Nicaragua’s ruling Sandinista regime has seized a prominent Catholic school, claiming without proof that it had operated a “torture” center during past protests and renaming the education facility for a slain partisan.
The Colegio San José de Jinotepe, a project of the Congregation of the Josephine Sisters, was “transferred to the state” on 12 August, according to Co-President Rosario Murillo.
The school was renamed “Héroe Bismarck Martínez,” who supporters of the Sandinista regime claim was tortured and murdered in Jinotepe during the protests of 2018, when Nicaraguans took to the streets and demanded the ouster of then-President Daniel Ortega—now co-president with his wife, Murillo.
An investigation by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission found 355 individuals died during “the repression of social protests.” Details of Martinez’s disappearance and death remain mysterious, but Ortega criticised the country’s bishops in 2019 for not condemning Bismark’s death.
The seizure of the Colegio San José de Jinotepe continued the Sandinista regime’s crackdown on the Catholic Church.
Even the most mild dissent is not tolerated and priests must watch their words during Mass. Four bishops have been exiled from Nicaragua, along with more than 250 priests, women religious and seminarians.
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