Bishop Álvarez and the people of Nicaragua deserve to be free

For Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, New Year’s Day marked day 500 of detention and imprisonment by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his spouse and Vice President Rosario Murillo. For 500 days, the bishop has been cut off from the world, kept out of regular contact with his family, and held away from the Catholics of Matagalpa who look to him as their spiritual leader.

Bishop Álvarez was imprisoned because he is a Christian leader who advocates for human rights and democracy, ideals Álvarez finds rooted in Christian values. Álvarez is perhaps the most prominent victim of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s systematic, egregious, and continuing attack on the religious freedom of Nicaraguans. While Álvarez is isolated, he is not alone in suffering under Ortega and Murillo’s oppression. Approximately one in 10 Nicaraguan Catholic priests now live in exile. And last month, the government unjustly detained Bishop Isidoro Mora of the Diocese of Siuna and began arresting and harassing other priests, as well.

Under Ortega and Murillo, the Nicaraguan people are subjected to restrictions on practicing their religious beliefs so extreme that Secretary of State Antony Blinken designated Nicaragua a Country of Particular Concern, a category reserved for particularly severe violators of religious freedom.

Yet the state’s heavy hand extends beyond the Catholic Church. Nicaragua’s vibrant evangelical communities have faced a similar wrath. Ortega’s profoundly restrictive laws, paired with his government’s pervasive weaponization of regulatory oversight, have led to the seizure and shuttering of universities and schools, charitable organizations, and other institutions. Many organizations and churches — Catholic and evangelical — have quietly succumbed to the inevitable, accepting coerced “voluntary” dissolution in the face of unrelenting government harassment.

The United States is committed to doing all possible to help Nicaraguans as they work to (re)gain protection of and respect for their human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to reaffirm their democracy. Nicaragua remains a society of active and engaged communities of faith. Nicaraguans deserve full restoration of their freedoms, and Bishop Álvarez deserves the opportunity to resume his ministry.

The relationship between religious freedom and democracy goes both ways. Democratic institutions flourish in societies that are pluralistic, diverse, tolerant, and have an underlying respect for human rights. We know that democracy creates the political and social conditions in which people of varying religions and beliefs can live together in peace.

As a step toward fulfilling their human rights obligations, Nicaraguan authorities should allow a credible and independent individual or organization to meet with Bishop Álvarez, without his jailers present, to take stock of his health and state of mind. Nicaraguan authorities should then plan to promptly release him from Managua’s Modelo prison, without conditions.

We begin the new year with the hope that it will soon bring a new day of freedom to Bishop Álvarez, other political prisoners, and the Nicaraguan people. And we will not stop working with all those who support religious freedom until they realize the future they deserve.

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