Renowned Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Álvarez was honored on Wednesday with the 2024 Freedom Award from the International Republican Institute (IRI), in an event attended by priest Benito Enrique Martínez, who accepted the award on his behalf.
The award ceremony took place in Washington inside one of the buildings of the United States House of Representatives. Congressmen María Elvira Salazar and Joaquín Castro received Father Martínez along with members of the IRI.
The IRI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Washington. Its Freedom Award was established in 1995 to recognize individuals who have “worked to advance freedoms and democracy.”
Father Martínez was one of the 222 former political prisoners who arrived in the United States in February 2023 when they were banished from their country.
Alvarez is located in the Vatican since January of this year after being released from prison in Nicaragua. The bishop, who had been sentenced to 26 years in prison for conspiracy and other crimes, is one of the most critical religious figures of President Daniel Ortega and the vice president and first lady, Rosario Murillo.
Another 18 religious left with Álvarez from Nicaragua, among them two bishops, 15 priests and two seminarians.
Since his arrival at the Holy See, Álvarez has remained silent and out of public events.
[Noticia en desarrollo]
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