 5 radio stations managed by Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, which we consider another act of PROVOCATION by the Ortega Murillo dynasty against the Catholic Church. pic.twitter.com/6B9ujp8fXj
— Cenidh (@cenidh) August 1, 2022
“Obviously there is a desire to silence the voice of solidarity and evangelization of the Catholic Church, especially that of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez.. We alert the international community about these events that violate religious freedom and freedom of expression,” the organization said through its Twitter account.
New attack on the Catholic Church
At the end of June, Telcor, aligned with the Sandinista Front and in charge of closing media outlets since Daniel Ortega returned to power, ordered the Catholic Channel of the Diocese of Matagalpa (north) to be taken off the air. the second property of the Catholic Church that was vetoed in recent months, reported the television station that manages it, TV Merced.
“We have been notified by the management of Telecable (subscription television) that, due to guidance from Telcor, the Catholic Channel of the Diocese of Matagalpa is removed from the programming grid of said company in Matagalpa and Jinotega (north)”, said TV Merced in a statement.
Just a month earlier, in May, Telcor instructed Nicaraguan cable operators to remove channel 51, Canal Católico, which belongs to the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN), from its grid. Weeks later, independent media outlets affirmed that the space had become part of the media battery run by the presidential couple and their children.
Continue with the evangelization
“We reiterate our commitment to evangelization in our beloved Diocese of Matagalpa and proclaim that the power of the word of the one who sent us to preach throughout the world will continue to drive us in our evangelizing mission because the “Word of God is not chained”, read in the statement published by the Diocese.
They also invited the parishioners to pray for the protection of the priests this Thursday, the day of the holy Cura d’Ars and on Friday, fasting “because prayer will save Nicaragua.”
The closure of these communication spaces, dedicated to sharing merely religious content, occurs after an escalation of the Ortega regime against the Catholic Church and its bishops.
Monsignor Álvarez was persecuted by the Police of the Ortega regime. He had to take shelter in the Santo Cristo parish, in the Las Colinas sector, Managua, where he was under police siege. He left on the morning of Monday, May 23, for Matagalpa, escorted by a strong deployment of riot police. Father Harving Padilla, in Masaya, also remained sheltered in his own parish, San Juan Bautista, while he was threatened by the police.
