Nicaragua: Police again ban Catholic processions

Nicaraguan police have banned

two popular Catholic processions due to be held in late September in Masaya, 30 km southeast of Managua, for

Relations between the Catholic Church and the government of Daniel Ortega have been strained since the anti-government demonstrations of 2018, when protesters took refuge in churches.

On August 13, the police had already banned a procession in Managua, citing the same reasons.

Read alsoDaniel Ortega's Nicaragua targets the Church

The two prohibited processions were to be held on September 29 for Saint-Michel Archange, and the next day for Saint-Jérôme.

This last procession is one of the most important in Nicaragua.

Masaya had been the scene of massive demonstrations during the popular movement of 2018. President Ortega accuses the Catholic clergy of complicity in these demonstrations, the repression of which left more than 350 dead and which he described as an attempted coup. hatched by Washington.

The crisis even led to the expulsion in March of the Apostolic Nuncio Msgr. Waldemar Sommertag and the house arrest in August of the Bishop of Matagalpa, Msgr. Rolando Alvarez, a critic of the regime.

In power since 2007, Daniel Ortega, 76, was re-elected in 2021 for a fourth consecutive term at the head of his country in a ballot from which all his potential opponents of weight were absent, arrested or forced to exile.