Nicaragua jails Catholic bishop 26 years for refusing exile
A Nicaraguan court sentenced the Catholic bishop Rolando Alvarez to 26 years in prison on Friday, a day after he refused to board a plane carrying 222 political prisoners to exile in the United States.
A sentence read by an appeals court judge labeled Bishop Alvarez of Matagalpa a “traitor to the fatherland” and stated that he would not be released from prison until 2049.
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Additionally, the court revoked the bishop’s Nicaraguan citizenship and fined him $1,600.
On Thursday, Alvarez, who was born in Nicaragua but educated in Spain and the Vatican, refused to board a charter plane transporting 222 political prisoners to exile in the United States.
Later in the day, President Daniel Ortega addressed the case on national television, stating that Alvarez “started saying he’s not leaving” until he speaks with other bishops. Ortega referred to the bishop’s stance as “ridiculous” and stated that he would be returned to prison for “terrorism.”
Alvarez was arrested by police in August 2022, and he was later charged with “conspiracy” and “fake news” by the courts.
Alvarez had been an outspoken critic of the Ortega government’s alleged restrictions on religious freedom.
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Octavio Rothschuh, chief magistrate of the court of appeals, stated that Alvarez, age 56, should “complete his sentence on April 13, 2049.”
Former presidential candidates, journalists, former Sandinista guerrilla commanders, former ministers, former diplomats, and former business and industry leaders are among those released and expelled from the country.
They were detained as part of a wave of repression that followed anti-government protests in 2018 that demanded Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, relinquish his position.
Approximately twelve priests, deacons, seminary students, or other church officials were among the 222 Nicaraguans who voluntarily fled to the United States.
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