“This November 7, my footprint will be clean, as will my conscience,” said priest Uriel Vallejos, parish priest of the Divina Misericordia church in Sébaco, Matagalpa, in a homily, referring to the Nicaraguan national crisis, the voting without legitimacy and the human rights violations.
“That message is what each Nicaraguan had in his throat to express, to express. People have said it, we are not going to vote ”, assures the priest from Matagalpa.
Vallejos believes that the conditions for fair and democratic elections “do not exist” in Nicaragua. “We already know that the electoral circus is themselves. So, it is being a clown to go out to vote, to choose ”.
The parish priest admits that “preaching the truth” in Nicaragua is risking one’s life. “We are all threatened,” however, despite threats, persecution and blackmail, “the Church will not be silent,” he says.
In a interview with the program Tonight, the priest questions the “electoral farce”; denounces the seizure of the civil and political rights of citizens; and affirms that a message from the Episcopal Conference appeals to the conscience of public servants.
What is the main concern that families have in their communities?
The migration; the family disintegration that is causing this migration; lack of employment; the massive dismissals that exist in State institutions, when a person, a lay person, does not agree with the feeling or the parameters of the Government of the day; and the pandemic.
People are worried. They say: “I want to get the vaccine, I can even pay.” 3000 vaccines came to Sébaco. It was the great lines, and the poor old people there waiting, and in the end there is no vaccine, and everyone was left without the vaccine. It is sad to see this reality, very painful.
You accompanied a group of parishioners who traveled to Honduras to get vaccinated. Why didn’t they wait in Nicaragua?
Due to the mistrust there is. They say: “Father, they are applying the Sputnik Light vaccine”, which is not approved by WHO, PAHO; then it is not credible. The people are not stupid, and the youth are worse. It is hard to see the great pilgrimages on that border of Espino, to see Nicaraguan brothers also who are waiting inside. It is a reality that those who influence Health must think. There is no need to go to another sister country to provide care, but you have to think about the people, you have to invest in medicines, in this case the vaccine, which is the necessary moment, because the people are dying, because this pandemic has wreaked havoc.
The message of his homily last Sunday has been reproduced by many people. Can priests today, and the Church, preach in freedom in Nicaragua?
It is difficult, here it is risking your life, because we are all threatened: I am one. The Government, with its orders that it gives to the institutions and the Police, lives watching me. If one has faith and has made the option for Jesus Christ, we know that the prophetic voice makes the powerful uncomfortable; So, I only look at Jesus, in his difficult moments he never abandoned his people, Jesus always denounced injustices, and that is what bothers the powerful, that you tell him the truth, the Church is not there to shut up, be a dog mute in the face of difficulties, in the face of sieges, he threatens them; Although she herself is being threatened, she always has to be light and hope for the people, in this case specifically for Nicaragua.
I know that there are many priests who, out of fear, out of fear, do not do it, and I know that deep down they carry that cry; but it must be done, because it is the moment that we all have to support our suffering people.
Campaign against the Church
The Government has undertaken a black campaign against priests, whom he calls political priests, and fans of the regime also question them for commenting on the national crisis.
That’s called intimidation, to shut up. Many are silent because they are married to the State, and that is why they do not want to speak. So, while you have nothing to step on you, you have the courage and power to preach with the word, because the word transcends, the word is transversal, and that word has to reach everyone.
What do we as the Church, as priests, have to do? Speak with the truth, because we have in front, the holy people of God who are suffering siege, threats, persecution, murder, and that is what we see every day, and we cannot silence that because it is a sin for me, it is a sin for everyone. , and that’s what bothers you, that you tell them the truth.
The presidential couple has called them “priests of the devil, criminals and terrorists.” Do they feel threatened?
Yes, there is a verbal threat, and a threat, we can say, orchestrated, ordered and also activated. But if I hide in my priestly house, and do not illuminate the reality of the word of Jesus in the preaching. God’s voice is not silent. God’s voice speaks. Because if we don’t talk, who’s going to?
With less than two weeks before the November 7 voting, what is the feeling of the congregation of the Sébaco communities?
People have said: “We are not going to vote.” They were waiting for the message from the Episcopal Conference, from our bishops, it has already been read at the national level, until the last community we have.
“Father, it would be good for you to speak out, have the support of the people.” And that is what I feel here in Sébaco, the people support me, and I have not left them alone, I have walked with them, and I think that this message is what each Nicaraguan, and especially these brothers of ours who are in this city, They had it, as they said, in their throats to express it, to express it. And people are not going out. We already know who are going to leave.
Are there conditions for a truly democratic election to be held in Nicaragua on November 7?
This country has no condition, we already know that the electoral circus is themselves. So, it’s being a clown, going out to vote, going out to choose. The country in the street is armed, and who has armed the country? It is the same government. No one here has disarmed all the paramilitaries, and many government supporters also have weapons, and the people are not going to expose their lives.
Bishops message
The Episcopal Conference in its message appeals to the conscience of citizens to decide what to do or not to do on November 7. How does this message translate into people’s daily lives?
I dare say that those who are working in the State and are faithful, very faithful to the Church, take it seriously, and they are Christians that one says: Father, I am here, but I am for my work. I know and I suffer a lot and I carry a cross internally, because every time I receive blackmail, threats, and even, because I am friends with you, they live pointing to me, what I do is avoid having contact, I better write to you there, I come to visit you no one is there because there is always someone watching.
This message is for everyone, but specifically for those brothers who are within the institutions of the State, and who for any “x”, “y” invitation, and who do not attend, will lose their job. So that’s appealing to your conscience, because there are many who have decided not to.
What consequences can it have for citizens if the right to democratically elect at the polls is taken away from them?
Here the sovereign has to decide. We either drink it or spill it! In this case, the international community, which has been rooster-hen, in this regard. Also the opposition at the time, today they are looking at the consequences it has; private company. The people have already put what they had to put, but the people do not get tired, the people are there. As Monsignor Silvio Báez said: “the people are waiting.” What the people expect is a change, and that there is a leader who can say: “here I am.” Credible, a leader who really loves this people. But, unfortunately, they know the fear, that the leaders have them in jail.
And what evaluation does the Catholic Church have in relation to the more than 150 political prisoners and the trials against them?
What there is is a judicial farce, because they are clean people. The people had put their hope in them; So, the government is afraid of that, that’s why it has them locked up, unjustly imprisoned.
Is the church hopeful that this crisis will be overcome after November 7?
Hope will always persist. A people without hope is a people that is going to ruin, and a people that will see itself immersed in suffering. The power of hope comes in Christ Jesus; the powerful do not prevail, they are finite, people who are here today and are not there tomorrow.
The Church, even if it is persecuted, even if it is threatened, even if it is blackmailed, the Church will always be there. The Church will never turn off its prophetic voice, even if it says what the president (Daniel Ortega), Rosario Murillo, says, the Church will always be prophetic in these difficult times that the nation is experiencing. Nothing and nobody can silence us.
