The Christian Church in Nicaragua is being targeted by police in an ongoing crackdown on religious leaders, with eleven Roman Catholic leaders detained in the newest wave of arrests.
The arrests follow the sooner detention of Deacon Ervin Aguirre, who was reported to be arrested on 2 August only to be released the next day, and 79-year-old priest Frutos Constantino Valle Salmerón, arrested within the Diocese of Estelí in Managua while preparing for the ordination of three deacons on 26 July.
The police reportedly told Father Frutos he had not obtained permission for the ceremony, before taking the priest, who suffers from hypertension and diabetes to the National Inter-Diocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fátima, positioned in Managua. During his journey within the police automotive, Father Frutos became seriously unwell and stays under house address.
The National Inter-Diocesan Seminary had also been the destination of two senior church officials from the Diocese of Matagalpa, arbitrarily detained on 1 August. Monsignor Ulises Vega, administrator of the San Ramón parishes was picked up alongside Monsignor Edgard Sacasa, administrator of the San Isidro parish, who succeeded the famous priest Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, because the leader of the Diocese of Matagalpa, when he was forced into exile.
The arrests continued over 2 and three August, with the police mainly detaining priests of the Diocese of Matagalpa. They were all forced into police patrol vehicles before being placed under house arrest.
In a 2 August post to social media network X, formerly Twitter, lawyer and human rights defender Martha Patricia Molina wrote: “The clergy of Matagalpa and Estelí get up in anxiety. Currently, the Immaculate Conception of Mary Parish in Sébaco is surrounded by riot police. The parish fears that their priests might be kidnapped.”
Mervyn Thomas, founding father of CSW, a human rights organisation specialising in freedom of faith or belief globally, condemned the arrests as an attack on religious liberty.
“The continued detention and arrests of spiritual leaders by the Nicaraguan government are each unwarranted and unconscionable,” he said. “CSW calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all religious leaders and political prisoners who’ve been arbitrarily detained and imprisoned in recent months.
“We urge the international community to stress to the Nicaraguan government that the continuing crackdown on independent civil society, the relentless targeting of spiritual leaders and the continual violations of the proper to freedom of faith or belief are unacceptable. More should be done to carry President Ortega, his wife and their regime to account for the deteriorating situation of human rights within the country.”
