Bishop Silvio Baez, a strong critic of Nicaragua’s government, voiced his disappointment after Pope Francis called for “dialogue” with the Ortega regime, following the arrest of Bishop Rolando Alvarez.

“It is necessary to ask for freedom,” Bishop Baez said on August 21, as he celebrated Mass in Miami, where he is living in exile. “We must not negotiate.”

Bishop Baez was serving as an auxiliary in Managua until 2019, when he left Nicaragua, on the advice of Pope Francis, because of a series of death threats.