The silent resistance of Bishop Rolando Álvarez,

When the 222 political prisoners banished by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship boarded the plane provided by the United States on the morning of February 9, 2023, among the dozens of questions that exploded in their heads about their future and their families, one question stood out: Where was Bishop Rolando Álvarez?

That day, Bishop Alvarez did not even arrive at the Managua International Airport. He had been deprived of his freedom in the early morning of August 19, 2022, when a police squad of the regime kidnapped him, along with other religious people, after breaking into the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa. He had become the dictatorship's most important political prisoner.

Bishop Alvarez was taken to a guarded house, and the rest of the priests and people were sent to the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ), known as El Chipote.

The mystery about Bishop Alvarez's whereabouts was clarified by Daniel Ortega himself on the day of the banishment of the 222 political prisoners, in an appearance in which he criticized the bishop, whom he did not even refer to using his name or position in the Catholic Church, but called him the "Alvarez guy". 

"He was standing in line and got to the steps and started saying that he was not leaving. That first he would have to meet with the bishops and demand a meeting. I don't know what this man is thinking. That in the face of a decision of the Nicaraguan State, he will not comply. A resolution of a court of justice that is sending him to leave the country. He says he will not comply", said the dictator.

The political prisoners, now free on US territory, revealed that in reality, Bishop Alvarez was never seen at the airport terminal. What became known later, which was not mentioned by Ortega in his speech, is that after refusing the banishment, the dictator, in an act of rage, directly sent him to La Modelo prison, to lock him up in a maximum security cell, known as El Infiernillo (The Little Hellhole) by the prisoners.