{"id":29987,"date":"2025-07-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/csw-calls-for-release-of-arbitrarily-detained-pastor-and-friends-and-family-6592\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:14:23","slug":"csw-calls-for-release-of-arbitrarily-detained-pastor-and-friends-and-family-6592","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/press\/csw-calls-for-release-of-arbitrarily-detained-pastor-and-friends-and-family-6592\/","title":{"rendered":"CSW calls for release of arbitrarily detained pastor and friends and family"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CSW is calling on the Nicaraguan government to immediately release a prominent Protestant pastor and six other individuals arbitrarily detained on 17 July.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas, the founder of La Roca de Nicaragua Church Association, his sister, two brothers-in-law and a family friend are believed to be held in La Granja Maximum Security Prison in Granada Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the evening of Thursday 17 July, in Jinotepe, Carazo Department, armed, uniformed police officers and \u2018volunteer\u2019 officers wearing masks and dressed in black or blue carried out a coordinated operation forcing their way into the homes of Pastor Palacios Vargas, his sister, J\u00e9ssica Palacios Vargas, and his brothers-in-law, Pedro Jos\u00e9 L\u00f3pez and Armando Jos\u00e9 Bermudez Mojica. Mauricio Alonso Petri, a political activist and friend of the pastor, and his adult son of the same name, who is a part of the worship team at Pastor Palacios Vargas\u2019 church were detained as well. Family friend Olga Mar\u00eda Lara Rojas, a former political councillor, who is a Protestant Christian but not a member of Pastor Palacios Vargas\u2019 church, was also arrested at her home<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No arrest warrants were shown but all of those listed above were arrested and detained and reportedly taken to the 3rd Police District. The detainees\u2019 mobile phones and other electronic devices were confiscated. No information as to their whereabouts was provided to the victims\u2019 family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 28 July Nicaraguan news outlet 100% Noticias reported<\/a> that Pastor Palacios Vargas, Mr Bermudez Mojica, J\u00e9ssica Palacios Vargas, Mr L\u00f3pez and Ms Lara Rojas had been transferred to \u2018La Granja\u2019, a notoriously overcrowded prison, where they had been subjected to a fast-tracked virtual hearing. They were charged with treason and conspiracy. There has been no news as to the circumstances of the remaining individuals in detention, nor has there been any information regarding when or to what those who have been charged will be sentenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Palacios Vargas has been an outspoken critic of the government since the 2018 protests when he condemned the government\u2019s use of violence against the demonstrators, most of whom were students. He was forced to flee the country on 6 July 2018 after he and his family received threats via the phone and on social media. Two days later, at least three members of his church were killed by security forces and paramilitaries. In 2019 La Roca de Nicaragua Church Assocation, which maintained six branches in Carazo and other departments on the Pacific Coast, was arbitrarily stripped of its legal status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a diagnosis of cancer, Pastor Palacios Vargas returned to Nicaragua in December 2020. Since January 2021 he has been under close police supervision, essentially amounting to house arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: \u2018The arbitrary detention of Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas and his friends and family members is the culmination of years of persecution because of his willingness to openly criticise the ongoing grave violations of human rights under the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. We call on the Nicaraguan government to release Pastor Palacios Vargas and all the others detained alongside him immediately, and urge members of the international community to engage available diplomatic channels to determine their well-being and to demand their release.\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes to Editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list of those detained and their relationship to Pastor Palacios Vargas is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n
  1. Rudy Palacios Vargas: founder of La Roca de Nicaragua Church Association<\/li>\n\n\n
  2. J\u00e9ssica Palacios Vargas: Protestant-Evangelical Christian, member of La Roca de Nicaragua Church, and sister of Rudy Palacios<\/li>\n\n\n
  3. Pedro Jos\u00e9 L\u00f3pez: Protestant-Evangelical Christian, member of La Roca de Nicaragua Church, and husband of J\u00e9ssica Palacios Vargas<\/li>\n\n\n
  4. Armando Jos\u00e9 Bermudez Mojica: Protestant-Evangelical Christian and brother-in-law of Pastor Palacios Vargas<\/li>\n\n\n
  5. Mauricio Alonso Estrada: Protestant-Evangelical Christian, worship leader at La Roca de Nicaragua Church Jinotepe, son of Mauricio Alonso Petri, a political activist<\/li>\n\n\n
  6. Mauricio Alonso Petri: former president of the Movimiento Renovador Sandinista now called UNAMOS, friend of Rudy Palacios Vargas<\/li>\n\n\n
  7. Olga Mar\u00eda Lara Rojas: Protestant-Evangelical Christian, former political councillor (retired from politics over a decade ago), friend of the Palacio Vargas family.<\/li>\n\n<\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    CSW is calling on the Nicaraguan government to immediately release a prominent Protestant pastor and seven other individuals arbitrarily detained on 17 July.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44123,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[137,142],"class_list":["post-29987","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-latin-america","regions-nicaragua"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40573,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29987\/revisions\/40573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29987"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}