Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2023 / 12:33 pm
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, is urging Pope Francis to call for Nicaraguan authorities to release Bishop Rolando José Álvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison for criticizing President Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship.
The bishop, who is a prominent critic of the socialist president, was arrested in August 2022 for “conspiracy to undermine national security and sovereignty and the propagation of fake news” for his criticisms of the dictatorship. At his sentencing, the regime called him a “traitor to the country.”
Ortega’s regime has arrested several priests, shut down Catholic radio and television stations, and forced Catholic religious orders, including the Missionaries of Charity, to leave Nicaragua. More than 200 political prisoners were deported to the United States in February and given asylum, but Álvarez refused to renounce his citizenship and join them.
In a Dec. 13 letter to Pope Francis, Rubio asked the pontiff to intercede on behalf of the 57-year-old bishop and call for a restoration of religious freedom in Nicaragua.