Nicaraguan exiles protest in front of the Consulate in Miami for the arrest of a bishop

The arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, considered the most critical of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua with the government of President Daniel Ortega, has mobilized exiles in the United States.

In Miami, Florida, where an important part of the Nicaraguan community lives, several events have been organized to repudiate and condemn the actions of the Ortega government. “We demand the freedom of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez and religious freedom in Nicaragua,” said Dina Díaz, a woman who has lived in South Florida for more than a decade.

At the same time, the Nicaraguan made “a call” to all her compatriots to “not be afraid, like Monsignor Álvarez”, despite the fact that, in her opinion, the people have become a society ” timid, cold and indifferent who does not want to go out to protest for fear of reprisals”.

Background

On Friday, August 19, at 3 in the morning, several Nicaraguan National Police agents forced their way into the Archbishop’s Curia in the city of Matagalpa, 120 kilometers east of Managua. At that moment, arrested Bishop Rolando Álvarez, considered one of the most critical figures of the Church against the Government of Daniel Ortega.

He had been confined for 15 days after dozens of police officers surrounded the archbishop’s premises. He continued to do mass as he could, on the street and through social networks.

The 55-year-old man is accused of “organizing violent groups” with the aim, say the Nicaraguan authorities, of “destabilizing the State of Nicaragua” for statements of this type: “What happens is that the government has always wanted a church mute, she doesn’t want us to talk, she doesn’t want us to announce hope to the people or denounce injustice”.

“Solidarity with Nicaraguans”

The protest actions were not limited only to the Nicaraguan community. The Venezuelan has also joined these mobilizations, with the aim, they say, “of making more international pressure.”

The Venezuelan priest José de Jesús Palmar Morales, known as Father Palmar, went with a virgin and a Bible in front of the Nicaraguan consular offices in South Florida to “ask God to influence” the attitudes of President Daniel Ortega.

“As believers, as a people who are in exile, who have left our country because the satraps, criminals, drug traffickers who are in the Caribbean and Central America have turned the national treasury into a mutiny of war. And we are the victims, we are the people who suffer,” he commented.

The police attack against the Nicaraguan Church has also aroused the discomfort of several international organizations, such as the United Nations or Pope Francis himself.

“I closely follow, with concern and pain, the situation created in Nicaragua that involves people and institutions,” the Supreme Pontiff declared this Sunday.

“Sincere dialogue” calls for Pope Francis

From the Vatican, as from many other institutions, they hope that through sincere dialogue, respect and peace can be found in Nicaragua.

A few words that many sectors of the Latin American Church have not liked because they consider that the Supreme Pontiff “is too neutral” on this issue. “I ask the Holy Father Pope Francis, who spoke with a very soft message: you cannot speak of dialogue to those who are Satan in the world. I ask the Holy Father that from the balcony of San Pedro you order Daniel Ortega to release Bishop Álvarez, the priests, seminarians and laity”, said Father Palmar.

Along these lines, he also denounced that “the Church is being persecuted”, for which Pope Francis should have a much more active role.

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