BUENOS AIRES (OSV News): Six lay staff members from a now-closed Caritas chapter of the Diocese of Estelí were convicted on money laundering charges in Nicaragua on Christmas Eve as the Sandinista regime stepped up its crackdown on the Catholic Church over the Christmas season. The Nicaraguan government has also forbidden the enactment of traditional posadas, the living Nativity scenes enacted in the streets in the days leading up to Christmas.
The Christmas crackdown has extended to prohibitions on religious celebrations and expressions of popular piety important to many in Nicaragua. Most recently, police visited priests to warn against organizing traditional posadas—public Nativity scenes with children portraying figures such as Mary and Joseph—according to Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer in exile, who has documented Catholic repression in the country.
The police have announced that they will not allow outdoor posadas and that they will only be allowed inside churches.
Nicaraguan media identified the six Caritas staff as Julio Sevilla, Julio Berríos, Bladimir Pallés, María Verónica Herrera Galeano, Freydell Andino and Mariví Andino.
“I follow with deep concern what is happening in Nicaragua, where Bishops and priests have been deprived of their freedom,” Pope Francis said as he prayed the Angelus on January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Vatican News reported.
Speaking after prayer, the pope expressed his “closeness in prayer to them, their families, and the entire Church in the country.”
I follow with deep concern what is happening in Nicaragua, where Bishops and priests have been deprived of their freedom
Pope Francis
He added, “I hope that we always seek the path of dialogue to overcome difficulties.”
Estelí is where imprisoned Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa is apostolic administrator. The Caritas branch was closed in 2022 as part of the regime’s repression of the Church, charitable and non-governmental organisations.
The regime has revoked the legal status of more than 3,500 non-governmental organisations in recent years, including Caritas chapters and Catholic projects such as universities, arguing that the groups often failed to comply with tax laws and governance rules.
Independent Nicaraguan news organisation, Confidencial, reported in June 2023 that the National Police alleged money laundering involving a 2012 donation of US$563,207 for a hospital from Catholic Relief Services, the international aid agency of the US Catholic Church. The police also claimed to have found “hundreds of thousands dollars hidden in bags” at various locations, according to Confidencial.
A woman is pictured in a file photo praying during Mass at Divine Mercy Catholic Church in Managua, Nicaragua. Bishop Isidoro Mora of Siuna was arrested Dec. 20, 2023, after voicing spiritual support for imprisoned Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, according to independent Nicaraguan media — a detention illustrating the country’s unceasing persecution of the Catholic Church and complete closure of all spaces for dissent. (OSV News photo/Oswaldo Rivas, Reuters)
People from the U.S. and Mexico take part in a “posada,” the commemoration of Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Nogales, Mexico. The Sandinista regime stepped up its crackdown on the Catholic Church over the Christmas season in Nicaragua in 2023, with the government forbidding the enactment of traditional “posadas,” the living Nativity scenes created in the streets in the days leading up to Christmas. (OSV News photo/Nancy Wiechec)
People surround a statue of Mary during a procession on the perimeter of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, Nov. 26, 2023, as the Nicaragua government banned street processions this year due to unspecified security concerns. (OSV News photo/Maynor Valenzuela, Reuters)The outlet cited diocesan sources, which confirmed the hospital was not built, but the funds were designated for other projects.
According to a diocesan statement on May 22, Father Eugenio Rodríguez Benavides and Father Leonardo Guevara Gutiérrez from the diocesan chapter of Caritas were “requested by the National Police” for its investigation.
Bishop Isidoro Mora of Siuna was arrested on December 20, according to independent Nicaraguan media, while travelling to a parish in his diocese to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. His arrest followed a Mass celebrated in the Diocese of Matagalpa, where he voiced spiritual support from the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference for Bishop Álvarez
They were held in a seminary in the capital Managua, though Father Guevara returned to Estelí in October, according to media reports. Father Rodríguez was exiled to the Vatican on October 18, along with 11 other priests, who had been detained after police and paramilitaries targeted clergy in a wave of detentions [Sunday Examiner, 29 October 2023].
The country’s president, Daniel Ortega, and his wife, vice president, Rosario Murillo, have turned increasingly tyrannical as they tighten their grip on power in the Central American country and silence all dissenting voices.
Bishop Isidoro Mora of Siuna was arrested on December 20, according to independent Nicaraguan media, while travelling to a parish in his diocese to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. His arrest followed a Mass celebrated in the Diocese of Matagalpa, where he voiced spiritual support from the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference for Bishop Álvarez. The government has yet to comment on Bishop Mora’s whereabouts.
Monsignor Óscar Escoto, the vicar general in Matagalpa, was taken by police from his residence at around midnight on December 21, according to news outlet Mosaico CSI. He returned to the diocesan residence the next day, but police remained outside, according to photos posted on X [formerly Twitter] by Molina.
Shortly before midnight on December 24, the regime released another priest of the diocese, Father Jader Guido, second vicar of St. Peter Cathedral in Matagalpa, after almost 12 hours of detention. His sin: raising prayers for the bishop of the diocese, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Confidencial reported on December 25.
Bishop Álvarez was convicted in February on charges of conspiracy and spreading false information after a trial in which he was not entitled to choose his own defense counsel [Sunday Examiner, 19 February 2023].
He was sentenced to 26 years in prison, but he has rebuffed all attempts at being sent into exile.
