The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega added Father Juan Ramón Montalván to the list of priests prevented from returning to Nicaragua. Father Montalván serves in the ministry for the Diocese of Granada.
Researcher Martha Patricia Molina, who has been responsible for exposing all acts violating religious freedom in the country, made public this new violation of religious freedom in Nicaragua.
“Sandinista dictatorship prohibits entry to Nicaragua for Nicaraguan priest Juan Ramón Montalván, from the San Andrés Apóstol parish in Camoapa, belonging to the Diocese of Granada,” denounced Molina.
According to details provided by the researcher, the clergyman was on a pastoral mission in Spain.
In June 2019, during a confrontation between paramilitaries and civilians in Tecolostote, municipality of San Lorenzo, in Boaco, Father Montalván reportedly denounced the situation faced by the residents of the area.
Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan researcher documenting attacks against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, revealed that since 2018, religious figures have been subjected to over 700 assaults, with 307 occurring in 2023. The aggressions in 2023 were primarily targeted at nuns, priests, seminarians, and deacons.