Nicaragua: the Catholic Church denounces the arrest of a priest

The Catholic Church in Nicaragua has denounced the arrest on Sunday of a priest "

" as the tension between the Church and the government of President Daniel Ortega is at its height.

This arrest comes after the closure on August 4 by the police of the bishopric of Matagalpa (north), preventing the exit of Bishop Rolando Alvarez and a dozen priests and lay people who accompany him.

In a press release published on social networks overnight from Sunday to Monday, the diocese of Siuna announced the arrest of priest Oscar Benavidez, parish priest of Espíritu Santo de Mulukuku (north of the Caribbean coast).

“

,” the statement said.

The priest "

", according to a tweet from the Nicaraguan Center for the Defense of Human Rights (Cenidh), which cites "

“, without further details.

Neither the authorities nor the police confirmed or denied the information.

The diocese of Siuna was one of the first to express its solidarity with the bishop of Matagalpa, a critic of the government of Daniel Ortega.

The Nicaraguan authorities accuse Bishop Alvarez, 55, of wanting to "

" and incite "

".

The police announced that they had opened an investigation into these "

".

Relations between the Catholic Church and the government of Daniel Ortega have been strained since 2018 when demonstrators demanding the resignation of the Nicaraguan president took refuge in churches.

The repression of the demonstrations left more than 350 dead.

President Ortega accuses the Catholic clergy of complicity in what he calls a coup attempt hatched by Washington.

The crisis even led to the expulsion in March of the Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador) Bishop Waldemar Sommertag.

Daniel Ortega, a 76-year-old former Sandinista guerrilla in power since 2007, was re-elected to the presidency in November 2021 for a fourth consecutive term in a ballot from which all his potential opponents of weight were absent, those- ci having been arrested or forced into exile.