The National Police prohibited the celebration of the traditional procession of Our Lord of Esquipulas or the Black Christ in the El Viejo municipality, an image of Jesus crucified that Central Americans have venerated for more than 400 years.
“By this means we inform all the parishioners that this year 2023 the traditional procession with the image of Our Lord of Esquipulas will not take place this coming January 15,” reported the Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas parish of the El Viejo municipality, department of Chinandega, in western Nicaragua, through a message on their social networks.
The parish had detailed last December the route that the venerated image would take; However, this Thursday he announced the suspension without explaining the reasons.
Neighboring parishes to the town indicated on social networks that the suspension is due to an order from the National Police —directed by the presidential couple Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo—, which during the second semester of 2022 it prohibited religious processions in almost the entire country, including those of the celebration of the Immaculate Conception of María, patron saint of Nicaragua, those of San Jerónimo in Masaya, and La Merced in Matagalpa.
On December 30, the president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference (CEN), Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera, reported on the cancellation of the traditional procession of Jesus Sacramentadosummoned for January 1 and to which thousands of Catholics generally attend.
The Catholic hierarch, who is bishop of the diocese of Jinotega, explained through a public statement “that for reasons beyond our control, the traditional procession of Jesus Sacramento, scheduled for January 1, is suspended,” without further details.
Image revered throughout Mesoamerica
The procession of the Lord of Esquipulas is one of the most important religious festivities in western Nicaragua and attracts hundreds of parishioners who travel to the municipality of El Viejo to accompany and carry the sacred image on their shoulders during the tour, and to thank for the favors done.
At least seven other municipalities in Nicaragua celebrate the Black Christ with popular festivals, for being the local patron. These communities are: Chontales, El Sauce, Esquipulas, Jinotega, La Conquista, Matagalpa and Tipitapa. 58.5% of the inhabitants of Nicaragua are Catholics, according to the last national census.
The Black Christ was first venerated in 1594 in Esquipulas, Guatemala, from where its popularity spread to Mesoamerica.
Four years ago, thousands of Nicaraguan Catholics participated in a pilgrimage for the Lord of Esquipulas in the department of Matagalpa, in the north of the country, and asked for peace in Nicaragua, which has been immersed in a sociopolitical crisis since April 2018 that has left Hundreds of deaths and arrests.
On that occasion the pilgrimage was led by the bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarezwho has been incarcerated since last August and charged four months later for the alleged crimes of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news to the detriment of the State and Nicaraguan society.
The arrest and accusation against Bishop Álvarez along with seven other priests and two other collaborators is the most recent chapter of a particularly turbulent year for the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.
Last October, the dictator Daniel Ortega attacked the Catholic Church led by Pope Francisaccused her of not practicing democracy, of being a “dictatorship” and a “perfect tyranny” and of having used “her bishops in Nicaragua to carry out a coup d’état” against her government in the context of the demonstrations that broke out in April 2018 and that his regime brutally repressed, leaving more than 355 dead.
In April 2018, thousands of Nicaraguans took to the streets to protest controversial social security reforms, which later turned into a demand for Ortega’s resignation, as he responded with force.
