The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has jailed another priest, the second in the last two months.
This is Monsignor José Leonardo Urbina, who directed the parish of Perpetuo Socorro and was episcopal vicar of Boaco, located about 88 kilometers east of Managua. The religious was arrested after having gone to a local delegation after a complaint of alleged rape of a minor.
Judge Yolanda Fletes Cano ordered the preventive detention measure against the 51-year-old priest and scheduled an initial hearing for July 21.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the alleged events occurred on different dates and places in the city of Boaco.
Parishioners plead innocence
Very little is known about the priest and although the Catholic Church in Nicaragua has not made a statement so far, the congregation held a small demonstration in the Boaco temple in defiance of the protest bans imposed by Ortega since September 2018, and claimed innocence. of the priest assuring that it was “a montage”.
“We are here because we want to demonstrate for all the injustice against our priest. Everything was very organized, but no matter how strong they are, God is going to punish them, everything they have said is very false, that is why we want freedom for our priest This is too much, there are already two priests,” a woman holding a banner in her hand told a local reporter.
“Let’s hope there is justice in the name of Jesus Christ, freedom, freedom!” other parishioners chanted with banners.
“We want to tell all the people not to believe what is happening, we know that there are delicate things involved, but divine justice will prevail,” said another woman.
The journalist Francisco Cantillano who covered this demonstration, the Police took his cell phone, according to the media 100%News, who also assured that the reporter was summoned to the station of the police institution for this Thursday.
This is the second religious arrested
The arrest of the Boaco priest becomes the second case against the Catholic Church. On 1st June the parish priest Manuel Salvador García was arrestedfrom the Jesús de Nazareno church, for the alleged crimes of threatening five people with a weapon.
García was critical of the Ortega government and his arrest was preceded by patrols stationed outside the temple to record the homilies, according to local witnesses.
Father García was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison for alleged threats and also for alleged psychological and physical injuries to the detriment of a woman who was also accused and imprisoned for “false testimony” by declaring that she was not attacked in a “willful” way by the priest.
“The expeditious nature of these cases is striking”: Opposition
The opponents consulted by the voice of america They assure that it is striking that since the beginning of this government in 2007, “an accusation or complaint against priests or other authorities, with complaints of rape of minors or violence against women, would never have been taken into account.”
“In these two situations of these two priests, the action has been extremely expeditious. Taking into account the background, one has to think badly and at least ask what is behind these accusations,” questions opposition activist Ana Quiros, a member of the Blue and White National Unity organization.
“Not only is the speed with which they acted striking, but also the Boaco parishioners who say that it is a case of history created with the exclusive purpose of hitting the church,” the opponent told the VOA.
According to the activist, “the true intention of this regime and its authorities is also revealed” to hide the facts “by confiscating a journalist’s equipment from a journalist.”
The former Nicaraguan ambassador to the OAS, Arturo McFields also spoke about it on Twitter and denounced “an infernal hunt against the church.” “Pope Francis Francis, can no longer remain silent, it would be better for him to resign if he does not protect and defend the church from him,” McFields harangued.
Lawyer Yader Morazán, who worked for more than five years in a court specialized in violence against women in Nicaragua, stressed that what is striking about the new arrest of a religious is that in these processes, the most important thing is to protect the victim, her identity and integrity, and all the more so when it comes to a girl. “This type of process has never been given so much publicity,” Morazán wrote on the same social network.
Ortega has unleashed a persecution against the Catholic Church, according to organizations and countries such as the United States, which point out that the president sees the priests as the enemy for having sided with the protesters since 2018, when there were violent protests that left more than 300 dead.
In recent months, Ortega, who has referred to priests as “devils in cassocks,” has shut down several local channels belonging to different parishes. He also expelled less than a month ago a group of 18 missionaries of the Mother Teresa of Calcutta order.
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