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2:51
(CNN Spanish) --
The Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post Office, TELCOR, the entity that regulates telecommunications in the country, ordered the communication company Claro to eliminate the signal of Channel 51, Nicaragua's Catholic Channel, without specifying the causes, as reported by the transnational company in a statement published this Friday.
"In response to the provisions contained in Enitel's code of commercial practices, chapter 2, section X, subparagraphs a and d, which provide for the operator's obligation to inform changes in channels offered, we inform our subscription television users, that by indications from TELCOR, the regulatory entity, Channel 51, Canal Católico, is being eliminated from the service programming grid," reports Claro's statement.
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An official from Claro's communication area, who prefers not to be identified, told CNN that the indication to cancel channel 51 was not exclusive to the company and that two other companies that offer subscription television service, according to her, were also notified by TELCOR.
CNN tried unsuccessfully to verify that information with the other two companies but so far we are waiting for a response.
The signal of the Catholic Channel appears in black in the other two companies since Friday afternoon.
Regarding the reasons for the cancellation of the Catholic Channel, TELCOR has not published an official statement on its website or on its social networks.
CNN has requested a comment from the government's Communications Council, but we are still awaiting a response.
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The Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, to which the Catholic Channel belongs, has not issued an official statement reacting to this measure.
The Catholic Channel signal remained live on Facebook this Friday night.
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For his part, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Báez, from exile expressed this Friday on his Twitter account: "The Word of God is not chained (2Tim 2,9). Although the dictatorship takes the Catholic Channel off the air of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, everything will be useless. The Church will continue to proclaim the Gospel of hope and justice".
TELCOR's measure is announced less than 24 hours after the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez Lagos, denounced that police agents persecuted him throughout the day and night of Thursday, according to what he said "by superior orders", even entering the private sphere of his father's house.
The religious announced that he was beginning a day of fasting based on water and serum, for an indefinite period of time, until the police respect his rights.
The National Police has not officially informed if it executes a security plan with bishops and priests.
CNN has reached out to the police, through a public relations officer, but so far they have not responded to our calls.
During the day and night of this Friday, officers remained outside the Santo Cristo de las Colinas Church, in Managua, where Álvarez is fasting.
