Nicaraguan regime exiles president of bishops’ conference

The exile comes after Bishop Herrera criticized the local mayor during Mass last weekend.

The president of the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference has been exiled by the Nicaraguan regime after he criticized a pro-regime mayor during a recent Mass. 

Bishop Carlos Herrera, OFM, was exiled to Guatemala on Tuesday.

Various local outlets confirmed the news after Herrera disappeared following a meeting with other Nicaraguan bishops in Managua, the country’s capital. 

Herrera, who leads the Diocese of Jinotega, is the fourth Nicaraguan bishop to be exiled by the Nicaraguan regime. 

Rolando Álvarez (bishop of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí) and Isidoro Mora (bishop of Siuna) were exiled in January 2024 to Rome along with a group of priests. Silvio Báez (auxiliary of Managua) had been exiled in 2019 to Rome and now lives in Miami.

According to local media outlet Confidencial, Herrera arrived Wednesday to the provincial house of the Franciscan order in Guatemala.

The exile comes after Herrera criticized the local mayor, Leónidas Centeno, for organizing municipal events with loud music outside of the cathedral during Sunday Mass last weekend.

“What the mayor and the municipal authorities are doing is a sacrilege, we ask God for forgiveness in their name and for us,” he said, before praying the penitential rite.

He added that the municipal authorities know the Sunday Mass schedule, which shows a lack of respect for the Catholic faith and the Catholic community.

Local Catholics and media started suspecting something was wrong after the diocesan Facebook account was deactivated without explanation on Wednesday. 

The Facebook account was used almost daily to broadcast Masses, as well as Eucharistic adoration on Thursdays, and many diocesan events.

Various local outlets and activists tried contacting Herrera, but his WhatsApp also seemed deactivated, which led to rumors of his arrest.

Since his election as president of the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference, Herrera has mostly kept a low profile. However, during the 2018 protests in the country, he was known for picking protestors up in his truck to rescue them from government repression.

In 2019, serving as the president of Caritas Nicaragua, the bishop publicly denounced the government blockade which was preventing the organization from receiving donations from abroad. 

He was also a bitter critic of the 2021 presidential election calling it an “electoral farce” and saying the country was in a state of “fear, distrust, and insecurity.”

With Herrera’s exile, only five active bishops remain in Nicaragua. Four of the country’s dioceses do not have a resident bishop. Moreover, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Managua is already 75 years old.

The Nicaraguan regime has so far exiled about 20% of the country’s clergy. Some dioceses, such as Matagalpa, have lost over two-thirds of their clergy to exile.

The Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference was set to choose Herrera’s successor as president this year, but it is now unclear what will happen with the election.