The Nicaraguan regime of President Daniel Ortega has reportedly released 12 Roman Catholic priests who were imprisoned on a variety of charges and sent them to Rome following an agreement reached with the Vatican.
According to the Associated Press, Managua officials provided the statement late Wednesday night (October 18), saying that the priests were flown to Rome following what it called productive talks with the Vatican to show "the permanent will and commitment to find solutions."
The statement additionally claimed that the personnel of the Vatican's Secretariat of State - the Holy See's oldest office behind and below that of the papacy itself - would receive the priests once they arrived in Rome.
However, officials from both the Vatican and leading Nicaraguan prelate, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes were yet to confirm or respond to reporters' request for comment.
Persecution of the Nicaraguan Church
The Catholic Church in Nicaragua has long been targeted by Ortega's regime, claiming that the church aided popular protests against his administration in April 2018 that he considered an attempted coup.
EWTN's news website Catholic News Agency reported that the names of the priests were the following:
The Rev. Manuel Salvador Garcia Rodriguez
The Rev. Jose Leonardo Urbina Rodríguez
The Rev. Jaime Ivan Montesinos Sauceda
The Rev. Fernando Israel Zamora Silva
The Rev. Osman Jose Amador Guillen
The Rev. Julio Ricardo Norori Jimenez
The Rev. Jose Ivan Centeno Tercero
The Rev. Yessner Cipriano Pineda Meneses
The Rev. Alvaro Jose Toledo Amador
The Rev. Eugenio Rodriguez Benavidez
The Rev. Cristobal Reynaldo Gadea Velasquez
The Rev. Ramon Angulo Reyes
One of the most prominent clerics who were imprisoned by the Ortega regime was a bishop named Rolando Alvarez, who heads the Diocese of Matagalpa. He was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced in February to 26 years in prison shortly after Ortega's government sent 222 prisoners to the US in a deal brokered by Washington.
Alvarez was not among the names of the priests listed. He was initially offered to get on the flight last February but has since refused to do so.
In a statement sent to EWTN's Spanish-language bureau, Foundation for Nicaraguan Freedom president Felix Maradiaga expressed his "deep joy for the release of the unjustly detained pastors."
However, the former political prisoner also "[firmly] demanded for the release" of Alvarez, as well as "the numerous other political prisoners who remain in custody," which is estimated to be over 80 people.
