Ortega Returns Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos to Prison

Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos was sent Back to prison on Wednesday following unsuccessful negotiations between the Nicaraguan bishops and the government led by dictator Daniel Ortega, as reported by Nicaraguan news sources.

Photo Credit - Denny Muller

Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
7/7/2023 (1 year ago)

Published in Americas

Keywords: Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos, Catholic, Ortega, Nicaragua, regime

Alvarez, who serves as the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa in Managua, had been released on Monday but was returned to custody on July 5 after he refused to comply with the Ortega regime's demand that he go into exile.

Despite reports from Nicaraguan media and human rights activists claiming his release from "Modelo Prison" on Monday night, Alvarez, a vocal critic of the communist Ortega dictatorship, has been placed back in captivity.

Reuters reported that since his release on Monday, Alvarez had sought refuge at the headquarters of the Nicaraguan Bishops Conference (Conferencia Episcopal de Nicaragua, CEN) in the capital city of Managua.

On July 5, the Nicaraguan news agency "Divergentes" disclosed that CEN and the Vatican were engaged in negotiations with the Ortega government on behalf of Alvarez.

According to human rights activist Bianca Jagger, in a tweet on July 4, the regime intended to exile Alvarez to Rome. However, exiled Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Jose Baez of the Archdiocese of Managua clarified that Alvarez refused to be exiled unless ordered to do so by the pope.

Baez stated in a July 5 announcement that Alvarez had informed him "he would not leave Nicaragua for any reason unless the Pope ordered him to do so." He further emphasized that it was a conscientious decision made before God and that there was nothing to negotiate. Baez affirmed his belief in Alvarez's unwavering commitment to his conscientious decisions.

Following his public condemnation of Ortega's escalating persecution of the Catholic Church, Alvarez, aged 56, was arrested in 2022. His subsequent refusal to board a plane carrying 222 political dissidents, including four priests, who were being flown to the U.S. in an agreement with the State Department, led to his sentencing on February 10.

Alvarez received a 26-year and 4-month prison sentence on treason charges and had his Nicaraguan citizenship revoked.

Under the dictatorship of Ortega and his wife, Vice-President Rosario Murillo, hundreds of Nicaraguans, including priests and religious individuals, have been arbitrarily arrested and deported. The Church's assets and properties have been seized, and religious freedom has been significantly curtailed.

In March, following Pope Francis' strong criticism of the Ortega regime, where he drew comparisons to Hitler's Germany, the dictatorship closed the Holy See's embassy in Nicaragua, severing all diplomatic ties with the Vatican.