Twelve people, between priests and laity, including Monsignor Rolando Alvarezhave been “kidnapped” by the Police in the episcopal curia of Matagalpa, since August 4, various Nicaraguan opposition organizations denounced.
The opponents launched a campaign on social networks demanding the immediate release of the twelve victims of religious persecution given the urgency of the possible deterioration in the health of those held.
The members of the Catholic community who are in the curia together with Bishop Álvarez are the priests Ramiro Tijerinorector of the John Paul II Catholic University in Matagalpa; Sadiel Eugarrios, first vicar of the Cathedral Church; the father Raul Gonzalez; Mgr Oscar Scotus, Vicar General of the Diocese of Matagalpa; dad Jose Luis Diaz, first vicar of the Cathedral Church of Matagalpa; the seminarians darvin leiva Y Melkin Sequeira; the members of the choir Membreno Sujin Y Henry Corvera; and the cameramen of TV Merced Flavio Castro Y Sergio Cardenas.
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The Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) warned that Father Tijerino’s health “is beginning to be affected.” Opponents indicate that the also administrator of the parish of the San Juan Bautista de Matagalpa church is hypertensive and is without medication inside the curia.
The Police, at the service of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, prevent them from leaving the place, in the midst of an escalation of repression against Monsignor Álvarez, one of the most popular Catholic leaders in Nicaragua.
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The riot police are blocking the access to the residence, while more than 50 armed officers surround the area. The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) denounced on the afternoon of August 6 that the Ortega Murillo regime keeps the department militarized. “The Police sow terror in the streets and several residents have been summoned to the police,” he denounced through his social networks.
For their part, priests from various parishes in the country have expressed their solidarity with the diocese of Matagalpa and have asked the parishioners to raise their prayers for Monsignor Álvarez, the five priests, seminarians and lay people held in the episcopal curia. The Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes invited the people “not to fear and have faith in God”after expressing his fraternity with Bishop Álvarez.
