"Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they do"

After the badbadination of Diriamba and Jinotepe, government forces attack a bishop, a cardinal and the nuncio in Nicaragua

The news of Nicaragua can not be blacker. The worst mbadacre since the beginning of the demonstrations on April 18 was perpetrated this weekend.

And this Monday, the flagship bishop of the people's voice, the auxiliary of Managua, Silvio José Báez as he said in Tuiter, was wounded, beaten in the stomach, torn from episcopal insignia and verbally abused by an angry mob that wanted to enter the Basilica of San Sebastián at Diriamba. People who, in the opinion of the inhabitants of this city, work for the state.

Bishop Báez said in his tweeter account: "I'm fine, thank God, the basilica was liberated and those who were there". With him, fortunately unscathed, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes and the Apostolic Nuncio Stanislaw Waldemar Summitarg

Later that Monday, already in the Cathedral of Managua, Cardinal Brenes and his auxiliary Bishop Báez, who they firmly drove the voice of the people and risked their lives to prevent further bloodshed in Nicaragua, they prayed together in a side chapel.

In his account, Bishop Báez was very categorical, citing San Lucas (23.34): "Father, forgive them because they do not know what they do."

Of course, they prayed for peace in Nicaragua that this weekend suffered the worst attack of forces loyal to the Sandinista regime against the cities of Diriamba and Jinotepe, 40 kilometers from Managua.

According to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (1945-19006) anti-riot police, police and Sandinista youth. they left a record of 17 dead, in just over 24 hours.

The Nicaraguan prelates and the Vatican representative in Nicaragua traveled to Diriamba as mediators to pacify the city

. The city found refuge in the basilica after the combined attack of riot and paramilitary groups against opponents of the Ortega regime.

According to CENIDH, Sunday, at dawn, attacks on barricades and high neighborhoods against the Sandinista government. Dozens of wounded and 10 dead in Diriamba and seven dead, also with dozens of wounded, in Jinotepe

Human rights defenders claim that the death toll could be much higher because unidentified bodies appear in the rural areas of these populations.

In 83 days of demonstrations – which began on April 18 – the Nicaraguan Association of Human Rights (ANPDH) believes that violence has already left 310 dead of whom 20 are minors, including children as young as 15 months.

The attack against the bishops generated a total repudiation in the society of this country of Central America. For example, in the story of Bishop Báez's guardian, a woman whose initials are C.A.P wrote to the prelate: "May God bless you and keep you and all the priests from all evil. I am evangelical but I admire them very much. "

For its part, the American Embbady in Nicaragua has already removed all non-essential personnel.

Ambbadador Laura Dogu said in her account that she had heard gunshots near her residence Sunday night. "My house was not the target of the shooting and I am fine, however, I am very concerned about the news of the violence and I condemn the dead this weekend." My prayers go to the victims and their families. "

During the attacks on the bishops at Diriamba, journalists and human rights activists were also injured on Monday. Several journalists have been stripped of their videos and cameras

But President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo do not seem to know the outcry over the immediate exit of the government. This weekend, before the attacks on Diriamba and Jinotepe, Ortega said that he would not advance the elections or leave office until in 2021, when his wife, Vice President Murillo , would succeed him.

The price of this stubbornness is very expensive in blood for the Nicaraguan people. For the moment, after this attack, the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference will hardly continue to play the role of mediator in the National Dialogue Table

And the opposition Civic Alliance – which brings together university students, Businessmen, producers, academics and representatives of civil society organizations – announced on Thursday, July 12, a new national march in Managua and in other cities of the country, in addition to the following: call for a second 24-hour national strike on Friday 13.

as many marches as strikes, they do not derive from another mbadacre like those on this Sunday in two other cities that add up to the martyrdom of Nicaragua.