The government that is headed Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. this Wednesday, 12 priests were released and sent to Vatican after an agreement with the Holy See.

Among these believers is not Bishop Rolando José Alvarez of Lagos, who refused to leave the country.

In a statement, the Nicaraguan government explained that “following fruitful negotiations with the Holy See” an agreement had been reached on transfer of 12 priests to the Vatican “who for various reasons were brought to justice and who this afternoon went to Rome, Italy.”

In the note, the Nicaraguan executive said that “this agreement was reached through the mediation of the high authorities of the Catholic Church of Nicaragua and the Vatican.” represents constant will and commitment to find solutions in recognition and encouragement of the great faith and hope that always inspires the Nicaraguan believers who constitute the majority.”

Liberated priests Manuel Salvador García Rodríguez, José Leonardo Urbina Rodríguez, Jaime Ivan Montesinos Sauceda, Fernando Israel Zamora Silva, Osman José Amador Guillén and Julio Ricardo Norori Jiménez were sent to the Vatican.

Also Cristobal Reynaldo Gadea Velasquez, Alvaro Jose Toledo Amador, Jose Ivan Centeno Tercero, Pastor Eugenio Rodriguez Benavides, Yessner Cipriano Pineda Meneses and Ramon Angulo Reyes.

The priests will be received in Rome by employees of the State Secretariat of the Holy See, the Managua government said.

The list does not include Bishop Rolando Alvarez, sentenced last February to more than 26 years in prison for “treason” after he refused to be deported from Nicaragua to the United States along with 222 other political prisoners.

Ortega called Alvarez “frustrated” and “energetic”

Alvarez, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Esteli, located in the north of Nicaragua, He was sentenced to 26 years and 4 months in prison.was stripped of his citizenship and his citizenship rights were also suspended for life for crimes considered “treason.”

The senior leader was sentenced the day after won’t agree to board the plane that he was planning to take him along with 222 other political prisoners to the United States, prompting outrage from President Ortega, who called him “proud,” “frustrated,” and “energetic.”

You might be interested > Nicaraguan police accuse Catholic Church of ‘money laundering’

He Pope Francis called it a “brutal dictatorship.” to Ortega’s leader in Nicaragua, a month after the verdict, according to a March 10 interview.

“With best regards, I have no choice but to think about the imbalance in the person who is in charge (Ortega). We have a bishop sitting there, a very serious, very capable man. “He wanted to testify and did not agree to be expelled,” Francisco told the portal. Information.

Ortega, who called the Church a “mafia,” said relations with the Vatican were severed.

Last July Bishop He left prison for several hours “La Modelo”, but returned to prison after refusing to leave Nicaragua.

Alvarez – the first bishop arrestedaccused and convicted since Ortega returned to power in Nicaragua in 2007, after coordinating a government junta from 1979 to 1985 and first presiding over Nicaragua from 1985 to 1990. (EFE)