Religious leaders targeted in new wave of detentions

The National Police of Nicaragua have detained 11 religious leaders from the Roman Catholic Church in northern Nicaragua in a renewed crackdown. A twelfth religious leader, Deacon Ervin Aguirre, was reportedly detained on 2 August, and released the following day.

Frutos Constantino Valle Salmerón, a 79-year-old priest, was detained on 26 July by the National Police at 5 pm while preparing for the ordination of three deacons in the Diocese of Estelí in Managua. The police informed him that he did not have permission to do so. Father Frutos, who is diabetic and suffers from hypertension, became seriously ill while in the police vehicle, and was subsequently taken to the National Inter-Diocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fátima, located in Managua, where he remains under house arrest.

On 1 August two senior church officials from the Diocese of Matagalpa were detained arbitrarily and were also taken to the National Inter-Diocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fátima, Managua by the National Police. Monsignor Ulises Vega, administrator of the San Ramón parishes and Monsignor Edgard Sacasa, administrator of the San Isidro parish, had taken over the leadership of the Diocese of Matagalpa, to which their churches belong, following the exile of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez.

On 2 and 3 August, the National Police carried out further detentions of religious leaders, mostly from the Diocese of Matagalpa. Those detained include parish priest Jairo Pravia and vicar Víctor Godoy of the Immaculate Conception of María de Sebáco Church in the Diocese of Matagalpa and Franciscans Friar Silvio José Romero, Friar Ramón Morras, Father Antonio López and Father Salvador López. All of them were taken from their parishes, forced to board police patrol vehicles and placed under house arrest with the other religious leaders at the National Inter-Diocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fátima, Managua. Also detained with them are Father Raúl Francisco Villegas from Matiguás Matagalpa parish, who is originally from Mexico, and Maron Velásquez Flores, vicar of Santa Lucía parish. Both parishes are in Ciudad Darío municipality, Matagalpa.

On 2 August, lawyer and human rights defender Martha Patricia Molina said on X, formerly Twitter : “The clergy of Matagalpa and Estelí wake up in anxiety. Currently, the Immaculate Conception of Mary parish in Sébaco is surrounded by riot police. “The parish fears that their priests will be kidnapped.”

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: “The continued detention and arrests of religious leaders by the Nicaraguan government are both unwarranted and unconscionable. CSW calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all religious leaders and political prisoners who have been arbitrarily detained and imprisoned in recent months. We urge the international community to emphasise to the Nicaraguan government that the ongoing crackdown on independent civil society, the relentless targeting of religious leaders and the continual violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief are unacceptable. More must be done to hold President Ortega, his wife and their regime to account for the deteriorating situation of human rights in the country.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The eleven religious leaders still held at the National Inter-Diocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fátima, which the National Police are using as a detention centre for clergy, are:

• Monsignor Ulises René Vega, administrator from the parish of San Ramón
• Monsignor Edgar Sacasa, administrator from the parish of San Isidro
• Father Jairo Pravia, parish priest of the Immaculate Conception of María de Sébaco
• Father Víctor Godoy, vicar of the Immaculate Conception of María de Sébaco
• Father Marlon Velásquez Flores, vicar of the Santa Lucía parish in Ciudad Darío.
• Friar Silvio José Romero, Diocese of Matagalpa
• Friar Ramón Morras, Diocese of Matagalpa
• Father Antonio López of the city of Dario, Diocese of Matagalpa
• Father Raúl Francisco Villegas, Matiguás, Diocese of Matagalpa
• Father Frutos Valle, priest of the Diocese of Estelí

2. The Diocese of Matagalpa used to be overseen by 70 priests (Franciscans and diocesans): 57 nationals and 13 foreigners. 30 are now in exile (including their bishop, Rolando José Álvarez Lagos). According to journalist Martha Patricia, four priests are deceased.