Demonstration by supporters of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo – Ansa
Last Friday, a priest from Granada, a tourist town in Nicaragua, went to the bank to withdraw some money from the parish deposit. This enabled him to discover that the account had been blocked. In the hours that followed, the Church realized that the Granada case was not the only one. in reverse, the savings of all 9 dioceses in the country had been frozen. The official confirmation came on Saturday: the police admitted that they had allegedly confiscated the funds “illegal activity”. He even talks about it “a money laundering network” run by the various dioceses, in which bags containing “hundreds of thousands of dollars of dubious origin” were allegedly found. Very serious allegations that the Cardinal Leopolgo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua, called it “unfounded” and urged “don’t be afraid”.. In fact, no evidence has been presented so far. Neither those interested were warned. A common practice of Daniel Ortega’s regime. The 94 citizens who were exiled and stripped of their nationality in February found through the media that they had lost their belongings at home. Nevertheless, The new chapter in the offensive of the president and his deputy and his wife Rosario Murillo represents another leap in the scale of the year and a half of persecutionor. The freezing of the accounts is the first step in the government’s confiscation of the funds and assets of the Bishops’ Conference. Exactly what the government has done with NGOs and independent associations. Now it is the turn of the last autonomous reality: namely the Catholic Church. Then the localization of the Central American nation will be complete. At least, that’s what Ortega and Murillo think. The population, mostly Catholics, feels growing unease about the arrests of priests and bishops, the expulsion of religious communities and the closure of the social services they founded. The malaise is also felt within the Orteguista base. However, the government is unwilling to listen to reasons.
Matagalpa Bishop Rolando Álvarez has been detained for nearly four months in Managua’s La Modelo prison, where he is serving a 26-year sentence for “terrorism.” Last week, Father Jaime Iván Montecinos, from the same diocese, was arrested as a “threat to national security”.. In 2022 alone there were 161 attacks on Catholics, so far 32 nuns have been expelled from the country, 7 buildings have been confiscated and 13 media and 10 Catholic NGOs have been shut down. Nicaragua is the only country in America and the 13th in the world to have frozen its ties with the Holy See. The paradox within the paradox is that Ortega and Murillo continue to define themselves as ardent Catholics. After the manipulation of Sandinism, it is now the turn of faith.