Remembering an Ex-Pope's Anger in Nicaragua

Pope Francis today ended his latest to a Latin American country earlier today when he left Cuba following a four-day visit. During his time on the island, the Argentine pontiff emphasized messages of reconciliation and brotherhood among residents regardless of their ideological or political beliefs. His choice to steer away from commenting on the persecution of political dissidents and jailing of political prisoners was criticized by some members of the Cuban-American and Cuban exile community. (Though it remains to be seen if Francis during his first-ever visit to the U.S. will be more vocal on issues relating to human rights abuses in Cuba.)

Francis exercised caution in not blatantly speaking out against the Cuban government while on the island, but that stood in contrast to Pope John Paul II’s visit to Nicaragua in 1983. The Central American country was in the early years of a bloody armed conflict between the ruling Sandinista government and the rebel Contras. The war took its toll on the Nicaraguan Catholic Church that split between the hierarchy opposed to the Sandinista rulers and factions in favor of the government’s social and economic reforms.

Tensions between the sides was high in the days prior to the Pope’s visit but it was expected, as was written by one article at the time, that “the Pope will talk in relatively vague terms that both sides will try to use to best advantage.” As seen in the brief video clip below, that notion was put to rest upon his arrival when he publicly admonished Catholic priest and Minister of Culture Ernesto Cardenal:

Daily Headlines: April 28, 2014

* Vatican: Pope John II was officially declared a saint yesterday partly due to the reported healing of a brain aneurysm that affected Gloribeth Mora Diaz of Costa Rica.
 
* Panama: According to the latest polls the election for Panama’s next president on May 4th could be a neck-and-neck race between Jose Arias representing the ruling conservative party and “moderate leftist” candidate Juan Navarro.

* Brazil: Brazil’s civil aviation minister admitted that Rio de Janeiro’s main international airport could be hit by blackouts during the World Cup of soccer that begins in roughly six weeks.

* Peru: Some five hundred members of the Achuar indigenous group occupied Peru’s biggest oil field in the Amazon rainforest in order to call for the cleanup of oil that has spilled over the last few decades.
  
Video Source – AFP via YouTube

Online Sources – BBC News; ABC News; Reuters; Bloomberg; The Guardian

World Watch: Beyond Bin Laden

The main headline in the global news from the past 24 hours has been the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. But there were other important news stories over the past few days such as the following:

* Vatican City: The late Pope John Paul II was one step closer to sainthood after Sunday’s beatification ceremony at the Vatican.

* Canada: Voters took to the polls in parliamentary elections that could spell the end to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s five years in power.

* Europe: Austria and Germany became the last two E.U. members to remove immigration barriers for workers from the eight former communist bloc countries.

* Middle East: Israeli President Shimon Peres rejected the unity pact between Palestinian rivals political factions Hamas and Fatah and deemed the agreement a "grave mistake."

Video Source – AP via YouTube
Online Sources- The Telegraph, MSNBC, CSMonitor.com, ABC News

World Watch: Why did Mehmet do it?

* Turkey: Mehmet Ali Agca- the man who shot Pope John Paul II in a failed 1981 assassination attempt- was released from prison earlier today.

* Ukraine: Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich won Sunday’s presidential election but will have to face Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a February runoff.

* North Korea: The government said it would refuse to return to stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations until international sanctions are lifted.

* Afghanistan: Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers assaulted Kabul in what one news source described as “the worst attack on the city in nearly a year.”

Image – Guardian UK (“Mehmet Ali Agca waits in a military hospital in Ankara. Photograph: Reuters.”)
Online Sources- Guardian UK, AHN, BBC News, Reuters