Daniel Ortega’s government has shut down several Catholic radio stations in Nicaragua. Photo: EFE
On Tuesday, Nicaraguan police maintained a fence around the Divine Mercy church in the city of Sébaco, where his priest remained a refugee after the closure of the Catholic Radio in that town and five other stations of the church.
“Excuse me, but I have police and riot police nearby and I cannot speak loudly. We are surrounded but I am fine, we are fine,” Father Uriel Vallejos said in brief telephone statements to Associated Press which he did almost in a whisper. He added that he was accompanied by six people.
Earlier, in an audio distributed to the media, the priest said this on Monday evening they had cut the electricity to the religious headquarters and that the police were “distributed in the kitchen, in the chapel, outside and on the campus of the San Luis school” which is part of the structures. “We couldn’t have dinner yesterday because they went into the kitchen,” she added.
In another recorded message, the priest described the police action which led to the occupation of the Casa Cural de Sébaco -103 kilometers north of the capital, where Radio Cattolica operated.
Shootings and tear gas
Human rights organizations denounced it the police fired shots into the air and threw tear gas to disperse a few dozen people who tried to enter the religious center after a request for support made by Father Vallejos on social networks.
Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Álvarez, critic of President Daniel Ortega’s government. Photo: EFE
Daniel Ortega’s government on Monday ordered the closure of six radio stations annexed to the diocese of Matagalpa – the northern department to which the municipality of Sébaco belongs – run by Bishop Rolando Álvarez, one of the most critical voices of the Catholic Church.
Monsignor Álvarez confirmed in a mass from the cathedral that he had received a letter from the director of the State Institute of Telecommunications and Posts (Telcor) in which he announced the closure of radio stations, a measure he considered “an injustice”.
Álvarez is one of the most uncomfortable bishops for Ortega. He demanded the release of about 190 “political prisoners” and last month fasted to end the “persecution” against him after police patrols followed him from Matagalpa and forced him to take refuge in a church in Managua.
After the social rebellion of 2018, which was violently repressed by police and paramilitaries, the bishop of Matagalpa and other priests accused Ortega of “repressing the people.” The priest Vallejos also expressed solidarity with the demonstrators who protested against the government.
The 2018 protests in Managua against Daniel Ortega’s government were massive and ended in repression and violence. Photo: AP
What does Daniel Ortega say?
Ortega, for his part, described the protests as a “failed coup” and accused the bishops of being part of an opposition plan to overthrow it.
The government has not reported on these events or confirmed the police occupation of religious facilities or the Sébaco radio station.
The Sandinistas argue a tense relationship with the Catholic Church from the epoch of the revolution in the 1980s, when several bishops strongly contested the first Ortega government (1985-1990) for the persecution of the independent press and the most critical priests.
However, before returning to the presidency in 2007, Ortega offered a government of “peace and reconciliation” and approached his former enemy, Catholic leader and cardinal Miguel Obando, who became his ally and even officiated at the mass of the his marriage to Rosario Murillo, vice president since 2017.
Source: AP
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Gabriela Selser
Source: Clarin
