The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urged the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo on Thursday to immediately provide information on the whereabouts of Monsignor Abelardo Mata Guevara, bishop emeritus of Estelí, and to guarantee his life and integrity, in a new statement that also denounced the systematic persecution against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. The Commission’s communiqué comes after more than two weeks have passed since the prelate’s detention, with continuing doubts about his actual situation.
According to information released by the IACHR, the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) received reports that Monsignor Mata, over 80 years old and a beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the Commission itself, was detained on June 29 along with Father Rigoberto Delgadillo Sánchez, parish priest Francisco Morales, and deacon Wilfredo Arauz Rodríguez, in retaliation for presiding over a religious celebration.
No independent information on his health status
The organization states that, after the detention, the bishop reportedly remained under house arrest. Although the Ministry of the Interior reported on July 4 that the prelate was “under investigation,” the IACHR emphasizes that there is no independent information to verify his whereabouts or learn about his health status, a circumstance that is especially concerning given his age and the illnesses he suffers from.
In previous days, various voices within the Church also expressed concern over the bishop’s situation. The bishops of Central America requested that the regime allow him to receive medical attention, while Nicaraguan researcher Martha Patricia Molina denounced that, despite the passage of days, even those closest to the prelate have been unable to learn his whereabouts.
Reports of harassment against family members and collaborators
The IACHR also reported that it has received complaints about the siege, surveillance, and other reprisals directed against Jeffer Chavarría, Monsignor Mata’s representative before the Inter-American Human Rights System and a beneficiary of provisional measures from the Inter-American Court, as well as against his family and the bishop’s relatives.
For the Commission, these actions form part of a broader repressive pattern aimed at silencing critical voices and instilling fear among those who denounce human rights violations.
A pattern of persecution against the Church
In its communiqué, the IACHR condemned the concealment of the whereabouts of arbitrarily detained persons, a practice it described as one of the most serious mechanisms of repression exercised by the Nicaraguan regime. It recalled that since 2025 several detainees have died in state custody after their families remained for weeks or months without knowing their situation.
The organization also reiterated that, since the beginning of the political crisis in 2018, it has documented a systematic pattern of persecution against the Catholic Church that includes surveillance, restrictions on worship, arbitrary detentions, expulsions from the country, deprivation of nationality, confiscation of property, and the forced closure of religious congregations.
In the Commission’s view, these actions constitute one of the most serious manifestations of the closure of civic and democratic space in Nicaragua and directly affect the exercise of religious freedom.
Call for the bishop’s release
The IACHR recalled that the American Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of conscience and religion and warned that the persecution against the Church is preventing many Nicaraguans from living and freely expressing their faith.
The organization urged the Ortega and Murillo regime to immediately provide information on the whereabouts of Monsignor Abelardo Mata, guarantee his physical integrity, and, if he remains deprived of liberty, proceed with his release. It also demanded that immediate contact with his family members and representatives be allowed and that reprisals against them and members of the Catholic Church cease.