Nicaraguan Bishop Marks 500 Days in Political Prison for Opposing Communism

Communist Nicaragua marked 500 days since imprisoning Matagalpa Bishop Monsignor Rolando Álvarez on Tuesday by publishing photos of an alleged “medical examination” on the Catholic leader.

The Daniel Ortega regime arrested Álvarez, an outspoken critic of Nicaragua’s human rights abuses, in August 2022 and sentenced him in February to 26 years in prison for “treason.” The regime also annulled his Nicaragua citizenship, rendering him a stateless person, in clear violation of international law.

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Bishop Álvarez was the first senior member of the Nicaraguan Catholic Church’s leadership to be arrested in Ortega’s ongoing persecution spree against Christians in the country. The list of Christian political prisoners since his arrest has grown to seventeen Church clergy members. The latest to be arrested, Fathers Ismael Serrano and Jader Hernández, were detained this weekend.

In the pictures published on Tuesday by Nicaraguan state media outlet El 19 Digital, Bishop Álvarez appears noticeably thinner and paler. The photos are the third set the regime has released since his sentencing in February.

The pictures were accompanied by an official press release that contained a list of “healthy” vital signs allegedly documented during the medical examination, which it claimed took 15 minutes to conduct.

“Today, Tuesday January 2, 2024, Rolando Álvarez Lagos underwent a medical re-examination by Dr. Yesser Rizo (Internist), in the presence of the General Commissioners of our National Police: Zhukov Serrano and Luis Barrantes,” the regime’s press release read.

The press release continued by claiming that Bishop Álvarez “expressed that he feels well and keeps exercising.”

“The doctor reported that Rolando Álvarez’s vital signs and state of health are fine. No blood tests were performed because he had ingested food,” the press release concluded.

On November 28, the Ortega regime published over 30 photos and a video of the bishop allegedly taken during the course of several different family visits and medical examinations. The pictures were published one day after Bishop Álvarez’s 57th birthday.

On March 23, the Ortega regime published its first “proof of life” for Bishop Álvarez, who had not been seen since being sentenced a month prior. The pictures and videos followed growing local and international pressure from human rights groups, activists, and politicians who demanded proof of life of the bishop. The Ortega regime allowed the priest to share a lunch meal with two of his siblings under the strict surveillance of the prison’s security officials.

In all these episodes, Álvarez has appeared in a tightly controlled “preferential” visitor’s room located inside La Modelo prison and not in the maximum-security cell where the Ortega regime keeps Álvarez.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) issued a press release on Tuesday urging the Biden administration and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all members of the Nicaraguan Catholic Church who have been unjustly arrested by the Ortega regime.

Smith led a congressional hearing in December in which several members of the Nicaraguan Catholic Church who experienced repression recounted their harrowing stories to Congress, detailing how they were arrested, interrogated, tortured, and brutalized by members of the Ortega regime. The Sandinistas reportedly accused them of being part of an “organized crime” syndicate, by which they appeared to mean the Catholic Church. Some of the witnesses said they were also accused of “undermining the dignity of the state and of Nicaragua” and spreading “fake news.”

The U.S. Department of State published a press statement Tuesday calling the Ortega regime to release Álvarez immediately and without conditions.

We call on the Nicaraguan regime to immediately and unconditionally release Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who has been unjustly detained for 500 days. Freedom of belief is a human right. Álvarez's continued detention is unconscionable.

— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) January 2, 2024

Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, issued a tepid call for “dialogue” between the ruthless communist regime and his institution on January 1.

“I express my closeness in prayer to them, their families and the entire Church in Nicaragua,” Pope Francis said. “I hope the path of dialogue can be followed to overcome difficulties.”

The Vatican has not played a major role in condemning the repression of the Church in Nicaragua, though local clergy have for years denounced Sandinista state violence.

Ortega has continuously persecuted the nation’s Catholic Church after Church leaders expressed support for anti-communist dissidents during the April 2018 wave of peaceful protests. During that event, thousands of Nicaraguans flocked to the streets calling for the end of four decades of communist rule.

Since then, Ortega has led a relentless persecution campaign against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church that dramatically escalated in 2022, beginning with the banishment of the papal nuncio Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag and other members of the Church. The Ortega regime has also forcefully shut down Catholic television and radio stations, prohibited Catholic festivities and processions, seized the Church’s bank accounts, universities and other assets.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.