Saturday, May 19

Border between Honduras and Nicaragua is convulsed by armed people.


Abelardo Mata, Bishop of Esteli, warned that the border between Honduras and Nicaragua is convulsed by several armed people.

Bishop Mata said it is not any surprised for him to know that people are finding buried weapons such as AK7 in the community of  Ducualí Abajo, located in Madriz, Nicaragua, since supposedly there are rumors that senior police officers have been involved in arms trafficking.   He expressed his concern to the chief of the police in Nicaragua, Commissioner Aminta Granera, during a meeting they held together last week.

“Why would a police officer gets into this illegal business? Could it be that the police are underpaid?”, Mata asked himself.  Mata said that the arms trafficking could be related to the seizure at the border where there are two different types of armed groups:  "the zelayistas", people that support the ex president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya and the “antidanielistas”, people that are against President Daniel Ortega. 

Lt. Col. Jose Rizo, chief of staff of the first regional military commanding in Ducualí Abajo, refuted Mata’s point saying that there are not armed groups with political purposes in this area; but they are investigating the origin and destination of the weapons found.

For his part, the Bishop of the Diocese of Esteli said that several routes in the northern border have been neglected, there are arms trafficking groups as well, in addition to the cells armed groups such as the one headed by a former Contra known under the pseudonym Sergeant.

“El Coral and Paulo Negro”, these groups are against President Ortega, but there is not trust between them, because they have been infiltrated by the army military intelligence, said Mata, who made a call on the government to resolve this problem through dialogue, not military means.

Mata pointed out that the Catholic Church always has insisted that weapons could not be part of any peaceful solution. “A man with a weapon is not a friend, but a friend of the death”, said the bishop paraphrasing the words of the late Nicaraguan poet, Pablo Antonio Cuadra.