The situation surrounding Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata Guevara has raised significant concerns both locally and internationally. The Nicaraguan government, led by President Daniel Ortega, is facing pressure to address the mysterious circumstances of the bishop’s disappearance.
Bishop Mata, who is 80 years old and the bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Estelí, has health issues including a pacemaker and a past battle with cancer, intensifying worries about his well-being.
Retiring in 2020, Bishop Mata’s arrest appears linked to a June mass where he prayed for the persecuted church in Nicaragua.
Open Doors ranks Nicaragua as the 32nd most challenging nation for Christians, noting a decline in religious freedom since the 2018 anti-government protests.
Reports suggest that Bishop Mata was taken into custody on June 29 and was supposedly returned to his residence by July 4. Yet, concerns persist regarding his autonomy, with suspicions he might be under constant surveillance or possibly not at his home at all.
The reasons for his arrest remain unclear. Some attribute it to his comments during the mass, while others point to suspicions about his property and familial connections that allegedly conflict with his priestly status.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed its worries over the arrest, stating it “condemns the practice of hiding the whereabouts of individuals who have been subjected to arbitrary arrests as one of the most serious patterns of repression in Nicaragua”.
In exile, Nicaraguan lawyer and activist Martha Patricia Molina criticized the arrest, declaring to ACI Prensa, “The forced disappearance of Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata is a serious matter; this constitutes a crime against humanity committed by agents of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. He has been missing for 19 days, and the co-dictators have not made any further statements on the matter.”
Molina emphasized the lack of evidence supporting claims of the bishop’s return home.
“No one in his circle has any news of him, and concern among the laity and the Catholic Church in general is even greater due to the medical conditions he suffers from, conditions that are almost certainly not being treated properly,” she remarked.
This article was originally written by www.christiantoday.com
