
MEXICO CITY — Nicaragua's government said Sunday it released a prominent Catholic bishop and 18 other clergy members imprisoned in a crackdown by President Daniel Ortega and handed them over to Vatican authorities.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez and the other clergy were jailed more than a year ago, in most cases, as part of a crackdown on the opposition and Catholic Church by Ortega. He had accused them of supporting massive 2018 civic protests that he claimed were a plot to overthrow him.