Diplomatic sources informed EFE that Bishop Rolando Álvarez was taken from the country’s maximum security prison, known as “La Modelo”.
The Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes denied the information that Bishop Rolando Álvarez had been released from prison by the Nicaraguan government. “It is pure speculation. He is right there”, in the National Penitentiary System, the maximum security prison in Nicaragua and known as “La Modelo”, Brenes said.
Earlier the news agency EFE published a note in which he reported the presumed release. According to an anonymous source quoted by the outlet, Álvarez had been released since Monday night and since then he has been under the protection of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference in Managua.
His release, according to that source, had been thanks to negotiations between the Nicaraguan government, the Vatican and the Episcopate, who later discussed the fate of the high-ranking official. The talks discussed the possibility that Bishop Álvarez would be sent to Rome or exile, or returned to prison if he refused, which finally happened.
“It seems that the negotiation has not prospered and that it has returned to La Modelo,” said the source.
Álvarez, bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the diocese of Estelí, was removed from the National Penitentiary System, the maximum security prison in the country and known as “La Modelo”, where he had been held since February 9 after refusing to to be deported to the United States (USA).
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Two weeks ago, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, announced in Rome, after meeting with Pope Francis, that he will try to convince Ortega to release the bishop
“I will speak with Ortega so that they can give him freedom because it is necessary to learn to ask for forgiveness (…) and recognize this mistake,” Lula said then, who met with Pope Francis for 45 minutes in the Vatican.
At the end of June, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) issued a resolution ordering Nicaragua to release the bishop and adopt the necessary measures to effectively protect his life, health and personal integrity.
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