Nicaragua: Tears of rage over the murder of a priest

 The Catholic Church in Nicaragua confirmed on August 23 that a body recovered that morning at the Kilometre 16 marker on the road from Managua to Leon was indeed that of Fr. Marlon Ernesto Pupiro Garcia of the province of Masaya. According to the Archdiocese of Managua, Fr. Pupiro had been missing since August 20 under as yet to be discovered circumstances. The sacristan for Fr. Marlon's parish in the town of La Concha, José Ignacio Moraga Sánchez, told local media that the priest arrived on time every day to open the church for the morning liturgy. On the morning of August 20, when the priest did not arrive, the sacristan walked along the road but did not find him.
 
The press office of the Archdiocese of Managua said that the priest's body was brought to La Purisima parish, in the municipality of La Concepcion, Masaya province, where the Metropolitan Archbishop Jose Brenes Solarzano and Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Baez and the clergy of the archdiocese celebrated a memorial Mass on the evening of August 23.

The funeral was held in Ticuantepe on August 24. Fr. Pupiro had been the pastor at the Concepcion Parish since 2006. He was 40 years old.
 
A spokesman for  the archdiocese said that Fr. Pupiro will be interred in his hometown beside his mother who died a few years ago. Archbishop Brenes Solórzano of Managua said that the news of Fr. Pupiro's killing shocked everyone, and that at the moment there are no official government statements about how he was killed. Archbishop Brenes disavowed reports that the deceased cleric had been the subject of threats. The priest's remains were found by pickers at an illegal refuse dump, wrapped in plastic. On the same day, three other such victims of violence were similarly found in the Central American nation. Nicaraguan police spokesmen said that an investigation has begun, while at the moment the only apparent lead is a sighting of the white Mitsubishi pickup truck used by the deceased cleric. Late on August 24, Nicarguan police announced that they were looking for Yazker Blandon Torres, a Nicaraguan man, for questioning.
 
Thousands of members of the community in Masaya took to the streets to express their repudiation of the crime, as well as their grief, confusion, and bitter tears. In the plaza in front of the parish church, one of Fr. Pupiro's congregants sobbed, "Why would they kill the padre? Why? What can we poor people do?" as she threw her arms into the air. Bishop Bismarck Conde, the dean of the cathedral in Managua, said "We are walking together with our Catholic community so that together we can bid our last farewell to our beloved brother, Father Pupiro. We are mourning the fact that, as happened today to a priest, unfortunately happens every day to many people even though the police say ours is the safest country in Central America." Nicaragua's poor are calling on their government to clarify the circumstances of the priest's murder.
 
Father Blas Cordo of Masaya said of his murdered collegue, "Father Pupiro was always a humble man; I am not the only one who says this, the presence of the weeping people here says this. He gave himself to the community; this is something that saddens all of us and which we condemn. There has never been a case like this in Nicaragua, but still we don't understand how a pitiless criminal hand could so destroy a priest." One of the mourners on hand, Jacqueline Bustos of La Concha, said "We don't know why they slaughtered the priest; he was a good man and I am not saying that now because he is dead. Everybody knew that he was a true Christian who we could never imagine would be murdered."
 
The town of La Concepción has declared three days of mourning for the fallen priest. School has been cancelled and the doors of the parish church will be open for people to come and pray for the repose of the soul of Father Pupiro.
 
Relations between the Sandinista government, led by President Daniel Ortega, and the various Christian churches remains strained despite recent protestations by the former Marxist revolutionary of new-found faith. Catholic Bishop Abelardo Mata has been especially vocal in denouncing the use of religious imagery and verbiage to advance Ortega's current re-election campaign. Ortega was not known to frequent Catholic churches during the 1980s when the revolution was in full swing during the Reagan era and the so-called Contra freedom fighters. Ortega upset leftist supporters by refusing to oppose a ban on all abortions supported by the Catholic Church and evangelical churches that was approved by Nicaraguan lawmakers in October 2006, just 10 days before he was elected in his second run as president. That decision earned Ortega praise from Catholic and evangelical leaders, and analysts say it helped him get votes. His campaign slogan touts him as "Christian, Socialist and In Solidarity."
 
The use of religious imagery and rhetoric is nothing new to Nicaragua. During the revolution of the late 1970s and into the 80s as the Sandinista government took power, Catholic priests (e.g. Father Ernesto Cardenal) were known to take positions in the government. Indeed, in nearby Guatemala priests were even known to take up arms, while there and in other Central American republics priests and pastors were murdered for supposed ties to insurgents or human rights advocates. In 2006, Ortega formally apologized to Monsignor Bismarck Carballo on behalf of the Sandinista movement. In the 1980s, Carballo was seized by a 'divine mob' organized by the Sandinistas, stripped of his clothing and forced to walk nude through the streets of Managua because of his criticisms of human rights abuses.
 
As for the current criticisms that he is using religion as a political ploy, Ortega said at a recent rally, "It's legal, legal, legal," as he addressed supporters hoping to see him re-elected this November. "No one can ban us from using the word Christian. No one. The Vatican hasn't said a word about it." Until now, Ortega's relationship with his biggest supporter and fellow critic of the U.S., President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela - who has provided cut-rate petroleum to Nicaragua - has stood him in good stead. As a visibly weakened President Chavez is currently recovering from chemotherapy for cancer, President Ortega may indeed have to resort now to celestial guarantees to win re-election and continue to rely on Venezuelan largesse to prop up his government.