AMERICA/NICARAGUA - Bishop Baez: "Paralyzed by fear, we are getting used to physical and moral violence"

Tuesday, 12 December 2017 human rights   violence   democracy   bishops   corruption  

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Managua (Agenzia Fides) - "There is paralysis due to fear. There are people who are paralyzed by fear, unable to speak or express their outrage because of injustices and abuses of civil and military authorities", denounced Mgr. Silvio José Baez, Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, in the homily during the Mass he celebrated yesterday for peace and human rights of the nation.
The Bishop criticized the groups of power as they generate social paralysis and fear in society, but also rebuked the city community’s behaviour with regards to remaining passive about the abuses of civil and military authorities. "Today we are unfortunately living in a society interested in the production of paralytics - he said -. There are people and groups of power committed to keeping people with mental paralysis, in which the dominant ideology tries to avoid at all costs that people think freely and make discernment with moral depth".
In his homily during the Mass celebrated in the parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Managua, Mgr. Baez added: "We are getting used to the horrible and shameful physical and moral violence against women and children, inexplicable killings, arbitrary arrests, espionage and threats, irregular judicial proceedings, impunity, authoritarianism, corruption, lack of access to public information, fragility of institutions in the country, all of which produce social paralysis".
"When fundamental human rights are trampled, society gradually becomes paralytic", he pointed out, proposing a way out of this situation: there are two possibilities: "to bring this paralytic society on our shoulders or raise our voices to ask for justice and to denounce the roots of many evils". The solution to the political crisis in the country is not violence, however "there are no simple solutions to complex problems".
Nicaragua is going through a difficult time because in the face of the political crisis many people are unable to react, and the "paralysis of fear" described by Mgr. Baez depicts reality very well. In addition to the reports of international organizations such as Amnesty International, in the last 4 years, situations in which the authorities are unable to express their views on the defense of human rights have increased. The government proclaims itself Christian and supportive, but often violates all human rights.
Human Rights Day was celebrated on Sunday 10 December, in Nicaragua just after the horrendous massacre of 12 November, in La Cruz de Rio Grande (see Fides 23/11/2017), in which six people, including two minors, were killed by members of the army. An extreme, brutal, cruel and unheard of violation of human rights. "There are two serious aspects: first the crime, which cries to heaven, and then the silence, not only from the army but also from other state institutions that should be immediately ready to clarify the crime. This generates concern in the country, because it means that we are insecure", said the vicar Mgr. Fonseca (see Fides 23/11/2017). (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 12/12/2017)


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