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| Central American University - UCA |
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Number 50 | Agosto 1985 |
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Nicaragua
Two Historic Letters by Cardinal Arns
Envío team
In Defense of Nicaragua and On Latin America’s Foreign Debt Crisis
On Sunday, July 28, Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga, of San Felix de Araguaya (Mato Grosso, Brazil) arrived in Managua. He came, inspired by the fast and prayer which Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister Miguel D’Escoto began July 7, to express his solidarity with the Nicaraguan people and to add his voice, through fasting and prayer, to the call for peace in the country. Bishop Casaldáliga brought with him the support of 23 Brazilian bishops and more than 200 human rights organizations, unions, and indigenous and religious groups of Brazil. Father Grandmaison, the personal representative of the Cardinal Archbishop of Sao Paulo, Paulo Evaristo Arns, arrived with Casaldáliga, bringing a letter from the Cardinal to Father D’Escoto. At a press conference on July 29, Bishop Casaldáliga read the letter, calling it “an historic document for the Church of Latin America in this century.”
On July 31, Fray Betto, a Dominican priest from the Archdiocese of Sao Paulo, spoke at the Conference on the Latin American and Caribbean Debt held in Havana, Cuba from July 31 to August 3. Fray Betto participated in the conference as the personal representative of Cardinal Arns and read a letter sent by the cardinal to the more than 1200 participants. On August 3, Fidel Castro read the cardinal’s letter again, closing the Havana Conference with Arns’ solemn words.
envío publishes these two letters, convinced of their importance not only for the Latin American Church, but for all of the Latin American faithful who await decisive action from the Church at this moment of crisis. Cardinal Arns is the bishop of one of the largest cities in Latin America, Sao Paulo, whose inhabitants are in their majority poor and marginalized, but solidly organized in their political parties and their unions and solid in their Christianity.
As bishop of the largest Catholic city in the world, in the country with the largest Catholic population, Cardinal Arns is one of the most important bishops in the Latin American Church. In these two letters, he focuses upon the two burning issues in Latin America today: the war of aggression against Nicaragua, related as it is to the struggle for peace in Central America, and the pressure of the foreign debt upon all Latin American countries. These two issues are a challenge to the dignity and creativity of Latin Americans. They are two fronts in the same struggle in which the Church has a great responsibility and Cardinal Arns has raised these issues as his banner in the letters. These two letters, written in response to two important events, Father D’Escoto’s fast and the Havana Conference, are of great value. The letters are a challenge to Latin America’s people, its ecclesiastical leaders and its political leaders.
Letter to Father Miguel D’EscotoCuria Office of Metropolitan Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sao Paulo, July 23, 1985
Dear Friend Miguel,
Peace and well-being.
“Humanity does not live by bread alone, but also by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
This message by Jesus after fasting in the desert for forty days helps us to understand your action. Jesus undertook his fast to show his openness and submission to his Father’s will before beginning his liberating apostolic mission.
Your fast at this time confronts the conscience of the world with the gravity of what is happening to your people. Your action is a prophetic one that denounces the attempt to kill the seed of new life planted by the Sandinista revolution.
I very much respect your decision to carry out this fast, inspired “by my conscience as a priest in the face of the reality of death and destruction that exists in Nicaragua as a consequence of the war of aggression that the Government of the United States has declared against us.”
Your country has every right to choose the best possible road for itself so that the living conditions of its people are more just, and to do so without interference from any foreign power. The self-determination of your country is essential for peace and harmony in our Latin American continent.
I take this opportunity to remind the Government of the United States that the aspirations of the Nicaraguan people for peace and liberty are legitimate and noble. I also take the opportunity to join in solidarity with your people in the struggle to construct a new society where there is fraternity, justice and peace.
I beg you, in a spirit of brotherhood, to consider the possibility of stopping this action if there are any signs that your life is in danger, as your life is precious to us and to your people.
United in Christ,
Paulo Evaristo Arns
Cardinal Archbishop of the Church of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Letter to the Delegates in HavanaHis Excellency Mr. Fidel Castro
Honored President of the Cuban Government and Council of State,
Esteemed Delegates:
I am grateful for the invitation to participate in the joint analysis of Latin America and the Caribbean’s foreign debt within the context of the present international economic crisis. Unable to attend because of innumerable duties, I would like to express my desire that this reunion be especially beneficial for the great majority of the poor who inhabit our countries.
By the light of Christ’s Gospel, from the social doctrine of the Church and the words of Pope John Paul II, I want to specify some basic points which seem fundamental to the issue being debated:
1- There are no realistic ways in which the Latin American and Caribbean people can assume the weight of paying the colossal debt incurred by our governments. It is not even a viable alternative for us to continue paying high interests at the expense of sacrificing development and well being.
2- The problem of the debt is not just financial, but fundamentally political and it must be faced as such. What is at risk here is not the accounts of international creditors, but rather the lives of millions of people who cannot suffer the permanent threat of regressive measures and unemployment which bring misery and death..
3- Human rights demand that all people of good will from the continent and the Caribbean, that all sectors responsible, unite in the urgent search for a realistic solution to the foreign debt problem, as a way of preserving the sovereignty of our nations and defending the principle that the chief commitment of our governments is not to creditors but to our people.
4- The intransigent defense of the principle of self-determination of our peoples requires an end to interference by international organizations in the financial administration of our countries. Considering that the government belongs to the public, any contracts signed with such organizations should immediately be made known to public opinion.
5- It is urgent to establish concrete bases for a New International Economic Order, in which the unjust relations exiting between rich and poor countries are abolished and the third world is guaranteed the inalienable right to manage its own destiny, free of imperialistic meddling and exploitative commercial relations.
Certain of the success of this important event, I implore God to fill our hearts with the blessed hunger and thirst for justice, so that we may be always loyal to the aspirations for freedom of our peoples.
Receive my fraternal greetings,
Paulo Evaristo Arns
Cardinal Archbishop of the Church of Sao Paulo, Brazil
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a monthly magazine of analysis on Central America