AMERICA/NICARAGUA - The Church points out that there will be democracy when there is respect for the will of the people

Managua (Agenzia Fides) – The Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Managua, Bishop Silvio Baez Ortega, said that “a democracy without values” can “easily” become totalitarianism, hidden or open. “In Nicaragua we need to create the basis for a true democracy and this democracy will occur when there is respect for the will of the people, when the voice of the people is heard, when individual interests are no longer primary and we become less selfish,” said the Bishop in various declarations made on local television.
According to Bishop Baez Ortega, Nicaragua is going through “difficult times” and the people must try “not to choose the path of violence.... I believe that the moment has arrived for the people of Nicaragua to remember what we have been telling them: a democracy without values can easily become totalitarianism, hidden or open, and we do not want this to happen in Nicaragua,” he added. The Bishops of Nicaragua want more for the citizens “and we believe that only a pluralist democratic system in Nicaragua can guarantee development, wellbeing and more for the poor, and, above all, the possibility of governing in peace and justice,” the Bishop then said.
Although the date of the next election is still far away (6 November 2011) the election campaign has already begun very decisively, marked by the decision of current President Ortega to stand again, thereby going against the provisions of the Constitution. Nicaraguans should elect a new President and a Vice President, 90 deputies for the National Assembly and 20 for the Central American Parliament. Also on behalf of the Catholic Church, the Coordinator of the Committee for Family Pastoral Care for the Archdiocese of Managua, Mons. Silvio Fonseca, warned that violation of Article 147 of the Political Constitution, committed by the Head of State, “will create serious problems for the Country, because the first one who must lead by example in respecting the laws is the President of the Republic.” (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 21/03/2011)