The National Police, under the direct orders of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, assaulted the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa and kidnapped Bishop Rolando José Álvarez and seven of the eight collaborators of the religious leader who remained locked up early this Friday, August 19. These nine citizens were for more than 15 days under police siege in the Episcopal Palace.
In a message through its Facebook page, at 3:20 in the morning, the Matagalpa diocese announced: “Urgent! Right now the National Police has entered the Episcopal Curia of our Diocese of Matagalpa!”
Sources linked to the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church revealed to CONFIDENTIAL that after the assault on the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa, they learned that the Police would transfer Monsignor Álvarez to Managua.
However, the sources said they do not know if the bishop would be jailed or if the regime will carry out the threat to banish him from the country.
Four hours after the kidnapping of Monsignor Álvarez, neither the Police nor the Prosecutor’s Office have provided any information about the assault on the Episcopal Curia and the whereabouts of Monsignor Álvarez and the other eight people who were with him.
Religious sources reported that the Police are holding Óscar Escoto, parish priest of the Santa María de Guadalupe church, at the headquarters of the Curia, which they keep occupied.
In addition to Monsignor Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, the priests José Luis Díaz and Sadiel Eugarrios, first and second vicar of the San Pedro cathedral in Matagalpa, respectively, were kidnapped; Ramiro Tijerino, rector of the John Paul II University and in charge of the San Juan Bautista parish; and Raul Gonzalez. The seminarians Darvin Leyva and Melkin Sequeira and the cameraman Sergio Cárdenas.
The sources confirmed that Álvarez was taken in a vehicle, separated from the others. The operation was led by Commissioner General Sergio Gutiérrez, head of Matagalpa, under the command of Commissioner General Ramón Avellán, deputy director of the Police and one of Ortega’s most faithful officials, accused of committing crimes against humanity in the protests of 2018, when more than 300 people were killed according to reports from national and international human rights organizations.
The police of the Ortega regime also raided the home of the parents of Monsignor Álvarez, in Managua, where the prelate also resided, confirmed his niece, Yoselin Álvarez, through a publication on her Facebook account.
15 days kidnapped
Since Thursday, August 4, the regime’s Police imposed a police siege on Monsignor Álvarez, preventing him from leaving to carry out his pastoral activities. That day the bishop, recognized for his prophetic and critical voice of the regime, left the curia and kneeling with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in his hands prayed for the end of the police siege.
The institution’s response, accused of committing multiple human rights violations, appeared on Friday afternoon. In a press release, the National Police reported that the bishop was under house arrest and is being investigated for allegedly “organizing violent groups” and “carrying out acts of hate.” “The people under investigation will remain in their homes,” said the police institution.
At first, a total of twelve citizens were detained, but the Police allowed the release of three laymen: the choristers Henry Corvera and Sujin Membreño; and cameraman Flavio Castro. Membreño left on August 8, while Corvera and Castro did so last Tuesday.
Corvera was deported to El Salvador, where is he from. The young man had been living with his family in Matagalpa for some years. Both his departure from the curia and his deportation have been under total discretion. The only thing that is known is that the police visited his family before they allowed him to leave the building.
“It’s a sin of omission”
The priest Edwing Román, pastor of the San Miguel Church in Masaya, a victim of the siege since 2018 and currently in exile, lamented on his Twitter account the kidnapping of the bishop and the priests who accompanied him in the curia. He publicly demanded an end to the silence and said that “those who have to speak and show their faces speak up”, recalling that it is a “sin of omission”.
OMG!. How outrageous, they have taken Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, along with the priests who were with him.
Enough of so much silence! Let those who have to speak and show their faces speak up, this is called a “sin of omission”.– Edwing Roman (@EdwingRoman14) August 19, 2022
The auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio José Báez, in exile since 2019 by order of Pope Francis to protect his life, condemned the kidnapping of Monsignor Álvarez and demanded that they reveal his whereabouts, respect his dignity and release him.” The dictatorship returns to overcome his own evil and his diabolical spirit”, he expressed through his Twitter account.
With an indignant and hurt heart, I condemn the nightly kidnapping of Bishop Álvarez. Those who know, tell where my brother bishop is! May his kidnappers respect his dignity and release him! Once again, the dictatorship overcomes its own evil and its diabolical spirit.
– Silvio José Báez (@silviojbaez) August 19, 2022
In his homily last Sunday, Báez pointed out that “this business of eliminating the prophets is something very old. It is always practiced by unjust, intolerant and violent systems”. The Catholic leader is exiled due to persecution by the regime.
The Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (Celam) denounced the assault on the Curia in Matagalpa and the kidnapping of Monsignor Álvarez. “AWe alerted the international community and joined the prayer chain”, they pointed out through a Tweet.
#SOS#Urgent
The National Police has entered the Episcopal Curia of our Diocese of #Matagalpa and has been brought to @DiocesedeMat his whereabouts are still unknown @CENicaragua we alert the international community and join the prayer chain— CELAM (@CelamWeb) August 19, 2022
Since last June, the regime prosecuted three priests: in June, Manuel Salvador García de Nandaime, on July 13, Monsignor Leonardo Urbina in Boaco, and on August 14, Oscar Danilo Benavidez in Mulukukú, who belongs to the Diocese of Siuna, but He also comes from Matagalpa where he worked as an advisor to youth ministry groups until 2016.
The repressive escalation against the Catholic Church has led to the closure of seven stations in Matagalpa on August 1, the desecration of the Sébaco parish and the closure on June 29 of the Catholic channel as part of an escalation that seeks to silence priests and bishops, while the regime has raised its hate speech by sometimes calling it “devils in cassocks”, or “coup plotters”.
Álvarez is recognized for his work with the peasantry, his charisma and his attachment to religiosity. In his last tweet, the religious wrote that they should worry about “wearing the party dress in the Kingdom of God.”
Tension in Ciudad Darío
The 28-parish Diocese of Matagalpa is now the epicenter of an unprecedented escalation of attacks against religious. At least of its eight parishes, circumscribed to Álvarez’s leadership, have reported some type of police harassment or their priests have been intimidated in the last two weeks.
This Friday, the bells tolled at dawn also in the parish of Santa Lucía, where residents of Ciudad Darío mobilized to protect the security of the priest Vicente Martínez, whom the Police came to look for on Tuesday, August 16 at 5:55 a.m. the morning. The siege forced the vicar Sebastián López to officiate the Mass from the atrium, increasing tension in the town.
“#URGENT #SOS At the sound of the bells of the church of the Parish of Santa Lucía, Darío, this Friday morning the town approaches to protect the safety of our priest now that with anguish we receive the news that the Police entered the Episcopal Curia of the Diocese of Matagalpa”, they wrote on the page of the Church, while several photos reported the presence of citizens concerned about the fate of the religious.
