Some 5,000 processions have been blocked by the Nicaraguan National Police during Holy Week, according to a report published by the Pro Transparency and Anti-Corruption Observatory, which closely follows the attacks on the Church.
The government has also intensified the persecution of people related to the Church, according to complaints from opponents, and has arrested several people, including a journalist who was covering an activity during Holy Week in the city of Granada, south of Managua.
It was Victor Ticay, correspondent for the national media channel Canal 10 and founder of the website La Portada. Ticay’s arrest was confirmed to the voice of america by a relative who preferred not to be identified.
The family fears that his arrest was due to having broadcast on the Facebook account of the media outlet that runs a religious activity that the police tried to stop.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for Central America and the Caribbean (OHCHR) on Thursday called on the Nicaraguan government to allow the holding of religious processions, regarding the prohibitions imposed by Daniel Ortega on the Catholic Church .
In this sense, OHCHR said that this prohibition “violates religious freedom” that is embodied in the Political Constitution of Nicaragua. “We call on the State to allow religious processions to be held: their general prohibition violates religious freedom, which requires that all people be able to exercise it individually and collectively, both in private and in the public sphere,” the office said on Twitter.
The Ortega government has not referred to said action and neither has the National Police led by Commissioner Francisco Díaz, sanctioned by the United States.
Several detained, including a journalist
At the same time, the Nicaraguan police have resumed arrests against opposition activists and a journalist.
The young Jasson Salazar, from the April 19 University Movement (MU19A) was arrested on Wednesday by the Nicaraguan National Police, according to his organization. In addition to Salazar, the Nicaraguan opposition reports the arrest of activists Anielka García and Ángel Boniche, who have not yet been presented by the National Police.
Héctor Mairena, director of the opposition Blue and White National Unity, affirms that dozens of political activists are also being harassed by the security forces to prevent any protest within the framework of the anniversary of the sociopolitical crisis that this April 18 turns 5.
“All of this is in the context of the fifth anniversary of the April rebellion, because they fear that the population will demonstrate and therefore unleash this wave of terror,” Mairena said.
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