The National Police, under the order of Daniel Ortega, prohibited this Monday, April 3, the traditional tour of the “Cyrineos” in the municipality of Nindirí, Masaya, a Catholic tradition in honor of the man who carried the cross of Jesus Christ and which is celebrated every year at Easter. After the order not to let them out in the procession, the policemen began to persecute the promisees, mostly young people.
“They began to follow us as if we were criminals and the only thing we wanted to do is comply with a religious and cultural tradition that we have had for several generations,” one of the “Cyrenees” declared to CONFIDENTIAL.
The residents of Nindirí disclosed, through social networks, videos and photographs that show the siege, the threats and the persecution of the police. Some of the images show crosses and religious vestments thrown in the streets after the faithful fled from the security forces.
“The only intention of the Police continues to be to frighten the population and prohibit any Catholic demonstration, because they are angry with the people who express their faith,” said a resident of Nindirí.
A 23-year-old told CONFIDENCIAL that he has been participating in this tradition for five years because it was a promise his grandmother made when she survived an illness. “We do not hurt anyone, this is a religious activity only,” he said.
Until nightfall several young people were able to leave the houses where they took shelter and the atmosphere in the municipality was tense. “Fortunately we did not know of any detainees, but they have been patrolling,” he explained.
Police: “It is prohibited”
One of the videos that has gone viral on social networks, released by the Facebook page “Nindirí Se Informa”, shows the moment in which a policeman warns a young parishioner that it is forbidden to go out on the traditional route.
– “You can’t get away with that,” the officer ordered the young man, dressed in a tunic and carrying a cross on his shoulder near the parish of Santa Ana, in the municipality of Nindirí.
– “Why?”, asked the promisee to the agent.
– “It’s forbidden,” replied the policeman.
– “Why is it forbidden?” insisted the young man.
– “I only tell them, nothing more. I just tell them, nothing more, ”insisted the officer pointing the devotee with the index finger of his right hand, while he left the place dialing his mobile phone.
– “This is a Catholic Nindirí!” is heard in response to the officer.
In other videos released by the population, several patrols and police can be seen surrounding the Catholic temple, as well as the central park of Nindirí.
They recreate the Calvary of Christ
The “Cyrenees” is a tradition inspired by Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus Christ carry the cross on the way to Calvary, according to the biblical story.
The tradition is that men, women, young people and children dress in tunics, cords and cloaks typical of Jewish clothing, accompanied by a cross on their shoulders, and meet in the atrium of the parish of Santa Ana, and when the bells ring bells at noon run through the streets, according to the Facebook page “Nindirí Católico”, dedicated to “promoting popular and religious piety”.
The “Cyrenees”, who during their journey through the streets shout “The world is lost” and invite people to make a true conversion in the face of evil on Earth, leave between Monday and Holy Saturday, with the exception of Thursday.
“Every year about 2,000 people participate in this tradition and they all have in common to pay promises to our Lord Jesus,” explained “Nindirí Católico”, who, however, had already announced over the weekend that “due to the restrictions that already We all know that the traditional bullfight of the Cirineos is suspended”.
The Ortega regime, through the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (Intur), promoted this religious custom until last year, which it described as a tradition of faith and love for Jesus Nazareno inspired by Simón de Cirene.
Holy Week without processions
The Catholic Church of Nicaragua declared the Holy Week celebrations to have begun without processions in the streets, after the prohibition of the Ortega regime that ordered the National Police to limit religious celebrations inside the temples in Nicaragua.
The dictatorship started 2023 with the prohibition of emblematic processions for Catholics, such as that of Jesus Sacramentado, which takes place every January 1, then it prevented local celebrations and, in mid-February, ordered that no Nazarene go out on penitential Stations of the Cross. The most recent canceled procession was that of Jesús del Triunfo, in León. The bishop of that diocese, Sócrates Sándigo, confirmed it this week, without justifying the decision.
The new prohibition order was adopted after Ortega branded priests, bishops, cardinals and Pope Francis himself as a “mafia”.
The bishop of the diocese of León and Chinandega, René Sandigo, explained that the police authority only authorized the Via Crucis to be carried out internally or in the atrium of the parishes, but not in the streets.
The researcher Martha Patricia Molina calculates that more than 30 processions have been canceled so far this year, although she clarifies that “it is a conservative number”, taking into account that only the Archdiocese of Managua administers 118 parishes in the departments of Managua, Masaya and Carazo, and each one has its respective celebrations, in addition to the traditions of Holy Week.
Ortega has intensified the persecution of the Church and imposed police surveillance and its operators in the different parishes of the country, where the priests silently endure sieges and threats, while in the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, known as La Modelo, the Bishop of Matagalpa and administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez, pays an illegal sentence of 26 years and four months imposed by an Ortega court, after refusing to be exiled.
With information from EFE