Two priests arrested in Nicaragua, opposition and media reports

San Jose, Costa Rica/Two priests and two lay collaborators They were arrested in the last few hours. NicaraguaOpposition activists and exiled Nicaraguan journalists said on Sunday they condemned the new attacks on Nicaragua. Catholic Of that country.

Martha Patricia Molina, a lawyer and researcher on church issues, was exiled USAsaid on social networks

Digital portals Confidential and La Prensa and other Nicaraguan media Costa Rica and the United Statesalso reported the arrest of Martinez and another priest and two lay people.

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According to media reports, Father Leonel Balmaceda, from the parish of Jesus de Calidad in the municipality of La Trinidad in Esteli (north), was arrested on Saturday, as were lay collaborators Carmen Sáenz and Lesbia Gutiérrez from the diocese of Matagalpa.

Yader Morazán, an exiled lawyer, said in his X account that Gutiérrez was an “administrator of Caritas” and Sáenz was a “legal advisor in canon law and former judicial official.”

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More than a week ago, 13 religious figures were arrested or placed under house arrest in Matagalpa, according to religious organizations Nicaragua will never againSeven of them were deported to the Vatican last Wednesday.

he President Daniel Ortega and his wife Vice President Rosario Murilloinsists the church supported anti-government protests in 2018 that left more than 300 people dead, according to the United Nations, and which they believe was an attempted coup sponsored by Washington.

Murillo described religious figures as “children of the devil” or “agents of evil” who engage in “spiritual terrorism.”

Dozens of religious figures, including Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, were detained and sent to prison Holy See In the past two years.

Recently, a team of experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences United Nations Condemned the Nicaraguan government for what it said was a “systematic” attack on the Catholic Church and other Christian faiths since protests began in 2018.