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Sandinista Nicaragua
Liberation theology and its practitioners played an essential role in the formation and leadership of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Spanish: Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN). This relationship, which reached its apex in the earliest years of FSLN rule within Nicaragua (1979-1990), is observed in the ideological convergence between liberation theology and Sandinismo, the influence of liberation theologians within the FSLN government, and the interrelated support for liberation theology and the FSLN among the Nicaraguan populace, ranging from urban citizens to ecclesial base communities.

Liberation theology and Sandinismo
Liberation theology played an important role in the development of Sandinismo the philosophical foundation of the FSLN. In the 1970s, practitioners of liberation theology increasingly viewed the FSLN as the optimal revolutionary alternative to the regime of Anastasio Somoza, whose regime was marked by human rights abuses. This alliance brought about the advent of Sandinismo, which combined the radical agrarian nationalism of Augusto Sandino with revolutionary Christianity and Latin American Marxism.

The FSLN appealed to liberation theologians for several reasons. As discussed by Nicaraguan liberation theologians like Ernesto Cardenal and Miguel D'Escoto, liberation theology and its efforts to bring about social justice and an end to the oppression of poor inherently connected with the anti-capitalist and Marxist ideological platform of the FLSN. Like the Marxist foundations of the FSLN, liberation theologians viewed history through an eschatological lens, meaning that historical evolution was oriented towards a final destiny. Although the FSLN did not embrace the Christian eschatological vision of liberation theologians, both liberation theology and Sandinismo emphasized the need for revolutionary action that empowered the poor as historical agents in bringing about a new society. This emphasis, evident in accounts from Nicaraguan citizens who claimed that the Sandinista revolution made them feel like "architects of their liberation," attracted masses of Nicaraguan Catholics to join the FSLN.

Liberation theology and the Sandinista government
Following the successful ousting of Somoza and the establishment of the FSLN government in 1979, liberation theology and its practitioners shaped initiatives pursued by the FSLN. In following Christian theological principles of forgiveness and peace, as articulated by Tomas Borge, the FSLN became the first modern revolutionary movement to ban the death penalty and not perform executions of political enemies after rising to power. Liberation theology also played a key role in the 1980 Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign (Spanish: Cruzada nacional de alfabetización) with thousands of Catholic youth and priests leading efforts to end illiteracy among the Nicaraguan poor. As discussed by scholar Sandra Langley, this campaign embraced overly religious metaphors and imagery, notably its characterization as a "crusade." Beyond this campaign, priests and nuns of religious orders like the Maryknoll sisters facilitated FSLN public health campaigns.

In addition to the hundreds of priests, nuns, and laypeople who participated in FSLN programs, several liberation theologians held executive positions within the FSLN government. In 1979, Ernesto Cardenal and Miguel D'Escoto became the FSLN Minister of Culture and Foreign Minister, respectively. Other priests including Fernando Cardenal, Edgar Parrales, and Alvaro Arguello also served in governmental positions with the FSLN. Despite criticism and threats from the conservative Nicaraguan Catholic hierarchy and the Vatican, these liberation theologians held office throughout the rule of the FSLN, maintaining their conception that their governmental service expressed a theological commitment to social justice and the liberation of the poor.

Liberation theology and the Nicaraguan populace
Beyond the relationship between the FSLN and notable liberation theologians, liberation theology mobilized Nicaraguan Christians in support of the FSLN before, during, and after the Nicaraguan Revolution. Liberation theology initially spread across Nicaragua in the late-1960s and early-1970s from secular priests and lay Christians who adopted this theology after reading the works of liberation theologians like Gustavo Gutierrez and encountering the living conditions of the poor. Throughout the 1970s, the FSLN attracted increasing numbers of radical Christians to its cause through its emphases on revolutionary social action, armed struggle, and the extension of historical agency to the poor. These messages distinctly appealed to the Nicaraguan Christian masses who, after suffering under periods of martial law and economic exploitation under the Somoza regime, sought to bring about their own liberation through political and religious revolution.

Support for the FSLN among Nicaraguans largely spread through ecclesial base communities, who were introduced to liberation theology and the FSLN through articles written in La Prensa, radio programs, and lessons taught by educated Catholic laypeople. Ecclesial base communities first emerged in Nicaragua in the early 1960s as small, local gatherings of Christians who discussed religious, political, and social matters together. As these communities embraced liberation theology, they rejected the institutional Catholic Church and established connective networks with other base communities. Following two years of FSLN rule, outright opposition to the FSLN from the Catholic hierarchy under Archbishop Miguel Obando y Bravo cemented the divisions between the institutional Catholic church and ecclesial base communities, which embraced the FSLN and liberation theology throughout the 1980s. One ecclesial base community important in the spread of liberation theology and support for the FSLN was the Solentiname community, established in 1966 by Fr. Ernesto Cardenal. At Solentiname, theologians, priests, and other revolutionaries gathered to pray, write, and reflect on contemporary political and religious matters. This community bridged liberation theology and support for the FSLN in The Gospel of Solentiname, a four-volume exegetical text that re-interpreted the canonical gospels to address the realities of life among the Nicaraguan poor. This document blended themes of liberation and revolutionary Christianity to propose a mutual relationship between Christianity and the FLSN and to justify the pursuit of Marxist revolution as an expression of faith.

The Solentiname community served as a model for countless rural ecclesial base communities across Nicaragua. One such ecclesial base community was located in Gualiqueme, a rural agricultural collective established in 1984 near the Honduras-Nicaragua border. In Gualiqueme, rural villagers engaged in the praxis of liberation theology through weekly gatherings that incorporated scriptural reflection, re-examination of cultural values, and communal work to improve the material outcomes of their community. This community, which additionally served as a defense outpost for the FSLN against the Contras, embodied the interconnected nature of liberation theology with FSLN ideology and policy.



Already consulted
Lowy, Michael and Pompan, Claudia, "Marxism and Christianity in Latin America."

Sawchuk, Dana, "The Catholic Church in the Nicaraguan Revolution: A Gramscian Analysis."

Reed, Jean-Pierre, "Elective affinities between Sandinismo (as socialist idea) and liberation theology in the Nicaraguan Revolution

Rubenstein, Richard, "The Political Significance of Latin American Liberation Theology"

Rosario Montoya, "Liberation Theology and the Socialist Utopia of a Nicaraguan Shoemaker"

Ryne Clos, "In the Name of the God Who Will Be: The Mobilization of Radical Christians in the Sandinista Revolution"

James V. Spickard, "Transcending Marxism: Liberation Theology and Critical Theology"

Sandra Langley, "Revisiting “resistance”, “the peasantry”, and liberation/ development: the case of Sandinismo in the 1980s," Social Analysis 48, no. 1(2004): 179–95.

Alberto M. Piedra, "Some Observations on Liberation Theology," World Affairs 148, no. 3 (Winter 1985): 151-158.

Jeffery L. Klaiber, "Prophets and Populists: Liberation Theology, 1968-1988," The Americas 46, no. 1 (July 1989): 1-15.

Michael Kirwan, "Liberation Theology and Catholic Social Teaching," New Blackfriars 93, no. 1044 (March 2012): 246-258.

Reed, Jean Pierre and Pitcher, Sarah. "Religion and Revolutionary We-ness: Religious Discourse, Speech Acts, and Collective Identity in Prerevolution Nicaragua," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 54, no. 3 (2015): 477-500.

To be consulted
Henri Gooren, "Ortega for President: The Religious Rebirth of Sandinismo in Nicaragua," European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe, no. 89 (October 2010): 47-63.

Already consulted
Fernanda Soto, "The revolution was so many things," in ''A Nicaraguan Exceptionalism? Debating the Legacy of the Sandinista Revolution'', ed. Hilary Francis (London: University of London Press, 2020), 45-60.

David Cooper, "Grassroots verticalism? A Comunidad Eclesial de Base in rural Nicaragua," in ''A Nicaraguan Exceptionalism? Debating the Legacy of the Sandinista Revolution'' (London: University of London Press, 2020), 145-164.

Phillip K. Williams, "The Catholic Church in the Nicaraguan Revolution," in The Catholic Church and Politics in Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009): 65-97.

To be consulted
Theresa Keeley, "Religious or Political Activists for Nicaragua?," in Reagan's Gun-Toting Nuns: The Catholic Conflict over Cold War Human Rights Policy in Central America (New York: Cornell University Press, 2020), 41-68.

Silke Heumann and Jan Willem Duyvendak, "When and Why Religious Groups Become Political Players The Pro-Life Movement in Nicaragua," in Players and Arenas: The Interactive Dynamics of Protest, ed. James M. Jasper and Jan Willem Duyvendak (Amsterdam University Press, 2015): 251-274.

Theresa Keeley, "Reagan and the White House's Maryknoll Nun," in Reagan's Gun-Toting Nuns: The Catholic Conflict over Cold War Human Rights Policy in Central America (New York: Cornell University Press, 2020), 131-160.