During the meeting, Ortega attacked the bishops of Nicaragua and said that Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matalgalpa, unjustly sentenced to 26 years and four months in prison as a traitor to the homeland, “was dedicated to boycotting and sabotaging economic and production activities in Matagalpa.”
As reported by the media outlet Confidencial Digital, Ortega also attacked the bishops who briefly served as mediators in the wake of the citizen protests of April 2018, which were strongly repressed by the dictatorship.
After claiming that the bishops gave an “ultimatum” for the state to dismantle “all the branches of the government,” Ortega said “the bishop of Matagalpa was the one who assumed leadership. Since when do the bishops have the authority to decide who governs and who does not govern?”
Unconditional freedom for Álvarez
In his statement to the press, Báez said “my brother, the bishop of Matagalpa, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, was unjustly taken to jail,” and consequently, Báez stressed, he never tires of “demanding his unconditional, immediate freedom.”
“I’ve said it every day, every Sunday, and I continue to ask the Lord for his freedom, demanding that justice be done, because he is innocent,” the prelate stressed.