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Wednesday November 7, 2007

Baptist candidate running as mayor of Nueva Guinea has broad support

Trinidad Vásquez, MANAGUA, Nicaragua, July 15, 2004

Arsenio Alvir, son of one of the founders of the Municipality of Nueva Guinea, 290 Taxi Heathrow Airport kilometers southeast of the capital and the scene of intense strife during the internal war in the 1980s, is running for mayor with the support of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), the  Resistencia Party and the Evangelical pastors.

Alvir has said that if he wins November’s municipal elections his priority will be to promote peace in the zone that is wracked by a wave of violence, compounded by a high level of alcohol consumption and the presence of groups of anti-social young people.

He added that he will focus on improving roads in rural areas and legalizing the land that houses hundreds of Evangelical Churches.

Alvir, who has been a delegate of the Pro Denomination Alliance Council of Churches (CEPAD) for 18 years in that municipality, recently resigned from his position. During a thanksgiving worship service in the Apostolic Church, Church authorities gave him a diploma to recognize his years of service to the communities.

During the war, Alvir, together with Gustavo Pararon and other campesino leaders and pastors worked intensely along side peace commissioners to pacify and achieve reconciliation in the area.  

During the worship service, Pastor Fabián Avilés Jarquín said that he personally supported Alvir in his goals because he is a person characterized by dedication to service and community progress. Pastor Job Sevilla, president of the Pastoral Committee in the municipality, home to 134,000, echoed his sentiments.

Alvir received the diploma from CEPAD authorities for his valuable contribution to implementing housing projects and training and they exhorted him to hold fast to this spirit of work and honesty if he is elected major. The candidate, known for his humility, said he would maintain his conciliating and tolerant spirit in the political arena.

The Baptist Church leader said he is sure he will win, because he has the support of the Convergencia, an alliance between the FSLN and other parties and he is also supported by liberal groups, the Resistencia Party and the Evangelical people of New Guinea.