The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega carries out a new wave of arrests and political exiles in Nicaragua, which reached this week at least three musicians, a bishop of the Catholic Church and a journalist.
The bishop of Jinotega and president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN), Monsignor Carlos Herrera, was arrested and expelled from the country last Tuesday by the Nicaraguan authorities, a few days after criticizing the hustle and bustle organized by the mayor of the city of Jinotega outside the church, while Sunday mass was being held.
“We ask forgiveness for our faults and also for those who do not respect the cult. TRUE? Because what the mayor and all the municipal authorities are doing is a sacrilege, because they know the time of the mass,” said Monsignor Herrera, 75, during his sermon, when the mayor of Jinotega, Leonidas Centenoplaced speakers with loud music and promoted dances in front of the church at the time of the homily.
Sources from the Catholic Church confirmed that Monsignor Herrera was arrested while attending a meeting of bishops of the CEN in Managua. He was then taken to the airport and exiled to Guatemala.
The Mosaico digital platform reported that Monsignor Herrera is currently staying in a residence of the Order of Friars Minor in Guatemala.
The expulsion of Bishop Herrera opens a new chapter in the war that the Ortega dictatorship maintains against the Catholic Church of Nicaraguawhom he blames for supporting the citizen protests that took place in 2018.
The Nicaraguan regime has exiled 261 religious, according to the count kept by the lawyer Martha Patricia Molinaauthor of the periodical investigations “Nicaragua: A persecuted church.”
Among the banished religious are four bishops, a nuncio (Vatican ambassador), 141 priests and 99 nuns. Before Bishop Herrera, bishop of the Diocese of Jinotega, Monsignor were banished Rolando Alvarezbishop of Matagalpa; Silvio Baezauxiliary bishop of Managua; and Isidoro Morabishop of Siuna.
One of the most emblematic cases of the repression of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua was carried out by the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, who remained detained for 512 days, most of them in dungeons in solitary confinement and punishment, until He was finally banished to the Vatican on January 13, 2024.
Exiled musicians
Last Monday, Masaya musicians Nieves Martínez, Dagoberto Palacios and Juan Pablo Rosales were arrested by the Daniel Ortega regime, and then exiled to Spain on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 13, according to local media.
The artists remained in the prison known as El Chipoteapparently accused of belonging to a WhatsApp group and making plans to record a Christmas song with the renowned Nicaraguan singer-songwriter Carlos Mejía Godoywho is in exile, the newspaper reported The Press.
“A police captain from the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime gave him the choice between 10 years in prison or exile to Spain,” a source close to the musicians told the media.
The Nicaraguan authorities demanded that the artists sign a letter of consentthey gave them 500 dollars each to meet the entry requirement requested by Spain, and air tickets with the Managua-El Salvador-Bogotá-Madrid route.
“Dear government, we want to travel to Spain to continue our musical studies,” says the signed letter, according to the source of the Nicaraguan newspaper.
“As they did everything in a hurry, without consulting with the Spanish authorities, at the airport the immigration agents of the regime in charge of the travel plan realized that upon arriving in Spain, Nicaraguans were required to present cash, a letter of invitation and a hotel reservation, so to resolve the matter they gave each artist 500 dollars ‘as a per diem’ and told them that if Spain did not receive them, they would go to Nicaragua. “They couldn’t come back.”added the source.
On April 12, 2022, the Nicaraguan dictatorship captured and expelled the musicians from the country. Joshua Monroy Ortegavocalist and guitarist of the band Monroy & Surmenage, Leonardo Canales Vega, musician and music producer of La Anteala and the marriage of Xóchitl Tapia, and Salvador Espinozaowners of Saxo Productions.
Once in exile, Monroy Ortega declared to the Confidencial platform that the capture and expulsion occurred as a result of a song related to the 2018 citizen protests that they performed at dawn during a concert, held 10 days before his arrest.
Imprisoned journalist
This week the capture of the journalist was also announced Elsbeth D’Andaprogram director The Coveragebroadcast on Channel 23.
The Nicaraguan organization in exile, Abogados Defensores del Pueblo, reported that the journalist was detained on October 27, after carrying out a program where he talked about the increase in the cost of basic foods.
“The cost of the basic basket, the cost of living and information related to when workers receive their bonus, merchants, not all, raise the prices of the basic basket and, apparently, this bothered the Nicaraguan government, which ordered the capture of the journalist,” the organization said through a message spread on social networks.
According to the lawyer Jose Antonio Lopezfrom Abogados Defensores del Pueblo, the capture of D’Anda occurred when at least five patrol cars and about 20 agents entered the house without presenting an arrest warrant or a search warrant, immobilized the journalist, handcuffed him and put him on a private vehicle.
