The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo kidnapped the priest Enrique Martínez Gamboareported the priest in exile Uriel Vallejos and another ecclesial source. With this arrest the dictatorship raised the number of religious detained in the last six months to elevenincluding Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí.
He was kidnapped by the Police on the afternoon of this Thursday, October 13, at the house of his relatives in Managua, where he lived, and according to sources from the Catholic Church he was taken to the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, known as El Chipote, without it is known what is the reason for his arrest and why he is being investigated.
Father Vallejos noted on Twitter that “the priests and the Catholic Church demand the liberation and the cessation of the persecution against the Church and the clergy. Justice, freedom and democracy”.
Yesterday at 5:00 pm, the Parish Priest of the Santa Martha Parish, Managua, was kidnapped. Father Enrique Martinez G.
The Priests and the Catholic Church, we demand the liberation and the cessation of the persecution against the Church and the clergy.
Justice, Freedom and Democ! pic.twitter.com/EnkgboF0DS– Pbro Uriel Vallejos (@pbrourielv) October 14, 2022
Martínez Gamboa belongs to the Diocese of León, but he was exercising his ministry in Managua, and on some occasions he celebrated mass in the Santa Martha Church, according to religious sources. The priest was also chaplain of La Salle in the capital and is remembered for a speech at the end of the Mother of All Marches, on May 30, 2018, when she was attacked by police and paramilitaries leaving a balance of eight deceased.
“Nicaraguans are the majority and we have a clean heart, not bloody hands like others. Don’t cower, don’t cower, don’t cower. Long live Nicaragua, long live the mothers of those who fell on April 19, long live decent doctors and journalists”, Martínez said on that occasion..
“Out with the murderous couple (Ortega and Murillo), out with the miserable murderers”shouted the priest in front of the crowd frightened by the volley of shots coming from the sector of the Denis Martínez stadium, where the attack took place.
Eleven religious arrested in less than six months
The dictatorship has kidnapped eleven religious during the second half of 2022, when it began a new chapter of direct aggression against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. The first was the priest Manuel Garcia Rodriguez, allegedly convicted of raping a woman. It sentenced to two years for threat with weapons against five people; and two years and eight months for psychological injuries and physical injuries to the detriment of the alleged victim Martha Candelaria Rivas Hernández.
The second priest was Monsignor Leonardo Urbina, originally from Boaco, sentenced to 30 years in prison for the alleged crimes of sexual abuse and rape of a teenager.
The third father arrested and prosecuted was Oscar Danilo Benavidez in Mulukukú, who belongs to the Diocese of Siuna, but also comes from Matagalpa where he worked as an advisor to youth ministry groups until 2016.
Benavidez is one of the priests imprisoned in the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ), El Chipote, along with the religious Ramiro Tijerino Chavezrector general of the John Paul II University; Jose Luis Diaz Cruzvicar of the Cathedral of Matagalpa and his predecessor Sadiel Antonio Eugarrios Cano; the deacon Raul Antonio Vega; the seminarians Darvin Leiva Mendoza Y Melkin Rye and the layman Sergio Cadena Flores.
The latter were charged by the Prosecutor for alleged “conspiracy to undermine national integrity” and “propagation of false news” and the start of the trial is scheduled for December 1. The seven they were kidnapped together with Monsignor Rolando José Álvarezin the Curia of Matagalpa for 15 days, last August.
