![\"\"](\"https:\/\/annsvg.com\/the-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/23-02-2023-12-39-32-pm-7937528777200752088250347.jpg\")
Pope Francis two Sunday\u2019s ago spoke of his concern over the imprisonment of Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison in the Latin American country. {<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pope\u2019s comments about Alvarez, who is a vocal critic of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, were made in his weekly blessing to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter\u2019s Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ortega has accused Catholic leaders of attempting to overthrow him after protests that killed about 300 people in 2018. Since then, the government of the former Cold War-era Marxist rebel has expelled Catholic nuns and missionaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alvarez was convicted last week Friday of treason, undermining national integrity and spreading false news, among other charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on Sunday, February 19, he was included in a surprise release of 200 political prisoners by Ortega\u2019s government, but he would not board the plane to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reports are that more than 200 Nicaraguan political prisoners were freed and flown to the United States, at the expense of the Nicaraguan government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly all of them are said to be prominent government critics jailed in President Daniel Ortega\u2019s crackdown on dissent over recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ortega described the surprise release as a push to expel criminal provocateurs who sought to undermine Nicaragua, while the United States hailed it as a “constructive step\u201d toward improving human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The freed political prisoners include five former presidential hopefuls who sought to challenge the increasingly authoritarian Ortega in a 2021 election, only to be jailed in an unprecedented dragnet and criminalizing of political dissent in the Central American country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The news from Nicaragua has grieved me not a little and I cannot help but remember with concern the Bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, whom I love so much and who has been sentenced to 26 years in prison, and also the people who have been taken to the United States,\u201d Pope Francis said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pope Francis two Sunday\u2019s ago spoke of his concern over the imprisonment of Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison in the Latin American country. { The Pope\u2019s comments about Alvarez, who is a vocal critic of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, were made in his weekly blessing to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-regional-and-international-news"],"yoast_head":"\n