SW News: The Catholic Bishops of the United States have called for the immediate release of Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa. Upon confirming the facts of the bishop's status, Bishop David Malloy of Rockford issued a statement calling for the prelate's release. This comes against a brief release of the prelate last week. However, the church representatives couldn't negotiate the terms of his freedom with Ortega's government.

The chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace decried the unjust prison sentence of Bishop Alvarez, who was stripped of his citizenship in February this year. The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua sentenced Bishop Alvarez to 26 years and four months in prison, accused of being a traitor to the homeland.

The US bishops' Committee also urged the faithful to pray for the bishop.

Bishop Malloy also welcomed the recent Interamerican Court of Human Rights ruling mandating the immediate release of the Nicaraguan prelate. "I particularly commend the recent Interamerican Court of Human Rights ruling mandating the immediate release of Bishop Alvarez. The consensus from the international community is clear: the continued incarceration of Bishop Alvarez is unjust and must end as soon as possible," the prelate said.

The Bishop of Rockford also invoked the protection of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of Nicaragua and the United States, seeking enlightenment for lawmakers in the Latin American nation.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, the police under the Ortega regime detained another priest from the diocese of Siuna. The Catholic priest Fernando Zamora Silva was illegally detained on July 9 from the Nicaraguan capital, Managua.

Since April 2018, Nicaragua has been in a political and socioeconomic crisis. This problem was exacerbated by the disputed general elections on November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, his fourth in succession, and his second alongside his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, while his primary opponents were imprisoned or had fled the country.