Nicaraguan media in exile report that Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera, president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, has been banished to Guatemala. He is the third bishop to be expelled by Daniel Ortega's regime in the past year.
According to journalist Miguel Mendoza, "The bishop of Jinotega, Monsignor Carlos Enrique Herrera, has been exiled from Nicaragua. First, they shut down the diocese's Facebook page, and then they expelled him from his own country—all because he called the Sandinista mayor Leónidas Centeno sacrilegious for disrespecting the Holy Mass by ordering loud music and dances, which made it impossible to hear the service last Sunday."
The diocese had been using the social network to broadcast live Sunday Masses, Eucharistic Thursdays, and other religious events, primarily those presided over by Monsignor Herrera. The regime has banned religious processions and festivities, severely impacting freedom of worship throughout the country.
During the evening Mass last Sunday (Nov. 10), at the San Juan Bautista Cathedral, the bishop expressed his discontent with the frequent noisy events organized by the municipality, which disrupt liturgical celebrations.
"This is sacrilege, what the mayor and all the municipal authorities are doing... we ask God's forgiveness for them and for ourselves," declared the Bishop of Jinotega, directly holding Ortega's mayor, Leónidas Centeno, and other municipal authorities responsible.
The bishop was detained by police after leaving a meeting in Managua with the remaining members of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua and was subsequently deported to Guatemala. He is now staying at a residence of the Order of Friars Minor, to which he belongs, an ecclesiastical source confirmed to Mosaico CSI.
Herrera becomes the third bishop of the Episcopal Conference to be banished by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, in what is seen as an intensification of the persecution against the Catholic Church in the country.
The United Nations (UN) has denounced the growing religious persecution in Nicaragua, holding Daniel Ortega's regime responsible for harassing the Catholic and Evangelical Churches as well as the families of activists. In a recent report, the UN detailed the imprisonment of priests and the closure of religious media outlets, describing these actions as part of a "strategy of systematic repression."
Violations of religious freedom in Nicaragua are not limited to attacks on the Catholic Church alone. Last September, the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo canceled the legal status of the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance, citing "non-compliance in financial reports."
