The bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, Monsignor Roland Alvarez, He denounced on the night of Thursday, May 19, that the Police under the control of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo persecuted him throughout the day, even invading the house of his relatives.
“Today I have been persecuted throughout the day by the Sandinista Police, from morning until this time of night. At all times, during all my movements of the day”, he began by recounting in a video posted on the Facebook page of the Diocese of Matagalpa.
The religious narrated that “at the end of the afternoon” when he was at a niece’s house, he questioned the police officers why they were persecuting him and they replied that “they obey orders.”
“I also told them to contact the first commissioner (Francisco Díaz, head of the National Police), to inform him that this persecution was enough for today, and that I hoped, after having dinner at my niece’s house, that they too they could be resting”, he detailed.
However, he regretted that “far from happening, what I really believed, that with a basic will or minimal common sense on the part of the superior authorities of the Police and the Government, was going to happen, what really happened was the opposite: they entered into my family privacy circle.”
“They came to my private, family, paternal, maternal home, putting the safety of my family at risk. So, I returned to the parish of Santo Cristo de Esquipulas, here in Las Colinas, where I want to thank Monsignor Carlos Avilés, who has given me lodging, and has welcomed me as a guest in this parish,” Álvarez said.
Start fasting until the harassment stops
The bishop stated that since last night he began “an indefinite water and serum fast until the National Police, through the president or vice president of the Episcopal Conference, only let me know that they are going to respect my family privacy circle.”
“They let me know at one of the traffic lights on the highway to Masaya, where I stopped to ask them again what was going on (with the persecution) and they told me that it was for my safety, but we already know precisely that the insecurity in this country, it is by the Police. That is to say: those who make us feel insecure with this persecution, are you, police brothers,” said the Catholic leader.
Álvarez invited the Catholic people of Matagalpa and Estelí “and all those who want to join me in this indefinite fast, to do so”, starting today, going to the parishes of the two Dioceses “that at this moment I am pastoring, that where the parish priests allow it, to adore the Blessed Sacrament, to pray, to sing, to praise the Lord, and to fast for as long as you consider convenient”.
“Also to make vigils, united to this server. I will be in prayer. I’ll be doing exorcism from here, I’ll be praying. I will be before the Blessed Sacrament, celebrating the Eucharist. I will be raising my pleas to the Lord, so that this situation of harsh and cruel harassment for all of us can cease, ”he concluded by saying in the video.
The auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Jose Baezstated his solidarity and his “fraternal closeness” with Álvarez “who is being harassed by the Police.”
#Nicaragua. I offer my solidarity and fraternal closeness to my brother, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa, who is being harassed by the Police. I join in his prayer, asking the Lord to protect him with the strength of his Spirit.
?? https://t.co/36xcNwdf9y pic.twitter.com/wCZLy4lFCp– Silvio José Báez (@silviojbaez) May 20, 2022
“I join your prayer, asking the Lord to protect you with the strength of his Spirit,” he posted on his Twitter account.
Persecution against religious
The harassment and police persecution by the regime against religious of the Catholic Church has intensified in the last week. Father Harving Padilla, from the San Juan Bautista parish in Masaya, has denounced that since last May 15, the regime has imposed “parish for jail”, because it is surrounded by police and paramilitaries.
“They (police officers) say that I can go out at any time I want, but how am I going to go out being insecure, with those people there, how safe can one feel when civilians are constantly stationed there, people we know are paramilitaries? , aggressive, and to prevent them from having any confrontation with me, I prefer not to go out. I have a parish for a jail”, said the priest in an interview with the program Tonight.
On Wednesday, May 18, the priest Uriel Vallejos, pastor of the Divina Misericordia de Sébaco parish, reported being a victim of police harassment.
“Agents of the National Police who are in a booth outside the (Apostolic) Nunciature, took photographs and then waited for me to come out and there were other agents, who asked the driver for documents, and then demanded that I present my personal documents, to which I objected because I wasn’t driving”, denounced the religious through the social networks of the parish.
They will continue to “denounce” and “accompany the people”
The Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Managua was pronounced this Wednesday in the face of the wave of repression and the State’s intentions to imprison priests for alleged “treason against the country.” In a statement published on their social networks, the bishops emphasized that they will continue to denounce “social structures of sin” and accompany the poorest and weakest Nicaraguans.
“The Church will continue to announce the Gospel, denouncing the social structures of sin, accompanying the people, especially the poor and the weak. The mission of the Church will always cause contradictions in this world where along with the light there is also the darkness of evil”, they sentence.
On May 4, Sandinista deputies who are members of the Commission for Justice and Legal Affairs, and the Commission for Peace, Defense, Governance and Human Rights of the National Assembly discussed, among other matters, that “the religious and directors of organizations of human rights that were involved in the coup adventure” should be tried.
