After the recent visit of the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Pope Francis, on Wednesday June 21, in Rome, assured that he “will try to convince” the dictator of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, to release Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, political prisoner since August 4, 2022.
“I will speak with Ortega so that they can release him – Monsignor Álvarez – because it is necessary to learn to ask for forgiveness and recognize this mistake,” said the Brazilian president at a press conference at the end of his visit to Italy and the Vatican, according to quotes the EFE agency.
Related news: Monsignor Álvarez accumulates 10 months in prison and almost 3 without being seen
He also said that this will be “a job of patience” but that he assured that he can get his counterpart to release the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa.
Lula’s statements come when the eyes of Nicaraguan opponents and the international community are on Brazil, after learning that in view of the 53rd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) his delegation made a resolution proposal in which he They “wash face” the Ortega regime, which continues its repression in the country, confiscating property from opponents and banishing more than 300 citizens.
On February 10 of this year, Daniel Ortega’s court sentenced the religious to 26 years in prison plus the loss of his nationality for alleged crimes of treason and conspiracy against the homeland.
Álvarez is currently being held in the maximum security cells of the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, known as “La Modelo” in Tipitapa. This June 25 will mark three months since the last visit that the prelate’s family made to him in the men’s prison, after Ortega ordered that it be exhibited in his propaganda media.
