Bishop Rolando Álvarez denounced the Ortega government to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for the deaths of at least 355 people in the 2018 anti-government demonstrations and held more than 180 “political prisoners.”
Newsroom (24/05/2022 1:30 PM, Gaudium Press) The Catholic Church has been suffering acts of persecution by the Nicaraguan government since 2018 due to its humanitarian stance against repression and its constant denunciations of human rights violations and injustices.
The Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference (CEN) TV Channel has been closed by order of the Government of Daniel Ortega. Most. Rev. Rolando José Álvarez, bishop of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí, is also under police surveillance: “Today I have been distressed all day by the Sandinista police, […] who obey orders”.
Meanwhile, Father Harvin Padilla, a priest from the Diocese of Mayasa, also denounced that he suffered persecution from the police and paramilitary militias of the Sandinista regime.
The CEN issued a statement, saying that they are “living through difficult times as a nation” and their duty “is to announce the truth of the Gospel.”
“Through prayer, we accompany each of the brothers and sisters who associate with the sufferings of Christ and we invoke the Holy Spirit to enlighten the minds and hearts of all Nicaraguans,” the bishops declared last Sunday, May 22.
The bishops’ conferences of Costa Rica and Panama also expressed solidarity with Nicaragua’s people and its Catholic clergy.
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
