Nicaragua: Ortega and Murillo Switch to Evangelicals

After declaring the Catholic Church as an enemy, the Ortega Murillo’s stopped going to mass and now go to evangelical worship services. They want to reach another segment of the population and improve their image, say analysts.

By Amalia del Cid  (La Prensa)

HAVANA TIMES – In his first public appearance after the announcement of his inclusion to the list of those sanctioned by the United States, Laureano Ortega Murillo turned up in a evangelical activity widely disseminated by the official and family media.

The “Heal our land” vigil held on April 26, was also attended by Managua mayor Reyna Rueda. Both arrived dressed in white. They sang, applauded and smiled a lot for the 19 Digital cameras, which published at least 25 photographs of Rueda and Laureano, the political “heir” of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

“Great gathering of Faith, Strength, Adoration and Devotion in our Lord Jesus Christ! To Him the Glory and the Honor! Nicaragua of Jesus Christ! (sic),” wrote Laureano Ortega Murillo the following day on his Twitter account, in an outburst of Christian faith that had not been seen before.

The purpose of the religious activity was to celebrate the 26 anniversary of Radio Maranatha and number 15 of “Rios de Agua Viva” (Rivers of Living Water) Church.

“Nicaragua is hungry and thirsty for God, and a great revival has been prophesied in the coming days, for the coming months, for the coming times, and we hope that that revival has already began in our nation,” assured pastor Omar Duarte, who yesterday did not respond to telephone calls from La Prensa.

“During the vigil the microphone was given to Mayor Rueda, who in turn thanked God for “the peace that reigns in our country.”

Opportunism

Until recently, it was normal to see the Ortega Murillo family attending mass. But since the dictatorship declared the Catholic Church as an enemy, they have moved closer to certain evangelical leaders, whose position during the crisis that Nicaragua is going through has been silence.

For his part, Eliseo Nunez, former deputy and member of the Broad Front for Democracy (FAD), believes that this sudden religious conversion “is a game where the only thing that is clear is that they have no principles, or ideologies. Their objective is to hold on to power, even if they have to kill and imprison half of Nicaragua, even if they have to convert to Tom Cruise’s religion, Scientology.”

“Now they are evangelicals because Catholics are against them. And they are going to pull out surveys saying that the majority of the population is evangelical and the minority Catholic,” Nunez says.

The objective of the dictatorship could be to approach this segment of the population, assesses the former legislator. However, he does not believe that the strategy will work. “Ortega understands that the Evangelical Church does not have a defined hierarchy. And, it is a vile thing what they are doing to the protestants, wanting to paint them as if they are all his followers. He is taking advantage of the opportunism of a few pastors in order to present that image,” he says.

“They were ultra-Catholics, Marians, they celebrated the Virgin and Baby Jesus while it served them and now, well, it no longer serves them,” Nunez points out. “The only thing it shows is their absurdity and lack of principles. They do not have anything defined, only to remain (in power).”