Carmen María Sáenz Martínez and Lesbia del Socorro Gutiérrez Poveda are Catholic lay leaders in Nicaragua. They are prisoners of a regime solely interested in its own survival.
At 6am on 10 August 2024, fifteen police officers wearing ski masks and carrying AK-47s arrested 58-year-old Lesbia at her home in Lomas de Santo Tomas in Matagalpa City.
Two hours later, police in two patrol cars detained Lesbia’s colleague Carmen, age 49, at the Guadalupana Farm in Samulali in the San Ramón Municipality.
Neither woman has been seen or heard from since. They are believed to be held in La Esperanza women’s prison, but they have had no contact with lawyers or families in over eight months – not even a proof of life. Where are they?
Neither woman has committed any crime. Yet they have been treated as criminals for serving their communities through the Roman Catholic Church, inspired by their faith.
Both Carmen and Lesbia worked with the Diocese of Matagalpa. This was formerly led by the now-exiled Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, who was unjustly imprisoned for nearly a year and a half before he was expelled from the country in January 2024. Lesbia had worked with the diocese’s rural and urban credit project since 2006, and Carmen worked as a justice promoter in marriage annulment cases since 2018.
This case is part of the Nicaraguan government’s continued onslaught against religious leaders, human rights defenders, and other independent voices.
Join the campaign: csw.org.uk/wherearethey
We’re calling on the Nicaraguan government to provide an urgent proof of life for Carmen and Lesbia; to free them immediately and without condition.
2024 at a glance:
222 violations of freedom of religion or belief recorded by CSW. In the current climate of fear, a significant percentage of violations goes unreported.
46 cases of religious leaders being arbitrarily detained. In some cases, multiple people were detained. Some were short term (lasting from hours to a few days) while some are still not free, like Carmen and Lesbia.
Almost 2,000 independent civil society organisations had their legal status cancelled, including churches and, in some cases, entire denominations.
From CSW’s latest report on Nicaragua, covering 1 January-31 December 2024: ‘Total Control: The Eradication of Independent Voices in Nicaragua.’