Since last year, 37 priests and a bishop have been exiled, and 32 religious members from different congregations have been expelled from the country by Nicaragua’s dictator.
Newsroom (18/05/2023 18:00, Gaudium Press) 10 May marked the third month of the imprisonment of Bishop Rolando Alvarez Lagos of Matagalpa. He was sentenced to 26 years and 4 months in prison for his opposition to Daniel Ortega’s government in Nicaragua. After having spent some months under house arrest, accused of conspiracy and crimes against the country, the bishop is currently being held in a dark cell with deteriorating sanitary conditions.
The Nicaraguan government spares no effort to curb all opposition from Catholics. Since 2018, 529 episodes of violence against the Catholic Church have been recorded in the country, including desecrations and attacks.
During last year and early this year, 37 priests and a bishop were exiled, as well as 32 religious members from various congregations being expelled from the country by the Nicaraguan president. The dictator also banned 3,176 processions during Holy Week.
On 12 February, the Pope commented at the Angelus that “the news that arrives from Nicaragua saddens me a little, and I cannot help but remember with concern the Bishop of Matagalpa, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, whom I love so much, sentenced to 26 years in prison, and also the people who were deported to the United States. I pray for them and for all those who suffer in this beloved nation, and I ask for your prayers.“
Persecuted Church
Bishop Rolando Álvarez’s “ordeal” began on 4 August 2022, when he was prevented from entering the Matagalpa Cathedral to celebrate Mass. After a few months of house arrest, he was taken to the airport to be deported along with more than 200 political prisoners, but when he refused to leave the country, he was imprisoned.
According to Nicaraguan journalist and researcher Martha Patricia Molina, author of the study “Nicaragua: a persecuted Church?”, little is known about Bishop Rolando Álvarez. “I don’t have any information about him, but I do know that some authorities in Chipote’s prison system do not agree with the unjust treatment and the dictator’s attitude reserved for each of the political prisoners,” the author told Radio Maria.
“Nobody who finds themselves in the conditions of Don Alvarez and the other political prisoners can feel good. Cruel, inhumane and degrading torture is practiced in Nicaragua’s prisons,” Molina added.
As part of this cruel treatment ordered by Ortega, the Nicaraguan newspaper, La Prensa, whose print version was suppressed by Ortega’s administration, reported that Bishop Álvarez does not even have access to toilet paper in his cell. Furthermore, the prison where the bishop is being held is known as a stronghold of torture.
Voices raised
Political and diplomatic figures have raised their voices against the unjust imprisonment of the bishop and denounced the inhumane treatment that Bishop Álvarez has received.
For Danny Ramírez Ayerdis, lawyer and executive secretary of the Inter-American Legal Assistance Center for Human Rights, the dictatorship seeks “to break the morale of the bishop who is suffering serious violations of international law: these are crimes against humanity within the general persecution that the Catholic Church is experiencing in Nicaragua.”
Carrión adds that the dictatorship’s cruelty against Bishop Álvarez is due to “his voice of coherence with the oppressed, being the only bishop in Nicaragua who has so far been deprived of freedom.” “And precisely because he was a pastor committed to being close to the people, they took away his freedom, after having systematically besieged, harassed and threatened him,” he told Radio Maria Italia.
For his part, Nicaragua’s former ambassador to the Organization of American States, Arturo McFields Yescas, told the website 100% News that with the arrest of Bishop Álvarez, the dictatorship is “even more discredited before the world. “Only the scum of humanity imprison a bishop who can do them no harm. What fear do they have of a Monsignor who carries the Cross?” The diplomat believes that the bishop’s imprisonment will end soon thanks to international pressure.
However, according still to Radio Maria, “McFields’ optimism contrasts with the new wave of arrests of more than 60 opponents of the regime, all accused of undermining national integrity and spreading false news.”
In the Catholic Church, the strongest demonstration against Ortega’s atrocity came from the United States.
Bishop James Malloy of Rockford, and Secretary of the US Bishops’ Conference, wrote in April this year: “I ask the US government and the entire international community to continue working for the release of Bishop Álvarez and the restoration of peace and the rule of law in Nicaragua.
However, the Holy See’s “silence” in the face of the bishop’s situation has been criticised by some Catholic media, especially the Italian website Il Sismógrafo.
In June 2022, those responsible for Il Sismógrafo wrote: “The Apostolic See has given the impression that it considers it necessary to be silent or even to give in. Something similar had already been seen – in Latin America – in the case of Nicolás Maduro’s persecutions against the Church in Venezuela.”
This silence of the Holy Father, inexplicable and unjustifiable, has caused and is causing grave pain to the Catholic community in Nicaragua and in Latin America. The Holy See must correct some grave errors to also prevent other governments in the region from feeling encouraged to silence the voice of hundreds of bishops faithful to the Magisterium, the Council and the Aparecida Document,” the Italian website reported.
By Rafael Tavares
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
