Since shortly after 10:00 p.m. on Monday, Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata Guevara has been unaccounted for after police officers—including members of the Ortega-Murillo regime’s special police forces—arrived at his home in Tisma, Masaya, and forcibly took him away, according to Catholic Church sources who confirmed the information to LA PRENSA.
That night, officers entered the residence of the retired Bishop of Estelí, detained several individuals who were released the following day, and confiscated cell phones, a computer, and other personal belongings, according to another source familiar with the neighborhood where Bishop Mata lives. Other sources said the bishop’s residence had been under surveillance by agents of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship in recent days.
«It is not true that Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata is under house arrest. Ortega’s police took him away, and no one knows where he is. The most troubling part is that the bishop is in fragile health and requires his medication,» the Church source said.
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The retired Bishop of Estelí reportedly requires medication to improve blood circulation and also needs regular injections to treat a condition affecting his right eye, the source added.
Mata was initially detained on Monday, June 29, at approximately 1:00 p.m. in Estelí and transferred to Managua, where he was questioned by senior police officials of the Ortega-Murillo regime. Around 6:00 p.m. that same day, officers returned him to his home in Tisma, Masaya. Shortly afterward, Bishop Mata told local media that he had returned home and was doing well. However, about four hours later, police reportedly returned and arrested him again.
According to the Church source, police officers serving the regime strictly ordered the bishop «to deny the accurate information already circulating in the media and on social media regarding his detention.» As it has allegedly done with other detainees, the regime reportedly used its propaganda apparatus to pressure Bishop Mata into publicly denying reports of his arrest.
Police authorities have provided no explanation for the events, and neither President Daniel Ortega nor Vice President Rosario Murillo has publicly addressed the disappearance of the retired bishop.
Bishop Mata has long been one of the Catholic Church’s most outspoken critics of the Ortega-Murillo government. During his 33 years leading the Diocese of Estelí, he consistently advocated for democracy and played a prominent role during the 2018 national dialogue between anti-government protesters and the government. In June 2018, he was attacked by pro-government paramilitaries and mobs while traveling through the municipality of Nindirí, Masaya.
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Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott addressed the case Thursday in a post on X.
«It has now been THREE DAYS since Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata was forcibly disappeared by the Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua, and his family still has no information about his whereabouts. He has a medical condition that requires immediate attention,» Scott wrote.
«The regime must immediately provide proof that Bishop Mata is alive, release him immediately and unconditionally, and END, once and for all, its persecution of the Nicaraguan people and its vicious attacks on religious freedom,» he added.
«We are watching closely. The Ortega-Murillo regime’s brutal persecution of the Nicaraguan people and its arbitrary detention of Bishop Mata are unacceptable. The level of force used against an 80-year-old religious leader is as shameful as it is absurd and cannot be tolerated.»
Meanwhile, the Volunteer Working Group for Democratization and Human Rights on Wednesday, July 1, urged the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to request that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights grant precautionary measures for Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata Guevara, according to economist and administrator Jaime Chavarría, a member of the organization and himself a victim of the Nicaraguan government, speaking to LA PRENSA.
The Catholic Church in Nicaragua continues to face sustained pressure from the Ortega-Murillo government. In addition to Bishop Mata, Father Frutos Constantino Valle Salmerón, 81, administrator ad omnia (with full administrative authority) of the Diocese of Estelí, has been confined since July 2024 at the National Interdiocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fátima in Managua, where he remains under police surveillance.
