PHOTOS: Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations in a small town in Mexico

Managua, Nicaragua, Dec 24, 2018 / 02:41 pm (ACI Prensa).- The Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, Silvio José Báez, has criticized the shut down of the 100% Noticias television channel and the arrest of its owner, Miguel Mora, and press chief L… […]

Caracas, Venezuela, Mar 26, 2019 / 03:03 pm (CNA).- The Justice and Peace Commission of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference has repudiated last week’s arrest of Roberto Marrero, chief of staff to opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

In the early hours of March 21, agents of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service stormed the homes of Marrero and Sergio Vergara, an opposition legislator and Merror’s neighbor.

Marrero was arrested along with his driver, Luis Páez. The Argentine daily Clarin reported that Marrero is being held in El Helicoide, a government facility often used to house political prisoners. He has been accused by the government of Nicolas Maduro of terrorism and treason.

Guaidó reported on Twitter that Marrero alerted him that the agents “planted two rifles and a grenade” in his house.

The Venezuelan bishops’ Justice and Peace Commission stated March 22 that it “repudiates” the detention of Marrero and the raid on Vergara, “in the face of the actions committed by officials of SEBIN, with the authorization of judges and the participation of prosecutors from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.”

They stated that these acts “attack and violate the fundamental rights provided for in our Magna Carta”, such as personal freedom and parliamentarian immunity, “which the members of the National Assembly enjoy in the exercise of their functions.”

“This ecclesial body laments these violations and denounces them to the pertinent bodies so that they may exercise and comply with the powers that the constitution and laws confer on them in order to restore the violated rights of these citizens,” they said.

The bishops’ conference’s commission reminded “the judicial officials, prosecutors of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the arresting police officers that they cannot justify their actions alleging compliance with orders from superiors. The consequent crimes of those actions are imprescriptible.”

“In accordance with our Magna Carta, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, we reiterate that no individual should be apprehended and deprived of his freedom by arbitrary decisions,” the bishops stated.

In face of this incident, they called on Venezuelans “not to lose hope and to trust in the power of Jesus Christ, which is the power of love.”

Under Maduro’s socialist administration, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages and hyperinflation leading millions of Venezuelans to emigrate.

Guaidó declared himself interim president in January and has been recognized by a number of Western governments, but has been unable to secure the support of Venezuela’s military.

Caracas faced blackouts March 25-26. The government has blamed an attack by the opposition, while the opposition has noted decades of corruption and a lack of investment.

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CNA Staff, Jun 1, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Argentina’s digital March for Life May 30 drew 390,000 participants on Facebook alone, according to preliminary numbers from march organizers.

The pro-life effort came on the heels of a promise from Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez to again push for a bill to legalize abortion in the country’s legislature. That legislation was on the verge of being introduced in March when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in the country, forcing its postponement.

Current law in Argentina prohibits abortion, except when the mother’s life or health is determined to be in danger, or in cases of rape.

In a controversial move, Fernandez’ appointee as Minister of Health, Ginés González García, issued new protocols on abortion Dec. 12 2019, widening the circumstances for a legal abortion.

Speaking to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Senator Silvia Elías de Pérez, a pro-life leader in the country’s legislature, stressed that “today’s march has been very positive.”

The senator said that a 2018 bill that would expand legal protection for abortion in Argentina was defeated in part because of  “a huge number of Argentinians who throughout the country came out to defend their ideas, their rights, to say that in Argentina every life matters and that being born in Argentina should not be a right only for those who are wanted.”

Argentina’s May 2018 March for Life events drew an estimated three million participants in multiple cities across the country.

The 2020 digital march, Elías de Pérez said, can serve “as a new point of departure” helping pro-life groups to “get back on track again, back to work, because we have to take up the fight again.”

The senator lamented that “it is extremely sad, dramatic, that in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, in which we are fighting for people’s lives, it still occurs to a government to send (to the legislature) this kind of anti-life initiative.”

“So what’s important once again is to put our minds and passion at the service of this cause, which is the noblest of all because it means fighting for the preservation of the human race, understood as preserving life in all its stages” she said.

The digital march, which lasted about two hours on Facebook and YouTube, featured the participation of well-known pro-life leaders, including Mexican actor and producer Eduardo Verástegui.

The actor said that in all the pro-life forums he participates in, “the message I always give is to take the word pro-life to its fullest meaning.”

“Of course we have to defend life in the mother’s womb, defend the most important and fundamental right, the right to be born, because if you’re not born you can’t enjoy any other right,” he said. “But we pro-lifers don’t stop there, because after that, who’s next? Homeless children, there shouldn’t be one more child on the street, and that depends on us, on everyone,” Verástegui said.

The Mexican movie star also urged eradicating the crime of human trafficking as well as helping teens addicted to drugs and abandoned or abused mothers.

To be pro-life, he continued, is to care “for the lives of the sick who don’t have the resources to pay for a good doctor, for adequate treatment,” and to advocate “for the lives of those who are falsely accused and in prison.”

Defending life also means, Verástegui said, doing something for “the lives of the elderly who are abandoned in a nursing home, sad to death because not even their family members come to see them.”

“To be the voice of those who have no voice, to defend those who cannot defend themselves” is to be pro-life,” he emphasized.

A version of this story was first publish by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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