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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAGUA 000037 
 
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA: SAINTS AND SYMBOLS IN MUNICIPAL 
ELECTIONS 
 
REF: A. MANAGUA 1393 AND PREVIOUS 
     ¶B. MANAGUA 1343 
 
Classified By: Amb. Robert J. Callahan for reasons 1.4 (b & d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: President Daniel Ortega appears to be trying 
to use religious symbolism for political purposes, as part of 
his effort to consolidate control in Nicaragua.  After 
following a strategy of co-opting Evangelical symbols in the 
Citizen Power Councils (CPCs) "prayer against hatred" 
campaign (see REF B), the CPCs appropriated sacred symbols 
from the Catholic faith in an attempt to attract wider 
Catholic support for the Sandinista National Liberation Front 
party (FSLN) in the weeks after the November 7 municipal 
elections.  However, the government plan may have back-fired; 
the Catholic Church's Conference of Bishops has spoken out 
vehemently against the unauthorized use and manipulation of 
its sacred symbols by political forces as well as the lack of 
transparency by the government in the recent election.  These 
strong statements by the Catholic Church may have brought the 
Church into the crosshairs of chief propagandist and First 
Lady Rosario Murillo.  This may make the Catholic Church the 
next target in Ortega's continuing program of intimidation 
against Nicaraguan civil society.    END SUMMARY 
 
Campaign of Prayer for Evangelicals 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (C) As reported previously (see REF B), the campaign of 
"prayer against hatred" has been a faux-religious protest, 
instigated and financed through the CPCs controlled by First 
Lady Rosario Murillo.  Borrowing primarily from Evangelical 
traditions of public prayer circles, protestors join hands to 
"pray against hatred" several times during the day.  In its 
original concept, the prayer campaign may have been aimed at 
attracting participation from the growing and politically 
active Evangelical community in Nicaragua.  It has since 
become principally a measure to keep Sandinista control of 
Managua,s traffic circles, strategic points for suffocating 
protests in the city.  Yet, even in the months leading up to 
the November 9 municipal elections, President Ortega,s 
relationship with religious leaders, especially Evangelical 
Christians, appeared cozier than ever before.  Media reported 
that Ortega handed out land titles to church leaders, quoted 
Bible passages for visiting Evangelical leaders, inaugurated 
a Bible Plaza in downtown Managua and may have made Nicaragua 
the first country in the world to declare a "National Day to 
Honor the Bible."  Even Murillo courted the Evangelicals by 
proclaiming during a meeting with Evangelicals that 
"Nicaragua is moving towards the establishment of God,s 
Earthly kingdom."  (COMMENT: Weeks after the elections, the 
bright pink and yellow political billboards in Managua were 
changed to proclaim: "To fulfill the will of the people is 
fulfilling the will of God."  The "will of the people" that 
is also the "will of God" implied by these billboards is, of 
course, the dubious election results.  END COMMENT) 
 
Cozying Up To Catholics 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶3. (C) The prayer against hatred campaign lacked overt 
Catholic symbols and support, in a country that is 
predominately Catholic.   This changed on November 13, four 
days after the municipal elections, when images of the Virgin 
Mary were suddenly installed in all of the major rotundas in 
Managua overnight by youth wearing the president's "Program 
Amor" tee-shirts.  (NOTE: The images or statues of the Virgin 
Mary are approximately three-feet tall and are mounted on a 
three-foot tall, white cinder-block, square pedestals that 
were quickly cemented in-place.  The images of the Virgin 
Mary in a blue robe with two cherub angels at her feet are 
traditionally displayed during the Purisima celebration in 
December.  END NOTE)   The statues were installed without 
permission from the Managua mayor's office and against the 
will of the Catholic Church.  Managua Vice Mayor Felipe Neri 
Leiva reported to the press that no one asked for permission 
to install the statues and those responsible "are promoting 
 
MANAGUA 00000037  002 OF 003 
 
 
total anarchy... because they are not complying with the laws 
and decrees that regulate the city."  We believe that the 
images were installed by the CPCs who wanted to create the 
impression of wider Catholic support for the prayer campaign 
and the FSLN party. 
 
Sacred Symbols Vandalized and Manipulated 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4. (C) During the post-election violence (see REF A), the 
images of the Virgin Mary were attacked and manipulated for 
political purposes.  On November 18, an image of the Virgin 
Mary in the Central American rotunda was vandalized with red 
paint poured over the face and hands of the statue that 
looked like blood.  Other images of the Virgin Mary had FSLN 
red and black flags placed on them, or had red and black 
bandanas placed over the head of the statue during FSLN 
victory rallies.  On November 25, an image of the Virgin Mary 
was severely vandalized - the head and face of the Virgin 
Mary were completely broken off and the statue body was 
knocked off its white cinder block pedestal.  Witnesses 
claimed that Sandinista party supporters were responsible for 
the vandalism, however, the Sandinista controlled Channel 
Four television station claimed that the opposition 
supporters desecrated the images.  On November 26, 
unidentified workers installed new statues of the Virgin Mary 
to replace the vandalized ones, reportedly under presidential 
orders.  (COMMENT: Ironically, the "prayer against hatred" 
participants who are in the Managua rotundas 24/7 claim that 
they never saw the perpetrators of any of the acts of 
vandalism against the statues. END COMMENT) 
 
Catholic Conference Condemns; Calls for Calm 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5. (C)  Until recently, the Catholic Church - once the 
Sandinista government,s strongest political opponent in the 
1980s - seemed willing to go along with Ortega,s use of 
religious icons and language in exchange for other 
concessions: a ban on therapeutic abortions, public 
recognition of the church,s leadership in communities, and 
even financial help for patron saint festivals and the 
Catholic university.  However, the Catholic Church has grown 
increasingly concerned with the government,s use of 
religious symbols for political purposes.  Nicaragua's 
Conference of bishops ("Conference") has started to take a 
more active role in addressing the current political turmoil, 
following the blatant electoral fraud of the November 9 
municipal elections.  On November 11 the bishops expressed 
their support for an election recount.  When the images of 
the Virgin Mary appeared in the rotundas, the Catholic Church 
immediately voiced its strong disapproval and called for the 
government to remove them.  On November 13 the Conference 
stated that it could not passively allow Catholic symbols and 
language manipulated for political purposes, referring to the 
images of the Virgin Mary installed in all of the Managua 
rotundas as part of the ongoing "prayer against hate" 
campaign.  The Conference called for an end to political 
violence that threatened to open old wounds, healed over 
during the past 16 years of democracy.  In the place of 
violence, the Conference called for political leaders to 
exhaust all constitutional, legal and democratic recourses to 
find a solution.  After the incidences of severe vandalism 
against the images of the Virgin Mary, the spokesperson for 
the Archbishop of Nicaragua, Rolando Alvarez, called again on 
the mayor of Managua to immediately remove the statues. 
 
Orteguistas Cry Foul 
- - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6. (C) Following the Conference's press statements, 
Orteguistas accused the Church of instigating the violence. 
National Assembly Deputy and FSLN party member Gustavo Porras 
announced his disagreement with the Catholic Church 
participating in politics, stating instead that the church 
"should be only devoted to spiritual affairs."  Porras also 
publicly criticized Bishop Silvio Montenegro for 
 
MANAGUA 00000037  003 OF 003 
 
 
participating in opposition rally on November 18.  Emmet 
Lang, the Vice President of the Supreme Electoral Council 
(CSE) and a Sandinista leader, accused the church of 
committing a "mortal sin" and "instigating violence" for 
pointing out election irregularities and demanding a clear 
and transparent result.  Even the FSLN weekly publication "El 
19" criticized the Conference's press release in an editorial 
that claimed that the Catholic Church is "responding to 
foreign interests and the opposition...and this is financed 
by foreign governments to destabilize the Ortega government." 
 
COMMENT 
- - - - 
¶7. (C) The Catholic Church is clearly under growing criticism 
and pressure in FSLN-controlled media.  With a fractured 
opposition and a civil society in retreat because of 
organized government-sponsored witch-hunt against NGOs that 
support democracy, the Catholic Church may be the only 
institution that could mount an effective national campaign 
against the Ortega government's authoritarian tendencies.  It 
seems likely that the manipulation and desecration of 
Catholic religious symbols is designed to provoke a wider 
confrontation between the FSLN-controlled government and the 
Catholic Church, which were arch enemies in the 1980's, and 
to stop the Church from mounting a more effective challenge 
to Ortega. 
 
CALLAHAN