Opponents together with the international community demand that the regime of Daniel Ortega “respect” the integrity of the priests and the Catholic Church on the International Day of the Victims of Religious Persecution. Currently, there are 10 priests imprisoned by the Nicaraguan dictatorship and house by jail against Bishop Rolando Álvarez.
“Today, on the International Day of the Victims of Religious Persecution, we demand respect for the life and freedom of our Nicaraguan priests and Catholic community, who suffer from siege, kidnapping and intimidation by the government of Daniel Ortega,” the Alliance denounced. Nicaraguan University (AUN).
Related news: Priests and seminarians who accompanied Monsignor Álvarez face “legal limbo”
For its part, the Spanish Catholic defense community CitizenGO promoted a survey this morning to ask international organizations to “respect religious freedom in Nicaragua.” They emphasize that the United States “has already shown concern about the situation. The deputy director of Western Hemispheric Affairs of the US State Department, Brian Nichols, describes Ortega’s “brutal assault” on freedom of expression and religious freedom”, but demands greater action from international organizations.
Early this Monday, August 22, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, was arbitrarily detained for 48 hours, as were priests, seminarians and a cameraman who were accompanying him at the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa.
Unlike the also apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, who is in “home shelter”, that is, under house arrest; the other companions who are imprisoned in the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ) of Managua, are the first and second vicar of the cathedral of San Pedro, of Matagalpa, José Luis Díaz and Sadiel Eugarrios, respectively; as well as the priest Ramiro Tijerino—rector of the John Paul II University—and Father Raúl González.
Related news: Venezuelan priest asks Pope Francis to order Ortega to release Monsignor Álvarez
Seminarians Darvin Leyva and Melkin Sequeira face the same situation, as does cameraman Sergio Cárdenas, who had been in the episcopal see since August 4.
The Mexican journalist Rodrigo Guerra López, in his opinion article published on the morning of this August 22, assures that “in contexts such as those offered by the current Nicaragua, the human right to religious freedom tends to be sullied easily. The will to power imposes itself on the rights of conscience and suffocates it. Religious convictions seem to some to be a minor, secondary, somewhat trivial aspect of the lives of individuals and nations. Religiosity, often reduced to folklore, a show for tourists, is difficult to see embraced within a strong conception of human rights.
