Source: www.csw.org.uk
Date: January 20, 2024
Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. (Psalm 136:3)
Last weekend we received news from Nicaragua: Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos had been released and sent into exile.
We celebrate that he is no longer serving over 26 years in prison on false charges of conspiracy and spreading false information. Bishop Álvarez Lagos received this sentence in February 2023, having been under house arrest since August 2022.
We rejoice that he is no longer in solitary confinement. The bishop had been held in a punishment cell for almost a year.
We give thanks for his courage to stand up for what is right. Bishop Álvarez Lagos has a history of being targeted by the Nicaraguan government because he has been a vocal critic of human rights abuses committed under President Daniel Ortega.
However, this news is unfortunately bittersweet, as the bishop was forced to leave Nicaragua. He was stripped of his nationality and his civil rights for life since February 2023.
Bishop Álvarez Lagos was expelled to the Vatican along with 18 other Roman Catholic bishops, priests and seminarians – most of whom had also been political prisoners.
Among the group was Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, who was arrested just before Christmas. His arrest came after he told his congregation that Nicaragua's bishops were ‘united in prayer’ for Bishop Álvarez Lagos.
Please pray that God would continue to work justice in all their lives. No one should have to choose between prison or exile, but this is the every day news in Nicaragua, where Protestant Christians and other minorities are also under threat and now also being imprisoned.
We pray:
- That no other religious leader or human rights defender would be unjustly imprisoned – nor expelled from the country – in connection with their religion or belief.
- For the restoration of Bishop Álvarez Lagos’ citizenship, and all others who have been stripped of their nationality.
- That the authorities would be held to account for this violation of international law, and other human rights abuses committed under President Daniel Ortega.
- For an end to the crackdown on religious leaders and independent voices in Nicaragua.