The government of Daniel Ortega accelerated the persecution against the Catholic Church by ordering the closure of bank accounts in various dioceses in Nicaragua, according to what members of the clergy denounced, who pointed out to the voice of america their desire to withhold their names.
In the same way, the lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina, who compiles the attacks against priests in the country and who was recently quoted in a report of the State Department on the attacks on the Catholic Church, stressed that this measure follows the arrest this week of two priests in the north of the country who are being investigated by police authorities for having led a religious organization that was shut down.
In the lawyer’s opinion, the Ortega government seeks “an unprecedented suffocation” against the Catholic Church, which the president has branded as a “coup plotter” for hosting anti-government protesters in its temples in 2018.
“Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo have a declared war against the Catholic Church,” he added.
A priest who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals said that up to now it has been confirmed that the suspension of bank accounts covers Managua —the capital of Nicaragua— and the Diocese of Matagalpa and Estelí, in the north of the country, which were administered by Bishop Rolando Álvarez, imprisoned by the Ortega administration and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
“The intention is to destroy the Church,” lamented the religious.
Government has not pronounced
Local media such as Confidencial, directed by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, indicate that the suspension of bank accounts was extended to all the churches in the country.
The Ortega government has not ruled on the matter; Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes declined a request for comment made by the VOA.
Likewise, the newspaper El País reported this Saturday about the blocking of the accounts citing unidentified ecclesial sources, but they also make it clear that neither the banks nor the Ortega government have ruled on the matter.
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