ROME — Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez began his third week in captivity without charges Friday following his arrest by the government of dictator Daniel Ortega.
Álvarez, bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa in northern Nicaragua, was abducted by police in a dawn raid on Friday, August 19, at his episcopal residence along with four priests, two seminarians, and a cameraman, after having undergone unofficial house arrest for 15 days.
The National Police, led by Ortega’s brother-in-law Francisco Díaz, accused the prelate of trying to “organize violent groups,” allegedly “for the purpose of destabilizing the State of Nicaragua and attacking the constitutional authorities,” although no evidence has been brought forward to substantiate this claim.
So far, neither the Public Ministry nor the National Police have presented a formal accusation against Álvarez, who will soon turn 56 and is the first bishop arrested since Ortega returned to power in Nicaragua in 2007.
A woman prays at Matagalpa Cathedral in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, on August 19, 2022. Nicaraguan police forcefully removed Catholic bishop and government critic Rolando Alvarez from his official residence after two weeks under siege, said Church and rights groups. (OSWALDO RIVAS/AFP via Gett)
“The Ortega-Murillo regime is not going to distract our attention,” declared the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights Thursday. “We continue to ask where Bishop Rolando Álvarez is and what they are doing with the priests, seminarians, and cameraman arrested in El Chipote.
The rights group, which has repeatedly accused the government of torture, also called for “immediate freedom for all political prisoners” in a message on Twitter.
While the Diocese of Matagalpa as well as Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes have called for the release of the detained bishop, Pope Francis has remained strangely silent on the matter, to the consternation of many Nicaraguans.
Francis has limited his interventions on the matter to a single statement on August 21 that he was following Nicaragua’s situation “with concern and sorrow,” while also appealing for “an open and sincere dialogue” in order to attain “a respectful and peaceful co-existence” between the Church and the Ortega regime.
In response, exiled Nicaraguan Bishop Silvio José Báez said that Nicaragua needs freedom and not dialogue with dictator Daniel Ortega.
Nicaraguan citizens hold a demonstration in front of the Nicaraguan Embassy in Costa Rica to protest against the Nicaraguan government and the detention of regime critic Rolando Alvarez, in San Jose, on August 19, 2022. (OSCAR NAVARRETE/AFP via Getty Images)
“We must ask for freedom. We must not negotiate for people. We must ask for freedom, because they are innocent,” Bishop Báez said in a Mass celebrated at Saint Agatha parish in Miami later that same day.
Earlier this year, the Ortega government expelled the papal nuncio, Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, as well as 18 nuns of the Missionaries of Charity order founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
It has also imprisoned seven priests, shut down nine Catholic radio stations, and pulled three Catholic channels from subscription television programming.
Catholics make up some 58.5 percent of the 6.6 million inhabitants of Nicaragua according to the latest national census.
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