The OAS hopes that the condemnation of the Ortega regime will be approved, and advocates the release of political prisoners, among them Bishop Rolando Alvarez.
Newsroom (24/06/2023 12:11, Gaudium Press) The Ortega regime’s attack on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua continues, but international pressure is also increasing, demanding respect for the most fundamental freedoms of this regime.
The consequences of the freezing of bank accounts of ecclesiastical entities in the Central American country are appearing: the National Seminary San Juan Pablo II, located in Bluefields, has closed. The measure affects 27 seminarians, coming from various cities in the country.
“The dictatorship’s attacks against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church have forced the end of the first semester, but it will not be possible to open for the second semester due to lack of funds,” said activist and researcher Martha Paredes, who has documented all the attacks on the Church in Nicaragua.
External Movements for Freedom in Nicaragua
The 53rd regular session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) begins today, June 21, in which a new resolution on the crisis in Nicaragua is expected to be approved, condemning the regime’s repression and calling for the release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, bishop of Matagalpa, and all political prisoners.
In an open letter, a group of 56 Nicaraguans exiled and denationalized by the dictatorship demand “that the government of Ortega Murillo, the result of an electoral farce in 2021, be declared illegitimate by this 53rd General Assembly of the OAS.” They also reject attempts by the Brazilian diplomatic delegation to soften the terms with which the Declaration had been drafted.
The resolution of this assembly will add to a similar one passed on June 15, in the European Parliament, asking the Ortega dictatorship to prove that Don Alvarez is alive. It is the seventh resolution of this Parliament on Nicaragua in the face of the “totalitarian drift of the regime led by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo”, according to the website of the European Parliament.
In the same way, promoted by the former presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga, the international campaign “End Arbitrary Detention” was launched in Geneva in the last days, which seeks the establishment of an international treaty against the unjustified detention of people involved in political activities. The representative face of this campaign will be that of Bishop Rolando Álvarez. The campaign seeks to give visibility to this type of persecution, especially in Nicaragua.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez has already served 10 months in prison, since August 19th of last year, when the police invaded the Curia in Matagalpa and took him by force to Managua. In addition, in a summary trial and with “tailor-made” charges, the regime sentenced the prelate to 26 years in prison on February 10.
Also, according to a report released Tuesday by the Collective of Human Rights Nicaragua Never Again, 605,043 Nicaraguans have left the country in the last 5 years, 9% of the total population, due to the repression by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime against opponents, religious and critics.
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
