Bishop Carlos Herrera of Jinotega, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Nicaragua (CEN), was expelled by the Nicaraguan government to Guatemala, according to multiple sources. The regime, led by President Daniel Ortega, accused the Catholic Church of treason.
The Nicaraguan government expelled Bishop Carlos Herrera of Jinotega, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Nicaragua (CEN), to Guatemala, in its latest move against the Catholic Church.
Multiple sources reported November 14 that the expulsion November 14 was due to the government’s accusations of treason against the church.
Bishop Herrera, who has served as CEN president since 2021, is the third bishop expelled by the Nicaraguan regime after Bishops Rolando Alvarez and Isidoro Mora, who were imprisoned for a time before being expelled to Rome.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, accused the Catholic Church of supporting the 2018 protests that demanded their resignation and resulted in more than 300 deaths, according to the UN. The duo viewed these protests as an attempted coup orchestrated by the United States.
Since then, Nicaragua has strengthened its legal measures and suspended the operating permits of more than 3,000 NGOs.
An expulsion to Guatemala
Bishop Herrera “was expelled to Guatemala,” a member of the exiled Nicaraguan Catholic Church said. The Guatemalan government confirmed November 14 that the prelate “entered the country today” and that he was not under “asylum seeker” status.
More than 50 clergy members – including 43 Catholic priests – have been expelled, and approximately 200 others have been prevented from entering the country, according to the NGO “Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más,” which operates in exile from Costa Rica.
During the United Nations General Assembly at the end of September, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, called on the Ortega government to respect “freedom of worship.”
Latin American bishops react
The Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council, commonly known as CELAM, released a statement November 15 expressing its sorrow for “the events afflicting the pilgrim church in Nicaragua.”
In the message, which was signed by the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM)leadership, including its president, Archbishop Jaime Spengler of Porto Alegre, Brazil, the bishops’ council said it was also “shocked by the news of the expulsion” of Bishop Herrera.
“We sympathize with him and pray that this situation will be resolved soon and that he will be able to return to his homeland,” the statement read.
Entrusting the people of Nicaragua to Mary, the bishops expressed their “closeness and fraternal availability to all the bishops and the holy faithful people of God who, with the strength of faith, are witnesses of faithfulness to the Lord that shines upon the entire continent.”
Church a victim of “persecution” in Nicaragua
“We call on the international community and human rights organizations to denounce this outrage and demand respect for faith and its representatives in the country,” said the Foundation for the Freedom of Nicaragua in a statement on Thursday.
“The arbitrary expulsion of Bishop Herrera continues to highlight the persecution that the Catholic Church suffers at the hands of the dictatorship,” wrote the Nicaraguan University Alliance.
According to Félix Maradiaga, a former presidential candidate now exiled in the United States, “this is another blow to religious freedom and human dignity in Nicaragua.”
Since February 2023, around 450 politicians, business leaders, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists, and religious figures have been expelled from Nicaragua and stripped of their nationality for “treason.”
Reproduced with permission from La Croix International.
