An official of the Moravian Church in Nicaragua, conferring with American mission staff in Bethlehem, said yesterday the people involved in the recent kidnapping of two Atlantic Coast Sandinista leaders, one the former dean of a Moravian school, are supported by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Rev. Andy Shogreen, president of the Nicaragua Moravian provincial board, said he did not know if the CIA had planned the abductions of Sandinista leaders Ray Hooker and Patricia Delgado, butsaid that those "involved in the kidnapping are supported by the CIA. Hooker, a candidate for deputy for the Sandinista party in a Nov. Their boatman also was missing in the incident. Barricada, Nicaragua's official Sandinista newspaper, has charged that the kidnappings were planned by the CIA.
Theodore E. Wilde, executive director of the Board of World Mission and his staff about the needs, relations and joint efforts for peace of the church in the war-torn country, said they are much concerned about the abductions. They said Hooker, the chosen Sandinista candidate for the new national assembly, visited them recently to explain his desire to write a new constitution for the country, "which would give the Atlantic Coast people the position that it merits.
The Moravian Church, considered the established church on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast with a membership of 35, in congregations, serves the Miskito, Sumu and Rama Indians and the Creole population of Zelaya, the largest and most sparsely settled region of the country. Its headquarters is in Puerto Cabezas, the main port of North Zelaya. Church staff includes about pastors, 40 teachers and 15 social development workers. While the Nicaragua Moravian Church is an independent province, the Moravian Board of World Mission has provided it an annual financial subsidy which has been decreased by 5 percent each year since However, because of the displacement of communities of Miskito Indians and their losses of shelter, crops and animals because of rebel-government conflicts, the mission board decided to maintain the full subsidy between and , Rev.
Shogreen said. Shogreen said, adding that the church is doing its part to help, and noting that U. The church's mission in Nicaragua is to interpret the aspirations of the people, be a source of mediation between the Atlantic Coast people and the Sandinista government and interpret the plans and programs of the people to the government, the church leaders explained.
