The Archdiocese of Managua once again expressed its closeness to the victims of the “sociopolitical problem” that has lasted for more than three years in Nicaragua, as a result of the state repression unleashed by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo since April 2018, which left 355 murdered, according to statistics collected by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The press release from the Archdiocese of Managua, chaired by Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, comes amid the tension in relations between the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship and the Church after the closure of the Catholic Channel by order of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Correos (Telcor), at the service of the dictatorship.
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“The Archdiocese of Managua publicly reiterates its closeness in prayer to all the people and families who suffer the effects of the sociopolitical problems in which we Nicaraguans continue to be immersed with all its effects and at all levels,” the Archdiocese said in a note from press.
He explains that the sociopolitical crisis in Nicaragua has “stuck our society in an environment of insecurity, polarization and intransigence, unleashing a dynamic of division and antagonism that prevents overcoming this critical national situation.”
They also raised their voices against the persecution suffered by Father Harving Padilla, pastor of the San Juan Bautista Parish in the city of Masaya, and Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Apostolic Administrator of Estelí, who is being held in prayer and fasting in Managua after the resurgence of police harassment.
“(Both priests) live in an atmosphere of anxiety for their personal safety and the impossibility of exercising their right to live and celebrate their faith in an atmosphere of peace and freedom,” he says.
At the same time, he calls on the National Police to “put down this unnecessary attitude and we invite them to pray so that wills move to create a climate of national understanding.”
