These were the few remaining opposition voices in Nicaragua. The government of Daniel Ortega banished and expelled to Rome, Sunday January 14, 19 religious critics of the regime. Among them are Mgr Rolando Alvarez, bishop of Matagalpa, arrested on August 19, 2022 and who spent 514 days in detention, Mgr Isodoro Mora, bishop of the diocese of Siuna, arrested on December 20, 2023, and seventeen other religious people, most of whom were arrested on December 29 and 30.
“The criminal Sandinista dictatorship of Daniel Ortega could do nothing in the face of the power of God,” announced on Sunday, during his homily from Miami, another Nicaraguan bishop, Mr.gr Silvio Baezforced into exile in 2019. He had just received confirmation that the religious had arrived in Rome. “I want to invite you all to thank Pope Francis (…) for the effectiveness of Vatican diplomacy”, he said during the service to the faithful who were moved and applauded the news, before bursting into tears himself.
In a statement, the government said the decision was taken thanks to “very respectful and discreet” negotiations carried out by the Holy See for “make possible the trip to the Vatican of two bishops, fifteen priests and two seminarians”. At the beginning of the year, the sovereign pontiff reiterated his concern about the situation in Nicaragua, and called on the government to “respectful diplomatic dialogue”.
Refusal to be banned
On February 9, 2023, Mgr Alvarez had refused to board a plane with 222 other opponents released by the regime, but stripped of their nationality and sent to the United States. The next day, he was sentenced to twenty-six years in prison. In July, negotiations took place with the Vatican to expel the prelate, but again, he refused to be banished. On October 18, he was not one of the twelve priests expelled to Rome after a ” agreement ” concluded between the Holy See and Managua.
The regime of President Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, has targeted bishops since they called for early elections after the 2018 revolt, which ended in bloodshed (355 deaths). The government saw this as a “attempted coup d’état”. In 2022 he expelled the Vatican representative, Nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag.
A hundred political prisoners
According to lawyer Martha Molina, 203 priests and religious have been expelled, banned or prohibited from entering Nicaragua since 2018. “The year 2023 was the worst: 307 attacks, more than 3,600 processions banned, (…), kidnappings, harassment, permanent surveillance”, explained the researcher to the online media Confidential.
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