MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Nicaraguan clergymen said to have been freed and deported

The report is yet to be confirmed by Ortega's government

Nicaraguan authorities released from prison and deported Catholic Bishops Rolando Álvarez and Isidoro Mora, 13 priests, and three seminarians, it was reported Sunday in Managua. Álvarez was sentenced in February 2023 to 26 years and 4 months in prison for treason.

“The Ortega-Murillos want to leave Nicaragua without priests. Another plane full of pastors of the people to exile,” exiled Nicaraguan priest Uriel Vallejos said regarding President Daniel Ortega and his Vice President wife Rosario Murillo.

Nicaraguan lawyer and activist Yonarqui Martínez told EFE that bishops Álvarez and Mora, plus 13 priests and three seminarians had been released, although the Nicaraguan government was yet to confirm the report.

The alleged measure came 14 days after Pope Francis expressed his “concern” for the detention of Catholic priests in Nicaragua, and called for “always seeking the path of dialogue” to overcome the problems.

In addition, almost three weeks ago, the United States demanded that the Nicaraguan president “immediately” release Alvarez, 57, bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the diocese of Esteli, both in northern Nicaragua.

Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for Central America, urged the Ortega government to inform on the whereabouts of Bishop Isidoro Mora, who was detained since December 20 during a wave of arrests against Catholic clergymen.

On Oct. 18, the Nicaraguan government released 12 priests from prison and sent them to the Vatican after an agreement with the Holy See, although Bishop Alvarez, who was reluctant to leave the country, was not among them. On Feb. 9, 2023, the authorities released another 8 priests from prison and sent them to the United States, as part of 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners.

Nicaragua has been going through a crisis since April 2018, which was deepened by the obscure November 2021 elections, in which Ortega was reelected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second with his wife Rosario Murillo as vice-president, with their main opponents either in prison or exile.