An official from the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, in Tipitapa, told Article 66 that after the last family visit, on Saturday, February 25, that he received Monsignor Rolando Alvarezthe prison authorities have prohibited the priest from receiving parcels and from being visited again.
«—To the relatives of the bishop—they have not allowed another visit and they do not allow parcels; That will happen until something else is directed by superior orders, “explained the source on condition of anonymity.
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He recalled that the last display, in the media of government propaganda, which was granted to the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, was due to pressure from the media and human rights organizations, “but since that time it has not become to allow another one,” he stressed.
He indicated that the monsignor’s relatives are not given information about his health condition, despite the fact that they constantly ask about the religious.
He also stressed that “the authorities of La Modelo denied – to Monsignor Álvarez’s brothers – the right to have a visit card” . “The last visit was authorized the same day, and the relatives were called half an hour before” , added the internal source of the men’s prison.
Given these prohibitions, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) questioned, through its Twitter account, what has happened since the cardinal’s last visit. “What has happened since then? We demand his immediate release,” the agency demanded.
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He also asked if the last visit and exhibition of the also apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí “did it serve to change the subhuman conditions of unjust imprisonment?”
For its part, the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) pointed out that it has already been 249 days of “unjust imprisonment at the hands of the Ortega dictatorship” suffered by the bishop.
The university organization took the opportunity to call on the Nicaraguan people to “continue raising our voices for their freedom!”
The Ortega justice found Monsignor Rolando Álvarez guilty for the alleged crimes of “treason” and sentenced him to 26 years in prison, stripped him of his nationality and stripped him of his civil and political rights for life.
Related news: IACHR issues precautionary measures in favor of the Bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez
The prison sentence against the priest was given a day later —February 10— when he refused to be banished from the country along with 222 other former political prisoners.
Álvarez Lagos is one of the most critical voices against the dictatorship of Ortega and Murillo, the binomial that controls the strings of power in Nicaragua, a country mired in a sociopolitical, economic, and human rights crisis since 2018.
