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Some four thousand police officers were deployed this Holy Week around Catholic temples in Nicaragua to prevent religious processions from taking place in the streets, while the regime promotes activities under the guise of “popular traditions” through the Tourism Institute, the Police and municipal mayors.

Some 400 parishes in the country received police notifications prohibiting them from taking to the streets with the traditional Holy Week religious processions, according to lawyer Martha Patricia Molina, who has dedicated the last few years to investigating and exposing the persecution suffered by the Church. Catholic in Nicaragua.

The police deployment was calculated by Molina according to the number of agents reported in each parish in the country.

According to Molina, some 4,800 religious activities that were traditionally held in the streets of towns and cities are not taking place this year, and some parishes decided to hold their celebrations in or around churches, where they are still allowed to hold activities.

The researcher says that the police notifications that the priests receive do not explain the reasons for the prohibitions and are limited to expressing the “non-authorization” for the events in the way they were traditionally held.

On Sunday, March 24, Palm Sunday in the Catholic celebration, there was an increase in police and paramilitary surveillance in the temples. “There were at least two police officers in each church and, in some churches, several patrols with Special Operations agents arrived,” says Molina.

The police seek to intimidate parishioners with their presence and taking photographs, he says.

Journalist Miguel Mendoza reported in his X account that the Nicaraguan police captured four young people who had dressed up as Jews to visit nearby houses, as part of the Holy Week traditions.” Mendoza stated that the capture took place with luxury of violence and until this Friday the young people had not been released.

Daniel Ortega’s regime maintains an offensive against the Catholic Church of Nicaragua which, from April 2018, when massive citizen protests took place, until January of this last year, registered 812 attacks, according to the count kept by lawyer Martha Patricia Molina in his report “A persecuted church.”

These attacks include imprisonment, physical attacks, expulsions from the country, desecration of religious rites and symbols and banishments of priests, lay people, bishops and nuns, among others.

Last year, the regime decided to ban Easter street celebrations and during the month of April imprisoned at least 13 people linked to traditional religious celebrations, including a journalist who reported on the events.

Journalist Víctor Ticay was arrested on April 6, 2023, one day after reporting on a religious procession in Nandaime, Granada, and on August 17 of that same year he was sentenced to eight years in prison for the alleged crimes of “propagation.” of fake news” and “betrayal of the country.”

Despite the intimidating presence of the police, parishioners gathered in the temples and are carrying out some activities inside or around the churches. “Palm Sunday with police and paramilitary presence inside and outside the parishes. They took photos and videos of the lay people. “A Sunday under extreme siege,” said lawyer Molina in her X account.

While this is happening in the temples, the Nicaraguan regime prepared to execute a calendar of activities under the label of “popular traditions” through the Police, the country’s mayors and the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur).

“The good government of reconciliation and national unity, through the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism, in celebration of Holy Week and Easter in Nicaragua, during this year 2024, will be developing a series of actions and activities to promote culture, traditions, gastronomy and the different tourist destinations in the land of lakes and volcanoes, which make us unique and original,” Intur proclaimed when announcing its “Holy Week and Easter strategy in Nicaragua.”

Martha Patricia Molina assured that, likewise, the “mayors are calling for religious activities for Holy Week without authorization and participation of the Catholic Church.”

Rosario Murillo, wife of Daniel Ortega and vice president of the country, highlighted, however, this week’s celebrations, without mentioning the police prohibitions on religious processions.

“Our Nicaragua full of faith, full of devotion, genuine devotion, our Nicaragua that lives this major week, Holy Week, as we are used to, in full traditions, traditions that carry the devotion of a Christian people, of Christian, socialist, supportive families, of families who love our neighbor, and who believe, and create, the common good,” Murillo said this Monday, March 25, through a radio intervention.

And as is his custom, he dedicated part of his speech to those who oppose his regime. “Living with love, banishing hatred, banishing so many malevolents, few now. Few now! I believe that, well, there will be those who do not get bored of being perverse and speaking out and being active against peace, there will be those who do not get bored, but, in general, when we see a human community afflicted by hatred, hurt by hatred, we must understand that this is not the way, that the way is the way of Christ Jesus: love for our neighbor, love for each other, brotherhood, fraternity, and life with dignity.”

The police deployment against religious activities occurs despite the fact that on March 7, Murillo stated in his congratulatory message for the birthday of Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, archbishop of Managua, that “the days of bells and crystals were behind us.” broken”, which predicted a détente between the regime and the Catholic Church.

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