Ortega regime continues crackdown after 12 priests deported
The Nicaraguan dictatorship deported this month 12 priests imprisoned in the country who are now bound for the Vatican, bringing the total number of priests exiled from the country to more than 10% of its clergy.
The regime of Daniel Ortega confirmed that the priests’ Oct. 18 expulsion was part of negotiations with the Vatican, explaining in a statement that “after holding fruitful conversations with the Holy See … an agreement was reached for the movement to the Vatican of the 12 priests who, for different reasons, were prosecuted, and who traveled to Rome, Italy, this afternoon.”
There was initial speculation whether Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa was included among the deported clerics, but a government list of those expelled to Rome did not include the bishop, who has been detained by the government since August 2022.
Álvarez is currently serving a 26 year prison sentence for “conspiracy” against the government and has refused previous offers to go into exile.
The list of those freed includes Manuel Salvador García Rodríguez, José Leonardo Urbina Rodríguez, Jaime Iván Montesinos Sauceda, Fernando Israel Zamora Silva, Osman José Amador Guillén, Julio Ricardo Norori Jiménez, Cristóbal Reynaldo Gadea Velásquez, Álvaro José Toledo Amador, José Iván Centeno Tercero, Pastor Eugenio Rodríguez Benavidez, Yessner Cipriano Pineda Meneses y Ramón Angulo Reyes.
