Four More Nicaraguans Prevented from Returning Home
during Easter week
Photo: CCC
Two of those barred from entering Nicaragua were priests. Meanwhile the regime sends out its paramilitary to march.
HAVANA TIMES – Four Nicaraguans, including two priests, were denied entry into Nicaragua during the past Holy Week, denounced the Blue and White Monitoring organization.
One of the priests prevented from returning to his country due to the refusal of the Government, headed by Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, was Jalder Hernandez of the archdiocese of Managua, Masaya, and Carazo, led by Nicaraguan Cardinal and Archbishop of the capital, Leopoldo Brenes.
According to Blue and White Monitoring, both priests—the name of the second was not revealed—were denied entry into Nicaragua on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. That same day, another Nicaraguan was also denied entry, and a fourth person was blocked on Good Friday.
The organization, which describes itself as an interdisciplinary team that records and consolidates reports of human rights violations related to Nicaragua’s political context since April 2018, documented a total of 20 incidents of human rights violations during Holy Week in Nicaragua, affecting 11 individuals (6 men and 5 women).
Among the reported human rights violations were harassment, territorial control, threats, denial of entry into the country to nationals, two arbitrary detentions, mistreatment and torture, confiscation of property, and refusal to renew five-year legal certifications for lawyers.
Additionally, threats and harassment of religious activities were reported nationwide, especially processions.
According to the Monitoring group, the main collective victims were the Catholic Church and its parishioners, the Evangelical Church, families of victims, and the general population.
Dictatorship Sends its Masked Army to the Streets
The Ortega-Murillo dictatorship held a series of “peace walks” on April 22 in different municipalities across Nicaragua. In Managua, the presence of so-called “volunteer police” wearing masks was particularly notable.
“We will be walking for peace throughout the country, saying peace is ours, peace is not to be trifled with, peace is our right, our heritage, our legacy, and peace must be firm and lasting,” stated Murillo during her speech on official media.
In early April, in another attempt to erase the memory of the victims of repression and the April 2018 uprising, the dictatorship forced State workers and its army of so-called “volunteer police” to march in every municipality in Nicaragua.
The dictatorship organized a series of activities that began on April 1, 2025, including “dianas” (early morning wake-up events) in all municipalities to promote the official narrative of “they couldn’t, and they never will,” a phrase championed by Murillo. The activities culminated in marches led by the so-called “volunteer police,” a term the dictatorship uses to justify the actions of paramilitary groups that violently dismantled barricades across the country.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.