Dictatorship leaves Bishop Emeritus Juan Abelardo Mata under house arrest, according to sources
In La Prensa, July 1, 2026
The priest and deacon arrested were released on June 30. Martha Patricia Molina states that they granted them “conditional release”.
The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo put the Bishop Emeritus of Estelí, Mons. Juan Abelardo Mata Guevara, under house arrest, a source close to the religious leader confirmed to La Prensa. A priest and a deacon, arrested in that repressive wave against the Catholic Church, were released by the authorities on the eveniing of June 30th.
The religious leader was arrested the first time on Monday by the Police, after on Sunday June 28th he prayed “for the Persecuted Church of Nicaragua” during the Eucharist celebrated in the Cross of Calvary Parish in Estelí. This provoked the reaction of the dictatorship which, after arresting him, took him to his residence. Later they arrested him again.
So far the Ortega Murillo dictatorship has not spoken about this. According to versions gathered by La Prensa, Mata was photographed by paramilitaries who listened to the entire homily which bothered the dictatorship. The other people arrested were the priest Francisco Morales and the deacon Wilfredo Aráuz Rodríguez who work in the parish where the bishop emeritus celebrated the mass.
“Mons. Mata is under house arrest with the Police permanently outside his home. The other people arrested from Estelí were freed yesterday around 6:40 pm…They did not take them out of the municipality,” the source told La Prensa.
Priest and deacon “under police surveillance”
The lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina confirmed that the priest and deacon have been freed, but under conditions. “Fr. Francisco as well as the deacon have been freed since yesterday under police surveillance,” she said.
Molina emphasized that both religious could be arrested again. “The two are free under conditional release. At any time, they could take them away again. The Police have them under surveillance,” she said.
Religious persecution impacts international opinion
On Tuesday night, Fr. Nils de Jesús Hernández told La Prensa that the recent actions of the regime against religious like Wilfredo Aráuz, are an “act of vengeance against Mons. Juan Abelardo Mata.” He maintained that the dictatorship is also looking for a “way to intimidate the Church” and that “they are going to repress them for any action that they take.”
The priest presides over the Queen of Peace Parish in Waterloo, Iowa. He invited people to a penitential rosary for the end of religious persecution in Nicaragua. According to the invitation, shared with the communications media, a live transmission will be done from the Facebook pages of Fr. Nils on Thursday June 2 at 6pm Nicaragua time, 8pm in Iowa.
The situation of Mons. Mata and the other two religious has attracted the attention of international media, among them ACI Press which belongs to the EWTN Global Catholic Network, the largest Catholic television chain in the world.
Mata has been one of the most critical religious of the Ortega Murillo regime. That is why, from different sectors of the country, he has been valued as “a strong, brave voice which has always spoken truth to power,” stated Arturo McFields, the former ambassador of Nicaragua to the OAS, to ACI Press.
According to reports from the lawyer and researcher on religious issues, Martha Patricia Molina, between 2019 and lent of 2026 more than 28,000 religious processions and acts of piety have been prohibited in Nicaragua. In addition, 309 priests, religious sisters and other religious have been forced into exile. Among them are 4 bishops
