CV NEWS FEED // Bishop Rolando Álvarez has suffered over 500 days in prison under the regime of Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega, and Ortega’s efforts against Catholics are only escalating, warned Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) this week.
“Nicaragua’s Ortega-Murillo regime has escalated their crackdown on the Catholic Church—during the Christmas season—these past two weeks,” Chair of the House Global Human Rights Subcommittee Rep. Chris Smith stated in a press release on January 3.
“Local reports have documented priests being taken from their homes, and even beaten, due to praying for Bishop Rolando Álvarez—who has been detained for 500 days. Many have since been charged with conspiracy and treason with whereabouts currently unknown,” Smith stated:
Since December 20, Nicaraguan police have detained a total number of 14 priests and two seminarians, all during the Christmas season.
There are currently 15 imprisoned priests (including two bishops—the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, and the bishop of Siuna, Isidoro del Carmen Mora), as well as two seminarians and 15 lay people.
Smith also noted that Pope Francis expressed “concern with the situation and the deprivation of freedom these individuals are suffering” in his New Year’s address.
“This is an unquestionable persecution that calls for the United States to wake up,” Smith stated:
What is the US doing in response? Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled their country to avoid persecution since 2018, when Ortega’s government cracked down on widespread anti-regime protests, killing hundreds of people, injuring thousands and arbitrarily detaining many.
The fact that Bishop Álvarez has been imprisoned for over 500 days “[demonstrates] that Ortega’s worst impulses are long-lasting,” Smith stated. “Justice delayed is justice denied. I call on the Biden administration and Secretary Blinken to act now to call for the immediate and unconditional release of these prisoners.”
Smith held a subcommittee hearing in November “urgently appealing” Ortega to let Alvarez go.
Catholic News Agency reported that Alvarez spoke “out against Ortega’s ever-escalating persecution of the Catholic Church,” and “was arrested in 2022 and subsequently sentenced on Feb. 10 after refusing to board a plane carrying 222 political dissidents, including four priests, who were flown to the U.S. in an agreement with the State Department.”
Alvarez remains imprisoned in one of the “most notorious prisons” in Latin America, La Modelo. At the hearing Smith said that he has repeatedly requested to visit Alvarez in prison but has received no response from Nicaraguan government officials.
“What is needed are concrete steps to punish the regime, while demanding proof of life, especially for those detained and needing regular medical attention—Monsignor [Carlos] Aviles is a diabetic, requiring daily insulin shots,” Smith stated on January 3.
Smith highlighted that Ortega’s relationships with China, Russia, and Iran are growing. The growing relationships “should escalate our concerns over the seriousness of the situation and demands that we consider sanctions and other avenues,” Smith added:
Each of our adversaries will use Ortega for their own benefit as they attempt to exert influence in America’s backyard. The Chinese have even upgraded their relationship with Nicaragua to a “strategic partnership.”
This should set off the alarm and we should be wary of any foreign power establishing bases in our sphere of influence. This involvement will only serve to heighten the animosity against America in the region, and we must act now before it gets further out of hand.
