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... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶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