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Nicaraguas government said Sunday it released a prominent Catholic bishop and 18 other clergy members imprisoned in a crackdown by President Daniel Ortega and handed them over to Vatican authorities.
Bishop Rolando Ãlvarez and the other clergy were jailed more than a year ago, in most cases, as part of a crackdown on the opposition and Catholic church by Ortega. He had accused them of supporting massive 2018 civic protests that he claimed were a plot to overthrow him.
The government said in a press statement the releases were part of negotiations with the Vatican aimed at making possible their trip to the Vatican. In the past, imprisoned priests have been quickly flown to Rome.
Ortegas government said those released Sunday also included Bishop Isidoro Mora. (AP)
PHOTO:FILE - Rolando Alvarez, bishop of Matagalpa, gives a press conference regarding the Roman Catholic Churchs agreeing to act as mediator and witness in a national dialogue between members of civil society and the government in Managua, Nicaragua, May 3, 2018. Nicaraguas government released Alvarez, sentenced to 26 years in prison for conspiracy and other crimes, and sent him on a plane to the Vatican, according to the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Baez, on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
