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Nicaragua

Nicaraguan priest faces eight years in jail for social media post

January 18, 2023

A Catholic priest in Nicaragua is facing eight years in jail after he shared a social media post allegedly critical of Daniel Ortega’s hard-left regime. A Nicaraguan court has found Fr Oscar Benavidez Dávila guilty of “conspiracy” against the state. According to the Nicaraguan media outlet 100% Noticias, Judge Nancy Aguirre of the Tenth Criminal

Nicaragua: Bishop Álvarez to face trial for conspiracy

December 15, 2022

Nicaraguan prosecutors have charged a Catholic bishop with crimes against the state some four months after he was arrested in a raid on his presbytery. Bishop Rolando José Álvarez of Matagalpa appeared in court to face charges of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and of disseminating false propaganda over the internet. The Managua Criminal District

Crackdown on Church in Nicaragua intensifies

November 01, 2022

Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega has stepped up his persecution of the Catholic Church by arresting a 64-year-old chronically-ill priest and imprisoning him practically naked. Police kicked in the doors of a presbytery of a church in Managua, the capital of the central American country, and dragged out Fr Enrique Martínez Gamboa. As they bundled the

Time to act in Nicaragua

September 24, 2022

The Vatican must change its tack with the Ortega regime

Should Pope Francis excommunicate President Ortega?

August 22, 2022

The arrest of a senior bishop and leading opposition voice in Nicaragua brings the situation within the country to crisis point, now demanding a strong reaction from the Papacy. So much have relations between the Church and the regime of Daniel Ortega deteriorated that it may now be time for the excommunication – or the

Persecution of Church officials in Nicaragua intensifies

August 18, 2022

Despite protests from the Latin American Church and an appeal from the Vatican for dialogue a understanding, the Nicaraguan government continues to raise tensions with the local clergy. Since August 4, President Daniel Ortega’s regime has been forbidding Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa to leave his rectory, along with a group of five members of

Did courageous Nicaraguans force the Vatican’s hand?

August 15, 2022

Not before time, the Holy See has spoken up about the situation in Nicaragua. As the Catholic Herald reported, the government of Nicaragua recently ordered the closure of seven Catholic radio stations linked to a bishop who has been critical of President Daniel Ortega – Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, whose future remains in the balance, having

Nicaragua: Catholics fear priests are next in wave of political arrests

June 21, 2021

Over the past few weeks, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s regime has arrested 17 political leaders of the opposition, including four potential candidates in the upcoming presidential elections, scheduled for November.