The opposition organization Blue and White National Unity (A B) condemned the criminalization of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega against Monsignor Rolando Alvarezbishop of the diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí, on whom the Police imposed a house for de facto prison and initiated an alleged investigation for “destabilizing the State.”
The accusation is an “attempt by the dictatorship to silence the prophetic voice of the Church in these very necessary times,” the organization said in a statement issued this Saturday, August 6.
Related news: Ortega orders an “investigation” against Bishop Rolando Álvarez and his team and imposes a de facto prison on them
The UNAB expressed its solidarity and closeness with the people of Matagalpa and the Church in the face of “the state of siege and the persecution of religious freedom” that the regime established in the city since August 1, and increased against its religious leader, Monsignor Alvarez. He explained that these actions violate human, civil, and political rights and accentuate the serious sociopolitical and economic situation in the country “to which Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have dragged us for more than four years.”
The opponents urged the international community to take “forceful actions to put a stop to the dictatorship” in the face of this authoritarian drift of its “illegitimate regime that is sustained by the use of force and weapons.”
Related news: Archdiocese of Managua speaks out and expresses its “closeness” with Monsignor Álvarez
In the last seven days, the regime has increased the siege on priests and bishops, closed Catholic media outlets and launched an alleged investigation against Monsignor Álvarez, after the bishop confronted the officers who besiege him, with the Blessed Sacrament in his hands. This is added to the expulsion of members of religious communities, desecration of temples and the imprisonment of two catholic priests. In Nicaragua there are more than 180 political prisoners, including members of the UNAB, subjected to cruel and inhuman treatmentaccording to reports from relatives and human rights organizations.
