Dramatic Changes in Nicaragua

The economy is better. In some more remote spots, this is only visible in very small ways. People are a bit rounder. More kids are getting to school. Few people are begging. But, as in other poor countries in Latin America what Guatemalans call the third great invasion is underway. The first great invasion was the Spanish Conquest. Most of you know about that. The civilized, religious, affluent country of Spain conquered in a very short time most of the Americas. Horses, guns, greed, and disease brought ancient civilizations to their knees. Old story.

Then 450 years later came the USA conquest. Guns,power, murderous repression and greed raised their ugly heads again. The effects were devastating. 250,000 Mayans were killed. Nicaragua was devastated, forget about El Salvador. I saw it. I was here for some of it. Young people from my country missed it but it was well documented Seymour Hirsh in the "New Yorker", the movie "Romero", the poetry of Ernesto Cardinal, "I Rigoberta Menchu" the autobiography of a Mayan woman during the conflict. It is all there.

The third conquest, as it is called, is the invasion of Nicaragua by the evangelicals. So, since the Spanish conquest, Nica has become a Catholic country. When I grew up, Catholics were considered to be Christians, so were Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists and so on. Today, by some voodoo all these more or less traditional faiths are considered by the new christians to be pagan statue worshipers, not 'saved', leading people to hell on the fast track. The new christians have to be 'saved', they have to think the poor are lazy and stupid and being punished by God. Everything will be great if the reject their beliefs and get baptized in water and talk the social and political line of the Tea Party.

Anyone who tries to educate or help the poor is probably a socialist, an Antichrist. Here in Granada, the wicked Cathedral has a resurrected Christ on the central altar. The traditional Christ on the cross is off to the side. I love this. When I was a kid, staring at the sad and pained body of Christ was a hard deal. I had to look for statues of the Virgin for mental peace. The new Pope is making noises about God wanting the poor to have a shot at life. Here, Liberation Theology was alive and well during the troubles.

!5 years ago I thought this invasion was trouble. Ignorant but loud preachers from Texas were having the Mayans burn their traditional traje. It was a sign of paganism. They were having screaming protests against the Semana Santa processions in Antigua Guatemala. Jesus hates that Catholic shit. But now the rampant ignorance of the Tea Party is adding insult to injury. These American preachers don't know their own history and they certainly don't know the history of Nica. But the power of the threats and promises they make can penetrate deeply in a poor population looking for hope and afraid of the big guns from the north.


I feel very out of step. Even though this whole momentum feels like it is moving back to the 1500s, with a not so different justification, I think I am the dinosaur here. I have this seemingly dumb belief that people are equal in the eyes of God. I believe that love is stronger than guns. I want to learn from other traditions who lived a very long time before destroying the environment and much of the world.