Tegucigalpa (BLAZETRENDS).- The Government of Nicaragua chaired by Daniel Ortega froze the bank accounts of at least three of the nine dioceses of the Nicaraguan Catholic Church, ecclesiastical sources denounced this Saturday.
The dioceses with their restricted bank accounts are those of Managua, presided over by Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, and those of Matagalpa and Estelí, run by the imprisoned bishop Rolando Álvarez, who last February was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison for crimes considered “treason against the homeland,” religious sources told BLAZETRENDS.
Cardinal Brenes, also Archbishop of Managua, told the Expediente Público portal that he could not confirm the freezing of the bank accounts of the dioceses and that at the moment they are “seeing how to resolve the situation.”
For his part, the president of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, Bishop Carlos Herrera, told the Despacho 505 platform that they have received information about the problems with the bank accounts of the dioceses, but that they have not been officially notified.
Transfers denied
Exiled Nicaraguan researcher Martha Patricia Molina published screenshots of unsuccessful attempts to make bank transfers to the accounts of the Archdiocese of Managua.
“Verify that the account entered is correct and try again”, “Your transfer could not be made”, “Invalid account”, are, among others, the messages that are read when trying to make a transfer in the accounts of the Archdiocese of Managua, according to Molina.
At the moment neither the Government nor private banks have referred to the restriction of those bank accounts of the dioceses. Not even the arrest of three priests this week.
Two days ago, the National Police reported that it is investigating the priest Jaime Montesinos for committing acts that undermine the independence, sovereignty and self-determination of the nation, in accordance with article 1 of the Law for the Defense of People’s Rights to Independence, Sovereignty, Self-determination and Peace.
The religious is the parish priest of the Juan Pablo II church in the municipality of Sébaco, department of Matagalpa, the diocese headed by Bishop Álvarez.
The Police are also investigating two other priests for “administrative matters” of the dissolved Cáritas Diocesana de Estelí, northern Nicaragua, which Álvarez also administers.
Silence the Church
For the denationalized Nicaraguan opposition leader Félix Maradiaga: “the blocking of the bank accounts of various dioceses of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua is an extreme act of aggression and persecution of the Church.”
“It is also an explicit declaration of the true aspirations of the dictatorship: to shut up and completely dissolve the voice and even the presence of an institution that, due to its moral weight in Nicaragua, is an obstacle in the plans of the Ortega- Murillo, to consolidate a dynastic dictatorship”, warned Maradiaga through a public statement.
“It is time for the international community to move to the phase of absolute ignorance of the regime,” he added.
Relations between the Ortega government and the Catholic Church are now experiencing moments of great tension. Marked by the expulsion and imprisonment of priests, the prohibition of religious activities, and the suspension of their diplomatic relations.
Pope Francis called the Sandinista government a “rude dictatorship” in an interview with Infobae. Pointing out “an imbalance of the person who leads” the Central American country.
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018. It has worsened after the controversial general elections on November 7, 2021. Ortega re-elected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president. The main contenders of him in prison or in exile.
