At least three Nicaraguan priests affirmed this week that they have been subjected to persecution by the government of President Daniel Ortega, that he would have sent officers of the National Police to their temples.
The most recent case that became known was that of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, known for being critical of the current administration of Managua in his homilies.
Álvarez said that from Thursday morning until Thursday night, he was “persecuted by the police” without any justification.
The siege began with his day in the church, however, it escalated to his home, violating his privacy, as he stated: “They entered my family circle, they came to my private, family home… putting the safety of my family at risk,” affirmed the religious in a video published on your Facebook account.
He also stated that while he was on his way to carry out another errand he would also have been persecuted, for which he made the decision to take refuge in a temple in Managua, from where he would begin an indefinite hunger strike until his safety was guaranteed.
“From today I begin an indefinite water and serum fast until the National Police, through the president or vice president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, let me know that they will respect my circle and family privacy,” the priest announced.
This week the complaint of the priest Harving Padilla, who runs a church in the city of Masaya, south of Managua. The ruling party holds Padilla responsible for alleged acts committed in April 2019. Padilla said that he had a “parish for jail”, after police officers also stationed themselves outside the temple, preventing him from doing daily errands.
“The persecution is against the Catholic Church, not only against a priest, because the objective is to silence the Church in the pastoral and priestly service that we do,” the religious told local media.
Also the priest Uriel Vallejos, who directs a church in northern Nicaragua, denounced an alleged siege against him while he was carrying out a personal activity this week.
“They took pictures of me and then they waited for me to come out and there were other agents, who asked the driver for documents, and then they demanded that I present my personal documents, which I objected to because I was not driving,” Vallejos said.
Legislative commission warns priests
These events occur weeks after a report made by a Nicaraguan legislative commission that analyzed a combo of laws approved between 2020 and 2021, in order to toughen them.
The commission assured that victims of the protests that broke out in the country in 2018 “they demanded justice for the religious and directors of human rights organizations”, which the government has accused of being accomplices of the opposition.
After knowing what has been interpreted as “threats of imprisonment against the priests”, Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo BrenesArchbishop of Managua, stated that he “prayed for those who slandered them.”
“We are calm, we continue to pray for those who slander us. We are not enemies of the government, we contribute what is best for the common good, which is the mission of the church,” Brenes said.
The priests and bishops of Nicaragua have questioned the administration of President Daniel Ortega for the repression of the 2018 protestswhich left more than 300 dead, according to human rights organizations.
Ortega has reacted angrily against the church, whom he blames for being part of an alleged coup against his government.
In the year 2021 in its annual report, The US singled out 56 countries, including Russia, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia as countries where the government threatens and represses religious minorities.
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, said that there are “high or severe restrictions on religious freedom” between countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, where cases of threats and intimidation of religious leaders have been recorded.
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