*Ana María had barely two months after having admitted her relative, a 12-year-old girl, to the Misioneras de la Caridad complex located in the city of Granada, when she was surprisingly notified that the minor could not continue receiving care from the nuns because she had ordered the sudden closure of the center.
She wasn’t the only one. Many local people came to the center for help.
cancellation of legal status on June 29, it put an end to almost 34 years of history to which President Daniel Ortega himself contributed.
According to the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling party, the nuns were not authorized by the Ministry of the Family for their facilities to function as a nursery, child development center, girls’ home, or even as a nursing home, as they did in Granada, a town located south of Managua.
In addition, they assured that the financial statements reported to the Ministry of the Interior —which is the entity that regulates the NGOs— supposedly do not coincide with the documents presented by the nuns.
“The government is very bad with this, they have already exceeded with this action,” said *María via telephone to the Voice of America. “[La ación] It will affect girls, young people, the elderly, homeless people (…) It is unfortunate, it was a beautiful place where girls were trained and it is sad that it will be lost due to evil, pride and harmful minds, ”he lamented.
In her case, she says that she learned about the mission of the nuns for years because of a family incident. So when she had a similar problem she did not hesitate twice to go to the place.
“They behaved very, very well, (my relative) became a more docile person, currently we had a 12-year-old girl, she had been hospitalized for two months and unfortunately they called us and we had to go pick her up,” he said.
Founded in 1986 under the support of Ortega himself
The Missionaries of Charity Association was founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1986 after a visit to Nicaragua, where President Ortega met.
Vice President Rosario Murillo referred to the event years ago and said that it was “an interesting meeting” that she had with the current Sandinista president, during his tenure in the 1980s, according to the report. official newspaper El 19 Digital.
“Our president keeps the photographs and an image of our mother Mary that Mother Teresa, today Saint Teresa of Calcutta, gave him and promised to support the works, the Christian work carried out by the Missionaries of Calcutta, the Missionaries of Mother Teresa, of the Order created by Mother Teresa in our Nicaragua, the Christian work in favor of the poor, of the people who suffer,” Murillo said on August 31, 2016.
Immigration and Immigration guarded them until their departure
Almost 40 years of history translated into social work, were finished by means of a legislative decree. The 18 missionaries of different nationalities were expelled from Nicaraguaa through the General Directorate of Immigration and Immigration, who guarded them until they left for Costa Rica, where they were welcomed by Monsignor Manuel Salazar, Bishop of the Diocese of Liberia.
According to the bishop, who held a Facebook Live this Wednesday night, he had learned about the situation of the missionaries of Mother Teresa of Calcutta through the Nicaraguan press.
But that same Wednesday, at dawn, he received a phone call from a priest telling him that the nuns would leave Nicaragua that day and they asked him if a priest from the diocese of Liberia could do the reception.
She says that they quickly organized themselves with “a humble and simple welcome for these brave women, followers of Jesus Christ, and with that a little lunch on the border, that initial greeting. On behalf of the entire diocese, we gave them a warm welcome. We comforted them, dried some of their tears and, above all, I listened to one of them, the superior, so that she could express to me everything that she had experienced, which out of respect for them, I do not make public”.
“They themselves were not clear on which day they were going to be able to leave Nicaragua,” revealed the priest, adding that they preferred “not to enter into controversy,” and that they remain silent, “but I have seen that they have had difficult moments of anxiety, of anguish , fearful of their physical integrity, knowing that among them there are nuns of different nationalities and some of legal age, older adults”.
In addition, he indicated that they were very worried until they arrived in Costa Rican territory. “If it had been up to them, they would stay in Nicaragua, they love Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan people, especially the poorest and most needy.”
Finally, the priest asked that solutions to current political problems be reached in Nicaragua “with respect for human rights, that there be that freedom of expression for all and without violence or aggression, with respect and tolerance, that political solutions be sought.”
“It is one more satanic act of the dictatorship,” say opponents
The decision of the Nicaraguan government has caused criticism among opponents, religious and even human rights organizations.
Monsignor Silvio Báez, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, who is in exile in Miami, lamented the expulsion of the nuns on his Twitter account and said: “Only sick hearts and dark minds are capable of expelling love,” referring to to the ruling party’s decision. “To expel love is to reject God”, declared Báez.
For his part, former opposition deputy Enrique Sáenz indicated that Ortega and Murillo “are terrified of Christian missions.”
“The expulsion of the nuns, which was founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, carried out works to alleviate the suffering of the vulnerable population, but the dictatorship expelled them. What they did was undress, those Christian speeches are heretical speeches,” said Sáez, also On twitter.
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) also said that the administration of President Daniel Ortega “violated” the nuns with the measure “of hatred of the church, its work of charity and evangelization.”
[*Por decisión editorial para fines de su seguridad personal no revelamos el nombre completo de una de la entrevistadas]
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