EVANGELICAL CHURCH LEADERS SEEK MORE RECOGNITION

UNCLAS MANAGUA 001520 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CEN, DRL JFARRAR AND NTONGOUR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL NU KCRM KDEM KWMN SUBJECT: EVANGELICAL CHURCH LEADERS SEEK MORE RECOGNITION BY NICARAGUA'S POWER BASES REF: MANAGUA 1333 ¶1. (U) On June 23, foreign affairs officer and FSN met with Reverend Roberto Rojas, Vice President of the National Council of Evangelical Pastors and Reverend Mauricio Fonseca, of the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance (AENIC),to discuss human rights and democracy issues of interest to Nicaragua's Evangelical Protestant churches. Alleging unequal treatment in relation to Catholic clergy, these Evangelical church leaders seek more access to Nicaragua's President and claim that their followers are a powerful demographic and political force in contemporary Nicaraguan society. Pastor Fonseca claimed that his organization encompasses the great majority of evangelical churches in the country. AENIC, which was founded in 1990, is affiliated with the World Evangelical Alliance, headquartered in the United States and represents Nicaragua's Evangelical population. Both Fonseca and Rojas indicated that they have close contacts with U.S. Evangelical church leaders. ALLEGED DISCRIMINATION BY CATHOLICS AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (SBU) Fonseca and Rojas opined that while the constitution of Nicaragua proclaims freedom of religion, in practice Evangelical churches "suffer discrimination" because the Roman Catholic Church continues to occupy an "important place" in society. Fonseca stated that the "traditional" Roman Catholicism views Evangelicals as "neophytes" and treats them as second-class citizens. The reverends alleged that while Evangelical clergy are subject to luggage and document inspections upon returning from abroad, Catholic clergy are never detained. They also claimed that many public officials will not accept Evangelical church baptismal certificates as sufficient identification documentation, although Catholic baptismal certificates are regularly accepted for these purposes. Both averred that the Catholic Church, in recognizing that it has lost many adherents to Evangelical churches, is now attempting to recover these losses and discriminating against Evangelicals. They further claimed that Catholic schools will not accept students who are Evangelical Protestants (NOTE: Reliable sources within Nicaragua dispute the accuracy of these assertions. END NOTE.) CONTESTING OFFICIAL FIGURES REGARDING THEIR NUMBERS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (SBU) Fonseca and Rojas explained that their churches arose directly out of the missionary efforts of many U.S. Evangelical pastors over eighty years, resulting in a large Evangelical presence among Nicaragua's population today. They asserted that the national population is 30% Evangelical. When queried about the National Census Institute's (INEC) 2005 results reporting that 20% of the national population was Evangelical, Fonseca and Rojas disputed these figures. They alleged that INEC had not visited every remote place in the country-side where they asserted many vibrant evangelical communities are found. The AEN is conducting its own census of the nation's Evangelical population, they explained. DISPLEASED THAT OTHERS SEEM TO HAVE MORE ACCESS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (SBU) Despite substantial Evangelical church membership, the pastors maintained that the Roman Catholic Church remains predominant in decision-making in the local political scene. When asked for examples, the pastors referred to recent political statements by retired Archbishop Cardinal Obando y Bravo. However, they acknowledged that the Cardinal's public partisan political views appear to be his own and do not necessarily reflect the Catholic Church's position on the upcoming elections or the presidential candidates. SEEKING MORE EVANGELICAL REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) The pastors asserted that the Evangelical church in Nicaragua does not endorse any single political party and that avowedly Evangelical parties, such as "Camino Cristiano" and "Alternativa por el Cambio," do not represent their churches. While stating that they do not necessarily encourage Evangelical church leaders to hold positions in the National Assembly, the reverends noted that currently the presence of only one FSLN, one PLC and one MRS religious leader in the legislature was insufficient given the demographic size of the evangelical community. They prefer Assembly deputy Delia Arellano, a leading lay evangelical, to be given a higher profile in the future and suggested that presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre consider publicly supporting this (NOTE: Arellano is ninth on Montealegre's Assembly list of national deputies. END NOTE.) NICARAGUA NEEDS A GOD-FEARING AND HUMBLE LEADER LIKE PRESIDENT BUSH - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (SBU) The reverends were displeased that President Bolanos did not fulfill his campaign promise to Evangelicals to establish a secretariat for religious affairs to represent Evangelical Church interests, and they want the future president to establish this office. The reverends believe that the next Nicaraguan president should be "humble and fear God." When asked if they recognized these characteristics in any political leader, they referred to a 2002 meeting they attended at the U.S. capitol where President Bush prayed and spoke out against abortion and same sex marriage as an example of a humble and god-fearing leader. They also appreciated Ambassador Trivelli's willingness to listen to them and reiterated their position that the Evangelical churches have power that must be recognized. TRIVELLI