‘Not one more death’ – Nicaraguan bishops appeal for peace

June 22, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Masaya, Nicaragua, Jun 22, 2018 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Amid continued unrest in Nicaragua, Church leaders traveled to the city of Masaya Thursday to pray and appeal for peace.

Protests began April 18 after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced social security and pension reforms. The changes were soon abandoned in the face of widespread, vocal opposition, but protests only intensified after more than 40 protestors were killed by security forces initially.

More than 200 in the country have been killed in the violence, according to estimates.

On June 19, government-linked paramilitary groups entered Masaya, clashing with protesters. Six people were killed and 35 wounded. Masaya is one of the cities in the west of the country which has shown resistance to the paramilitaries and pushed for Ortega to be removed from office.

With reports of government forces surrounding Masaya again on Thursday, Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes, Bishop Silvio José Báez and Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Stanislaw Waldemar Sommertag traveled to the city in hopes of mediating the situation there and calling for an end to the violence.

Bishop Báez, who was born in Masaya, led a procession with the Blessed Sacrament through the streets filled with hundreds of people, some crying and on their knees. When they arrived at San Sebastián church in the Monimbó neighborhood, he spoke to the crowds, voicing solidarity and grief.

The bishop called Masaya a “martyred” city and compared it to “Jesus crucified,” according to the Managua archdiocese’s Facebook page. He said that like Jesus, the city will rise again.

Bishop Báez said that as they were walking through the city streets, he heard cries for justice but reminded the people that justice is not vengeance.

“Here at the church of San Sebastián I want to remind [everyone] of one of the commandments of God: ‘Thou shalt not kill’.”

The bishop then appealed to “those who came to the city to kill… not one more death in Masaya.”

Archbishop Sommertag echoed the call for peace.

“We cannot respond to violence with…more violence, because remember that any death here is an outrage to God, that is why you have to become aware, it’s a call to everyone to be responsible for your actions small or great.”

In a follow-up to the day’s events, the Archdiocese of Managua posted on Facebook that Cardinal Brenes spoke for an hour with the police commissioner, who “committed to stop the attacks.”

The cardinal and the nuncio asked for the release of all those who had been arrested, presenting a list of detainees, and the police commissioner agreed to release them.

 

 

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

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In Ecuador, pro-life groups protest U.N. abortion conditions on coronavirus aid.

May 17, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

CNA Staff, May 17, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- Pro-life groups in Ecuador say that United Nations aid to combat the coronavirus pandemic should not require access to abortion as a condition for assistance.

On April 30, Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Relations and Human Mobility confirmed it had presented to the United Nations a $46.4 million budget request to implement the U.N.’s “Humanitarian Response Plan COVID-19” whose goal is “to support national response efforts and ensure the aid is delivered in an organized manner.”

One objective of the U.N. plan is to “maintain continuity of maternal, neonatal and children’s health and other sexual and reproductive health services during the pandemic.” These terms are understood to include access to abortion.

In addition, the plan aims to “sensitize and train healthcare personnel to implement the “Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for Reproductive Health in Crisis Situations” which includes promoting “access to contraception including emergency contraception, safe legal abortion and post-abortion care.”

Abortion is illegal in Ecuador, except when continued pregnancy threatens the life and health of a woman.

Against this background, Ecuadorian pro-lifers have launched a petition drive, calling on President Lenin Moreno to “not accept ideological interference by the UN.”

The citizen petition says that “in the face of the COVID-19 drama, the United Nations has offered to send humanitarian aid to Ecuador, but the aid is not free, since in various sections of the document it is explained that said aid is conditional on Ecuador legalizing abortion.”

“And it seems it has already begun to produce results because Ecuador is one of the 59 countries that in the midst of the pandemic has already committed to promote abortion,” the petition adds, referring to a May 6 joint declaration signed by a number of countries, including Ecuador “to protect sexual and reproductive health and rights and to promote gender-responsiveness” during the pandemic.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, Martha Villafuerte, who represents the Guayaquil Family Network, said the “fear is that our highest authority in Ecuador will even consider accepting this economic shakedown of $46 million in exchange for the lives of thousands of unborn children.”

Villafuerte said the U.N. plan “it goes against the Constitution, specifically article 45, which guarantees the right to life from conception, a right that was ratified last September 17 at the plenary session of the National Assembly.”

“The U.N. …intends to shakedown the country by offering it more than 46 million dollars, of which 3 million would go directly to ‘sensitize and to train health personnel on safe, legal abortion and post-abortion care  when this is expressly prohibited by law in Ecuador,” Villafuerte stressed.

Members of the National Assembly  “are already publicly denouncing the plan and expressing their objection to international organizations placing conditions on their financial contributions,” she added

Assemblyman Héctor Yépez tweeted  “Unbelievable! The UN conditions ‘safe legal abortion’ in its humanitarian support plan for Ecuador. While we all want to save lives, some insist on eliminating the lives of unborn girls and boys.”

In a statement to ACI Prensa, Yepez pointed out that the National Assembly had already “voted on abortion and the pro-life position won, preventing abortion from being legalized and protecting life from conception, as our Constitution says.”

“The UN must respect the Assembly’s decision, the sentiments of the majority of families in Ecuador and the right to life, which is inviolable,” he emphasized.

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