More than thirty officers of the National Police —on foot, in patrols and on motorized vehicles— monitor and prevent vehicular and pedestrian access to the Santo Cristo parish, located at the second entrance to Las Colinas, where Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez takes refuge. bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, who began fasting and praying indefinitely since last Thursday night until the end of the police siege he is suffering.
“Today no priest accompanies me because two brothers who came to celebrate (the Eucharist) with me have been rejected, impeding their passage with rudeness and even rudeness. Father Yedris Calero, rector of the Minor Seminary, and Father Pablo Antonio Villafranca, parish priest of La Cruz, who was also told an offense against him and his mother, yelling at him: ‘don’t let that son of P pass by’”. revealed this Sunday the bishop, one of the prophetic voices of the Nicaraguan church.
Álvarez denounced last Thursday that the National 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. Consequently, he decided to start “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 will respect my family privacy circle.”
For this Sunday, at 10:00 am, Monsignor Álvarez had announced that, in that parish, he would preside over the traditional Sunday mass. However, access to parishioners and the media was prevented. The four streets that border the church are guarded by police, and on the street where the main access to the temple is located there is a police checkpoint that prevents access.
“Unfortunately, we insist that with this type of attitude, harmony, fraternity, and dialogue are not paid for at all, rather things and the social situation that Nicaraguans live in become more tense,” denounced Álvarez, one of the most religious popular and influential Nicaraguans.
A team of CONFIDENTIAL confirmed that the officers do not let vehicles or pedestrians pass. Likewise, near the checkpoint on the main street, a riot patrol is stationed, who are attentive to vehicles and passers-by. It was also observed that other riot police patrol the surrounding streets.
“Fasting is an act of faith”
The bishop of Matagalpa officiated the mass without parishioners, as confirmed in the live broadcast he made through Facebook. The video shows that the church choir and the readers participating in the religious ceremony were not in the same place.
The religious took advantage of his homily to recall that “he who does not have a historical memory becomes depersonalized, loses his identity, loses his present and his future escapes him because he does not learn from his mistakes nor does he learn from his successes or his virtues”.
He recalled that the peace of God, “is not the peace of the powerful who seek to impose their will at all times, it is not the peace of repression, it is not the peace of prisons, of the torturer, of the persecutor, it is not the peace of the cemeteries.
Álvarez explained, in his homily on Saturday afternoon, that the fasting and prayer he carries out “it’s not a hunger strike” because it is a “act reflected in the light of the gospel, an act of salvation. It is not a political matter but of faith”.
Likewise, he admitted that fasting does have social implications because it was motivated by persecution and the violation of his rights as a citizen. “I will not allow them to violate me (my rights)”he reaffirmed.
Situation in Masaya
The priest Harving Padilla, parish priest of the San Juan Bautista churchfrom Masaya, denounced that this morning the officers of the National Police, who have surrounded his temple since Saturday afternoon, tried to stop him when he was about to deliver an altar boy who was trapped by the police fence.
“Grandfather arranged to come and get it, so I was going to deliver it through the garage door. At that moment, a Hilux truck with riot gear came by and one of them asked me: what am I going to do? Where was he going? I am only going to hand over the altar boy, I can give it, yes he told me, but I see that immediately he comes and weighs himself towards me, ”the religious denounced to the 100% Noticias channel.
As he described, the police tried to open the gate to take him away, but he managed to put the padlock. Padilla completed a week of police surveillance this Sunday, and since Saturday the streets that connect with the parish remain closed by officialsfor which he has canceled religious activities.
This morning, the priest confronted the police officers who are still watching and stalking the place. He asked them to reflect on the actions they commit. “I will continue to pray for you and today with the church open I am going to celebrate the Eucharist so that you react and are not manipulated as puppets in the face of these arbitrariness that occur against all the brothers,” he told them.
Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, archbishop of Managua, said this morning that the bishops are praying and accompanying Father Harving and Monsignor Álvarez in prayer. Likewise, he pointed out that the Holy See is already aware of the situation of siege experienced by religious in Nicaragua.
“The Church is not an institution of confrontation, it is an institution of dialogue for the common good of people,” he told the media after finishing the Sunday Eucharist.
