During the darkest days of the 2018 repression wave, Daniel Ortega’s regime claimed to have found weapons in various Catholic churches. Five years have passed, and they never presented the alleged arms. More recently, in May of this year, the Sandinista police claimed to have received information about “illicit activities in handling funds and resources from bank accounts” of several dioceses in the country.
They spoke of “hundreds of thousands of dollars” stashed in bags allegedly found in “facilities belonging to dioceses in the country,” without specifying which ones. They spoke of “money laundering,” without pointing fingers at anyone.
Six months have passed, and neither the money has been presented, the exact amount specified, nor any progress reported on the alleged investigations. The judicial system has no record related to the noisy announcement by the Ortega police. The only concrete aspect that remains is the freezing of bank accounts of dioceses and various parishes. Even though these institutions continue with their work, they face many limitations.
“Brother, all of Nicaragua knows that these people (the regime) specialize in slandering and trying to tarnish the reputation of anyone who is not their loyal follower, especially the Catholic Church,” said a priest who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “These people have not stopped conspiring against the Catholic Church”.
The freezing of bank accounts is just one part of the broader Sandinista campaign against the Catholic Church in this latest attempt to silence it, which has also involved the arrest of several priests, including Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa. Álvarez is currently held at the “Modelo” Prison after being sentenced to 26 years for charges of “incitement to hatred” and “treason to the Homeland.” His trial didn’t take place; rather, the sentence was issued after he refused to go into exile alongside 222 other political prisoners who were sent to the United States and stripped of their Nicaraguan nationality.
Last Wednesday 20, the bishop of Siuna, Monsignor Isidoro Mora Ortega, was detained by the regime’s police; this would be the second bishop, after Állvarez, imprisoned out of a total of 10. In addition, the diocese of Estelí is currently a “vacant see” since the retirement of bishop Abelardo Mata; and the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, has been in exile since April 2019. At the time of publication of this article, neither the Police nor the Prosecutor’s Office had yet to file charges against Monsignor Mora. The only thing that is known is that in the mass of Tuesday 19, Monsignor Mora said that the Episcopal Conference was united, praying for Monsignor Alvarez.
A statement regarding “illicit activity” and “money laundering” that led to nowhere
On May 27, 2023, the Police issued a statement regarding alleged “illicit activity in handling funds from bank accounts that had belonged to individuals convicted of treason against the country.”
“The outcome of the investigations confirmed the illegal withdrawal of resources from bank accounts that had been lawfully frozen, as well as other offenses that are still under investigation as part of a money laundering network discovered in dioceses across different departments of the country,” the statement read.
“The Attorney General’s Office, the Banking Superintendency, and the Financial Analysis Unit have confirmed criminal transactions involving funds irregularly entering the country for the dioceses. Investigations and legal processes have been initiated for all these offenses.”
Despite the gravity of the accusations, the case has been stagnant since then, and there have been no specific charges brought against either the priests or the bank officials who, according to the statement, allegedly facilitated the movement of funds from “previously frozen accounts.”
However, the attacks against the Church continued, including arrests of priests without specific charges. Among those arrested was Father Osmán José Amador Guillén, who was in charge of Caritas, the social arm of the Catholic Church, in Estelí, 100 miles north of Managua.
At that time, the Estelí diocese was under the apostolic administration of Bishop Álvarez, following the pope’s acceptance of Bishop Abelardo Mata’s resignation due to age.
Without accounts and increasingly fewer priests
Neither the police nor the Church have specified the total amount frozen in their bank accounts. Most of these accounts belong to parishes, where offerings made by parishioners during masses are deposited. Other sources of parish funding include fairs, raffles, and other donation events.
However, there are at least two accounts that could contain over half a million dollars. One belongs to the Diocese of Estelí, which in 2012 received a donation of $563,206.54 from the U.S.-based charitable foundation Catholic Relief Services. It’s unclear how much of the original amount the diocese still had.
Father Amador Guillén received this donation. He was arrested by riot police on September 8, three months after the statement, when they stormed the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary and took him away. On October 18, he and eleven other previously imprisoned Nicaraguan priests were deported and sent to the Vatican.
Although there was never a detailed report on the money supposedly seized by the Police, on June 4, 2023, eight days after the announcement, the regime’s official site, El 19 Digital, closely overseen by Vice President Rosario Murillo, published the article ‘Money under the cassock.’ In one part, the writer alleges:
“Regarding the $500,000 found in the sacks: what purpose does such a large sum serve, considering the minimal pastoral activity and its minimal operational costs? It’s hard to be convinced that it was intended for buying candles for the faithful; unimaginable to consider such amounts for buying hosts and cheap wine; finally, it’s ridiculous to pretend they were destined for charity.” Since then, there has been no further mention of the issue. Freezing the accounts was another attempt to weaken the Catholic Church.
Apart from having their accounts frozen, with the expulsion of priests last October, the regime removed twelve more priests from the Catholic Church. In total, according to Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer who has detailed every act of the regime against the Church since 2018, 176 religious figures have been forced to cease their ministry in Nicaragua.
The Priest Retirement Fund: A Blow to Elderly Priests
Another frozen account is the Priestly Retirement Fund, which for the last 20 years has been providing $300 monthly support to retired priests from their duties.
“Forget it, that money was stolen (by the regime),” warned Molina. “And now, who will provide that assistance to all those elderly priests?”
The fund represents a significant amount because each priest contributes $150 per year out of his own pocket. The other $150 came from church collections. In the Archdiocese of Managua alone, which includes Managua, Masaya and Carazo, there are about 140 priests. The fund was created 22 years ago.
Another source of financing of this fund is a national collection that is made every year during Ash Wednesday. Of this money, the retirees have been helped and it is not known how much has been paid or how much was still in their bank account at the time of the freezing. LA PRENSA was unable to get any ecclesiastical source to specify the amount frozen to the Retirement Fund, due to its strict policy of silence.
The parishioners make greater sacrifices to support their priests
However, while the freezing of the Priestly Fund is indeed leaving dozens of elderly priests without resources, no retention of funds has managed to diminish the Church’s pastoral work across all its dioceses, which continue to operate based on the offerings of their parishioners.
Each parish has an Economic Council composed of laypeople who assist in fundraising. With restricted access to their bank accounts, parishes have had to suspend or delay new infrastructure projects and, in some cases, let go of some employees. Often, these employees have continued their duties as volunteers.
“The truth is that the communities have responded very well and have been making significant sacrifices to contribute more than usual to the Church,” mentioned another priest, speaking under condition of anonymity. “God is great and never abandons us. Somehow, money always appears.”
He explained that for the most part, parishioners’ contributions have been maintained, and in some cases, increased. However, many parishes have been affected primarily by the loss of financial services offered by banks, such as the convenience of making payments with debit cards, receiving donations from Nicaraguans abroad, or local parishioners opting for electronic transfers to the Church’s accounts. Everything is now handled in cash.
In the poorest parishes, however, there are indeed cases where priests face situations for which they lack funds, leading to desperate appeals to committed laypeople within the Church.
“Right now, there are priests asking me for financial help,” explained Molina, the lawyer behind the report ‘Nicaragua: a Persecuted Church’. “One priest had saved up almost all the money to fix the roof of the rectory that was collapsing on him, and that money was frozen.”
Another harsh blow caused by the financial strangulation by the Ortega-Murillo regime was the closure last June of the Juan Pablo II National Propaedeutic Seminary, which operated in Bluefields. This seminary, barely a year into the preparation of future priests, closed due to a lack of funds.
In recent days, reports surfaced about the closure of the San José Obrero Vocational Technical School in León “due to economic asphyxiation.” Additionally, on Monday, December 18, LA PRENSA confirmed that the pastoral house in San Pedro del Norte in Chinandega, 150 miles west of Managua, part of the Diocese of León, was confiscated by authorities, containing valuable items inside.
“In the case of this property, they say there were many items inside, and they were all stolen. It was used for the training of lay ministers. There is information suggesting that more properties will be confiscated”, detailed lawyer Molina, consulted by LA PRENSA.
Despite these circumstances, Catholic churches have not closed their doors. Against all odds, they have continued their pastoral work, persisting amid constant attacks and threats from the regime, its Police, paramilitaries, and supporters. Molina has documented 667 regime attacks against the Church from April 2018 to last August.
Murillo continues her attacks, referring to the clergy as ‘representatives of the demon’
In December 2023, when the novena to the Immaculate Conception of Mary and Christmas are celebrated, the Church remains marginalized and silent, yet Murillo’s furious attacks against the clergy persist, unrelenting and obsessive.
On December 12, purportedly greeting the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Murillo once again fiercely targeted the priests.
“How much we implored her in tough times, when we were struck by coup attempts, terrorism, crime, and hatred, how we invoked her (the Virgin Mary) …there was real perversion, malignancy, the devil’s cauldron was here, and we know where it was, then the cynicism, exorcism was necessary. How can we believe anything from the representatives of the demon, and how dare they blaspheme, a blasphemy, a sacrilege, altering the order of things in the name of God,” Murillo stated in her midday monologue broadcasted through her media.
The Immaculate Conception of Mary, a blue and white devotion
Ortega and Murillo didn’t hesitate this year to prohibit one of the most traditional Marian processions in the country: the “Procesión de la Conchita” in Granada, 30 miles east of Managua. This procession is part of the early December celebrations honoring the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the patroness of Nicaraguan Catholics.
Nicaraguans feel a strong connection to the Immaculate Conception of Mary, often presenting the image adorned with the colors blue and white on altars for decades. However, since 2018, displaying the flag and its blue and white colors has been deemed a crime in the eyes of the dictatorship.
As a result, the regime only authorized large religious events for priests and bishops who have fully aligned themselves with the government, such as the case of Bishop Sócrates René Sándigo, in charge of the Diocese of León. He was able to conduct the traditional ‘Lavada de la Plata’ in El Viejo without any restrictions.
The dictatorship’s Police has banned many religious activities, particularly processions, and instead the regime has called on the population to participate in ‘cantatas’ honoring the Virgin without the traditional colors, but there’s one celebration they haven’t dared to suppress: the traditional ‘Gritería,’ held on December seventh following the conclusion of the novena.
Even Murillo and Ortega, along with their children and grandchildren, hold this celebration, ensuring their media cover the celebration the family holds behind the walls and watchtowers of the compound where they live and work, which Nicaraguans refer to as “El Carmen” for the name of the area of Managua where it’s located.
One day, Murillo and Ortega sing to the Virgin, and without missing a beat, they insult, imprison, and financially strangle the Church and its priests.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living in exile maintain their devotion to the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Báez, exiled since April 2019 for opposing the regime, expressed his emotion upon seeing an image of the Virgin adorned with a blue and white Nicaraguan flag in a parish in Palm Beach, Florida.
He encouraged Nicaraguans to never lose faith and hope.
“To not get used to situations we should never accept and to never stop dreaming and making every possible effort to have a new society based on justice, freedom, and peace,” said Báez. “The people of Nicaragua have the capacity to achieve such a change.