"Usurper of peace," this is how Ortega describes a priest expelled from Nicaragua 3:55

(CNN Spanish) -- A Nicaraguan opposition leader in exile and a civic group condemned on Friday the arrest of Jaime Iván Montesinos Sauceda, the pastor of the Juan Pablo Segundo Church in the municipality of Sébaco, in Matagalpa, confirmed Thursday in a confusing press release published by the National Police of Nicaragua.

"The National Police, at the service of the dictatorship, slanders and invents to try to wash the face of their misdeeds," Felix Mariadaga, a former presidential candidate and one of the more than 200 prisoners that Nicaragua expelled last February to the United States and who also stripped of their nationality, said on Twitter.

For its part, the organization Nicaraguan Self-Convened Union (UNA) condemned in a statement "these excessive attacks against the Catholic Church, we condemn these slanders and demand respect for the physical integrity and immediate release of Father Jaime, as well as that of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez and all political hostages."

  • The government of Nicaragua cancels the legal status of 3 private universities

According to the police, the priest was arrested on Tuesday night on a road in the municipality of San José de los Remates, department of Boaco, when he was aboard a van in the company of "a young woman" and when he allegedly "was in a suspicious attitude" and in a "state of drunkenness."

Later, in the statement, the Police say that Montesinos is being investigated for "committing acts that undermine the independence, sovereignty and self-determination of the nation," all based on the controversial Law for the Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace, which since its implementation has been used to imprison detractors of the government of Daniel Ortega. journalists and even opposition presidential candidates.

advertising

The police did not give more details or link the incident where he was arrested with the investigations that are being carried out against the religious for alleged undermining of national sovereignty. In his statement he only said that "he carries out the pertinent investigative proceedings and that he will refer the investigated to the competent authorities for prosecution."

CNN is trying to get more details of the incident and the investigations with the Government's Communication and Citizenship Council, as well as a reaction from the Archdiocese of Managua, which until Friday had not spoken publicly about the case.

Montesinos' arrest represents the latest episode of actions by the Ortega government against the Catholic Church. So far this year alone, there have been the closure of the Immaculate Conception Catholic University, of the Archdiocese of Managua, and the sentencing to 26 years in prison against Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, for crimes such as undermining the State of the Republic and Nicaraguan society and alleged propagation of false news.

The government has also taken a series of measures that the Church has pointed out as restricting freedom of worship, including the prohibition of public processions during last Holy Week, or the expulsion of religious to Costa Rica.

Daniel OrtegaCatholic Church