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The Nicaraguan government has sent priests Leonel Balmaceda and Denis Martinez, who were detained a week ago, to Rome, human rights activists and the local press announced on
The Nicaraguan government has sent priests Leonel Balmaceda and Denis Martinez, who were detained a week ago, to Rome, human rights activists and the local press announced on Sunday.
“#Urgente #DictaduraOrtegaM has a corridor for exile in the Vatican. Last night #Padre Denis Martinez and #Padre Leonel Balmaceda were expelled. We must not naturalize him, forced displacement is a crime against humanity. @Pontifex_es @CIDH @OACNUDH @fidh_es”, denationalized Nicaraguan activist Hayde Castillo, published on the website X.
La Prensa and 100% Noticias also noted that both believers were “exiled” to Rome after being arrested over the weekend. Balmaceda belongs to the diocese of Esteli and Martinez to the diocese of Matagalpa, both in northern Nicaragua.
Local press also reports that Father Danny Garcia, parish priest of the San Juan Bautista Church in Matagalpa, has been “freed” after his arrest by Nicaraguan police was reported last Friday.
The three fathers belong to dioceses led and administered from exile by the denationalized Bishop Rolando Alvarez, also released from prison and sent to Rome last January.
Indeed, political sources have told EFE that the government of President Daniel Ortega is pressuring the Vatican to appoint a new bishop for the dioceses of Matagalpa and Esteli.
Last January, Ortega’s government agreed with the Holy See to send Alvarez and Bishop Isidoro Mora to the Vatican along with 15 priests and two Nicaraguan seminarians it had imprisoned.
Earlier, on October 18, the Nicaraguan government also released 12 priests and sent them to the Vatican under an agreement with the Holy See, although at that time Bishop Alvarez was not among them, as he did not want to leave the country.
According to the latest installment of the study, “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?” by exiled researcher Marta, a total of 245 believers have been forced to leave Nicaragua or have been expelled from Nicaragua since the socio-political crisis erupted in April 2018. Patricia Molina
Relations between the Ortega government and the Catholic Church have been at a time of great tension, marked by the expulsion and imprisonment of priests, the banning of religious activity and the suspension of diplomatic relations.
EFE
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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