The priest Uriel Vallejos together with six parishioners have remained locked up for two days in the parish house of Jesús de la Divina Misericordia, besieged by dozens of riot police, who since Monday, August 1 de facto occupied the premises of the church, the Infant Jesus of Prague chapel, and the San Luis Gonzaga College, of which the parish priest is also director.
As time passes, communication and uncertainty grow. In his last post on Twitter, on the morning of this Wednesday, August 3, Father Vallejos shared a biblical quote about the greatness of faith and cried out for prayers.
Very little is known about their conditions, after it was confirmed that they do not have access to food because the kitchen is under police custody. The father said, on Tuesday, in an interview with TV-Merced, of the Diocese of Matagalpa, that they resist with juices, apples and cookies, they do not have electricity, and they do not know the reasons why the police do not withdraw.
«Woman, great is your faith; let it happen to you as you wish.” What is the great faith? Great faith is that which carries its own history, also marked by wounds, at the feet of the Lord asking him to heal it, to give it meaning. (Mt. 15, 21-28).
PRAYERS! pic.twitter.com/WIRcZIDrNX– Pbro Uriel Vallejos (@pbrourielv) August 3, 2022
Until now the Police have not entered the room where they are, but they have not been allowed to leave either. It is unknown if the group has access to water or if a bathroom is available.
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) reported this Wednesday that the conditions of the priest Uriel Vallejos, held in a parish occupied by police since last Monday, worsened after the electricity supply was cut off, and that his food is almost exhausted.
“They cannot go out, the Police have surrounded them and closed the street that adjoins the temple. What does the Ortega Murillo regime intend? Let them starve to death?” demanded the Cenidh.
The riot police have been inside and outside the parish since Monday afternoon, when they forcibly assaulted the Catholic temple to take away the equipment of Radio Católica de Sébaco, one of the ten religious stations closed by the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office (Telcor). ), between this Monday and Tuesday, when they dropped the guillotine on 12 media outlets.
The policemen entered after beating and throwing tear gas canisters at the citizens who came to the priest’s body.
The riot squad was unable to steal the radio equipment because the parishioners guarded it before they entered the church. The place is still guarded by the Police, which has now prevented vehicular traffic in front of the Catholic temple, sources in the area confirmed to CONFIDENTIAL.
Brian Nichols, United States Deputy Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, described the “brutal attack by Ortega-Murillo against the Catholic clergy, radio facilities and members of the community in Sébaco” as “another blow to the freedoms of religion and expression in Nicaragua”, according to a publication on his Twitter account.
Ortega-Murillo’s brutal attack on Catholic clergy, radio facilities and community members in Sébaco is another blow to the freedoms of religion and expression in Nicaragua. How can men and women in uniform (many people of faith) carry out such orders?
— Brian A. Nichols (@WHAAsstSecty) August 4, 2022
“How can men and women in uniform (many people of faith) carry out such orders?” he questioned, referring to the Police. Last June, andhe Ambassador for International Religious Freedom of the United States, Rashad Hussein, expressed that the Government of Joe Biden was “concerned” about the use of mobs and street shock forces by the Ortega regime to intimidate and besiege to priests in Nicaragua.
Persecution against the Church intensifies
After two days of uncertainty, the Catholic Church has not spoken publicly about the tense situation that the priest Vallejos is going through. In previous interviews, the religious assured that he maintained communication with other pastors, including Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, head of the Diocese of Matagalpa and administrator of the Diocese of Estelí.
Police persecution has also spread to the Matagalpa area. Traffic agents blocked the street of the episcopal residence in that city, where Bishop Álvarez lives, one of the voices critical of the Ortega regime. The prelate has been the victim of constant siege and surveillance by the Police, which in May increased to the point that the bishop sought protection in a temple in Managua.
This Tuesday, the newspaper La Prensa published that Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes has been guarded for a few weeks by two police patrols. Likewise, the Article 66 platform reported that the priest Pedro Méndez, parish priest of the Santa María Magdalena church, in Monimbó, Masaya, was threatened by the general commissioner Juan Valle Valle, in charge of the Police in that department, after a homily celebrated on July 17, in which the priest recalled the horror of the cleanup operation four years ago.
Valle told the priest Méndez, who was a victim of the paramilitary offensive in Monimbó, that “be careful because soon he was going to fall like other priests”detailed the media outlet.
The Ortega regime’s attack against the Catholic Church has been frontal since 2018, when they raised their voices to denounce the human rights violations that Nicaraguans were being victims of and arranged their temples as a refuge from state violence. This was enough to be persecuted by the Sandinista Front, which has been in charge of promoting smear campaigns, sending mobs to desecrate churches and beat up religious, ordering a police siege and jailing them, as has happened with Fathers Manuel García and Leonard Urbina.
Priests forced into exile
This Wednesday, August 3, the priest Edwing Román, former head of the San Miguel church in Masaya, celebrated one year of being exiled in the United States due to the permanent police siege and threats.
The priest Román left the country for ten days to celebrate a baptism, but during that time the attacks increased. This Tuesday, Román recalled his departure from the country and attached a video of Vice President Rosario Murillo, in which he refers to his person and the auxiliary bishop, Monsignor Silvio Báez, also in exile due to threats against the life of the.
Murillo, alluding to Román, said that he “profaned” the church in Masaya. In reference to Bishop Báez, he said that “the bells rang so that people would come out to die.”
Today a year that I left Nicaragua for ten days to celebrate a Baptism. Three days later this poisonous video alludes to me already @silviojbaezand as a complement, a well-known Sandinista journalist and deputy on a TV show, threaten me with jail.
We’ll be back! pic.twitter.com/6U4GOpBogA– Edwing Roman (@EdwingRoman14) August 3, 2022
The priest Román was at the forefront of the defense of the town in Masaya during the repeated police attacks against the citizens. He opened the church to shelter the population from the bullets, treated the wounded and also ensured the safety and respect for the human rights of the police and residents who protested in 2018.
His critical position against the abuses of power committed by the Ortega regime placed him at the center of the repression. The priest has suffered direct attacks, police siege on repeated occasions and in 2019 he was kidnapped along with mothers of political prisoners in his own church, besieged by the Police, who terrorized them at night with threats of jail and death.
*With information from Eph.
