Nicaragua exiles seven priests to Rome

VATICAN NEWS

Among the priests detained in Nicaragua, seven were exiled this Wednesday, August 7, and sent to Rome, where they arrived Thursday afternoon. They are Víctor Godoy, Jairo Pravia, Silvio Romero, Edgar Sacasa, Harvin Torres, Ulises Vega and Marlon Velázquez.

The information was confirmed the same day in the afternoon by the government of Nicaragua in a press release that states that “seven Nicaraguan priests left Nicaragua for Rome, Italy.” The priests belong to the dioceses of Matagalpa and Estelí and are being held at the Nuestra Señora de Fátima seminary in Managua.

According to Nicaraguan media, the administrator of the diocese of Estelí, Father Frutos Valle, arrested on July 26, was not among those expelled from the country.

This is the fifth time that Nicaragua has exiled groups of priests: in October 2022 and February 2023, several priests were sent to the United States; in October 2023 and January 2024, two other groups of priests, as well as two bishops – Rolando Álvarez and Isidoro Mora – were sent to Rome.

Meanwhile, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Arturo McFields Yescas, confirmed Wednesday that the government led by Daniel Ortega had ordered the expulsion of Brazil’s ambassador to Nicaragua, Breno de Souza Brasil Días da Costa, for not attending the celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution on July 19, to which he had been invited.

For its part, the Brazilian government decided on Thursday to expel the Nicaraguan ambassador, Fulvia Castro, in “reciprocity” to the steps taken by the authorities in Managua.