The following is excerpted from an interview with Gustavo Parajon, a Baptist pastor and the president of the Evangelical Committee for Aid and Development (CEPAD), which represents most of Nicaragua's evangelical churches. As a medical doctor, Parajon directs the Provadenic clinic program, which serves the poor in urban and rural areas of Nicaragua and offers training in health care. --The Editors
What has the revolution meant for the people of Nicaragua, the church in Nicaragua, and for you as a doctor, pastor, and church leader?
Before the earthquake in 1972, I was practicing internal medicine at the Baptist hospital. I had had training in both internal medicine and public health, and I was very dissatisfied with my ministry, because I knew I was not reaching the people whom I had studied to serve.
In my practice I saw very wealthy people, many from the American embassy. What bothered me was the fact that the great majority of our people had absolutely no medical care available to them. So I started to go two or three days a week out into the rural areas. But after a few years I was very discouraged to realize that despite the fact that I was going there, nothing changed. I saw the same illnesses over and over. It was obvious to me that something had to change the societal structure.
The earthquake provided a reference point for us evangelicals to begin a broader ministry. All we were trying to do was reach the people who were exploited, who had no money or land. We wanted to see everyone get decent medical care and health education.
Because of the revolution, all the things we worked for are now readily accessible and available. We have absolutely no conflict with the revolution, with its programs for better housing, better health and education. And we feel certain that the reason the revolutionary government has no problem with us is because the leaders have seen our commitment to the people in the rural areas, who are the poorest in Nicaragua.
But there has been stress and strain within our evangelical churches. And that stress has to do with conversion.
I shared with people long before the triumph that we must be converted to the gospel in relation to our material possessions. I have observed that if we do not want to part with what we have materially, we become very much against anything that will bring some justice to the people. Until we allow the Lord to take over this area, we have not had full conversion.
But most of our people in the evangelical churches, like most of the Nicaraguan people, are poor and look forward to the revolutionary programs. They understand what these programs can mean to them, to their fullness of life. So as churches we do not object to the programs.
We have had some problems in our communities, and we have had difficulties with some government officials in a variety of places. But this has not been because of the philosophy of the revolution, but because of personal misunderstandings and the longstanding prejudice in the country against evangelicals. This prejudice existed long before the revolution.
My life has changed dramatically, especially since the counterrevolutionary activity has increased, because I find the one thing I am doing most now is interpreting the revolution to people. I think this is exceedingly important in view of the threat against the revolution and our government by the United States.
I have spoken to Christians in the United States and have pointed out that the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world is trying to squelch a small nation. We are a nation of people who are proud, in a positive sense, and who want to construct our lives in a meaningful way to help others.
I think the church in the United States must do all it can to stop this wave of destruction in our region. The gospel is an affirmation of life, and the promotion of death should be absolutely foreign to Christians.
How do you evaluate the revolution in terms of its democracy, pluralism, and popular participation?
The history of Nicaragua has to be understood in order to answer that question. People in the United States are very worried about democracy here. But our experience is very different from that of the United States.
In a sense, the Sandinista Front is doing a favor to the other political parties, which are miniscule in numbers, because Somoza never allowed any political activity. When Somoza left, the National Guard collapsed along with the political structure.
There are no parties here in Nicaragua that can claim more than a few hundred members, if that many, with the exception of the Sandinista Liberation Front. Because of the small numbers in these parties, the Sandinistas could have ignored them, but the Sandinista commitment is that there be political participation. So the parties have been invited, along with a variety of other organizations, to contribute to the society.
There is more democracy now in the country than I can ever remember. When I was about 8, 10 years old, I witnessed a so-called election here. My father allowed me to go two blocks down from our house to the voting site. I was there when Somoza's National Guard came in a truck and, in front of all of us, removed the two ballot boxes and put them in the truck, then replaced them with two others. People began to shout in protest. The soldiers began to shoot. I remember that I took off in a hurry and hid under a bed; someone had opened the door of their house so we could flee from the bullets.
We've never had such an opportunity for democracy as we do now. There's a tremendous amount of give and take between the people and the government leaders. We've always found them willing to dialogue and converse. There have been mistakes on their part, and we have talked with them about those mistakes. They have agreed with our concerns and heard our pleas.
Why didn't the Sandinistas hold elections after the triumph, and do you expect them to fulfill their promise of elections in '85?
Yes, I expect them to fulfill their promise of elections and to have a plural approach. But I don't think the other parties are going to get to first base, because they don't have any political programs.
As I recall, the first elections in the United States took place about nine years after the revolution; I remind my American friends about that.
It's very difficult to explain about the elections to Americans because they don't usually know the cultural differences between Nicaragua and the United States. They can't understand that the Front is really interested in promoting the conscientization of the people prior to elections, so that the people understand who they are and what they can achieve.
I especially endorse the growing awareness about the role of women. There are still many things that could be changed favorably for women, because we are still a macho society in many ways. But certainly the revolution has a lot to teach us in the churches about the contribution of women. The revolution is spearheading that conscientization.
You are very respected in Nicaragua, and you are very supportive of the revolution; but you are not a Sandinista. Why not? Why have you chosen not to be a member of the government?
I see myself primarily as a church person, a minister, a missionary. I have seen the tremendous potential, not only in Nicaragua but in all of Latin America, for the church as an agent of change.
Ten years ago there were 100,000 evangelical congregations in Latin America. Now we have twice that number. Especially in situations of oppression, the evangelical churches as well as the Catholic church can be of tremendous help to the people. My calling is to be within the church and to think in the line of Ephesians four, the building of the body of Christ.
As far as the political party, I haven't had the time to participate. I might consider joining, but to be a Sandinista you have to have a tremendous curriculum. Certainly, among some of the young people with whom I have come into contact, I see that their vocation is political. I think that we as a church should recognize that gift that the Lord has given and should support them in this calling.
I have great respect, admiration, and now affection too for the Sandinistas because I can see their commitment, their honesty, and their willingness to be of help to all the Nicaraguan people. This gives me great hope. As far as my Christian life, they have inspired me tremendously. If we Christians here in Nicaragua would be willing to give as much, give of ourselves as they have, I think the church would be in a very different state here in Nicaragua.
As a close observer to the revolution, do you have any concerns or fears about its direction?
I am a participant, not only an observer. What we want to do here in Nicaragua is to have a government and a nation in which people will be able to participate to their fullest, to develop the gifts that God has given to all of us, and to promote justice.
Just after the triumph, when we didn't know the revolution, all of us had some fears that maybe we would have a totalitarian regime, that we might not be able to worship in our churches as we had in the past. But after three years working in different communities with the government in programs it has sponsored, we don't have this fear any more.
The greatest fear right now, of course, comes from the United States government and the threat that it means to our revolution. If the United States government keeps pushing and being aggressive as it has, we will have many problems in the future. If not, we still can have tomorrow.
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