Patrol number 1202 arrived at 5:55 a.m. this Tuesday, August 16, with at least 10 police officers—six of them riot police wearing balaclavas armed with AK rifles—looking for the priest Vicente Martínez of the Santa Lucía parish in Ciudad Darío and critic of the regime, increasing the tension caused by the repressive escalation of the State with the Catholic Church in the department of Matagalpa, in the north of Nicaragua.
When the Vicar Sebastian Lopez—a man described by parishioners as “of few words”—was getting ready at 6:30 in the morning for the first mass of the day, decided that he would officiate it from the atrium, watched by the police and by the faithful who were praying, and at some moments they shouted “Long live Christ the King”, challenging the officers in front of the atrium who stayed in a nearby corner and then walked around, according to witnesses.
Martínez, who was unreachable on his cell phone for an interview, was sought by the police of Daniel Ortega’s regime, just three days after they intercepted on Sunday, August 14, the Diocese of Siuna, in the northern Caribbean region of Nicaragua, at 5:50 p.m. to priest Oscar Benavidez Davilaformer adviser to the Matagalpa Youth Ministry, taking him to an unknown location in Managua without offering any public explanation of the reasons for his arrest.
Depending on the version of press, “a group of police officers from the dictatorship” arrived “with the intention of arresting a priest.” A person, consulted by the Catholic news agency, assured that the decision not to open the doors of the parish was to prevent the police from entering the sacred site.
“To take care of the priest, the parochial vicar, Fr. Sebastián López, came out and said that Fr. Vicente was not in the church,” a person told the agency on condition of anonymity.
A parishioner named “María”, interviewed by CONFIDENTIAL, saw the riot police arrive at the parish before dawn. She recalls that it is not the first time that they have been harassed by the authorities, because the officers or paramilitaries at the service of the FSLN usually circulate in the parish since they reject the “prophetic position” of the priest, a critic of Ortega and a defender of human rights. rights of the citizens, also under persecution from the authorities.
Riot police ‘don’t care’ about sentences
The officers warned a member of the parish communication team to stop recording with his cell phone, because they assured “they would not do anything to the father.” But they showed aggressiveness during their stay in the surroundings and even, when a Catholic told them that she would put them in prayer, they replied: “we don’t need that”.
“In the place there were some teachers, young people, old people, everything. People who work and first participate in the mass and then everyone goes to work. They are people who do not commit crimes and do not have to run away either, because we only worship God,” added the parishioner, who describes Ciudad Darío as “in solidarity” with her priests.
Since 2018, the authorities have maintained a growing repression against the Catholic Church. In June, Father Manuel García was imprisoned in Nandaime. To Monsignor Leonardo Urbina in Boaco it was in July. The first was accused of assaulting a woman and the second for rape of a minor. However, both judgments were challenged by independent experts.
Analysts considered that the same judicial processes were carried out without guarantees for the accused, while the government hate speech spread by Rosario Murillo against the religious intensified, accusing them of “coup plotters” and even “devils in cassocks.”
Murillo’s “kingdom of harmony”
For Vice President Rosario Murillo, Ortega’s number two, in the country there is a “kingdom of harmony, of love, that we must consolidate and defend, protect every day and we are doing it,” she said during the act of commemoration of the 42nd anniversary of the Naval Force last August 15.
However, the persecution against the Church has drawn national and international attention. One of the voices that has spoken about it is the Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, Silvio José Báez, who has been in exile since 2019 under the guidance of Pope Francis, who in this way protected the integrity of the Nicaraguan, after the Carmelite Bishop received death threats from Sandinista fanatics.
On his Twitter account, Báez condemned the vile persecution against the Church and asked the world not to leave them alone.
I condemn the cowardly and vile persecution of the Nicaraguan dictatorship against the Catholic Church. The Church of the whole world must turn its eyes towards my country. We need the prayer, closeness and denunciation of the whole Church. I beg you from the bottom of my heart: Do not abandon us!
– Silvio José Báez (@silviojbaez) August 16, 2022
In addition to imprisoning three priests so far and keeping the Bishop of Matagalpa locked up, the Ortega Murillo Administration closed seven radio stations of the Diocese of Matagalpa, desecrated the Sébaco temple, while the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, was opened an “investigation” for supposedly “organize violent groups” and “foster hatred”, accusations in which the regime has not presented any evidence.
“It is a very painful situation what happens to our pastor. The population is very sorry. Not only Catholics, but also evangelicals. Even people from the same Sandinista Front party disagree. They express that messing with the Church is the last thing. The population is well informed, despite the fact that the government closed the media,” added “Maria.”
The mass of this Tuesday, August 16, reached 55,000 reproductions at the close of the edition on the Facebook page of the parish. One of the most striking images occurs when the vicar Sebastián López gives the host to the faithful during communion and must pass it through the mesh of the perimeter wall of the Church, forced by circumstances. “Maria” says that when she went through this, she felt comfort, because she felt that the presence of God “tells us here I am, do not be afraid”.
Bidding farewell, the vicar of Santa Lucia parish told the faithful to pray that “God be the solution of our nation”. After the blessing, a woman’s cry is heard saying: “You are not alone, here is your people of Darío with you.” The applause soon rang out, followed by intense songs to the Virgin Mary and it was heard: “A Church without a cross… is not the Church of Jesus!”
