The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requested the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to extend the provisional measures for Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, for being “in a situation of extreme gravity and urgency of irreparable damage to their rights.”
In the statement, dated Friday, June 23, the Commission recalled that the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa “has expressed his disagreement with the policies of the current government and has sought to guarantee human rights in the country.”
Related news: IACHR issues precautionary measures in favor of the Bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez
He emphasized that the religious is currently deprived of liberty and incommunicado in the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, known as the “La Modelo” prison, in Tipitapa, “being placed in detention conditions that put him at risk, a situation that would be aggravated due to the alleged lack of medical attention.
On the other hand, the IACHR indicated that despite the repeated actions to obtain information from the State of Nicaragua, no response has been received indicating the adoption of measures to mitigate the risk.
“The Commission notes that this request for extension of provisional measures reflects an exceptional situation that is based on the extreme, urgent and irreparable risk to the rights of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, and that must be assessed in the context that the State of Nicaragua, which has been the subject of permanent analysis by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Commission, as well as other human rights bodies,” the IACHR asserted.
After the captivity that the priest is going through, the Commission asked the Inter-American Court to order the Ortega regime to “immediately adopt the necessary measures to effectively protect the life, integrity, health, and freedom of the person identified in Nicaragua, and to proceed to his immediate release, given the conditions in which he currently finds himself.”
Related news: Ortega prohibits Monsignor Álvarez from receiving parcels and visits, after a month that he exhibited it
For his part, the former Nicaraguan ambassador to the OAS, Arturo McFields, told Article 66 that the IACHR statement is “very important” because it is asking to guarantee the physical integrity of Monsignor Álvarez.
At the same time, he affirmed that this “continues to be a call for respect for human rights in Nicaragua, but the most important thing is that since the OAS resolution was issued, the call is to redouble the pressure on the dictatorship in defense of human rights and for the return of democracy in Nicaragua.
«(…) There are already 10 months in unjustified prison against Monsignor Álvarez. The bishop of the town has to be free now, that is why we are going to see more pressure against the dictatorship in the months to come, because Ortega believed that he was going to get rid of international organizations, but that is not the case. added.
Kidnapped since August 19, 2022
On April 15, 2023, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued precautionary measures in favor of the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, who has been imprisoned by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo since August 19, 2022.
