The World : Sandinistas Test Church
The Nicaraguan army ordered 50 seminarians to a military base for physical examinations for military service in what appeared to be a new test of wills between the ruling Sandinistas and the Roman Catholic Church. A church spokesman said that Msgr. Bosco Vivas, auxiliary bishop of Managua, has asked Rene Nunez, secretary to the presidency, to intervene. The government had agreed in early 1985 that seminarians would not be drafted. However, tensions are mounting between the leftist Sandinista government and the church, which has accused the government of human rights violations, and Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo has frequently clashed with the Marxist-led regime.
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