Imprisoned Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez: “I’m well, with a lot of peace in the Lord and the Most Holy Virgin”

El 19 Digital, a news media outlet supportive of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, posted a video of Bishop Rolando Álvarez in which he shares a few comments about how he is doing. The video shows him sharing a meal with his brother and sister during their visit to the prison.

The prelate was sentenced on Feb. 10 to 26 years and four months in prison, on charges of being a “traitor to the homeland.” Despite the efforts of relatives to determine where he was being held since his conviction, his whereabouts were unknown until March 25.

When asked about how he is doing by an off-camera interviewer, the bishop of Matagalpa replied: “Thanks be to God, I’m well, with a lot of inner strength, with a lot of peace in the Lord and the Most Holy Virgin."

Wearing his prisoner’s uniform and visibly thinner, the Nicaraguan bishop also thanked “the Most Holy Virgin because today, the Annunciation of the angel to the Mother, so that with her Yes the Word would become flesh and dwell among us for our salvation and redemption, because on her day, my siblings have been able to come to see me.”

“The Mother protects us and always covers us all with the same maternal love,” Bishop Álvarez concluded in the video, his first recorded words since his conviction.

The bishop refused to be deported to the United States on Feb. 9 along with 222 other political prisoners, including priests and seminarians, preferring to stay with the 37 other political prisoners who remain in Nicaraguan jails.

In a recent congressional hearing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured that he is following Bishop Álvarez’s case and said that he must be released.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA. www.ncregister.com