The Episcopal Conference of Panama accused this Friday the government of Daniel Ortega of attacking the “dignity and fundamental rights” of the people of Nicaragua for the expulsion of Bishop Carlos Herrera, sent to Guatemala.
The Panamanian bishops expressed “their deep dismay and pain at the injustices that continue to affect the beloved people of Nicaragua and their Church,” in a statement published in X and media related to the Catholic Church.
Related news: Panamanian Church calls the expulsion of Nicaraguan bishop Carlos Herrera an “attack”
The expulsion of Herrera, president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, is “an act that represents not only an aggression against the Church, but also an attack on the dignity and fundamental rights of the Nicaraguan people,” he added.
Herrera, from the Diocese of Jinotega (northern Nicaragua), was sent to Guatemala on a commercial flight on Wednesday night. He is the fourth bishop expelled after Silvio Báez, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, Rolando Álvarez, from Matagalpa (north), and Isidoro Mora, from Siuna (northeast), who were imprisoned and welcomed in Rome.
The Nicaraguan government closed 15 NGOs, including six nuns, according to decrees published on Friday in the official newspaper La Gaceta.
On the one hand, a resolution signed by the Minister of the Interior, María Amelia Coronel, orders the cancellation of the legal personality and registration of 13 NGOs “for being in breach” of their legal obligations.
Another resolution, also signed by Coronel, formalizes “by voluntary dissolution the cancellation of legal personality and registration” of two other organizations, including Plan International, dedicated to the defense of the rights of minors.
The government of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, toughened the laws against NGOs this year and established that they can only work in Nicaragua in “association alliances” with state entities.
Related news: Sinapred declares “yellow alert” throughout Nicaragua due to the passage of tropical storm Sara
The National System for the Prevention, Mitigation and Attention of Disasters (Sinapred), confirmed Vice-dictator Rosario Murillo, through the speech this afternoon, decided to declare a yellow alert throughout the national territory due to the passage of tropical storm Sara.
«Dr. Guillermo González has sent us a proposal that the fellow president has immediately accepted to declare a yellow alert throughout the national territory. “It is a preventive and protective alert against what we are experiencing,” said Murillo.
He highlighted that “declaring a yellow alert throughout the national territory is a protective, preventive alert against what we are experiencing, alerting if there is moisture on the ground, there may be landslides and there may be misfortunes.”
Nicaragua and Honduras are under alert due to Tropical Storm Sara, which made landfall yesterday Thursday on the border between both countries and continues to dump heavy rains and floods as it moves westward seeking the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
