The now former rector of the Central American University (UCA), the Jesuit Father José Alberto Idiáquez, was not present at the transfer of the rectory in which the Father Rolando Alvarado López took possession of the address of said alma mater, on June 1because he is outside the country and Daniel Ortega’s regime did not allow him to enter.
The news was known through an editorial published this Monday by the The Press Newspaper, a month and a half after the ceremony where Father Alvarado assumed the rectory of the UCA. In the publication, the outlet attributed this action as retaliation for having been part of the table of the failed national dialogue, in April 2018, invited by the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN).
“The former rector of the UCA, also a Jesuit Father José Alberto Idiáquez, was not present at the transfer of the rectory because he is out of the country and the regime does not allow him to return,” the publication details.
In another publication of the Divergentes media, it is detailed that the Ortega administration, through the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration, refused to renew Idiáquez’s passport abroad, a reason that did not allow him to finish his period in the country and participate of the transfer of authorities ceremony.
Related news: The UCA, the bastion of struggle punished by Ortega
Although Father Idiáquez was not present at the ceremony, the UCA authorities thanked him “for his efficient and successful performance in the Rectory over the years.”
The Jesuit father was a key personality during the social protests in 2018. On more than one occasion he opened the doors of the study center so that the Nicaraguans who were demonstrating against the government of Daniel Ortega were protected from the armed attack and repression. perpetrated by the Ortega Police together with paramilitaries and shock groups that sought to disintegrate the protests.
Idiáquez has a degree in Philosophy and Humanities from the Free Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Society of Jesus in Mexico. He also completed a Master’s Degree in Theology at the José Simeón Cañas Central American University in El Salvador and another Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology at the University of Austin, Texas.
Path of the new rector
Father Alvarado López has extensive academic experience and Jesuit training, which will allow him to direct the Central American University during his rectorship that ends in 2025.
Alvarado has a bachelor’s degree in theology with a doctorate in philosophy. In 1989 he was the personal assistant of Father Ignacio Ellacuría, who was assassinated in San Salvador along with five other Jesuit priests. In addition, he was rector of the Rafael Landívar University (URL) in Guatemala, from 2014 to 2020 he held the position of Provincial of the Society of Jesus in Central America and was currently the coordinator of Human Spiritual Formation in the Direction of Identity and Mission of the UCA .
During his work as Provincial, Father Rolando Alvarado was in charge of guiding the work carried out through 40 Jesuit institutions, seven colleges, three universities, 13 parishes, a network of Fe y Alegría centers; and spirituality centers from Guatemala to Panama.
