The Episcopal Conference of Panama accused this Friday the government of Daniel Ortega of attacking the “dignity” and “fundamental rights” of the people of Nicaragua for the expulsion of Bishop Carlos Herrera, sent to Guatemala.
The Panamanian bishops expressed “their deep dismay and pain at the injustices that continue to affect the beloved people of Nicaragua and their Church,” in a statement published in X and media related to the Catholic Church.
The expulsion of Herrera, president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, is “an act that represents not only an aggression against the Church, but also an attack on the dignity and fundamental rights of the Nicaraguan people,” he added.
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Herrera, from the diocese of Jinotega (northern Nicaragua), was sent to Guatemala on a commercial flight on Wednesday night. He is the third bishop expelled after Rolando Álvarez, from Matagalpa (north), and Isidoro Mora, from Siuna (northeast), who were imprisoned and welcomed in Rome.
Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, accuse the Church of having supported the 2018 protests that left more than 300 dead, according to the UN, and which they consider an attempted coup d’état sponsored by the United States.
According to media outlets working from exile in Costa Rica and the United States, Herrera was “banished” for criticizing the noise that was made at an activity held by the Jinotega mayor’s office, while he was celebrating a mass next door in the cathedral on December 10. November.
