Source: www.csw.org.uk
Date: September 13, 2025
Today we are again praying for political prisoners in Nicaragua, after the death of a second man in the space of a week.
Dr Carlos Cárdenas Zepeda was a prominent lawyer and Roman Catholic lay leader. He was arbitrarily detained and held incommunicado from 13 August until he died in custody on 29 August.
His wife was instructed to bury him immediately, without a funeral service. She was not given a death certificate, nor a cause of death, and his coffin had already been sealed upon collection.
Dr Cárdenas’s death came just four days after that of Mauricio Alonso Prieto Sr on 25 August, which we wrote to you about last week. Mauricio (a political activist) was arrested as part of a police operation targeting several friends and family members of Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargos.
Pastor Palacios Vargas and the others – including Mauricio’s son – are believed to be being held in a maximum-security prison where conditions are inhumane. No news of their whereabouts has been given to their loved ones.
There is a growing fear that every day in detention could mean death. Please pray urgently for their freedom and safety, drawing on the promise of Psalm 121:7:
‘The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life.’
- Pray for the immediate, unconditional release of every prisoner held unjustly in Nicaragua, including those detained because of their beliefs. Call on the Lord to watch over them and keep them from all harm amid the inhumane conditions.
- Ask God to comfort the family and loved ones of Dr Carlos Cárdenas Zepeda. Pray that the authorities will allow an independent investigation into the cause of his death, and all others who have similarly died while detained.
There is a history of injustice against Dr Cárdenas.
In the aftermath of the April 2018 protests, he was hired to advise the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEM) during negotiations with the government. In August that year, he was kidnapped by paramilitaries and police in front of his ten-year-old daughter. He was subsequently detained until 2019, during which he was beaten and tortured. He was also repeatedly threatened that his wife and youngest daughter would be sexually assaulted.
The severe harassment didn’t stop after his release:
- In 2020, his law degree was revoked, causing him to become unemployed. He was forced to sell his house for financial support.
- In 2021, his father died in hospital where he was refused medical attention for COVID-19.
- In 2023, Dr Cárdenas was detained and charged with violating national sovereignty and cybercrime by a court in Managua. He had to present himself every day at his local police station.
Please pray that the Nicaraguan authorities will stop targeting people like this, and that their crackdown on religious leaders and independent civil society would be brought to an end. May they not succeed in silencing the voices calling for freedom and justice, but be held to account for their crimes.