The Catholic Church of Nicaragua suffers “generalized harassment” on the part of the dictatorship
In La Prensa, June 11, 2024
The dictatorship continues using Police officers to harass, threaten, take photos and videos of the faithful who go to church; while more priests continue going into exile. So far this year they add up to 35.
The frontal attack which the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo maintains against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua has not ended, and instead it has intensified, to the point that now the harassment and persecution is suffered not only by priests but also the laity, confirmed for La Prensa Martha Patricia Molina, lawyer and author of the Report Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?
Molina denounced that the regime continues prohibiting religious activities in the country, particularly in this month of June, when the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated.
“In Ticuantepe, the parish which bears that name normally carries out many activities, novenas, celebrations and masses, but all these days there has been a police presence,” indicated Molina to La Prensa.
Then she recalled that Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes went this Sunday June 9th to the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Ticuantepe. “Yesterday (Sunday June 9th) the feast was celebrated and there were two patrol cars, and at least seven police, all these days they have been present inside and outside the church,” she said.
They take photos and videos
According to the reports which Molina has received from the faithful, the Ortega police officers in addition to harassing them, take their picture, video them, and even have threatened them with jail.
“The parishioners are very afraid, because we know that the Police do not show up to church to take care of the people, but they come to be harassing and doing surveillance because they (the officers) think that political activities are being carried out, when what they are doing are merely religious activities. They have told some parishioners that they are going to take them to jail, they do not know why, because they only come to do their Catholic rituals,” she pointed out.
Now, Molina said, they have prohibited the use of gunpowder like rockets and firecrackers which normally are used in the patron feasts in the Catholic Church. According to Facebook publications of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish the activities started on May 5th and end on June 16th.
“The parishioners have experienced a brutal harassment in all these days, processions and other activities have happened inside the church, it has been a religious atmosphere, but it has been affected by the presence of the police, and because the parishioners are very afraid,” pointed out the lawyer.
The Police officers arrive in two police cars whenever the church is open and there are religious activities. “They show up only when there are parishioners, because when the activities end and the people leave, they leave. The parishioners even have heard gunshots and do not know the reasons, for me I am sure that it is the Police saying here we are,” stated Molina.
Because of all of this, the expert did not hesitate to state that the Catholic Church of the country “suffers generalized harassment, it is no longer just aimed at priests and their pastoral work, but to all the faithful in general, they keep them under surveillance so that they quit going to church.”
35 religious have left the country so far in 2024
Molina confided to this newspaper that so far this year a total of 34 religious – including priests, seminarians, deacons and nuns – have gone into exile, raising the number to 224 from 2018 to today.
Between 2018 and 2019 three religious had to abandon the country; in 2020 the figure rose to nine, but in 2022 it increased to 20; in 2023 it was 63 and so far in 2024 thirty five religious were counted. The overall total includes the Apostolic Nuncio, three bishops, 114 priests, 11 seminarians, 3 deacons and 99 nuns.
This week, Molina said, one priest decided to go into exile. She mentioned on this case in particular that “he is now in the United States, and is hoping to get through the psychological trauma which he brings from Nicaragua to see if he is going to speak out, but what happens is that when a priest leaves, the dictatorship begins to directly persecute their relatives and threaten them, so the priest has a double prohibition, the Church superiors impose it and the dictatorship imposes it by means of the threats to the families.”
According to Molina, the exile of this priest is not an isolated case which the Catholic Church is suffering in the country. “In spite of the silence which has been imposed on the Church, and bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians, this has not translated into the dictatorship ceasing the repression, because at times there is talk about a dialogue or internal negotiation on the part of the Vatican and the Catholic Church with the dictatorship, but when there is negotiation everyone ends up winning, but in this case the silence is imposed on the Church and the abuses and harassment continue,” she criticized.
Because of all of this, she shared that “there are priests who feel they are under house arrest, because they cannot leave with the authorization of the Police, and part of the priests who have gone into exile in this year is due to the ongoing harassment which the Police maintain.”
Likewise, she stated that “there are other (priests) who have expressed to me their desire to leave and that they are only waiting for the authorization letter from their bishops to be able to continue their ministry in another country, because in Nicaragua it is not possible anymore, they would leave the country through blind spots [on the border] because they are afraid of being arrested.”
