The Nicaraguan police have arrested the bishop of Siuna, Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, making him the second prelate arrested by the left-wing dictatorship headed by President Daniel Ortega.

Ortega has been in power since 2007 and has increasingly directed attacks against Catholic institutions and various members of the clergy.

The arrest of Bishop Mora, 63, came a day after the bishop celebrated a Mass in Matagalpa and asked people to pray for their bishop, Rolando Álvarez, who was placed under house arrest in August 2022 and unjustly sentenced to 26 years and four months in prison in February this year.

Currently Bishop Álvarez is imprisoned in the prison known as “La Modelo,” where political prisoners of the regime are commonly sent.