Nicaragua’s Ortega regime has detained two of the leading priests of the Archdiocese of Managua, the nation’s capital and leading see.
Msgr. Carlos Avilés is the archdiocese’s vicar general; Father Hector Treminio is the archdiocese’s treasurer. Both prayed for the release of Bishop Roland Álvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison earlier this year.
The December 28 arrests are part of a wider Christmas crackdown that included the banning of the popular Las Posadas devotion. On December 20, Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega of Siuna was arrested; on Christmas Eve, six lay staff members of a Nicaraguan Caritas office were convicted of money laundering. At least six priests have been arrested in the past week, according to the Reuters news agency.