the nuns Isabel and Cecilia Blanco Castillofrom the Congregation Hermanas Dominicas de la Anunciata, arrived in Costa Rica through the Peñas Blancas border post, after the Daniel Ortega regime expelled them without any justification, reported the priest Gustavo Wattsonspokesperson for the Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia.
The Costa Rican deacon also revealed that another nun of Guatemalan nationality, belonging to the same congregation, he was also ordered to leave Nicaragua.
“The Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia informs that the sisters Isabel and Cecilia Blanco Cubillo, nuns of the Dominicans of the Anunciata congregation, arrived on Costa Rican soil this Wednesday, April 12, through the migration post in Peñas Blancas, after being expelled by the Government of Nicaragua,” said the spokesman for the Costa Rican Diocese in a video.
Related news: Nicaraguan dictatorship expels two Dominican nuns
Likewise, Father Gustavo Wattson reported that “the nuns of Costa Rican nationality were received by their sister Violeta Blanco and her husband Carlos Vargas, in addition to the parish priest of La Cruz, the priest Juan de Dios Bermúdez.”
The priest Juan de Dios Bermúdez was sent by Monsignor Manuel Eugenio Salazar, bishop of the Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia, to the border post, to provide support to the Dominican sisters. One of them arrived in a wheelchair, a product of her advanced age, which prevents her from moving on her own.
On the other hand, the spokesperson for the Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia stated that “we are praying for another nun from the Dominican de la Anunciata congregation, of Guatemalan nationality and who, according to the international press, also received the order to leave Nicaragua in the following hours”.
“Regarding such unfortunate events, Monsignor (Manuel Eugenio Salazar) highlights the dedication work of the nuns, who were in charge of a nursing home in Rivas, Nicaragua. Furthermore, our bishop reiterates its call to prayer for the Church in the neighboring country, specifically for Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, who is already serving two months in prison in a Nicaraguan jail,” he added.
Repression against nuns
This new attack against nuns is added to the recent confiscation of the monastery, property of the congregation Trappist Sisters, located in Santa María de la Paz, in San Pedro del Lóvago. The action of the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship occurred despite the fact that the association was voluntarily dissolved.
The nuns, who left the country on February 24, voluntarily and for personal reasons, indicated that it was the Ministry of the Interior (Migob) who informed them that the building had been handed over to the Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).
The departure of the Trappist Sisters occurred in a context where the Government of Nicaragua has intensified its repressive wave against the Catholic Church of Nicaragua, which has reached religious organizations that carried out charitable works, the last to be expelled from the country were the Sisters of Charityorder created by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, in June 2022.
