Police of Nicaragua entered this Friday by force into the Episcopal Palace of the Diocese of Matagalpa (north) and arrested Bishop Rolando Álvarez, as well as seven of his collaboratorswho were confined and held since last August 4.
“Urgent! Right now the National Police has entered the Episcopal Curia of our Diocese of Matagalpa“, reported that ecclesiastical headquarters in their social networks.
Álvarez, 55, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, is accused by the Police of trying “organize violent groups”, allegedly “for the purpose of destabilize to the State of Nicaragua and attack the constitutional authorities“, although at the moment they have not offered evidence.
“Worry regarding wearing the party dress in the Kingdom of God,” Álvarez wrote in Twittera few hours before being captured.
The hierarch, a critic of the President’s government Daniel Ortegawas arrested along with the priests Jose Luis Diaz y Sadiel Eugarriosfirst and second vicar of the Matagalpa Cathedral of San Pedro, respectively.
They were also arrested Ramiro Tijerino, rector of the Juan Pablo II University and in charge of the San Juan Bautista parish; as well as the seminarians Darwin Leyva y Melkin Sequeirathe cameraman Sergio Cardenas and the priest Raul Gonzalez.
Call for immediate release
The auxiliary bishop of Managua and exiled, Silvio Baezcondemned the arrest and asked the authorities to release and respect Álvarez’s dignity.
“With an indignant and pained heart condemn the nocturnal kidnapping of Bishop Álvarez. Those who know, tell where my brother bishop is! May his kidnappers respect his dignity and release him! Again, the dictatorship overcomes his own evil and devilish spirit once more,” he wrote in a tweet.
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) indicated in a message that “this morning the Police violently assaulted the episcopal curia of the Diocese of Matagalpa, and kidnapped Monsignor Rolando Álvarez and other priests and laity with an unknown direction“.
At least five priests and three seminarians have been held for two weeks along with Bishop Álvarez. “My God! How outrageous! They have taken Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, with the priests who were with him,” the father wrote. Edwing Romaniananother critic of Ortega, exiled in the United States.
“Enough of so much silence! Let those who have to speak and show their faces speak up, that is called ‘sin of omission'”, in reference to the Pope Franciscowho has been criticized by different sectors for keeping silent on the issue amid the claims of lay people from Nicaragua, a country with a Catholic majority.
Frictions between the State and the Church
Álvarez’s arrest is the latest brush in a history of friction between the Nicaraguan Catholic Church and the Sandinistas led by President Ortega.
So far this year, the Sandinista government has expelled the apostolic nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag from the country, imprisoned three priests, closed eight Catholic radio stations and taken from subscription television programming on three Catholic channels. Also, he has entered by force and raided a parish and expelled 16 nuns of the missionaries of the order Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Likewise, it has prohibited the Archdiocese of Managua from carrying out a procession with the pilgrim image of the Virgin of Fatima.
President Ortega branded “terrorists” to the Nicaraguan bishops who acted as mediators of a national dialogue with which a peaceful solution was sought to the crisis that the country has been experiencing since April 2018.
This crisis was accentuated following the controversial elections last November in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth termfourth in a row and second along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with their main contenders in prison.
The Catholic community represents 58.5% of the 6.5 million inhabitants of Nicaragua, according to the latest national census. (EFE)
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