Thousands of faithful Nicaraguan Catholics celebrated the penitential Via Crucis on Friday inside the churches and parishes of the country, after the government of Daniel Ortega, through the police, prohibited the Catholic Church from carrying out Holy Week processions in a massive way and in streets.
Journalist imprisoned for recording Catholic procession
Nicaraguan journalist Víctor Ticay, a collaborator with local television Channel 10, was arrested on April 6 for covering a religious procession in the municipality of Nandaime (southwest), according to the Alerts platform, Libertad de Prensa Nicaragua. Ticay, director of the Facebook page «La Portada», which documents cases of violations of freedom of expression and of the press in Nicaragua, remains imprisoned in the El Chipote police jail, accused of «cybercrimes», his family reported .
The special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Pedro Vaca, expressed concern about the reporter’s detention, while the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) , demanded his immediate release.
Ortega intensifies religious persecution
Thousands of faithful Nicaraguan Catholics celebrated the penitential Via Crucis on Friday inside the churches and parishes of the country, after the government of Daniel Ortega, through the police, prohibited the Catholic Church from carrying out Holy Week processions in a massive way and in streets.
The government began restricting religious activities last year, following increased tensions with the Catholic Church. Although he did not issue an official ban, priests and parish priests in the country received these verbal warnings from the police, before each activity.
The Nicaraguan Constitution establishes that «everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, thought and to profess or not a religion» and that «no one may be subject to coercive measures that may undermine these rights.»
Ortega is holding the bishop of Matagalpa (north), Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, who last February was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison after refusing to be exiled along with 222 opponents released and sent to the United States.
The government also expelled on April 3, 2023 the Panamanian priest Donaciano Alarcón, parish priest of the town of Cusmapa (north). In statements to the press in his country, the priest said that he was detained «abruptly» by the Nicaraguan police after officiating a mass, and taken to the border with Honduras, where he was deported.
Monitoring registers 21 arbitrary detentions in April
The citizen network Monitoringo Azul y Blanco reported on April 10 the arbitrary detention of 21 people in the first nine days of the month, mostly Catholic parishioners who defied the government ban on attending religious processions.
Blue and White Monitoring recorded 71 incidents related to human rights violations during Holy Week (April 1-9), with the highest number of cases in the cities of Masaya (17) and Managua (14).
In the first nine days of April there were 14 threats, 9 harassments, 21 arrests, 2 migratory repressions and 25 sieges on Catholic temples, detailed the Blue and White Monitoring, whose reports are endorsed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
They denounced 38 violations of press freedom between January and March
The report «Freedom of the Press in Nicaragua without respite: Ortega does not stop attacking», prepared by Voces del Sur and the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED), documented 38 cases of violations of press freedom during the first quarter of 2023.
According to the report, another seven journalists were forced into exile between January and March, bringing to 185 the number of journalists who have left Nicaragua since 2018, the year in which the protests against the government broke out.
«Threats of imprisonment and expulsion from the country appear as one of the main forms of intimidation against those who practice journalism,» the document said. He warned that they have detected a «growing increase in self-censorship among the victims themselves, which has led to a decrease in complaints and the advance of the criminalization of independent journalism.»
To read the full report, click here.