AMERICA/NICARAGUA - Mgr. Rolando Alvarez: walking together, praying for Nicaragua and seeking the truth

Monday, 22 July 2019 social situation politics violence bishops

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Matagalpa (Agenzia Fides) - The pilgrimage of the Divine Niño to the Shrine of Matagalpa held yesterday, Sunday, July 21st was widely attended. Led by the Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Mgr. Rolando Alvarez, the faithful prayed and sang for 15 kilometers. Groups from different parts of the country shouted: "Rolando, friend, the people are with you". In this way the Catholics and all those present wanted to express solidarity with the Bishop who was attacked four days ago by a group of armed people during his pastoral visit to the community of Terrabona.
Yesterday, while leading the pilgrimage, Bishop Alvarez commented: "We are going on pilgrimage as a sign of penance and to pray. Praying for Nicaragua, because we are a people that prays, a people that walks, that does not stand still. We are a people who do not let others build our society for us. We are a people that believes in peace and justice, in development and in democracy. We want to live in social justice, in order to have a true human development", he emphasized the bishop.
On hearing the voice of the different groups, Mgr. Alvarez commented: "in this pilgrimage we are not only Catholics, the people who want the truth also participate. Catholics, Christians, evangelicals, believers and even non-believers. Members of a people that respects its tradition and walk together in the search of truth".
The situation in the country seems to be at a dead end: on Saturday 20 July, the opposition group Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy harshly criticized the position of Nicaragua's President, Daniel Ortega, to close the doors to negotiations to peacefully resolve the serious socio-political crisis: "With the closure to negotiation, the regime would only have the option of isolating Nicaragua from the world and the resumption of the social and economic crisis", he said in a statement.
The General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) stated at the end of June, that the government and the opposition must restart negotiations "in good faith", to find a way out of the crisis that has caused hundreds of deaths in 15 months, and granted a period of 75 days to analyze the situation in Nicaragua (see Fides, 21/06/2019). (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 22/7/2019)