The repressive escalation against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua seems to have no end and, on the contrary, day by day it reflects a greater intensification of the actions against it by the State led by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
The police released a statement on Saturday in which they affirm that they are investigating several dioceses of the religious institution for money laundering for allegedly illegally handling “bank account funds and resources” of convicted opponents.
According to the sanctioned Police, the investigations, of which they did not present a single piece of evidence, “led to the discovery of hundreds of thousands of dollars, hidden in bags located in facilities belonging to dioceses in the country.”
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The text details that the Attorney General’s Office, the Superintendence of Banks and the Financial Analysis Unit confirmed “the criminal movements with funds that, for the diocese, have entered the country irregularly and are being investigated and proceedings have been opened for all these reasons.” crimes”.
The president of the Conference of Religious Men and Women (CONFER), Jesús Díaz Sariego, condemned the persecution of the Church. He assured that Monsignor Rolando Álvarez is winning the battle against the regime.
The Ortega Police assured that they summoned Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes to explain about the “illegal acts that are still being investigated as part of a money laundering network.”
Despite this, on the solemnity of Pentecost, the top leader was calm, called for calm and took the opportunity to attack the independent media, stating that sometimes they “exaggerate the news” and criticized the protection of information sources. , a measure that has been taken to protect the identity of religious so as not to risk those involved or their families in view of the repression against the Church.
The Nicaraguan poet and novelist Gioconda Belli, recognized for her feminist and erotic literature, and one of the most critical intellectuals of the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime, was awarded the XXXII Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry, considered the most prestigious recognition of this genre in Spanish and Portuguese, announced the institutions that grant it.
Belli, author of “La mujer habitada”, “Sofía de los Presagios” or “El pergamino de seducción”, is one of the main Latin American writers due to her extensive career in literature.
The jury selected it from among 49 candidacies “for its creative expressiveness, its poetic freedom and courage, as well as its significance in contemporary Nicaraguan culture,” according to a statement from the University of Salamanca and the public institution Patrimonio Nacional.
Belli, one of the most recognized Central American writers, has been “very present in the development of contemporary literature in the last 50 years,” estimated the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, quoted in the statement.
Former Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes (2009-2014), based in Nicaragua, was sentenced this Monday in absentia to 14 years in prison in El Salvador for having facilitated a truce with gangs during his term.
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The former leftist president received a sentence of eight years in prison for the crime of being part of illegal groups and another six years for the crime of breach of duty.
Funes, 63, who is facing other processes before the Salvadoran courts for alleged acts of corruption, left for Nicaragua in mid-2016, where he received asylum. Later, in July 2019, the government of Daniel Ortega granted him Nicaraguan nationality and he is one of the protégés and defenders of the Nicaraguan dictator.
Prior to the fifth anniversary of the massive demonstration that was called “the mother of all marches” and which ended in the largest massacre against civilians known in Nicaragua in recent decades, the Mothers of April Association (AMA) and leaders of the opposition commemorated this date that filled the country with mourning.
In this context, AMA organized the celebration of an anniversary mass in memory of “the victims of the state repression of May 2018.” The Catholic service took place in the Metropolitan Cathedral of San José, in Costa Rica. Later, the organization, together with opponents who live in the neighboring country to the south, held a sit-in to commemorate and continue demanding justice for the more than 350 Nicaraguans murdered during the social protests five years ago.
