Page 7 - aruba-today-20220314

A7
WORLD NEWS Monday 14 March 2022

Vatican in 'pain' at Nicaragua expulsion of papal nuncio

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The victed journalist Cristiana
Vatican on Saturday ex- Chamorro, a potential
pressed "surprise and pain" presidential contender and
at Nicaragua's expulsion of daughter of former Presi-
the papal nuncio, which dent Violeta Chamorro —
comes at a time of grow- who had defeated Ortega
ing pressure on opposition in a 1990 election — of
figures in the Central Ameri- money laundering and oth-
can nation. er crimes.
The church said in a state- The news site Confidencial,
ment that Nicaragua's ac- run by Cristiana Chamorro's
tion against Polish Msgr. brother Carlos Fernando
Waldemar Stanislaw Som- Chamorro, reported that
mertag was "grave and un- she, two members of her
justified." mother's foundation, a driv-
It said the action was "in- er, as well as a former law-
comprehensible" because maker and other Cham-
Sommertag "has worked orro sibling Pedro Joaquín
tirelessly for the good of the Chamorro were all convict-
church and of the Nica- ed Friday at the conclusion
raguan people," while "al- of a seven-day trial.
ways seeking to promote Ortega has targeted non-
good relations" between Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw, right, speaks with journalists accompanied by Cardinal Leop- governmental organiza-
the Vatican and Nicara- oldo Brenes, at the Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, July 14, 2018. tions in Nicaragua, cutting
guan authorities. Associated Press off their foreign funding,
It noted he had functioned seizing their offices and
as a formal witness during fled into exile, according to Sommertag said his office ment." canceling their charters. He
government talks with the the Inter-American Com- had not received a formal Ortega's government in- has alleged they worked
opposition. mission on Human Rights. request to intervene, but creased its crackdown on with foreign interests that
The Vatican office in Nica- Ortega had tried to main- said it had worked "in fa- opposition leaders ahead wanted to see him re-
ragua's capital, Managua, tain cordial relations with vor of the most vulnerable, of last year's presidential moved from office.
announced on Monday the Roman Catholic among those detainees elections, arresting poten- Cristiana Chamorro, 68,
that Sommertag had left Church in years before the of all categories, including tial candidates against him had previously served as
the country on March 6, protests, but those ties in- political." as well as several dozen editor of La Prensa, Nica-
though it did not say why. creasingly soured in the af- "I think intercession is more prominent journalists, lead- ragua's largest newspaper.
His place was taken by the termath. than just and necessary ...," ers of nongovernmental Her father, Pedro Joaquín
chargé d' affaires, Msgr. The nuncio participated he said. "But in the end, we organizations and other Chamorro had been its
Marcel Mbaye Diouf. in efforts to mediate in the know very well that things critics. editor until his murder in
The government has made conflict and win the re- depend on the govern- On Friday, a judge con- 1978.q
no statement about the lease of detained opposi-
nuncio's departure. tion figures. LIKE US ON
Sommertag arrived in Ma- At the end of last year, rel-
nagua in 2018 in the midst atived of 46 detained op-
of a wave of protests position figures had asked
against the government of Sommertag to intercede
President Daniel Ortega. with Ortega, though noth-
At least 328 people were ing came of the effort.
killed, 2,000 wounded, hun- In a November interview Facebook.com/arubatoday/
dreds detained and 88,000 with The Associated Press,