Let me begin by thanking the chairs of both committees, Congressmen Christopher Smith and María Salazar. I would also like to thank the members of Congress who on several occasions opened the doors of this institution to my wife Berta Valle and to Mrs. Victoria Cárdenas. I also want to acknowledge the presence of my wife, who is accompanying me at this hearing along with our daughter Alejandra, and the presence of several of my ex-political brothers, who are present in this room.
During my previous testimony before this Congress, in June 2019, I said that “Ortega constitutes a clear danger, not only for the people of Nicaragua, but also for the Western Hemisphere. Ortega is a relic of the Cold War and embodies a legacy of oppression against human dignity.” After 611 days of having spent in prison under inhumane conditions, I can only reaffirm those same words.
On the day of my arrest, June 8, 2021, I was beaten by the police as I left the Prosecutor’s Office. Once transferred to the prison known as “El Chipote”, they kept me in isolation from the outside world. On a few occasions I was taken to a “punishment cell” simply for my decision to fast and pray aloud, since it was forbidden to pray aloud. I was never allowed reading or writing materials; not even the Bible, which I insistently demanded, since it is fundamental to my faith as a Catholic Christian.
Almost four years have passed since that testimony before the UN Security Council and before this Congress. However, despite all the efforts of the international community, the Ortega regime has become more ruthless. His ties to China, Iran and Russia are stronger than ever, and he has not been shy about expressing his hatred of the United States.
Religious persecution and a new phase of repression
Throughout my life I have learned through painful personal experience that dictatorships cannot be dismantled with timid methods. It is time to move on to a new stage of greater pressure, where the tools of diplomacy are used with all their might, including the closure of direct financing channels for the dictatorship.
The new phase of Ortega’s repression has focused on the persecution of the Catholic Church. It must be said with total clarity: today in Nicaragua there is a religious persecution!
On February 9, 41 days ago, the regime expelled 222 political prisoners that we flew from Managua to the United States as “deportees”, which is a term only applied to foreigners. The political prisoners who boarded that plane are Nicaraguan patriots who never thought of living outside of our beloved country. Consequently, these people face great vulnerability. Therefore, I respectfully ask that you consider granting them fast track to political asylum. In addition, I ask the US government to approve a new Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that benefits thousands of our brothers who were forced into exile during our kidnapping.
Monsignor Rolando Álvarez: symbol of peaceful resistance
Bishop Rolando Álvarez refused to board that plane. He refused to be forced into exile. He refused to be released because more than 37 political prisoners remain locked up. Such an extraordinary and courageous act of peaceful resistance cannot be ignored by the world. I am here before you, to ask for your greatest effort to put pressure on the Ortega regime through all available diplomatic measures, for the immediate and unconditional release of Monsignor Álvarez and all political prisoners in Nicaragua.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez is in prison simply because, from the pulpit of the Church, he has expressed the following beliefs:
“A Christian cannot have false neutralities. He who remains silent in the face of human rights violations has already decided”. Another of his phrases, from one of the many churches surrounded by paramilitaries, was the following: “Why are they armed? Why stir the hearts of a simple and hard-working people? Why are they besieging this church as if it were a barracks? No one here is conspiring against anyone.” These are all exact quotes from his homilies.
Persecution of the Catholic Church
Other repressive acts against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua have been the expulsion of the apostolic nuncio, the arrest of more than 12 members of the Church, including seven priests. Another 18 religious were expelled from the country and dozens of Catholic media have been closed. Additionally, on several occasions the Sandinista Police have prevented parishioners from receiving the Eucharist by interrupting religious acts in the temple and prohibiting religious celebrations in public, such as the recent prohibition of the “Via Crucis.”
For us Catholics, the Via Crucis is a sacred devotion that commemorates the last day of Jesus Christ on earth as a man, before his sacrifice. For Christians around the world and of all denominations, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the ultimate symbol of non-violence and sacrifice. His Word reminds us of this in Matthew 5: 9: “Blessed are those who work for peace, for they will be called children of God.” Perhaps for this reason, it is no coincidence that the peaceful protests of April 2018 found deep inspiration for nonviolent resistance in the Christian faith.
Monsignor Rolando Álvarez is in prison because he was the only voice left free to preach within my country, that inalienable truth that says: “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these there are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Those principles, so beautifully expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence, have also inspired libertarians in other nations, including many of us in Nicaragua. Unfortunately, those principles are being undermined by dictatorships around the world, such as the Ortega dictatorship. Those are principles that transcend religions and races. They are also ideals that transcend borders. For this reason, your democratic solidarity is essential to help us defend those principles and for us Nicaraguans to win the freedom we so deserve.
*Statement by Félix Maradiaga, at the Hearing of the Joint Subcommittee of the Congress of the United States of America. Washington DC, March 22, 2023