Sawt Falasteen - Nicaragua detains dissident bishop for 'provocative' activities

Nicaraguan police took Alvarez from his official residence in the early morning hours and drove him to the capital Managua, some 130 kilometers (81 miles) away.

Supporters said Alvarez was taken "with violence" to an unknown location, prompting the United Nations to express concern amid a worsening standoff between civil society and a government accused of increasing authoritarianism.

In a tweet tagged #SOS, the Latin American Bishops Conference (CELAM) said that "the national police has entered the residence of our diocese of Matagalpa and has taken" the bishop.

It said this happened at 3:00 am at the church residence in Matagalpa in central Nicaragua, where Alvarez and a group of priests and lay people had been held under siege by police since August 4.

Vilma Nunez of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) told AFP that police "removed (the bishop) with violence" and without telling anyone where he was being taken.

Hours later, the national police said in a statement that Alvarez was brought to Managua.

"The bishop is under house arrest in the capital city," it said, without revealing where.

"He was able to meet with his family members this morning," it added.

Eight others who had been holed up with Alvarez were taken to Managua with him, according to CELAM.

The move, police said, was a "public order" operation necessitated by the bishop's "destabilizing and provocative activities."

UN chief Antonio Guterres, through spokesman Farhan Haq, said he was "very concerned by the severe closure of democratic and civic space in Nicaragua, and recent actions against civil society organizations, including those of the Catholic Church.

"Reports of a raid against the residence of the Catholic bishop of Matagalpa only heightens these concerns," he said.

- Bishop 'taken' -

The Catholic Church in Nicaragua has been under increasing government pressure since opposition protests in 2018 were met with repression that resulted in hundreds of deaths.

President Daniel Ortega maintains the protests were part of a Washington-backed opposition plot to unseat him. He has accused bishops of complicity and claimed protesters used church buildings as "barracks."

Alvarez himself is accused by the authorities of inciting violence to destabilize the Central American country.

"How outrageous, they have taken Monsignor Rolando Alvarez with the priests who were with him," tweeted Nicaraguan priest Edwing Roman, in exile in Miami.

Ortega, a 76-year-old former guerrilla, has governed Nicaragua since 2007, winning three successive reelections.

The last vote took place in November 2021, after Ortega's main rivals had been jailed, joining dozens of other government opponents and critics in prison.

According to the European Union, Nicaragua has more than 180 "political prisoners."

In the first half of 2022, the bloc said, Nicaraguan authorities closed down over 1,200 civil society organizations.

The Vatican has said Nicaragua expelled its ambassador to the country in March.

Last week, the Cenidh said another Nicaraguan priest, Oscar Benavidez, was "removed from his vehicle and taken by patrol car to an unknown destination."

Arturo McFields, a former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, tweeted Friday that the "dictatorship kidnapped Rolando Alvarez... continuing its infernal pursuit of the Church."

Guterres, for his part, urged Ortega's government "to ensure the protection of human rights of all citizens... and to release all people arbitrarily detained."

Earlier this week, 26 former heads of state or government from Spain and Latin America published a call to Pope Francis -- who has not spoken publicly about the situation in Nicaragua -- to adopt "a firm stance in defense of the Nicaraguan people and their religious freedom."

P.AbuBaker--SF-PST