MANAGUA, Nicaragua (LifeSiteNews) — A high-profile political refugee from Nicaragua has warned the international community to “not be fooled” by recent photos and a video publicized by the Ortega regime showing imprisoned Bishop Rolando Álvarez. The footage was published in response to demands from the United States and Europe for proof of life regarding the persecuted Catholic bishop.
Félix Maradiaga, now-exiled former political opponent of Dictator Daniel Ortega and former presidential candidate of Nicaragua, criticized the photos and video released by the communist government. He questioned the authenticity of the footage, calling it a “clear attempt to distort reality” by hiding the true conditions of the bishop’s imprisonment in the country’s worst prison, known for torture and inhumane treatment.
He said the photo optics were “presented as a response to complaints about the inhumane and arbitrary conditions of his imprisonment and are a clear attempt to distort reality.”
“We understand that these photographs do not reflect the true situation of Bishop Álvarez,” Maradiaga declared. “Their appearance, coinciding with international efforts demanding proof he’s alive and the pronouncements of important entities such as the United States Congress and the European Parliament, demonstrates the dictatorship’s intention to create a false impression of normality.”
Maradiaga cautioned that the U.S and Europe should be “vigilant” and “not be fooled by these maneuvers.” He also called for western powers “to continue demanding the immediate and just release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez and all political prisoners in Nicaragua.”
“The fight for justice and truth must continue relentlessly,” he said.
READ: Nicaraguan gov’t releases 12 imprisoned priests, sends them to Rome after reaching deal with Vatican
Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer and researcher, also questioned the obvious photo optics employed by Ortega’s anti-Catholic communist regime. “The same setting serves as a clinic, living room, dining room. Can someone explain that to me? Do they only change things around for photos?” she asked.
In a press release on November 28, Nicaragua’s Ministry of the Interior claimed that the video and photos are evidence regarding Bishop Álvarez that “the conditions of confinement are preferential and that the regimen of doctor’s appointments is strictly complied with as well as family visits, the sending and receiving of packages, contrary to what slanderous campaigns try to make you believe.”
The government also claimed it “will continue to fulfill its duty to safely hold Rolando Álvarez in the conditions that ensure his rights in every sense.”
Condemning the Ortega regime for the gross injustice of imprisoning Bishop Álvarez, Bishop Silvio Báez, the exiled auxiliary bishop of Managua, declared on Nov. 28, “Let the dictatorship not believe that with their cynical language and with photos and videos of dubious authenticity they will justify their crime and will silence us. Bishop Rolando Álvarez is INNOCENT and we will continue to shout this injustice before the world. He must be released immediately and without conditions!”
Que no crea la dictadura que con su cínico lenguaje y con fotos y vídeos de dudosa autenticidad van a justificar su crimen y nos van a callar. Mons. Rolando Álvarez es INOCENTE y seguiremos gritando ante el mundo esta injusticia. ¡Debe ser liberado de inmediato y sin condiciones! pic.twitter.com/S2b47km908
— Silvio José Báez (@silviojbaez) November 29, 2023
Bishop Álvarez was sentenced to 26 years and four months in prison in February on the specious charge of being “a traitor to the homeland” following his refusal to abandon his flock by leaving the country. In July, the bishop was released from prison only to be thrown again behind bars two days later after he refused to leave the country while 12 other priests remain imprisoned. In October, those priests were released and exiled to Rome, where they were received by the Vatican, who negotiated their freedom.
Similar to this week’s video and photos, on March 25 of this year, the Ortega regime attempted to make an appearance of treating the bishop well in a staged family visit and interview, which the devout bishop used as an opportunity to praise Our Lady, since it was the feast of the Annunciation.
In a detailed report released March 2, the U.N.-established Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) declared that the country’s government has committed and continues to commit “crimes against humanity” by perpetrating acts of torture, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention, deportation, rape, sexual violence, and suppression of political, social, and religious freedoms.
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Human Rights, has continued to demand the immediate release of Bishop Álvarez and has called on the White House and the Vatican to exert international pressure on the Ortega regime for the bishop’s release.
On November 30, Smith held a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, in which he listened to the testimony of two prisoners of conscience, one of who was arrested with Bishop Álvarez, and the testimony of the mother of a prisoner of conscience who had been tortured in prison.
“Bishop Álvarez is an innocent man enduring unspeakable suffering,” Smith declared in the hearing. “His life and ministry have been an inspiring example of compassion, kindness, integrity, and selfless service.”
Addressing the Nicaraguan government directly, the U.S. Congressman insisted, “Today we appeal to President Daniel Ortega—let imprisoned Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez go. Release him from prison.”