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Riot police from the Nicaraguan military blocked the bishop of Matagalpa, José Álvarez Lagos, and six other priests from leaving the diocesan offices to celebrate Mass on Thursday 4 August.
“I wanted to leave for the cathedral to do the holy hour, the holy Mass, but obviously the higher authorities haven’t given permission, we are here … shut up inside the diocesan offices,” reported Álvarez, who is also the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí.
“Here we are going to remain without disrespecting the police; we have never disrespected them. I’m going to wait until they allow me to leave,” added the prelate. He then blessed the police officers by making the sign of the cross over them.
A video released by a Nicaraguan human rights organisation shows Álvarez holding a monstrance with the Eucharist in a cordoned area of the street and a policeman preventing him from processing.
The video shows the policeman whispering something to the bishop.
“You’re the ones who didn’t cooperate,” the bishop answered him. He explained that he was trying to do what is customary for him on Thursdays, to expose the Eucharist and pray.
Riot police have also prevented Father Uriel Vallejos and a group of faithful from leaving the rectory of Jesus of the Divine Mercy parish in the town of Sébaco.
The confinement of the priest and parishioners began after the police forced their way into his parish to shut down the Catholic radio station that operated on the premises. Vallejos is the radio station’s director.
Bishop Álvarez also coordinated a network of Catholic radio stations that the Nicaraguan government recently shut down by order of the government for allegedly not having a valid operating licence since 2003.
However, the diocese reported that Alvarez said that in 2016 he personally presented the required documentation and never received a reply.
It is widely believed the stations were shut down because it was critical of the administration of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.
President Ortega, who has been in power for 15 years, has been openly hostile to the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.
Ortega alleged the bishops were part of an attempted coup to drive him out of office in 2018 because they supported anti-government demonstrations that his regime brutally suppressed. The Nicaraguan president has called the bishops “terrorists” and “devils in cassocks”.
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