Nicaragua's communist regime reportedly kidnapped Catholic priest Ezequiel Buenfil Batun on Tuesday, the latest arrest in an ongoing campaign of persecution against Nicaragua's Catholic Church.
The priest's kidnapping reportedly occurred less than 72 hours after orders from dictator Daniel Ortega. expulsion Among the 19 members of the Vatican's Nicaraguan Catholic leadership. Nineteen people were serving criminal sentences of varying lengths as political prisoners. The best known of those imprisoned was Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison for “treason” for his outspoken criticism of Ortega's government.
Catholic Bishop Rolando of Nicaragua ÁMr. Ivarez speaks to the press at the Santo Cristo de Esquipulas church in Managua on May 20, 2022. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Buenfil, a Mexican national, was the abbot of the San Juan Neumann Monastery in Chinandega. The monastery belongs to the Consecrated Missionaries of the Most Holy Savior Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) supported by the Ortega government. Forcibly It was shut down Tuesday along with 15 other companies. The Ortega government has closed more than 3,500 NGOs since 2018.
Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer and researcher who has documented the Ortega regime's persecution of Nicaragua's Catholic Church, confirmed the abduction of the priest to local media and newspapers.Molina Said la prensa It was announced on Wednesday that it remains unclear whether the priest has been expelled from Nicaragua.
“What I know is that the police kidnapped him. They informed me on Monday. I don't know if they have already deported him. [from the country]” Molina said. “To this day, they have not told me whether they have already sent him to some border to be deported.”
“dictator [Ortega] Criminal states always need hostages because they see humans as objects, as bargaining chips. “We always need political prisoners to ‘negotiate’,” she continued.
As of press time, Nicaraguan authorities had not confirmed or denied the priest's arrest and expulsion.
Ortega and his Sandinista government dramatically increased persecution of Catholics and extended it to other Christian denominations in Nicaragua. Ortega himself declared this.war” Against the Vatican and the Catholic Faith in 2022.
The communist regime has continued to ban Nicaragua's Catholic Church for supporting anti-communist protests that began in April 2018, when thousands of people took to the streets to demand an end to nearly 40 years of Sandinista rule in Nicaragua. have been punished.The Sandinista army killed More than 300 people During the 2018 protests.
People demonstrate against the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in Managua on September 16, 2018. (INTI OCON/AFP/Getty Images)
Ortega's persecution of Catholics escalated dramatically in 2023. Since 2018, human rights organizations documented There have been 700 regime attacks on Catholic churches in Nicaragua, 307 of which occurred in 2023.
The attacks range from banning Catholic festivals and processions to arrests and expulsions of church members, seizure of assets and bank accounts, constant police surveillance and harassment of dioceses across the country, forced closure of Catholic media, and other authoritarian acts. It extends to
The communist regime also carries out an ongoing discursive campaign in state media against Nicaragua's Catholic Church, spearheaded by dictator Ortega's wife and regime vice president Rosario Murillo.
Murillo regularly problem She gave a speech that insulted members of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, accusing them of being “servants of Satan,” “representatives of the devil,” “evil spirits,” “blasphemers,” and “representatives of a false god.” On the other hand, he denied all of the following: Her husband's regime carries out all kinds of persecution against the church.
two anonymous priests from the Diocese of Matagalpa, Bishop Alvarez's diocese; Said la prensa On Wednesday, they found themselves in a state of fear, expressing disbelief at the “semblance of normalcy” that the regime wants to present to its people through dialogue with Pope Francis and the Vatican, resulting in the death of 19 religious He said this led to the expulsion of members.
One of the priests said, “Even if Nicaragua is not where the pastors were doing their missionary work, there is no denying that they are happy to be free.'' “But there are fewer and fewer of us here, and that limits the church's ability to reach the poorest.”
The priest went on to say that the Church is not threatened by acts of persecution against priests or constant police surveillance within the diocese.
“Uniformed police officers come to this parish in civilian clothes to take photos. They are there during Mass and some do not have police badges, but we already know them. ” said the priest. “This causes distress among parishioners and priests. They cannot go about their work in peace.”
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan writer who chronicles life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
