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Nicaragua bishop who criticized govt charged with conspiracy

Photo: AFP

| By AFP |

A Nicaraguan bishop who has been a sharp critic of the government of President Daniel Ortega and who has been under house arrest since August was charged Tuesday with conspiracy and propagation of false news, a judicial body reported. 

Bishop Rolando Álvarez, 56, was charged with “crimes of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news through information and communication technologies to the detriment of the Nicaraguan state and society,” the Central Judicial Complex of Managua said in a press release. 

The charges were brought by the prosecutor’s office before a judge of the Managua Criminal District Court, the statement said. 

The judge ordered the bishop to remain under house arrest, appointed him a public defender and scheduled the first pre-trial hearing for January 10, 2023. 

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Alvarez, bishop of the diocese of the northern department of Matagalpa, was taken by police to Managua on August 19 and placed under house arrest, after being held for two weeks inside his residence.

After his arrest, police said the bishop, who is also a member of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, was being investigated for trying to “destabilize the country.” 

Along with the bishop, six other religious figures were also arrested in August and detained in a Managua jail, without the charges being disclosed. 

On Tuesday, the prosecutor’s office also filed charges against Uriel Antonio Vallejos, parish priest for the city of Sebaco in the center of the country. He was declared a “fugitive from justice” and a warrant for his arrest was delivered to Interpol, the authorities said. 

The charges against Alvarez come amid tense relations between the Catholic Church and the Ortega government that began in 2018, when the country was rocked by huge anti-government protests. 

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The president linked the demonstrations to a failed coup he said was being pushed by the opposition with the support of Washington and accused bishops of being complicit in the alleged plot. 

Earlier this year the government expelled apostolic nuncio Waldemar Sommertag, outlawed the Missionaries of Charity Association, of the order of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and closed several Catholic media, including the television channel of the Episcopal Conference.

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Central America

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As of 6:00 AM on December 18th, a total of 1,351 earthquakes have been recorded, of which 176 were felt, according to the data published by the Ministry of Environment. The seismic activity in this area of the eastern part of the country began on December 8th after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake was recorded at 9:50 PM. The magnitudes of the aftershocks have ranged between 2.5 and 5.0.

The Ministry of Environment continues to monitor seismic activity in this region and throughout El Salvador to take appropriate measures and ensure the safety of the Salvadoran population.

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Sports

Real Madrid clinches fourth Intercontinental Cup with 3-0 victory over Pachuca

Real Madrid crowned themselves champions of their fourth Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday, defeating Mexican club Pachuca 3-0 in Doha, thanks to goals from Frenchman Kylian Mbappé and Brazilians Rodrygo and Vinicius.

The ‘Merengues’ thus capped off a spectacular 2024 year, winning five titles. Before this success in Qatar, they had already claimed the Spanish League, the UEFA Champions League, and the Super Cups of Spain and Europe.

Mbappé, who made his return after a minor muscle injury, capitalized on a pass from Brazilian Vinicius in the 37th minute, who dribbled past goalkeeper Carlos Moreno, to finish from close range. It was the first shot on target for Real Madrid.

The team doubled their lead with another brilliant goal from Rodrygo, who feigned a shot to beat his defenders and created enough space to take a strike from the edge of the area, beating Moreno in the 53rd minute.

For a few moments, the goal was under review after Venezuelan referee Jesús Valenzuela was called to check a potential offside by Jude Bellingham.

However, the referee concluded that the Englishman did not interfere with the play and the goal was allowed.

Five minutes later, Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had to use his hand to stop a dangerous ball, which Salomón Rondón almost put into the net.

Mbappé, who had scored a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final that was lost to Argentina’s Lionel Messi in the same Lusail stadium, left the pitch in the 62nd minute on the decision of Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, who lifted his 15th title with the club—one more than the legendary Miguel Muñoz.

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Vinicius converted the spot-kick in the 84th minute with a low, powerful shot that Moreno touched but could not save.

The newly named FIFA Player of the Year had another chance to score, while Ángel Mena managed to head the ball into the net before the 90-minute mark, but his goal was ruled offside.

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Central America

Amnesty International condemns Nicaragua’s unprecedented repression of dissent

On Tuesday, Amnesty International (AI) stated that no one in Nicaragua is safe from the “repressive model” imposed by the government of Daniel Ortega, which threatens human rights in an “unprecedented” manner.

“Nicaragua’s repression leaves no one safe,” said Ana Piquer, AI’s Americas director, in a statement.

“From indigenous leaders, journalists, human rights defenders, and anyone seen as a risk to the government’s policies, the authorities continue to solidify the climate of fear in which dissent is punished with imprisonment, exile, or disappearance,” she added.

Since the anti-government protests in 2018, which Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, consider an attempted coup promoted by the United States, hundreds of people have been “unjustly imprisoned” and many have been forced into exile, according to AI.

At least 300 people died in the protests, according to the United Nations.

The human rights organization urged Ortega’s government to “immediately halt all repressive practices,” ensure human rights, and end the “criminalization of dissent.”

Recently, the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más reported over 2,000 arbitrary arrests and at least 229 cases of torture of detainees since 2018.

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The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua currently lists 45 people detained for political reasons in the country.

Since February 2023, Ortega’s government has stripped about 450 politicians, businessmen, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists, and religious figures of their Nicaraguan nationality after they were exiled or expelled from the country.

Amnesty demanded “an end to the practice of arbitrary deprivation of nationality, as well as the full restoration of the rights of those deprived of it,” and urged the international community not to remain “indifferent” to the situation in Nicaragua.

Ortega, a 79-year-old former guerrilla fighter who ruled Nicaragua in the 1980s and has been in power again since 2007, enacted a broad constitutional reform in November that stipulates that “traitors to the homeland” lose their Nicaraguan nationality, a charge leveled against most of the exiled individuals.

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