By James Phillips

(James Phillips is a cultural and political anthropologist and a former Jesuit with forty years as a student of Central America.) 

Gustavo Gutierrez died on October 22, 2024, in Lima, Peru, at the age of 96. His death will not occasion headlines in the world’s major news media, but it should.

Gutierrez is not well known in the United States, but in the history of human liberation he has a place alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., and others whose words and work have both inspired and uplifted the struggles of the oppressed for what King called freedom and what Gutierrez called liberation. Like King, Gutierrez understood that religious faith and history are not separate realms, but are intimately connected. For both of them, faith was a powerful force that could be employed either to control or to liberate people in both body and soul. For them, “faith” was both spiritual and political at once.

Gustavo Gutierrez was born in 1928, a Peruvian who became a Catholic priest and, later in life, entered the Dominican Religious Order. He was a scholar, a theologian who spent much time as a priest among the people, the poor.  In 1971, after years of reflection and experience of the reality of life around him, he published A Theology of Liberation, which became a groundbreaking book. He wrote it at a time when dictatorships and military rule, complete with severe poverty and repression, were the lot of millions in Latin America. He began the Introduction to A Theology of Liberation with this (translated here from the Spanish):

“This book is an attempt at reflection, based on the gospel and the experience of men and women committed to the process of liberation in the oppressed and exploited land of Latin America. It is a theological reflection born of the experience of shared efforts to abolish the current unjust situation and to build a different society, freer and more human. Many in Latin America have started along the path of a commitment to liberation, and among them is a growing number of Christians; whatever the validity of these pages, it is due to their experiences and reflections.”

To some, theological reflection might seem like a rather tame, even counter-intuitive place to promote human liberation—spiritual perhaps, but not physical, political, societal liberation. But Gutierrez showed that such an attitude was based on a false assumption (encouraged by both church and state) that the “spiritual” was somehow distinct and separate from the rest of daily life. The traditional theology of the Catholic Church and much of Christianity depicted God as a great king, or judge overseeing the lives of individuals and separating the good from the bad. Punishment and reward were integral to this traditional theology. Gutierrez insisted that theology begin where people live, not in abstract philosophical principles. For him, understanding liberation started with recognizing that God is found in the streets and the fields, present and struggling alongside the people in community, rather than in the heavens judging people from on high. The God of liberation was neither judge nor ruler, but rather one who encouraged and inspired humans in their struggles for a better society, who changed tires, washed laundry, and taught in school.

For the theologians of liberation, the salvation promised by Christianity was not confined to saving one’s soul. It included the entire human, body and soul. It was not enough for religion to encourage charity for the poor and oppressed while remaining silent about the systems that oppressed the poor. Liberation was not simply individual salvation in isolation from participation in community. Liberation was essentially social. Gutierrez saw that we saved and liberated each other together in community. This also implied engagement in the political situation of society.

This understanding of God as one with the people, especially the poor and oppressed was not entirely new. In parts of Latin America, especially Central America, in the 1960s and 1970s, small groups of people (comunidades eclesiales de base—Christian base communities) were beginning to meet to reflect on the meaning of the Christian gospels in the light of their own daily experiences and of the political realities and movements around them. They did not merely accept the interpretations of church authorities. The idea of the kind of new and just society that arose from these biblical reflections led many to seek ways to make real such a society by joining or supporting political, even revolutionary movements that seemed to be seeking the same kind of society. They knew that these political and revolutionary movements were not perfect, only human, made of people like them seeking a better, more just society. Political movements could be practical vehicles toward a more just and free society.

In Nicaragua, many Christians joined the Sandinista-led revolution to depose the brutal dictatorship of the Somoza family. When Somoza fled, in 1979, the new revolutionary government included many who had embraced the theology of liberation, including at least three Catholic priests as cabinet ministers in the revolutionary government. This involved much soul-searching, especially about the morality of joining a movement that included violent means to overthrow a repressive reality. This alliance of Christians with a secular revolutionary movement was seen as a new phenomenon. Revolutionaries were supposed to be secular atheists and communists, but now people of faith were also revolutionaries alongside and in common cause with the others. Those who used only peaceful means and those who took up arms both worked to find a better society. Nicaragua exemplified this different reality, one that was evolving also in countries like El Salvador. The Nicaraguan revolution invited participation of atheists, religious people, young guerrilla fighters, and people who engaged in all sorts of more peaceful means to support the revolution. It is doubtful that Gutierrez foresaw all of this in 1971 as he wrote A Theology of Liberation, but his ideas and those of other liberation theologians helped prepare the way.

Others certainly saw the power of liberation theology. Gutierrez and the idea of liberation he promoted were threats to traditional church and state authorities who had colluded for centuries in maintaining control of societies for their own profit. The Vatican censured Gutierrez personally and issued statements condemning liberation theology as Marxist. This was the time of the Cold War, and the Marxist label was a catch-all for anything that seemed to threaten the position of the privileged. The Reagan Administration saw liberation theology as a threat to US. interests, and said so openly. Reagan knew that to destroy the Nicaraguan revolution he must destroy not only the Sandinista government but also the theology of liberation.  He did this in part by claiming falsely and repeatedly that the Sandinista government was persecuting religion. Those of us in Nicaragua at the time (1980s) saw no such persecution, but rather free expressions of faith and religion everywhere.

So, Gutierrez and others incurred the wrath of both church and state, in this case the United States. Priests and others who embraced a theology of liberation in Latin America were removed by the Vatican or their bishops, or were targeted and killed. “Be a patriot, kill a priest,” was the alleged chant of the Salvadoran military that killed priests, nuns, and Archbishop Oscar Romero, in El Salvador, even as the U.S provided millions of dollars in aid to the Salvadoran military. In revolutionary Nicaragua, no priests or nuns were killed by the Sandinista government.

Despite being targeted and denounced by some powerful authorities, Gutierrez continued to write and speak about liberation, along with others who added their insights to the reality he had opened. The fundamental insights of liberation theology have survived. Much of its influence is felt and expressed now quietly and without fanfare. Many Christians in Latin America have internalized their faith and express it in work for the community and for others, building what MLK might have called a “beloved community” that they consider more important than church services or obedience to church hierarchy.

We in the United States are seeing the resurgence of a so-called Christian nationalism that is the opposite of the theology of liberation promoted by Gutierrez. Christian nationalism divides, condemns, and targets people and whole communities who challenge the kind of exclusive and punitive nation that Christian nationalists seem to want. We need to be reminded that an alternative vision of faith, politics, and society already exists and has been powerful before, one described and promoted by MLK and Gustavo Gutierrez. May they rest in peace as their work continues among us. Gustavo Gutierrez, presente!

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Briefs 
By Nan McCurdy

More than 3,000 Recyclers Trained by MARENA this Year
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) announced that during 2024 it has provided technical support to 168 collection centers,15 cooperatives, and 8 repair shops that carry out environmental practices like recycling. The objective is to reduce pollution and promote the circular economy. 3,339 people have been trained in collection centers, cooperatives, associations, auto dismantling and repair workshops in the integrated management of waste. Technical and legal advice has been provided to recyclers through an official environmental program. These actions are part of the National Strategy for the Integrated Management of Hazardous and Non-Hazardous Waste and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/mas-de-3-mil-recicladores-capacitados-por-marena-en-este-ano/ (La Primerisima, 17 November 2024)

New Interoceanic Canal Route Plan Presented
On November 18, President Daniel Ortega presented to the public the proposal for a new route for an interoceanic canal through Nicaragua. During the ceremony opening of the XVII China-Latin America and the Caribbean Business Summit held in Managua, President Ortega presented the map of the new route that would go between the Port of Bluefields on the Caribbean coast and the Port of Corinto on the Pacific. Ortega invited Chinese, Latin American and Caribbean businesspeople to join Nicaraguans in this historic proposal. This canal would have a length of 445 kilometers and would pass through part of Lake Xolotlán (Lake Managua).

“It is clear that trade is growing more and more in the world, it is also true that following the route of President Xi Jinping, the Silk Road, more and more routes are opening that are bringing welfare to the people, and it is also true that one of the routes most used by …large and medium enterprises … is water transport on ships which transport tons of goods,” said Ortega. He pointed out that the Panama Canal has problems with having enough water. Ships often have to wait for days or weeks to pass, making trade more expensive. “There is no alternative, there should be an alternative, and we have the alternative here in Nicaragua,” he said. He explained that many studies have been done over the years and there is a shorter route that passes through Lake Cocibolca [Lake Nicaragua, where there could be more environmental damage]. He explained that this project through Lake Xolotlán is to start at the Port of Bluefields.

Ortega said that the canal would have a very wide channel to facilitate the passage of the largest ships with enormous loads [ships that can’t currently go through the Panama Canal]. The President asked “’What is missing?’ What is missing is that we join efforts; first with Latin American and Caribbean businesspeople. Logically our brothers from the People’s Republic of China will join us, and if there are other countries that want to join us, the doors are open to all.”  “Nicaragua is ready to contribute for greater fluidity to maritime transport, to trade and we invite you all [to join us],” he concluded.

The Nicaraguan president greeted the 250 representatives of Chinese institutions and companies who he said come “to share love, joy, benefits, programs, investments and projects of all kinds to lift people out of misery and poverty.” He said also, “We are so pleased that 70 delegates from institutions and companies from Latin America and the Caribbean are here. In unity there is strength and this is a giant step that we are all taking together among small countries like ours, accompanied by a power that has much to contribute to the welfare of our people.” The president stressed that for Nicaragua this China-Latin America and Caribbean Business Summit is a historic event.

The ceremony was headed by the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, and Vice President Rosario Murillo, together with the Vice President of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Yang Zhen, and the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Nicaragua, Chen Xi. The city of Zhengzhou will host the XVIII China – Latin America and the Caribbean Business Summit next year. See photos and map of new route: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/daniel-y-rosario-participan-en-cumbre-empresarial-china/ (La Primerisima, 18 November, 2024)

Constitutional Reform Would Create Co-Presidents
President Daniel Ortega has sent several reforms to the Nicaraguan Constitution to the National Assembly. One of them establishes in Article 133 the creation of the figure of co-presidents. Another of the reforms would reduce the number of magistrates in the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) to nine of which five would be women. On Nov. 20 the National Assembly formed a special commission which will be in charge of reviewing and making recommendations on the reforms as part of a process of updating and modernizing the Magna Carta. The President of the Assembly, Dr. Gustavo Porras, said that the Special Commission of Constitutional Character will be in charge of the study and consultation of opinions on the initiative. Dr. Porras said that the Law for the Partial Reform of the Political Constitution of Nicaragua is being referred to the Special Commission whose report must be discussed and approved twice in the legislature [in Nicaragua, Constitutional changes require votes in two different legislative terms – in this case 2024 and 2025.] It also reaffirms the recognition of Nicaragua’s original and Afro-descendant peoples and their own identity and culture, within a unitary and indivisible state. The right to free and quality education in all its levels including initial, basic, middle, technical, higher and teaching will be constitutionally established as well as the right to free and quality health care within the model of family and community health with the participation of the Nicaraguan people. (La Primerisima, 20 November 2024)

Tropical Storm Leaves Two Dead and More than 300 Homes Flooded
On Nov. 17 SINAPRED (National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Attention) authorities reported one death [and later another] and more than 300 houses flooded in different parts of the country due to tropical storm Sara which has caused days of constant rain. Bismarck Velásquez, 25 years old, was swept away on his motorcycle when he crossed a bridge in the Los Laureles neighborhood, in the municipality of San Francisco de Cuapa, department of Chontales. His body was found 10 kilometers from the site of the tragedy. COMUPRED reported 118 flooded houses in the municipality of León; 76 homes in the municipality of La Paz Centro, 76 homes in the municipality of Rivas, 69 homes in Ciudad Dario and at least 15 homes in Managua [the actual numbers are likely much higher as rain continues to fall]. SINAPRED reported that rivers have risen in at least 10 municipalities as a result of the constant rains. Authorities also report the fall of trees, collapse of roads, overflowing riverbeds, collapse of walls and roofs. The rains have also caused landslides. Since November 15, Nicaragua has been on yellow alert emergency due to the downpours caused by the tropical storm. Dr. Guillermo González, Minister Director of SINAPRED, ordered the execution of response plans and protection measures for the population in affected and potentially affected areas, including the preparation of shelters and the activation of disaster protocols. (La Primerisima, 17 November 2024)

Nicaragua Champion of Games for Students with Disabilities
Nicaragua obtained the highest number of gold medals and stood out in silver and bronze in the XI Central American School Sports Games for Students with Disabilities, organized by the Central American Council of Sports and Recreation (CODICADER) from November 12 to 17 in Panama City. The Nicaraguan delegation, with 83 male and female competitors, won 24 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medals for a total of 45 medals. The categories were from 12 to 15 years old and from 16 to 19 years old in five disabilities: Hearing, Visual, Down’s Syndrome, Intellectual Disability and Cerebral Palsy. There were three days of competitions for students with disabilities at primary and secondary level with athletes from Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua. These games not only represented a space to measure sports skills, but also a celebration of the talent and resilience of students with disabilities, who demonstrated that barriers can be broken with effort and determination. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/nicaragua-brilla-en-juegos-codicader-para-estudiantes-con-discapacidad/ (La Primerisima, 17 November 2024)

Nicaragua Signs Important Agreements with Chinese Companies
Laureano Ortega, Presidential Advisor for Investment, Trade and International Cooperation, said that, within the framework of the XVII China-Latin America and Caribbean Business Summit, important agreements and contracts were signed with Chinese companies to develop projects in Nicaragua that will create the opportunity to make leaps towards development, creating jobs and prosperity in the country. “It will help us in the fight against poverty, in achieving as China did the eradication of extreme poverty here in Nicaragua,” he stated. A new Eastern Market will be built [this market is the biggest in the region] as well as a metal recycling plant. Another part of the important agreement is the El Barro wind project, which will continue the development of renewable energies and will lower the cost of electricity in the country. In the health sector, a cooperation agreement was signed for the supply of drugs and the design and construction of a regional drug production and distribution center. The Business Summit was held this November 18 and 19 in Managua. (La Primerisima, 18 November 2024)