VZCZCXYZ0026
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1520/01 1921409
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111409Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6945
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

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 
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¶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 
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¶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 
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¶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 
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¶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 
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- - - - 
 
¶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