A police group forcibly entered the Niño Jesús de Praga chapel on Monday, located in the municipality of Sébaco, in the north of Nicaragua, as part of an operation to seize the equipment of one of the seven radio stations that were recently forced to close due to mandate of the government of Daniel Ortega.
The Police broke into the premises in the afternoon, attacking parishioners who were stationed outside the chapel, where Radio Católica also operates, one of the stations of the Diocese of Matagalpa that was canceled.
A young woman broadcasting Facebook Live on the page of the Church of Sébaco He assured that the public force launched tear gas bombs at the citizens to spread them for opposing the confiscation of the equipment.
Similarly, police officers fired shots into the air as a form of intimidation, the reporter said on the live broadcast. “The equipment of the Radio and the Channel are assets of the Parish, which the parishioners with so much effort and generosity managed to have,” the Church of Sébaco wrote on Facebook when the agents struggled with the locks of the temple to enter the place.
Once in the chapel, the police cut off the electricity, as in the parish house where the priest Uriel Vallejos is sheltered, who denounced that the agents made arrests against the parishioners and perpetrated aggressions.
“Commissioner Denis Rivas said that this was Rosario Murillo’s order,” said the religious Vallejos by telephone to the Voice of America.
Until the publication of this article, the priest remained locked up in the parish house along with six other people. “I am without power, they have taken the chapel and they have already entered the place where the radio equipment is,” added the priest in a brief communication with this medium.
The cancellation of the seven radios
Before stirring up the situation, the Diocese of Matagalpa denounced that the general director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications (Telcor), Nahima Diaz– who is the daughter of Police Director Francisco Díaz, and who is sanctioned by the United States – notified them of the closure of at least five Catholic radio stations arguing that “they did not have the valid authorization title”, but hours later Monsignor Rolando Álvarez He assured that they were notified of the closure of all the radio stations that add up to seven.
“All our radio stations have been closed to us, but they will not silence the Word of God,” Álvarez said at night on Twitter.
The prelate also affirmed that he personally appeared before the corresponding authorities to ask them to put the stations in order “according to the current orders of Telcor”, but assured that “we never received a response as is the custom of the Government”.
“If the director of Telcor wants to receive me, I will take her, with the receipt and signature of that meeting, all the documents that I presented to them and if she is right, I myself will tell the people that it is correct that they close our radio stations. But if they are not right, they must have the courage and courage to say that they were wrong or they have the purpose of closing our media outlets,” Álvarez said.
The canceled stations are Radio Hermanos, Radio Santa Lucía, Radio Católica, Radio Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, Radio Nuestra Señora de Fátima, Radio San José de Matiguás and Radio Monte Carmelo.
Months ago, Telcor also canceled at least three television channels belonging to the Catholic Church, which, according to Ortega, “conspired with the opposition” to carry out an alleged coup in 2018.
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