The Nicaraguan authorities are holding Bishop Rolando José Álvarez captive, a critic of the government of President Daniel Ortega and who this Thursday serving two weeks under house arrest in Managuano charges have been filed so far.
Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, both in the north of Nicaragua, was abducted in the early hours of Friday, August 19, by police officers from the provincial episcopal palace along with four priests, two seminarians and a cameraman, after having been confined for 15 days. .
The National Police, led by Francisco Díaz, President Ortega’s brother-in-law, accuses the high hierarch of trying to “organize violent groups”supposedly “with the purpose of destabilizing the State of Nicaragua and attacking the constitutional authorities”, although for the moment they have not offered evidence.
Until now, neither the Public Ministry nor the National Police have publicly presented a formal accusation against Álvarez, who is about to turn 56 and who is the first bishop arrested since Ortega returned to power in Nicaragua in 2007 after coordinating a Government Junta from 1979 to 1985 and preside over the country for the first time from 1985 to 1990.
Where is the bishop?
“The Ortega Murillo regime is not going to divert our attention. We keep asking where Monsignor Rolando Álvarez is, what are they doing with the priests, seminarians and the cameraman kidnapped in El Chipote?” asked the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) on Thursday.
“Immediate freedom for all political prisoners,” demanded that humanitarian organization in a message through Twitter.
??? The Ortega Murillo regime is not going to divert our attention, we keep asking WHERE IS MONSIGNOR ROLANDO ÁLVAREZ. What are they doing with the priests, seminarians and the cameraman kidnapped in Chipote?
Immediate freedom for all political prisoners. pic.twitter.com/j0y751M3vD— Cenidh (@cenidh) September 1, 2022
The Diocese of Matagalpa prayed this Thursday for its bishop, for the diocesan clergy and for Nicaragua during the Eucharist celebrated in the Cathedral of Matagalpa, according to that Diocese, where “the venerated processional image of Our Lady of Mercy was exhibited, beginning the September”.
In addition, this was the second Thursday without the “Pastoring, Communion and Prayer” program directed by Bishop Álvarez and broadcast on digital platforms.
Last Sunday, Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes asked the congregation to trust “fully in the Lord, not in strategies” in relation to the situation of Bishop Álvarez and other priests.
Brenes, also Archbishop of Managua and who visited Álvarez at his residence on August 19, when he was formally placed under “household protection” by the National Police, assured that he saw him “impaired”, although “his spirit and spirit are strong ”.
Pope Francis expressed their concern and pain for the situation in Nicaragua and asked for “an open and sincere dialogue” so that “the bases for a respectful and peaceful coexistence can be found”, although he did not refer to Álvarez’s arrest.
The Sandinista government still does not mention to that offer of Francis.
A troubled year
The arrest of Bishop Álvarez is the most recent chapter of a particularly convulsive last year for the Catholic Church of Nicaragua with the Government of Ortega, who has branded the leaders as “coup plotters” and “terrorists”.
This year, the Sandinista government expelled from the country the apostolic nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag and 18 nuns from the Missionaries of Charity order, founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
He has also imprisoned seven priestsshut down eleven Catholic radio stations and pulled three Catholic channels from subscription television programming.
The Police have also entered by force and raided a parish, preventing parishioners from receiving the Eucharist inside the temple and besieging other priests in their churches.
Likewise, the Archdiocese of Managua was prohibited from carrying out a procession with the pilgrim image of the Virgin of Fatima.
Relations between the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan Catholic Church have been marked by friction and mistrust in the last 43 years.
The Catholic community represents 58.5% of the 6.6 million inhabitants of Nicaragua, according to the latest national census.
