“I am very peaceful”: Nicaraguan bishop sentenced to more than 26 years

For crimes considered “treason.”

Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Álvarez, sentenced to more than 26 years in prison for crimes considered “treason to the country,” said he felt “great peace in the Lord and the Blessed Virgin,” according to statements released this Sunday.

“Thank God well, with a lot of inner strength, with a lot of peace in the Lord and the Blessed Virgin,” the bishop responded to a reporter from Nicaraguan television Channel 4, close to the Government of Daniel Ortega, who had access to the visit. that two brothers performed on the hierarchy in La Modelo prison this Saturday.

The religious said that “Thanks to God, thanks to the Lord” he had had a good time with two of his brothers during his visit to the prison, in which they talked and enjoyed a meal provided by the prison authorities.

Asked by the journalist if he has received dignified treatment in prison, the bishop said “yes, thank God” and thanked “the competent authorities and those of the Penitentiary System” for allowing the visit to his brothers.

– We are happy to see you well and healthy, the Channel 4 reporter told him.

– Oh ok. Do you see me well? the bishop asked.

– I see it well, commented the journalist.

– Healthy?, the religious insisted.

– Yes, the communicator agreed.

–And how do you see my face? the leader asked, putting his face in profile, accompanied by a smile.

Thank the holy virgin

Then the journalist asked him if he wanted to add a special comment.

«Well, thank the Blessed Virgin because today is the day of the Angel’s annunciation, to the Mother, so that with her yes the word would become flesh and dwell among us for our salvation and redemption, because on her day my brothers “They have been able to come see me,” he celebrated.

“The Mother always protects us and covers us all with the same maternal love,” he continued.

The Government of Daniel Ortega released on Saturday photographs of Álvarez, bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the diocese of Estelí, both in northern Nicaragua.

The religious was exhibited in a prisoner’s outfit within the National Penitentiary System, known as La Modelo prison, a maximum security prison.

The series of photographs were published through the media related to the Sandinista Government, with the headline “Monsignor Rolando Álvarez receives a visit from his brothers.”

The images were released after different sectors of the opposition and human rights organizations separately demanded proof of life of the imprisoned Nicaraguan bishop.

Ortega called him “unhinged” and “energúmeno”

On February 10, Álvarez, 56, was sentenced to 26 years and 4 months in prison, stripped of his nationality, and suspended his citizenship rights for life, for crimes considered “treason.”

The sentence against the senior leader was handed down a day after he refused to get on a plane that was going to take him, along with 222 other released Nicaraguan political prisoners, to the United States, which provoked the indignation of President Ortega, who described him as ” arrogant”, “unhinged” and “energetic”.

One day after Ortega’s speech, and despite the fact that the trial was scheduled for February 15, a Nicaraguan judge declared the religious a traitor to the country and author of four crimes to the detriment of society and the State of Nicaragua.

Pope Francis described Ortega’s Executive as a “rude dictatorship,” a month after Bishop Álvarez’s conviction, according to an interview published on March 10.

«With great respect, I have no choice but to think about an imbalance in the person who directs (Ortega). There we have a bishop imprisoned, a very serious, very capable man. “He wanted to bear witness to him and did not accept exile,” Francis told the Argentine portal Infobae from his residence in Santa Marta, in Vatican City, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his papacy.

The Ortega Government reported two days later “that a suspension of diplomatic relations has been proposed between the Vatican State and the Republic of Nicaragua,” following these statements by Pope Francis.

EFE

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