Twelve Jailed Nicaraguan Priests Banished to the Vatican

Vista de la Basílica de San Pedro, Roma. Foto: EFE | Confidencial

The Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Alvarez, remains imprisoned, along with more than 80 political prisoners of the Ortega dictatorship

By Confidencial

HAVANA TIMES – The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo banished twelve priests who were held as political prisoners to the Vatican, “after holding fruitful conversations with the Holy See.”

According to the statement issued by the dictatorship, the priests were sent to Rome on the afternoon of October 18th. However, the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Alvarez, was not among them and continues to be imprisoned along with more than 80 political prisoners of the Ortega dictatorship.

The exiled priests are: Manuel Salvador García Rodriguez, Jose Leonardo Urbina Rodriguez, Jaime Iván Montesinos Sauceda, Fernando Israel Zamora Silva, Osman José Amador Guillen, Julio Ricardo Norori Jiménez and Cristobal Reynaldo Gadea Velasquez. The priests Alvaro Jose Toledo Amador, Jose Ivan Centeno Tercero, Pastor Eugenio Rodriguez Benavidez, Yessner Cipriano Pineda Meneses, Ramon Angulo Reyes were also banished.

The now former political prisoners “will be welcomed in Rome, according to arrangements, by personnel of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.”

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