NICARAGUA/CATHOLIC CHURCH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000201330008-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 19, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: August 12, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/09/19: CIA-RDP8.8-01070R000201330008-3
12 August 1984
NICARAGUA/ JENNINGS: Well, the Sandinistas have long maintained that
CATHOLIC CHURCH the CIA is using Nicaraguan church officials to reach that
goal. As ABC's Anne Carrels reports from Nicaragua, that
has led to a lot of tension between church and state.
CARRELS: At times, the archbishop of Managua resorts to
psalms to get his message across, Psalm 139, wishing a
shower of burning embers and vipers on those who would
destroy the.church. At other time Obando y Bravo is less
metaphorical. For five years, he says, the church-has'
been persecuted by the Sandinistas. The most recent::
showdown began with these videotapes. A Nicaraguan
priest, Father Amado Pena, was shown on television
discussing weapons with an alleged U.S.-backed rebel.
Pena was subsequently caught on camera with a bag. It was
said to contain a bomb. Claiming Pena is innocent, that
he was set up in yet another effort to discredit the
church, Obando led a protest march. The Sandinistas
immediately retaliated by expelling 10 of the foreign
priests working here. The Sandinistas have repeatedly
charged the church with working with the CIA. To
undermine Obando, the Sandinistas have encouraged a
pro-government, popular church like this one, arguing
there is no contradiction between Christianity and
revolution. The official Catholic church, though, remains
strong, the strongest anti-Sandinista force in this
overwhelmingly Catholic country. A man who once called
for an uprising against the Somoza dictatorship, Obando is
now fighting the Sandinistas. He says he seeks only
justice, though his services increasingly resemble
political rallies. Relations between the Catholic church
and the Sandinistas have never been worse. Each claims to
be the moral authority here; each is struggling for power.
Anne Carrels, ABC News, Managua, Nicaragua.
Approved For Release 2008/09/19: CIA-RDP88-01070R000201330008-3