Shows of affection and solidarity for Mgr Rolando Alvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, this Sunday, November 27, floods social networks, the day the prelate reaches his 56th birthday.
Unlike other years, the religious will not be able to celebrate it with his family and parishioners because since August 4 he was surrounded by the Ortega Police in the Matagalpa Episcopal Curia, and on the 19th of the same month he was forcibly removed and disappeared. .
Related news: Monsignor Álvarez, “the people’s bishop” and victim of Ortega, turns 56
The Police, under the command of the sanctioned General Commissioner Francisco Díaz, argues that he is in “home custody” and allegedly investigated for organizing “violent groups.”
Waste of congratulations and demand for freedom
The congratulations for the birthday of the also apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí were joined by human rights defenders, religious and friends, who demanded his immediate release.
The executive secretary and president of the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (APDH), Alvaro Leiva, referred to Article 66 his affection for the religious and demanded an end to the onslaught of the Nicaraguan dictatorship against him.
“First of all, it is a very special day to thank God for allowing a priest of the human and spiritual caliber of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez to be born in Nicaragua,” he said.
However, he stated that “it is very sad that on his birthday he finds him suffering from the confinement that the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has ordered against him illegally and arbitrarily, because his only crime has been preaching the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which in essence is light, truth and the way for human beings to live with dignity and in freedom, in this transition towards spiritual life».
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He stressed that the Ortega Murillo regime, “which has crossed all repressive limits to stay in power and preserve its ill-gotten wealth, has launched an attack against Monsignor Rolando Álvarez and other priests, religious and lay people, whom it has imprisoned or expelled from Nicaragua.” .
Finally, he said that he hopes that very soon Pope Francis “listen to the cry of the Catholic people of Nicaragua and act, not as head of State of the Vatican, not as a politician or as a diplomat, but as the highest spiritual guide of Catholics, who see in him the Vicar of Christ in this earthly world”.
“I hope that very soon he meets the request that ANPDH made to him in the most recent letter that we addressed to him, in the sense of excommunicating Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo,” he said.
For its part, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) regretted that this special day in the life of Álvarez has to live locked up and a prisoner of the Ortega regime.
«Monsignor Rolando Alvarez It is his birthday today he will also be kidnapped, without the warmth or the hug of his friends and parishioners. We demand his immediate release and the release of all political prisoners,” the agency demanded.
He also pointed out that the Catholic hierarch has been kidnapped for 115 days and “without the warmth or the hug of his friends and parishioners. Today we raise our voices demanding his freedom. The people of Nicaragua need him,” he said.
The priest Uriel Vallejos, forced into exile due to the persecution of the Ortega regime, spoke along the same lines. On his Twitter account he wrote: “Today I want to congratulate Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos. On his birthday, I ask the Always Virgin Mother Mary to intercede for him in the forced captivity imposed by the dictatorship. Bishop, one day, your parishioners and the Nicaraguan people will celebrate the festival of freedom, justice and democracy”.
“The dictatorship must release him”
Also the journalist of religious subjects Israel Gonzalez Espinoza and who has been close to Monsignor Álvarez and other Catholic priests expressed his solidarity with the priest, “who arrives on his birthday unjustly imprisoned.”
«The Bishop of Matagalpa, who in his day was the youngest bishop in the world, has stood out for being a pastor who is passionate about accompanying his people. As a journalist, I was able to treat him and he always received the media,” González explained.
He added that together with Bishop Silvio Báez they were the two Catholic hierarchs “who best positioned the message of hope that the Church preaches to Nicaraguans at this time.”
The journalist took the opportunity to demand that the Ortega regime release Álvarez immediately. “The isolation to which Monsignor Álvarez is subjected cannot be extended sine die (no deadline or specific date). The bishop has only fulfilled his pastoral duty to accompany his people”, he added.
Related news: Monsignor Álvarez surpasses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in popularity ratings
«Everyone knows, but it is worth remembering; that both he and the rest of the imprisoned religious are political prisoners of Ortega. The dictatorship must release them », he demanded.
Israel González invited the faithful of Matagalpa “to always keep Monsignor Rolando Álvarez in mind in prayer and pastoral life. Silencing at this time the arbitrariness that is being committed against the bishop is an injustice that cries out to heaven.
In addition, on the social network Twitter there is an overflow of congratulations, including that of the Pro Human Rights activist Mayra Centeno. “Today is the birthday of the friend and brother of our people, a true leader, a warrior Monsignor Rolando Álvarez,” he said.
“Our best wishes to him and above all we demand his freedom, since the criminal Sandinista dictatorship has him missing,” said the activist.
Álvarez has been kidnapped for 114 days, he is one of the 12 religious men who have been deprived of their freedom by the dictatorship for not agreeing with the message of faith they preach. So far his physical condition and his legal situation are not known.
