The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on his arrival at the Vatican on Wednesday. ALESSANDRO DI MEO / POOL (EFE)
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will intercede with Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega for the release of one of the main symbols of oppression, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison after refusing to be exiled along with 220 others. Critical opponents of the regime’s citizenship was revoked in February. The Brazilian President announced this initiative in Rome this Thursday, after being received by Pope Francis in an audience at the Vatican the day before. The Catholic Church is one of the mainstays of opposition to Ortega.
“I plan to speak to Daniel Ortega about the bishop’s release. There is no reason to be prevented from fulfilling your role in the Church [católica]’ Lula explained at a press conference in Rome, according to the Brazilian press. The leader of the Brazilian left said that “the Church has a problem in Nicaragua, there are bishops and priests imprisoned,” adding that “the only thing the Church wants is for them to be released so they can come to Italy.”
Monsignor Álvarez, 56, made a dramatic gesture when he refused to board the plane in which Ortega was sending 222 political prisoners to the United States immediately after their release from prison. He stripped them of their citizenship and days later expropriated their property. At that moment, the Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa left a heartfelt declaration: “Let them be free, I will pay their penalty.”
Days later, Bishop Álvarez faced a summary trial without guarantees, in which he was sentenced to 26 years in prison for “treason”, “undermining national integrity” and “spreading false news”.
Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, in prison on March 25, in a photo released by the Nicaraguan government. Nicaraguan Presidency (EFE)
Lula stressed in Rome that missions like this “are not always easy”. “The word ‘sorry’ is easy, but it takes a lot of grandeur to admit you did something wrong. Not all men have the courage to say, “I made a mistake, I’m going to change.” It’s a matter of persuasion.” The Brazilian President then traveled to Paris, where he took part in a summit organized by his counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the financing of the Brazilian government fight against climate change and poverty.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
subscribe to
Lula’s announcement of this mediation attempt comes amid intense negotiations within the OAS (Organization of American States) to draft a joint resolution on Nicaragua. The Washington-based body holds its general assembly. A Brazilian draft last week that proposed a significant watering-down of the proposal tabled by the US and four other countries sparked outrage among victims of repression by Ortega and his vice president and wife Rosario Murillo.
Brazil has changed the position expressed in that draft and its foreign ministry stressed on Wednesday that it is working with the rest of the world so that a consensus solution can be adopted. Brasilia hopes that, in addition to reviewing human rights violations, the text will also open the door to dialogue with the regime.
At the OAS gathering in Washington, the text condemning the Nicaraguan regime underwent further changes, but it maintains its “urgency” and criticizes religious persecution, says Francisco Mora, permanent United States representative to the inter-American organization. Mora explains: “It will be repeated [en la resolución] what has been said in previous General Assemblies, but with more contemporary language than what happened in Nicaragua. There is consensus. Brazil has some questions but the consensus is to condemn the situation. One cannot be gentle with a dictatorship, but I don’t think the changes in Brazil will be more than a proposal.” The US official added that the text could be approved this Friday.
The leader of the Brazilian left is far more reserved and willing to compromise with the Nicaraguan authorities than other presidents, such as those of Chile, Colombia, Argentina or Colombia. Lula’s government in March avoided signing off on a UN report denouncing crimes against humanity in Nicaragua, which was endorsed by 55 countries. Lula will always be grateful to Ortega because in 1980, on the first anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, he met Cuban Fidel Castro in Managua.
Subscribe to the EL PAÍS America newsletter here and receive the latest news from the region.