SAN JOSÉ: Nicaraguan authorities have arrested six priests over the past two days, bringing to 11 the number of clergy detained since December 20, news reports and opposition figures said Saturday.
Nicaragua is led by President Daniel Ortega, a former guerrilla leader who toppled a US-backed right-wing regime in the 1970s and ruled for more than a decade.
But since returning to power in 2007, Ortega has turned authoritarian as he exiled and jailed dissidents and rivals, quashed presidential term limits and seized control of all branches of the state. He has also locked horns with the Catholic Church.
The names of six priests arrested since Friday were published by Nicaraguan news outlets operating in Costa Rica. They quoted church sources and exiled human rights lawyers.
Clergy members arrested since December 20 include Isidoro Mora, a bishop.
The Central American nation has shuttered more than 3,000 associations, NGOs and unions in the wake of 2018 protests against Ortega’s government.
Hundreds of critics have been detained, including several people who sought to challenge Ortega ahead of presidential elections in 2021.
In October, the authorities shuttered the local office of the Franciscans, a Catholic order.
Relations between the Vatican and the Managua government deteriorated amid the 2018 protests, during which more than 300 people were killed in clashes between the opposition and government supporters, according to the United Nations.
Ortega’s government was angry that churches sheltered protesters during a crackdown on those massive anti-government demonstrations. -AFP
