The Nicaraguan government published images of the imprisoned Bishop of Matagalpa Rolando Álvarez on 2 January, shortly after the US government demanded his immediate release.
In an official statement, Daniel Ortega’s regime published various photographs documenting a medical assessment of the bishop, who has been held in custody for more than 500 days.
Álvarez was placed under house arrest in August 2022 and in February 2023 sentenced by the dictatorship to 26 years and four months in prison on treason charges.
The statement reported that the assessment was conducted by Dr Yesser Rizo in the presence of the general commissioners of the police, Zhukov Serrano and Luis Barrantes.
“Medical care began at 3:25pm and concluded at 3:40pm. Vital signs: blood pressure 120/60; 84 heartbeats per minute; oxygen saturation 99 per cent; heartbeat regularity 88,” the statement said.
“During the medical care Rolando Álvarez Lagos expressed that he feels well and continues to exercise. The doctor reported that Rolando Álvarez’s vital signs and state of health are fine. He did not undergo blood tests because he had eaten food.”
The images show the bishop looking thinner than the last time he was shown to the public at the end of November 2023, when the regime shared photographs of another medical examination.
The images and the official statement were published shortly after the US State Department again urged the Nicaraguan government to “immediately and unconditionally release” Álvarez.
“President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo have unjustly incarcerated Bishop Rolando Álvarez for 500 days,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller in a statement on 2 January.
“During that time, Nicaraguan authorities have kept Bishop Álvarez in isolation, blocked independent evaluation of the conditions of his imprisonment, and released staged videos and photographs that only increase concerns about his well-being.”
The statement notes that, in addition to the Bishop of Matagalpa, many religious leaders remain “unjustly” detained in Nicaragua, including Bishop Isidoro Mora and several priests.
On social media, several prominent Nicaraguans – including deportees – denounced the dictatorship’s attempt at manipulation by publishing the photographs.
Bishop Silvio Báez, an auxiliary of Managua living in exile in the US, said that “the dictatorship shouldn’t think that it washes clean its crime showing Bishop Rolando Álvarez in a new cynical and disrespectful photo montage”.
“Understand that nobody believes you! The only just thing is for Bishop Álvarez to be released, along with Bishop Mora, his seminarians, and the other priests.”
The exiled Nicaraguan politician Felix Maradiaga also questioned the pictures, pointing out that this is “an attempt to change the narrative and give the impression of supposedly normal treatment of the unjustly imprisoned bishop”.
“However, the truth is undeniable: Bishop Álvarez and the arbitrarily arrested priests must be free, and no photograph can erase that arbitrariness or the inhuman and humiliating treatment to which the abducted priests and all political prisoners are being subjected,” Maradiaga said.
The 57-year-old Álvarez, the Bishop of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, has been a critic of human rights violations in his country.
In addition, he played a crucial role in the mediation of the Nicaraguan bishops’ conference in the talks between the government and the opposition following the massive protests of April 2018.
More than 500 days have passed since Álvarez was abducted by police, placed under house arrest, and subsequently sentenced to prison. His physical condition shows notable deterioration.
Since 20 December, the dictatorship has arbitrarily detained at least 16 Catholic clergy, including Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora of Siuna.
Loading ...
