The repression of Daniel Ortega: the Nicaraguan diocese denounced the arrest and disappearance of a priest

The Diocese of Siuna reported the arrest and disappearance of one of his priests, amid the tensions between the government of President Daniel Ortega and the Catholic Church of Nicaragua.

“On the afternoon of Sunday 14 August Presbyter Óscar Benavidez was arrestedpastor of the Parish of the Holy Spirit ”, in the municipality of Mulukuku, in the Autonomous Region of the Caribbean of Northern Nicaragua, reported the diocese of Siuna in a statement.

This jurisdiction of the Catholic Church has stated that it does not know the causes or reasons for the priest’s arrest.

“We hope the authorities will keep us informed,” he added.

Arbitrariness

The diocese of Siuna has invited the Catholic faithful to join in the prayer of Benavidez, “that his only mission is and has been to announce the good news of Jesus Christ, which is word, life and salvation for all”.

For its part, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) said the priest He was arbitrarily detained.

“According to information, he was picked up from his vehicle and taken on a (police) patrol to an unknown destination,” Cenidh said in a statement.

Benavidez he is the third priest arrested so far this year in Nicaragua, and the ninth who is in police custody, including Msgr. Rolando Álvarez and five other priests who have been locked up since the last 4 in the episcopal palace of the diocese of Matagalpa (north).

Siuna was the first diocese to offer its public support to Álvarez, who is the National Police accused of trying to “organize violent groups”although it has so far provided no evidence.

friction

The arrest of this priest takes place in the middle of a series of actions by the Sandinista government against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church, which bans the Archdiocese of Managua from the procession with the pilgrim image of the Virgin of Fatima.

Also the imprisonment of Bishop Álvarez together with five priests, three seminarians and two lay people, in the provincial episcopal seat of Matagalpa, besieged by special police forces.

In addition, the expulsion of a group of missionaries of the Mother Teresa of Calcutta order, the closure of eight Catholic radio stations, the cancellation of the subscription television programming of three Catholic channels and the forced entry and raid on a parish.

Ortega called the bishops “terrorists” Nicaraguans who have acted as mediators of a national dialogue that has sought a peaceful solution to the crisis that the country has been going through since April 2018.

The crisis in Nicaragua intensified after the controversial elections last November in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth, fourth consecutive and second term along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison.

Relations between the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan Catholic Church have been marked by friction and distrust over the past 43 years.

The Catholic community represents 58.5% of Nicaragua’s 6.5 million inhabitants, according to the latest national census.

Source: EFE

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