At least 12 priests arrested in new surge of Nicaraguan repression

The Diocese of Matagalpa has been left largely without a diocesan curia or any major officials.

The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega has initiated a new crackdown against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, with the arrest of at least 12 priests across the country.

Nicaraguans during a 2018 protest. Credit: VOA News/public domain.

The priests - Frutos Valle Salmerón, Ulises René Vega Matamoros, Edgar Sacasa Sierra, Jairo Pravia, Víctor Godoy, Marlon Velázquez, Antonio López, Fray Silvio Romero, Raúl Villega, Edilio Javier Cruz, Francisco Tercero, Harvin Tórrez and the deacon Ervin Aguirre - have been detained in a series of arrests that began on July 26.

Of this group, López, Cruz, Tercero and the deacon Aguirre were released shortly after police officers took them into custody.

The priests are allegedly under house arrest in the Interdiocesan Seminary Our Lady of Fátima in Managua.

Most of the priests come from the embattled Diocese of Matagalpa, which has lost some 70% of its clergy to exile or arrest in the last three years, including its bishop, Rolando Álvarez.

The persecution against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua started amid the 2018-2019 protests against the Ortega regime. However, it intensified in August 2022, when Bishop Álvarez was imprisoned and eventually sentenced to 26 years in prison for conspiracy. The bishop was eventually released and exiled to the Vatican, where he remains today.

Since 2018, over 20% of the Nicaraguan clergy have gone into exile, including a total of three bishops.

The Nicaraguan regime has specifically targeted the Diocese of Matagalpa since 2022. However, since Álvarez’s exile, no more priests from the diocese had been exiled or jailed - until now.

The new wave of arrests comes two weeks after one priest and seven deacons were ordained in the Diocese of Matagalpa.

But a local source told The Pillar the persecution is likely unrelated to the ordinations, which were celebrated by Bishop Carlos Herrera, the president of the bishop’s conference, and had not been opposed by the regime. 

“I do not believe it was in direct retaliation — this is just what they do,” the source said.

“They just do what they want and when they want,” the source added. “They are trying to finish the Diocese of Matagalpa.”

Another source told The Pillar that Bishop Álvarez continues to lead the diocese of Matagalpa from Rome. 

The regime believed that with Álvarez’s exile, his influence over the diocese would end, but that has not been the case. It is possible, therefore, that the regime is attempting to suffocate the diocese by slowly exiling or jailing the remaining priests of the diocese, beginning with the curia.

Doing so would make the diocese almost impossible to govern, and would clear the pool of local episcopal candidates.

The diocese has been left largely without a diocesan curia or any major officials—its vicar general, judicial vicar, pastoral vicar, chancellor, and rector of the seminary are all under arrest or in exile.

Before this current bout of persecution, nine of the 28 parishes of the diocese were without a pastor - now the number has increased to at least 14.

According to Nicaraguan Catholic activist Martha Molina, Matagalpa had 70 priests in 2021. Today, that number is as low as 20 active priests.