The Nicaraguan government has placed Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa and six priests under house arrest after the bishop criticized the Ortega regime’s closure of Catholic radio stations.

Daniel Ortega, a leader of the Marxist Sandinistas who overthrew the authoritarian regime of Gen. Anastasio Somoza Debayle, ruled Nicaragua from the 1979 Sandinista takeover until his loss in the 1990 presidential election. He returned to power in 2007.