The Venezuelan Episcopal Conference expressed its solidarity with the Catholic Church of Nicaragua. This after the arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, a critic of the government of Daniel Ortega arrested on Friday, according to a statement released this Saturday by the Archdiocese of Caracas.
The institution deplored Álvarez’s arrest. He affirmed that it is an “expression not only of a hostile attitude towards the Catholic Church, but also of the serious deterioration of the rule of law and citizen guarantees that our brother country suffers today.”
Likewise, he requested respect for the life, integrity and health of all bishops, priests, deacons, religious, lay pastoral agents, “ensuring the full use of their citizen rights of mobilization, expression of their own opinions and guarantees of freedom of worship and religion for all.
The CEV said it had followed in recent months with “attention and concern” the events that have “affected the sister Church in Nicaragua.”
The case for which the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference ruled
“Painfully, this situation, far from finding an adequate resolution within the framework of legality and respect for religious freedom and the Catholic faith professed by the vast majority of the Nicaraguan people, has worsened to the point of being evicted by State agencies and the arrest of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez and his companions,” he added.
The Nicaraguan Police forced their way into the Episcopal Palace of the Diocese of Matagalpa on Friday. In the place he arrested Álvarez, as well as 7 of his collaborators, who had been held and held since last August 4.
Álvarez, 55, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, is accused by the National Police of trying to “organize violent groups”, supposedly “with the purpose of destabilizing the Nicaraguan State and attack the constitutional authorities”, although for the moment they have not offered evidence.
So far this year, authorities have jailed priests and expelled others from the country, including nuns from the missionary order of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
The Sandinista government has also shut down eight Catholic radio stations and removed three Catholic channels from subscription television programming.
