This was good news, news we’d been waiting for nearly 16 months, after they had been arrested and held in incommunicado detention.

The two women were detained on 10 August 2024. Lesbia, who was 58 years old at the time, was arrested by at least 15 police officers wearing ski masks and carrying AK-47s who raided her home in Lomas de Santo Tomas in Matagalpa City at approximately 6am. Carmen, then age 49, was detained two hours later at the Guadalupana Farm in Samulali in the San Ramón Municipality by police in two patrol cars. 

Both women worked with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Matagalpa, formerly led by the now exiled Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos. The two were believed to be being held in La Esperanza women’s prison, but were denied any contact with their families or lawyers – including proof of life – for the duration of their detention.  

Despite their release, their case is not over. Although Carmen and Lesbia are out of prison and with their families, they remain under house arrest, sending a clear message that the government still views them as criminals, despite them having not been charged, tried or sentenced for any crime. House arrest is designed to instil fear in them, keep them socially isolated, and remind them that they are not truly free.

However, over the past two years, your prayers, protesting and providing have contributed to their release from prison and we will continue to pray for their complete freedom!

It took 477 days to free Carmen and Lesbia. Here’s a little snapshot into how we persisted in our advocacy and campaign actions, month after month with the generosity of CSW supporters like you. 

A timeline of our collective action:

August 2024

• Both women were added to United States Commission On International Religious Freedom’s Victims List
  

September 2024

• We issued a press release calling for their release and proof of life
  

October 2024

• We continued to regularly raise their case with the US State Department and USCIRF
  

February 2025

• We raised their case in an oral statement for the UN Human Rights Council 
  
• We launched the ‘Where are they?’ campaign, CSW supporters took action and 306 MPs were emailed about their case, some of them multiple times
  

March 2025

• We raised their case in an oral statement for the UN Human Rights Council 
  
• Published a blog on their case on FoRB in Full
  
• We published a press release on our annual report, both of which focused on their case
  

April 2025

• We shared our reporting on their case with officials in the European External Action Service (EEAS).
  

June 2025

• Their case featured in ‘The Disappeared’ film, receiving 1.4k views
  

July 2025

• We raised their case in a briefing with the Foreign Ministry in Mexico City
  
• 165 CSW supporters emailed the UK Foreign Secretary on their case
  
• We mentioned their case in a press release calling for the release of a Roman Catholic priest who had been arbitrarily detained and held incommunicado
  
• We highlighted their case among three top issues in Nicaragua which the US State Department invited us to share with them
  

August 2025

• We briefed US policymakers based in Costa Rica on their case
  

September 2025

• We raised their case in an oral statement for the UN Human Rights Council 
  
• We raised their case in a submission to the Special Rapporteur on FoRB on the situation of FoRB in Nicaragua, to support an allegation letter/communication they were planning to the government of Nicaragua.
  
• We briefed policymakers at the European Union on their case (including Members of the European Parliament; the EP Intergroup on FoRB; the secretariat of the European Parliament Human Rights Subcommittee; the Swedish and Irish Permanent Representations to the EU; and the European External Action Service).
  
• We briefed the UK government on their case
  
• We mentioned their case in an article published in Sight Magazine
  
• We mentioned their case in a blog on FoRB in various Latin American countries
  
• We raised their case in a UK All-Party Parliamentary Group Stakeholder Report
  
• We raised their case with the US State Department as an example of a high profile case involving Roman Catholic prisoners
  

October 2025

• We briefed the Irish government on their case

Let us continue to pray, speak out and in solidarity with they are fully free!