At two in the afternoon this Wednesday the nuns arrived in Costa Rica Isabella and Rosario Blancofrom the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Anunciata, who attended the López Carazo nursing home, located in the city of Rivas, after the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo ordered their expulsion from the country.
The Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia reported on its social networks that the nuns were received at the Peñas Blancas border post by their sister Violeta Blanco Cubillo together with her husband, Carlos Vargas.
“Given these facts, the bishop of the Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia, Monsignor Manuel Eugenio Salazar (bishop of the diocese), expresses his desire to provide any support that these nuns, their relatives and/or their sisters of this congregation require,” noted the religious entity.
As it was known earlier, through a notification addressed to the Diocese of Granada, by Monsignor Jorge Solorzano, the regime ordered the departure of the nuns within a period of no more than 72 hours. Neither the ecclesiastical authorities nor the dictatorship have explained the reasons for the expulsion.
Related news: Nicaraguan dictatorship expels two Dominican nuns
Bishop Salazar in a brief statement also asked to keep praying for the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, especially for Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa, who is being held captive by the Sandinista regime after being sentenced to more than 26 years in prison. “Mary Immaculate Mother, defend and protect Nicaragua!”, the Costa Rican religious exclaimed.
Repression against nuns
This new attack against nuns is added to the recent confiscation of the monastery, property of the congregation Trappist Sisters, located in Santa María de la Paz, in San Pedro del Lóvago. The action of the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship occurred despite the fact that the association was voluntarily dissolved.
The nuns, who left the country on February 24, voluntarily and for personal reasons, indicated that it was the Ministry of the Interior (Migob) who informed them that the building had been handed over to the Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).
The departure of the Trappist Sisters occurred in a context where the Government of Nicaragua has intensified its repressive wave against the Catholic Church of Nicaragua, which has reached religious organizations that carried out charitable works, the last to be expelled from the country were the Sisters of Charityorder created by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, in June 2022.
