Monsignor Carlos Enrique Herrera, in charge of the Diocese of Jinotega and president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN), celebrated his 76th birthday on December 21 in the exile that was imposed on him by the Sandinista regime.
The president of the CEN was expelled by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo after he called sacrilegious to municipal authorities of Jinotega, who placed loudspeakers outside the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista de Jinotega, where he was preparing to deliver the homily on Sunday, November 10.
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Bishop Silvio José Báez, from exile and through his X account, congratulated Monsignor Herrera and said he thanked “the Lord for your light, friendship, your life and your pastoral ministry.”
“May the Lord always be your light and your strength and the Virgin Mary take care of you every day with her maternal love,” added Bishop Báez in his publication, which also included a photograph in which he appears with Monsignor Herrera.
Four bishops banished
On November 13, the president of the CEN was kidnapped by the Sandinista Police and then expressly exiled to Guatemala, becoming the fourth bishop exiled by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.
The dictator Daniel Ortega, in the last five years, also expelled bishops Rolando Álvarez, from the Diocese of Matagalpa (north), Isidoro Mora, from the Diocese of Siuna (northeast), and Silvio José Báez, from the Archdiocese of Managua .
Related news: Panamanian Church calls the expulsion of Nicaraguan bishop Carlos Herrera an “attack”
The recent expulsion of Monsignor Herrera generated repudiation and condemnation from human rights organizations, Catholic activists and episcopal conferences in the Central American region.
The Episcopal Conference of Panama, two days after the exile of the president of the CEN, accused Daniel Ortega’s regime of attacking the “dignity” and “fundamental rights” of the people of Nicaragua.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the situation constituted “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.”
