Monsignor Rolando Alvarez: “Nicaragua is once again losing its lifeblood to exile”

Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, Bishop of the Matagalpa diocese in northern Nicaragua, asserted that the country is living through “another migratory exodus that drains Nicaragua of its lifeblood.”

“Once more we Nicaraguans are suffering the loss of so many of our brothers and sisters – our intelligent, audacious, creative, enterprising, hard-working men and women, builders of the countryside and the city. These young people and even children represent the future of our country,” Alvarez stated during Sunday’s homily.

He added: “complete caravans, full of our Nicaraguan sisters and brothers, have departed. These people couldn’t find what they needed to live a decent life in our country, and they look to other horizons, even risking their lives. This is yet another pain in our souls; our souls ache from so much pain.”

“Nicaragua is living through another exodus, made up of people seeking a better future because the doors have been closed to them in their own country,” the bishop lamented.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has reported that over 108,000 Nicaraguans have been forced to leave the country since the 2018 sociopolitical crisis. The three main destinations of these migrants are Costa Rica, the United States and Spain, followed by Panama and Canada.

Monsignor Alvarez recalled that “Nicaragua belongs to all of us. We have the right to live in peace and in freedom. He also called for “stopping the spiral of violence, so that Nicaraguan families don’t continue disintegrating.”

Forced isolation “is cruel and contrary to God’s plan”

Also on Sunday, October 3rd, the Assistant Bishop of the Managua diocese, Monsignor Silvio Jose Baez, offered a homily livestreamed from Miami, where he’s also in exile. He recalled that it’s “cruel and against God’s plan to condemn others to forced isolation,” as has occurred with the 37 new political prisoners that the Ortega regime has jailed since May within the context of the upcoming elections.

“It’s not a good thing for a human being to be alone. It’s wrong to remain isolated and unaware of others. Solitude is a reality close to death, and for that reason as well it’s cruel and contrary to God’s plan to condemn others to forced isolation,” Baez indicated.

He added: “We should all construct and be caretakers of God’s dream that conceived us for love.” (…) “Living in love is possible only thanks to the actions of the Lord’s spirit, that heals and transforms hardened hearts, and constantly regenerates the love broken by human selfishness and disloyalty.”

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times