A group of Brazilian nuns left Nicaragua for El Salvador, after a raid on their headquarters

( Spanish) — A group of Brazilian nuns from the Fraternidad Pobres de Jesucristo organization announced Monday through a statement that they will continue their service from El Salvador, after seven years of carrying out religious and humanitarian work in Nicaragua.

Several human rights defenders and those close to the nuns denounced this Sunday that the Nicaraguan Police raided the place where they lived. They even asked for respect for their integrity.

According to a source from the Catholic Church told , everything is a consequence of the fact that the government is not renewing the residence documents of foreign missionaries.

requested a reaction from the Nicaraguan government, with no response yet.

The Fraternidad Pobres de Jesucristo organization, a movement that was born in Brazil and has a presence in a dozen countries, is characterized by managing food and covering basic needs for groups at social risk.

The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega maintains a campaign against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church.

He recently said that he is part of a money laundering network that allegedly involves people previously convicted of “Treason” and several dioceses in the country, without giving specific details, according to a press release published by the National Police.

The announced investigations for money laundering represent the latest episode in a series of actions undertaken by the Ortega regime against the Catholic Church, which only so far this year has registered the closure of a university in the Archdiocese of Managua, arrests of priests, expulsion from the country of nuns and the cutting of diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

— Elvin Sandoval and Merlin Delcid contributed to this report.