Five years since the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, Monsignor Silvio José Báez, was forced to leave the country due to the repression unleashed by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, opponents still consider that the messages and words of the leader “are still valid.”
Through his official account on the social network X, the leader of the Peasant Movement, Medardo Mairena, He expressed that April 23, 2019, the date on which the bishop left the country, was “a very hard day for our people.”
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The political activist also shared a fragment of a video of the reception that Nicaraguans living in the United States gave Monsignor Báez. With blue and white flags in hand, the compatriots sang the song “Nicaragua Mía” to welcome the exiled religious, who now officiates masses at the Santa Agatha church, in Miami, Florida.
During the Eucharist that day, the bishop stated that The Nicaraguan people, “victim of an irrational and oppressive power, will be resurrected.” Báez added that “they are wounds that we must approach, with mercy, to comfort each other in the Lord. “They are wounds that we must approach with hope so that, by contemplating these wounds, we can glimpse a new future for our country.”
«His words, then, are still valid today. Thank you, Monsignor Báez, for not leaving us alone in such difficult circumstances despite his exile,” stated Mairena.
Bishop’s banishment
On April 23, 2019, in a surprise appearance, the Archdiocese of Managua announced the forced departure of Monsignor Báez. At that time, the bishop reported that on one occasion he was alerted by the United States embassy of a plan by Ortega to attack him.
Since his arrival in Managua, in 2009, he has been a “prophetic voice” within the Nicaraguan Church and a harsh critic of the dictatorial couple. In 2018, he defended the role of youth in civic rebellion and called them “the moral reserve” of Nicaragua.
He participated as a member of the Mediation Commission in the first National Dialogue. He also added his voice to denounce the repression of the 2018 civic protests and continued to denounce the persecution against the Catholic Church and the arbitrary imprisonment of religious people, especially that of the Matagalpino bishop. Rolando Alvarez, who spent more than 500 days as a political prisoner.
His outstanding role in defending the human rights of Nicaraguans forced him into exile, a decision by Pope Francis to protect his physical integrity. When announcing his exile, Bishop Báez revealed that the Ortega-Murillo regime had planned an attack against him, a fact that was alerted to him by the United States Embassy in Managua, he even reported that several drones were flying over his residence.
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The Catholic leader was ordained a priest in the city of San Ramón, Alajuela, Costa Rica on January 15, 1985. Since his ordination he has carried out various pastoral tasks in Guatemala, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, the United States, Italy and Peru.
Currently, from abroad, Monsignor Báez maintains his denunciation and criticism against the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo on his social networks, since the religious leader began to celebrate his masses in the church of Santa Agatha, in Miami, Florida, United States. Joined.
Monsignor Silvio Báez was one of the first religious figures to have their Nicaraguan nationality taken away, although at that time he was already outside the country. Abroad, he continues the fight for the release of political prisoners and still emerges as one of the most powerful voices against the Nicaraguan dictatorship.
