Several Catholic churches in Nicaragua no longer enjoy the privilege of the Eucharistic celebration of the Holy Mass, due to the persistent arrest and detention of Catholic priests in the country by the autocratic regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice-President, Rosario Murillo.
Last weekend, two more Catholic priests; Fr. Yesner Cipriano Pineda Meneses, Parish Priest of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Nueva Segovia Department (administrative district) in the Diocese of Estelí and Fr. Ramón Esteban Angulo Reyes, Parish Priest of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in the town of El Rama in the Diocese of Bluefields, where arrested by Sandinista police.
On the arrest of Fr.Angulo, which took place on October 8, a day after Fr. Pineda was arrested, Nicaraguan media; 100% Noticias, reported that the police officers showed up at the parish, pretending to take Fr. Angulo for a meeting, and since then, the priest never returned and his whereabouts still remains unknown.
Another Nicaraguan daily; La Prensa, also reported that so far 13 members of the clergy have been arrested in Nicaragua, including the Bishop of Matagalpa, Most Rev. Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced in February to 26 years and four months in prison for being ‘a traitor to the homeland.’
Nicaraguan Researcher and Lawyer, Martha Patricia Molina has charged that the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, is monitoring priests daily and taking photographs of them, even as she claims that more priests will be captured, base on the informations at her disposal.