Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos was returned to La Modelo Tipitapa prison on 5 July after he rejected attempts to ‘persuade’ him to leave Nicaragua.

According to the newspaper Divergentes, Bishop Álvarez Lagos was taken out of prison on 4 July and met with a representative to mediate assigned by the Vatican who tried to persuade him to go to Rome. The bishop refused the offer and called on the government to grant his unconditional release and that of five other imprisoned priests, to unfreeze the bank accounts of Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the country, and to halt its targeting of religious groups and leaders. 

Bishop Álvarez Lagos was placed under house arrest on 19 August 2022. On 10 Februrary 2023, he was sentenced to 26 years and four months in prison in a summary trial after he refused to go into forced exile in the United States along with 222 other political prisoners. The bishop was stripped of his Nicaraguan nationality and his civil rights for life and was transferred to La Modelo Prison. 

On 28 June the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Nicaraguan government to immediately release the bishop.

CSW’s Head of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: ‘The Nicaraguan government must comply with the Inter American Court of Human Rights order to release Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos.  Additionally, he must have his citizenship and rights restored and be allowed to remain in his own country if that is his wish. We join his calls for the release of the other five Roman Catholic priests currently in prison, to unfreeze the bank accounts of all religious groups and for the government to cease its harassment of religious groups and their leaders. CSW urges the international community to do significantly more to hold President Ortega and his regime to account for the deteriorating situation of human rights in Nicaragua.’

In a separate development, on 5 July the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa reported that the government has begun to levy a property tax on Roman Catholic parishes and on Protestant churches across the country, despite the fact that religious institutions have been exempted from this tax by decree since January 1995.

Another Nicaraguan outlet, 100% Noticias, reports that collection of this tax has been ongoing throughout 2023, with churches threatened with seizure if they do not pay.

Martha Molina, a researcher and exiled human rights defender, confirmed that Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in various departments of the country reported excessive charges, some of up to 200,000 córdobas (approximately 5,500 USD). ‘Everyone has told me that this is the first time [they have been require to pay] and that they are scared. ‘What is this?’ they wonder... where are the parishes going to find thousands and thousands of córdobas, especially with the financial suffocation they are experiencing? ...[it seems that] behind all this is that [the government] is looking for ways to confiscate their properties.’ 

Anna Lee Stangl added: ‘The Nicaraguan regime is clearly targeting religious institutions that have not allied with the dictatorship. This attempt to apply onerous and arbitrary tax requirements on religious institutions is in contravention of Nicaragua’s own law exempting them from such taxes which remains in force in Nicaraguan law. We therefore call on the authorities to cease these efforts, and to return all funds that have been unjustly taken from churches across the country.’

Note to Editors:

1.       The five priests referenced by Bishop Álvarez Lagos are:

• Father Manuel Salvador García Rodríguez, 58, parish priest of the Jesús de Nandaime Church in Granada Department, was sentenced on 23 June 2023 to two years and eight months in prison and a fine equivalent to 200 days worth the minimum wage for the crime of threatening five people with a weapon. 
• Father José Leonardo Urbina, parish priest of the Church of Perpetual Help in Boaco, Granada, was sentenced in a trial characterised by irregularities to 30 years in prison on 1 September 2022 for the crime of sexual abuse. 
• Father Eugenio Rodríguez Benavides, parish priest of the Church of the Divine Providence of Jalapa in Nueva Segovia, part of the Diocese of Estelí, was arrested on 20 May 2023 for alleged mismanagement of funds in the Roman Catholic charity Cáritas de Estelí. He was transferred by the police to the Archdiocese of Managua on 22 May 2023 where he is currently being held under house arrest pending an investigation. 
• Father Leonardo Guevara Gutiérrez, a priest at the Estelí Cathedral, was also transferred to the Archdiocese of Managua in May 2022 by the police and accused, like Father Rodríguez Benavides, of mismanaging funds. 
• Father Jaime Iván Montesinos, 61, parish priest of San Juan Pablo II Parish in Sébaco in the department of Matagalpa, was arrested on 25 May 2023 for crimes undermining the sovereignty of the country. 

2.       Article 5 of Executive Decree 3-95 on ‘Real Estate Tax’, dated 31 January 1995, states: ‘Churches and religious denominations, in terms of temples and dependencies for religious purposes, entities... are not subject to this tax.’