Nicaragua

“The reforms favor the long-term absolute power of a person or party”

On November 22, the bishops of Nicaragua’s Episcopal Conference presented the following message to the National Assembly’s Special Constitutional Findings Commission on President Ortega’s constitutional reform bill. We offer it in its entirety with clarifying annotations in brackets.

Honorable members of the National Assembly Special Constitutional Committee to study, consult and issue its findings on constitutional aspects of the initiative called “Law of Partial Reform of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua.”

1. “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 1.2). As bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua, we wish to thank you for having invited us to give our observations and comments on the Law of Partial Reform of the Political Constitution of Nicaragua. At the same time, we also thank you for your courtesy in granting us the opportunity to express our views on something so vital for the present and future of our country on a date that follows our Annual General Assembly.

2. After praying and reflecting together as Catholic priests, we offer you the conclusions we have reached with the sole desire of contributing the Church’s social doctrine for the good of Nicaragua. As we have stated on different occasions, our ministry is eminently religious, as witnesses of Christ and servants of our brethren in His name: “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4.5). Secondly, as pastors of the Catholic Church, our goal is not to offer technical, legal or political solutions as this is not the mission that Jesus Christ has entrusted to his Church (Cf. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 41) [an encyclical letter by Pope John Paul II of December 30, 1987].

Our contribution in the political field does not have any aim other than “to help form consciences in political life and to stimulate greater insight into the authentic requirements of justice as well as greater readiness to act accordingly, even when this might involve conflict with situations of personal interest” (Deus Caritas Est, 28) [a 2005 encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI].

3. The country’s Constitution is like a symbol of political integration. Its integrating task is not limited to an emotional attachment to its wording, but realized through commitment so that both the establishment of constitutional rights and freedoms and the nature of the branches of State do not exceed the channels of the rule of law “in which the law is sovereign and not the arbitrary will of individuals” (Centesimus Annus, 44) [an encyclical letter by Pope John Paul II in 1991]. Secondly, a Constitution whose purpose is to preserve harmonious and peaceful social coexistence should only include the symbols, sentiments, institutions and ideological affirmations freely and firmly shared by everyone in society. Finally, and because it is such a serious issue for the nation, an authentic Constitution should be endorsed by the participation of the people through a vast consultation process, without excluding any person or sector of society and without inexplicable hurry. Only this way can the Constitution succeed in generating authentic integration dynamics in which people will confidently and responsibly participate in the construction of society and the exercise of power.

4. We hold the firm conviction that the most urgent task at this time in Nicaragua is not to make changes to Nicaragua’s Constitution but to purify and rectify the thinking and practice with respect to the exercise of politics, as we stated in our message of September 26, 2012: “The situation in our country urgently requires reestablishing the comprehensive functioning of the political system, as power continues to be perceived as a personal asset rather than the delegation of the people’s will” (n. 5). We do not consider it appropriate to propose amendments to our Magna Charta, especially when they reflect the aim to substantially and comprehensively change Nicaragua’s political system, at a time when the country’s institutions are clearly being dismantled, with a so-called political opposition engaged in infighting and mutual insults without representing any alternative for the country; at a time when the separation of state powers is nonexistent and we have endured continual electoral irregularities and violations of the Constitution that have altered our country’s constitutional and democratic course. What is urgently needed in Nicaragua is that those who exercise power comply with the constitutional norms and that all of the nation’s sectors and the general public commit themselves to strengthening the values that constitute a true democracy, since “As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism” (Centesimus Annus, 46).

5. We believe that the current proposed reforms to the Constitution, seen as a whole, are aimed at favoring the long-term establishment and perpetuation of an absolute power, exercised dynastically by a person or party or through a political or economic oligarchy. In Brazil, the Latin American bishops stated in the 2007 Fifth Conference of the Latin American Episcopate that, paradoxically, totalitarian regimes can be instated through democracy’s own instruments: “We are concerned to see the accelerated advance of diverse forms of authoritarian regression by democratic means” (Aparecida, 74). We also warned of this in our message of September 26, 2012, referring to Nicaragua: “Political life in our country today is dominated by an autocratic and abusive way of exercising authority, which is manifested through the concentration of power and the excessive desire to conserve and perpetuate itself through it, the manipulation of law and institutions and destruction of the fundamental principles that are the basis for the rule of law.”

6. For all the reasons mentioned above, the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua do not agree with this constitutional reform project. We believe that its approval will bring no benefit whatever to the nation. Certainly, as the Church’s Social Teachings states, “The Church is not entitled to express preferences for this or that institutional or constitutional solution” (Centesimus Annus, 47). If, for once, it allows itself to express its assessment of this matter, it is not for ideological motives or through undue interference in the political field, but because of the serious religious and moral implications entailed in a particular situation or project, as is the case of the current attempt to reform our Constitution.

7. Offering our perspective at this historic moment for Nicaragua is only a judicious service based on our faith and the Church’s Social Teachings, so that all Nicaraguans, without discrimination of any kind, can become aware that, as Pope Francis told the political, economic and intellectual elite of Brazil on July 27, 2013: “It is our responsibility, with all its limitations, to understand all of reality, observing, pondering, evaluating, in order to make decisions in the present but with an eye to the future, reflecting on the consequences of our decisions.” We ask the Holy Virgin Mary, “La Purísima,” the patron saint of Nicaragua, on the eve of her feast day, to help us build a country in which there are always reasons to live in hope, committed to building social coexistence based on justice, freedom, truth and peace for all.

Given in the city of Managua on November 23, 2013.

Signed by all members of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN); Sócrates René Sándigo Jirón, bishop of Juigalpa and CEN chairman; and Silvio José Báez Ortega, O.C.D., auxiliary bishop of Managua and CEN general secretary.

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