Ortega vs. Church? Catholic Protest Mobilization in Nicaragua’s 2018 “Uprising”

• In Event: Christianity and Politics in Latin America and Africa: Cross-Regional Dialogue

Abstract

Over the last decade, aspirations for democratization have been cut short by increasingly authoritarian repression and anti-democratic governance in countries worldwide. As in prior moments of political upheaval, such as the “Third Wave,” the Catholic Church is emerging as a powerful force in many of these contexts. Yet, the religious and geo-political landscapes in which the church operates have changed dramatically in recent decades. Nowhere, perhaps, is this more evident than in Nicaragua. In 2018, a nationwide wave of more than 2,000 protests – many of them deadly – arose in opposition to Daniel Ortega’s antidemocratic rule. Termed an “uprising” and “revolt” by the press, the protests constituted a critical juncture in Nicaraguan politics, as they established a national social movement that demands democracy. To what extent did the Catholic Church contribute to this mass mobilization? What means did they use and what is their perceived effect? Drawing on multiple original databases and extensive qualitative fieldwork, this paper offers some of the first systematic analysis of the role of the Church in this movement. Empirically, this case provides a powerful new context in which to evaluate expectations of Political Process theory (McAdam, Tarrow, & Tilly, 2001; Tilly & Tarrow, 2015) against other hypotheses from research on religion and social movements. Broadly, I find that the Church played a critical role as “midwife to the movement,” though not always in ways that are consistent with extant theories.

Author

• Sergio Miguel Cabrales Domínguez