“We know that the bishop of Matagalpa, who is the head of this diocese that has been seriously affected, is being held captive in one of the Nicaraguan jails, where methods of torture are practiced, both physical and psychological, and so the dictatorship continues to persecute and commit attacks against this diocese in order to weaken it,” she continued.
“Apart from these flags that they have set up, they have prohibited a procession that was going to take place for the Divine Child, which has been attended by more than 20,000 faithful Catholics,” the researcher added.
For Molina, the act of placing the flags could be understood as a way to “lower the morale of the clergy who are always praying for their bishop, who is being held captive at this time.”
“Since March we haven’t known anything about his physical and also his mental health, because no one who is in prison is going to be doing well,” she noted.
On March 25, the regime presented Álvarez to the media having lunch with his brother, Manuel, and Manuel’s wife, Vilma, in an almost country club setting at the Modelo prison, a “staged performance” by the dictatorship, said the exiled auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, who described the event as “disgusting and cynical.”
That was the last time Álvarez has been seen.