Newsroom (February 16, 2026, 20:44, Gaudium Press) Father José Concepción Reyes Mairena, of the Diocese of León, was expelled from Nicaragua shortly after attempting to return to the country from Spain. The report came from lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina, who closely monitors attacks against the Catholic Church in the country.
According to Molina, the priest was detained by agents of the General Directorate of Migration and officials from the Ministry of the Interior upon landing at Managua International Airport. After questioning him, the authorities denied him entry and forced him to board a flight back to Spain. Fr. Reyes worked for several years at the San Agustín major seminary in the diocese of León and had been in Spain for over a year.
According to church sources heard by
Despacho 505, “they detained him, asked him questions about his stay in Spain and the reasons for his return to the country. After a lengthy interrogation, they denied him entry and sent him back.”
In November 2022, during the regime’s increased hostility toward the Church, the priest had celebrated a Mass at the beginning of the Novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception of Mary at the facilities of the Western Judicial Branch, but he did not receive any protection or intervention to prevent his subsequent expulsion.
According to sources, the bishop of León, Sócrates René Sándigo Jirón, did not mediate on his behalf. Jirón is often criticized by the faithful for his perceived excessive closeness to the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
More than 300 religious figures were exiled or expelled.
“The expulsion of Fr. Concepción Reyes shows that the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship is not giving the Nicaraguan Catholic Church any respite,” the researcher said on social media. She pointed out that, with this episode, the number of priests and religious figures exiled, expelled, or banned from entering the country—including Nicaraguan citizens—has reached 309.
This is a kind of “ecclesial cleansing” that mainly affects rural communities, where the Catholic presence has historically strengthened community organization.
Sources consulted point out that this silent approach allows the government to reconfigure the country’s religious map, limiting the Church’s capacity for social mobilization. However, they warn that the measure poses a risk to the regime itself, as it occurs in a context of growing international pressure—especially from the United States—demanding an end to arbitrary arrests and the unconditional release of political prisoners.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
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