MANY NICARAGUAN EVANGELICALS WANT TO SUPPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 001333

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV SOCI KDEM KIRF NU
SUBJECT: MANY NICARAGUAN EVANGELICALS WANT TO SUPPORT
MONTEALEGRE, IF HE WILL REACH OUT TO THEM

Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reasons 1.4 (b and d)


1. (C) Summary: Many leaders of the evangelical community in
Nicaragua prefer ALN presidential candidate Eduardo
Montealegre as the best option to lead Nicaragua after the
November elections. Most feel, however, that Montealegre has
not done enough to promote evangelical candidates and
politicians within the ALN -- especially current National
Assembly Delia Arellano, who was allotted a "losing" position
on the ALN's list for national deputies. The evangelicals
stated that Camino Cristiano leader Guillermo Osorno has lost
respect and influence within the evangelical community
because of his alliance with the PLC, and FSLN vice
presidential candidate Jaime Morales Carazo has cost that
party considerable evangelical support due to his outspoken
support of prejudicial laws in the National Assembly. One
leader complained that the Bolanos administration favors
Catholic clergy over evangelicals. Despite their formal
non-partisan affiliation at the institutional level,
evangelical leaders are clearly anti-Sandinista and ready to
encourage their followers to support a democratic candidate.
End Summary.


2. (SBU) Ambassador and poloffs conducted a series of recent
meetings with different evangelical groups to discuss the
upcoming national elections. Most of the pastors expressed a
preference for ALN presidential candidate Eduardo
Montealegre, but commented that they would be more motivated
in their efforts to support him if he would promote more
evangelical candidates within the ALN. The evangelical
leaders claimed that 30-40 percent of Nicaraguans now
identify themselves as evangelical. A brief demographic
summary of each evangelical organization follows:

- EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE: The Evangelical Alliance has over 80
member institutions from most evangelical denominations. The
directors of the Alliance claim that its member organizations
represent 70-80 percent of all evangelicals in Nicaragua.

- NICARAGUAN PASTORS' ASSOCIATION (APANIC): APANIC is a 10
year-old organization that has over 70 active evangelical
pastors from various denominations in its membership. APANIC
is based in Managua, where it draws most of its membership,
but includes pastors from throughout Nicaragua.

- NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EVANGELICAL PASTORS: The Council is an
umbrella organization that includes more than 400 pastors
representing all evangelical denominations in Nicaragua.
Council members are present in 122 of Nicaragua's 152
municipalities.

MANY EVANGELICAL LEADERS PREFER EDUARDO, BUT...
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3. (C) All of the groups expressed some degree of support for
Eduardo Montealegre as the most appropriate candidate for the
presidency. APANIC leader Jairo Hernandez commented that
APANIC will publicly declare its support for Montealegre's
candidacy and is discussing with his campaign managers the
best timing for the pronouncement. Evangelical Alliance
leaders initially seemed tepid in their support for
Montealegre during a June 8 meeting with Emboffs, but came
out more strongly in favor in a meeting with the Ambassador
on June 12. Alliance leader Leonel Ubeda noted that they had
ongoing contact with Montealegre through evangelical members
of the ALN, particularly National Assembly deputy Delia
Arellano. In contrast, President of the National Council of
Evangelical Pastors Mario Espinoza stated that Montealegre
does not maintain close ties with evangelical churches and
that evangelicals in general have not yet defined a
presidential candidate that they favor.


4. (C) Ubeda expressed concern that evangelicals, including
Arellano, are not more strongly represented in winning
positions on the ALN's deputy lists. (Note: Arellano is
currently in the ninth position on the ALN's national deputy
list, a long-shot position at best. End Note.) APANIC
leaders Hernandez and Jaime Sierra commented that they would
like to see Arellano moved into the fourth or fifth position
and to see more evangelicals in general in positions of
influence within the ALN. Sierra generally complained about
the ALN deputy lists, saying they should reflect the outcome
of the ALN primaries and not horse trading with the allied
parties and the Bolanos Administration.

OSORNO HAS LOST INFLUENCE IN EVANGELICAL COMMUNITY

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5. (C) The evangelical leaders agreed that Camino Cristiano
head and current PLC deputy candidate Reverend Guillermo
Osorno has lost much of his influence in the evangelical
community for "selling out" to the corrupt PLC. Alliance
leader Danilo Ortiz noted that Osorno is president of one of
the Alliance's member organizations (the Assembly of God) and
respected as such, but "the group is disappointed with his
decision" to join the PLC. Sierra stated that Osorno "chose
the wrong path" and can no longer claim to represent any
evangelicals outside of his own denomination. (Note:
Osorno, previously a vociferous opponent of the FSLN-PLC
pact, recently told the press that the pact allowed the
National Assembly to function efficiently. End Note.)

MORALES CARAZO HURTING FSLN WITH EVANGELICALS
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6. (C) FSLN vice presidential candidate and current National
Assembly deputy Jaime Morales Carazo was subjected to even
stronger censure from the evangelical leaders for his
promotion of "noise pollution" laws in the Assembly that
would have shut down evening services for many evangelical
denominations. The Alliance leaders laughed when poloff
mentioned that Morales renounced his previous position as
"wrong" after receiving the FSLN nomination. Sierra and
Hernandez both agreed that Morales is "completely rejected"
by the evangelical community.

BOLANOS FAVORS CATHOLICS
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7. (C) Mario Espinoza complained that the Bolanos
administration has "remained distant" from evangelicals,
despite strong evangelical support in the last election. He
claimed that Catholic clergy are given open access at
airports to enter the country, whereas evangelicals are
subject to luggage searches and other formalities. He also
referred to subsidies that the state allegedly provides to
Catholic cultural and other facilities and wants evangelicals
to have the same access and clout that he claims the Catholic
clergy currently enjoys.

COMMENT: EDUARDO SHOULD COURT EVANGELICALS
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8. (C) The evangelical leaders emphasized the fact that they
have considerable and growing influence throughout Nicaragua,
especially in poor, remote areas -- places where the
traditional parties retain their strength. For that reason,
poloffs advised Montealegre's close advisors take into
account the evangelicals' concerns, specifically by offering
Arellano a better deal, not only because she has influence in
the evangelical community, but because she is one of the few
deputies who actually works for the people of Nicaragua in
the Assembly. Working against Delia Arellano is the fact
that her joining Montealegre was a personal, not a party
decision, and thus she does not enjoy the backing of a
political entity to lobby for a more favorable position on
the National Assembly candidate list.
TRIVELLI