Blue and White Monitoring registered an increase in human rights violations in Nicaragua during Holy Week, the majority against members of the Catholic Church and its parishioners.
The report records that the incidents occurred in nine departments between April 1 and 6. They highlight that 5 harassments, 15 arbitrary detentions, 1 expulsion from the country, 5 threats, 9 incidents of territorial control were reported. Of all this, the majority have been against opposition people, members of the Catholic Church and its parishioners, journalists and territorial activists.
Related news: Police detain released politician Olesia Muñoz
«Among the facts to highlight: 3 incidents of threats and one arrest of journalists. At least 9 arrests related to parishioners who participated in Holy Week festivities. Reports of siege and police presence in different Catholic churches in the country,” the report reiterates.
Recently, the Center for Inter-American Legal Assistance in Human Rights (Calidh) recalled that the Catholic Church in Nicaragua is the victim of a pattern of persecution by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, which could constitute a crime against humanity “due to its systematic nature and for the illicit actions that are directed against the hierarchy, the priests, the ecclesial orders and laity”.
The Nicaraguan dictatorship has been merciless against the Catholic Church since 2022, closing Catholic radio stations, threatening religious people to force them into exile, closing organizations belonging to the Church and prohibiting processions of national importance. He has branded priests and bishops “diabolical” and “traitors.”
Little by little, Ortega added to the list of imprisoned priests, including Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, whom he sentenced to 26 years in prison and stripped him of his nationality.
This April 6, the last arrest that was recorded was against the released political prisoner Olesia Muñoz, originally from Niquinohomo, Masaya. The citizen had withdrawn from the political environment and was engaged in business, in addition she had responsibilities in the church choirs for being a professional soprano singer.
