The Nicaraguan government forbids the priest from returning to the country

Authorities from Nicaragua The Nicaraguan priest was banned from entering the country Juan Carlos Sanchezparish vicar Saint Francis of Assisi, in Managuawhen he was preparing to return to the Central American nation after participating in his priestly ordination in Bolivianreligious affairs researchers and the local press reported this Sunday.

Last Saturday, monks could not turn to Miami (USA) on the direct flight he was supposed to take back to his country because, according to what he was told by the airline, the Nicaraguan authorities had denied him entry.

The information was published by a Nicaraguan researcher in exile Martha Patricia Molina, author of the study “Nicaragua: The Persecuted Church?” and which traces the attacks suffered by the Nicaraguan Catholic Church at the hands of the government Daniel Ortega.

Nicaraguan newspaper the newspaper he confirmed the news to church sources Archdiocese of Managuadirected by the Cardinals Leopoldo Breneswho did not publicly address the issue.

According to that newspaper, the vicar of the parish of San Francisco de Asís, in Managua, left Nicaragua for Bolivia to participate in the priestly ordination to which he was called in that Andean country.

He later traveled to Miami, USA to visit relatives, and there, when he was about to board a plane to return to Nicaragua, the airline informed him that he could not travel.

The General Administration of Migration and Immigration of Nicaraguadiscretionary and without explaining the reasons, banned dozens of Nicaraguans from returning to their country, including opponents, religious, activists and journalists.

Until last June 7, the Government of Nicaragua was forcing 77 religious to leave the country since the outbreak of the socio-political crisis in this Central American country in April 2018, including the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, Silvio Báez, those foreign nunsaccording to researcher Molina.

At least 40 religious have been expelled in the last five years, including a Panamanian priest donated alarconat the beginning of last April.

Other 17 religious They went into exile for security reasons. Twelve Nicaraguan authorities have been banned from entering the country, including pastor Sánchez, and eight exiles, declared stateless and “fugitives from justice” accused of crimes considered “treason”.

For Molina, the banishment, banishment or exile of monks is part of the persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.

Relations between Ortega’s government and the Catholic Church experienced moments of great tension, marked by the expulsion and imprisonment of priests, the banning of religious activities and the suspension of their diplomatic relations.

Pope Francis called the Sandinista government an “indecent dictatorship” in an interview with Infobae, pointing out the “imbalance in the person who leads” the Central American country.