The National Police of Nicaragua, controlled by President Daniel Ortega, canceled a massive procession organized by the Catholic Church that was scheduled for August 13 on the occasion of the so-called “Mariano Congress”, which culminates with the tour of the image of Our Lady of Fatima in Managua.
The Police argued the cancellation for alleged “internal security reasons,” according to the Archdiocese of Managua, which asked Catholic believers to arrive at the Cathedral in Managua that day instead of the pilgrimage “to pray for the Church and for Nicaragua”.
The cancellation of the procession of the Virgin is an unprecedented event in Nicaragua in the last 30 years.
Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, vice president of Nicaragua, have intensified the persecution against the Church for the past two months, and accuse the priests of trying to carry out a coup in 2018.
Two priests have been arrested and the government is conducting investigations against others who criticize Ortega’s management.
Murillo in his daily interventions in the media refers to the priests as “false” and “manipulators.”
Suspension of other religious activities
The couple in power has also canceled in the last two months eleven local radio stations and five television channels by cable, most belonging to the Catholic Church.
“All our radio stations have been closed to us, but they will not silence the word of God,” Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, who directed the stations, reacted on Twitter. After that comment, the parish house where he is located was surrounded by policemen who until this Friday continue to block the exit.
Police also opened an investigation against Álvarez for allegedly “organizing violent groups” and “inciting them to commit acts of hate.”
Suspensions of processions throughout the country
Restrictions related to Church activities have also been announced in other parts of Nicaragua. In the San José de Terrabona parish, in Matagalpa, the priest Aníbal Manzanares Tinoco told the daily the press that the police prohibited him from carrying out processions and other activities outside the temple.
According to Nicaraguan priest Edwin Román, exiled in the United States, in the country there is no longer “religious freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of movement or civic mobilization.”
“You live repressed,” Román stressed to the VOA.
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