The student leader and political prisoner Lesther German He pointed out that the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo imprisoned Monsignor Rolando Álvarez with the intention of “silencing the uncomfortable truths”, despite the prophetic words of the prelate continue to “resonate and be heard” among Nicaraguans.
At least 40 days have passed since the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa was transferred to the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, known as “La Modelo”. Since then, their health status is unknown.
Alemán, who was exiled and declared stateless by the Ortega regime, denounced that the dictatorship “has disappeared” a religious leader, because since February 9 no one has seen himNeither his relatives nor the authorities provide any information regarding the situation of the prelate.
Related news: They demand information about Monsignor Álvarez: “We cannot get used to injustices,” they say
«Monsignor Rolando was locked up believing they silenced the truths that bothered them. But his name continues to resonate, his homilies continue to be heard and his advice continues to accompany us, “wrote the young opponent on his Twitter account.
“We demand that they show him to his family alive and free,” added Aleman.
Human rights organizations and lawyers have affirmed that the Catholic leader is subjected to a “forced disappearance” by the Ortega dictatorship.
At the beginning of February 2023, the regime tried to banish Monsignor Alvarez from Nicaragua sending him on a plane to the United States, but the prelate ruined the plan of the dictatorial couple and refused to board the flight.
To this day, his family has not been able to see him, according to local media and human rights organizations that document the case of the first bishop imprisoned and convicted by the Nicaraguan dictatorship. His sister He has asked the justice of the regime to allow him to see his relative, but everything has been useless. She does not know where and how she is.
Since his violent capture, on August 19, 2022, Bishop Álvarez remained in his family’s home in Managua. The prelate is part of the group of more than 30 political prisoners that the dictatorship maintains in its jails, most of them are confined in “La Modelo” in Tipitapa.
After resisting being banished, the bishop was taken to the Courts of Managua where he was subjected to an express summary trial. That same day, February 10, he was found guilty, sentenced to 26 years in prison, stripped of his nationality, and stripped of his civil and political rights for life.
The Bishop of Matagalpa is one of the most critical voices against the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship, the binomial that controls the strings of power in Nicaragua, a country mired in a sociopolitical, economic, and human rights crisis since 2018.
