The Biden administration on Tuesday again criticized the Nicaraguan government for “unjustly” sentencing Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez to decades in prison for treason, calling on the current administration to hold religious leaders unconditionally. He demanded his immediate release.
State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller told Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo of the Catholic diocese of Matagalpa that they spent more than 500 days in La Modelo Tipitapa, one of Latin America's most notorious prisons. called for Mr. Alvarez to be released.
“Meanwhile, Nicaraguan authorities isolated Bishop Alvarez, obstructed an independent assessment of the conditions of his incarceration, and released staged videos and photographs that only served to heighten concerns for his well-being,” Miller said.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. (Screenshot/Department of State)
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In February last year, a Nicaraguan court sentenced Alvarez to more than 26 years in prison, stripped him of his citizenship, and labeled him a traitor for “undermining national integrity” and “spreading false news.” did.
Authorities convicted the bishop after he refused to be deported to the United States along with four other priests and 222 other political prisoners who were deported to the United States as part of a prisoner exchange with the U.S. State Department.
The bishop chose to remain in Nicaragua in protest of Ortega Murillo's crackdown on the Catholic Church, which has escalated in recent years.
Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez was sentenced in February last year to 26 years in prison for “undermining the integrity of the nation” and “spreading false news.” (STR, via Getty Images)
According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Nicaraguan government has closed charities, stripped universities of their funding and legal status, excluded nongovernmental organizations, and banned the press.
In earlier televised remarks, Ortega derided the prisoners as “criminal mercenaries” working for foreign powers and undermining the country's sovereignty. Nicaragua's president also announced that Catholic leaders had joined forces with protest groups following the 2018 protests in the country that left some 300 people dead, tens of thousands of Nicaraguans fleeing, and many others imprisoned. He claimed that Catholic leaders were involved in a plot to overthrow the president, citing his role as a mediator.
In March, Pope Francis likened Mr. Alvarez's imprisonment to Hitler's regime and called Mr. Ortega “unstable.”
Still, Alvarez and a number of religious leaders are currently being held in Nicaragua, including his colleague Bishop Isidro Mora and several other priests.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has claimed that Catholic leaders are involved in a plot to overthrow him. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The Ortega Murillo government continues to impose severe restrictions on religious communities, denying Nicaraguans the right to freely practice their religion and express their beliefs,” Miller said.
U.S. officials have long accused Ortega's government of crimes against humanity, accusing it of waging a war on religious freedom and civil liberties. The Trump and Biden administrations and members of Congress passed financial lifeline sanctions against the Nicaraguan government.
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But Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News Digital that Biden is concerned about the decline of Nicaragua's civil society and growing ties with foreign adversaries such as China, Russia and Russia. He said the administration was not doing enough. Iran suggested the US needs to take further “concrete measures to punish the regime.”
“We need to impose sanctions on their banks, our banks. They will not be able to use our banks,” he said. “This was the only sanction that was more effective than other sanctions when it came to Iran. Obviously we don't allow oil to go to China, but we don't allow them to use our banks.”
Smith said U.S. officials must also “fully implement” the requirements of the RENACER Act, a bill signed by President Biden to extend sanctions against Nicaragua related to corruption and human rights abuses by the Ortega government. He said that there is.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration will address Nicaragua's declining civil society and growing ties with foreign adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran. He said he wasn't trying hard enough to do so. (Congressman Chris Smith Office)
The bill also called on the White House to review Nicaragua's participation in the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement. The deal is a 20-year-old regional agreement in which the Biden administration was considering expelling the Central American country to deprive Ortega's government of significant export revenue and foreign revenue. According to the Associated Press,
“How can they benefit from a trade deal when they are absolutely declaring that the police are running?” Smith asked. “So we need to be proactive in working towards that. [Ortega] Many more will kill the salt of the earth and the kindest people on the planet. ”
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Mr. Smith, who describes himself as a staunch defender of religious freedom, held a congressional hearing last year in support of Mr. Alvarez's release and sent a letter to Mr. Ortega requesting a meeting with the bishop.
“He's a brave man, but he wants to leave,” he said. “We're praying for him. I think prayer is important. But the Bible says, 'Faith without works is dead.'” We can make a difference in government. , which requires the efforts of our governments, and they can make a difference. ”
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“This requires a collective effort,” he added. “How many more church officials, how many more priests are going to be locked up? Once they are locked up, they are not treated decently, because we know that they are being abused in the most extreme ways. Because everyone knows.”
According to local reports, Nicaraguan authorities took the priest from his home and assaulted him for praying for Alvarez.
Fox News Digital's Jon Brown and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
