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FIRST ON FOX: A Republican congressman is asking on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to take motion and clarify steps being taken to free a Catholic priest the worldwide group says has been wrongfully imprisoned in Nicaragua.
“I’m gravely involved concerning the general state of non secular freedom in Nicaragua and write in the present day inquiring concerning the wellbeing of His Excellency Rolando Álvarez Lagos, Bishop of Matagalpa, a prisoner of conscience who stays wrongfully detained by the brutal — and legal — Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua,” GOP Rep. Chris Smith wrote in a letter to Blinken this week.
Smith is demanding solutions about what the Biden administration is doing to free Álvarez.
A courtroom in Nicaragua sentenced the Roman Catholic bishop earlier this yr to greater than 26 years in jail for alleged treason after he refused to be exiled to the US.
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President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken (AP Photograph)
Álvarez was amongst a number of monks and seminarians arrested final yr as the federal government of Nicaragua clashed with the clerics of the Catholic Church who’ve criticized the regime.
Álvarez refused to affix 4 different monks and 222 different political prisoners expelled to the U.S. as a part of a prisoner trade with the U.S. State Division, in keeping with the Catholic Information Company.
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The bishop stated he selected to stay in his nation in protest in opposition to different Catholics who’re being persecuted by the Nicaraguan authorities.
The bishop stated if he boarded the aircraft, it will be admitting he was responsible of a criminal offense he by no means dedicated, in keeping with an individual near Álvarez who requested to not be recognized out of worry of reprisal.
Ortega has alleged Catholic leaders had been concerned in a plot to overthrow him, citing their function as mediators with protest teams following the 2018 protests within the nation that resulted in about 300 deaths.
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“Bishop Álvarez is an harmless man enduring unspeakable struggling,” Smith stated throughout a Home listening to he held Thursday the place members heard testimony from Nicaraguan exiled prisoners of conscience and their relations.
“His life and ministry have been an inspiring instance of compassion, kindness, integrity and selfless service.”
In March, Pope Francis in contrast Álvarez’s imprisonment to Hitler’s regime and referred to as Ortega “unstable.”
Rep. Chris Smith (Fox Information )
“Given this disturbing pattern of oppression, I respectfully request an evidence of what actions the Biden Administration is endeavor to advocate on behalf of Bishop Álvarez — and to compel the Ortega-Murillo regime to right away launch him from jail,” Smith wrote earlier than offering 15 questions for the Biden administration to reply by Dec. 21.
The questions included, “Does the State Division possess data on the present location and wellbeing of Bishop Álvarez? …. If that’s the case, the place is Bishop Álvarez being held?”
Different questions posed within the letter:
• “Has the State Division filed a proper inquiry with the Nicaraguan authorities regarding the standing of Bishop Álvarez?”
• “Has the State Division acquired any formal request for help from the Vatican to petition for the discharge of Bishop Álvarez?”
• “What’s the Division doing to advocate for the discharge of Bishop Álvarez?”
Smith additionally requested for data associated to financial ties with Nicaragua given the Ortega regime’s human rights abuses.
Rolando Álvarez Lagos (STR by way of Getty Photos)
“The USA must act rapidly and use each software at our disposal,” Smith stated on the listening to. “The worldwide group can now not flip a blind eye to what’s taking place to the folks of Nicaragua, together with and particularly folks of religion.”
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A State Division spokesperson advised Fox Information Digital the letter was acquired however that the division doesn’t touch upon congressional correspondence.
The spokesperson added that the division requires the “instant” and “unconditional” launch of Álvarez and all others “wrongfully detained.”
Fox Information Digital’s Jon Brown and the Related Press contributed to this report
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox Information. Discover him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and e-mail tricks to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
GOP Rep. calls for solutions from Biden administration on Catholic priest imprisoned 26 years: ‘Harmless man’
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