San Francisco de Cuapa () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Chontales Department Chontales () () is a Departments of Nicaragua, department in Nicaragua. It covers an area of and has a population of 191,856. The capital is Juigalpa. Some of land overlooks Lake Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua) on the western side. The department i ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. This municipality was created July 30, 1997 and is located in the northeast section of Chontales. Before that date, the town was part of the municipality of Juigalpa. Its area is about . The principal business activity is the cattle and agriculture. 99% of the population is Catholic. The first mayor was Manuel Antonio Zelaya Meneses and the vice-mayor was Oscar Velasquez Gonzalez. They were elected in 1997.

Reported apparition of the Virgin Mary

In 1980, Bernardo Martínez, sacristan, claimed to have a series of visions of the Virgin Mary. According to Bernardo, this began on April 15 when he saw a strange light emanating from a statue of the Virgin Mary in the parish church. In May, when walking through the fields, he claimed that he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary, who encouraged him to pray the rosary and promote peace saying: "Make Peace. Don't ask Our Lord for peace because, if you do not make it, there will be no peace." At this time, Nicaragua was going through a civil war. The

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front (, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistan ...

government was facing armed opposition from the

Contras In the history of Nicaragua, the Contras (Spanish: ''La contrarrevolución'', the counter-revolution) were the right-wing militias who waged anti-communist guerilla warfare (1979–1990) against the Marxist governments of the Sandinista Na ...

. Bernardo Martinez claimed that the Virgin Mary ordered him to burn bad books, which was interpreted to mean Marxist books. The auxiliary Bishop of Managua complied with this request. Sandinista commentators responded by describing the apparition as 'St. Mary of the Contras', 'Our Lady of

Oliver North Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. A veteran of the Vietnam War, North was a National Sec ...

and Our Lady of Cuapa. On November 13, 1982, the Bishop of Juigalpa released an official statement as Bishop of the area where the apparitions took place assuring the faithful of the authenticity of the events. The apparitions at San Francisco de Cuapa are thus among the few

Marian apparition A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance of Mary, the mother of Jesus. While sometimes described as a type of vision, apparitions are generally regarded as external manifestations, whereas visions are more often understood as ...

s approved by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in the twentieth century. In 2005, Silvio Sirias wrote a novel, ''Bernardo and the Virgin'' based on these events.

Piedra de Cuapa

The Piedra de Cuapa (Rock of Cuapa) or Monolito de Cuapa (Monolith of Cuapa) is a prominent landmark in San Francisco de Cuapa. According to a Nicaraguan folk-tale, it is inhabited by a

duende A duende is a humanoid figure of folklore, with variations from Iberian Peninsula, Iberian, Ibero-America, Ibero American, and Culture of Latin America, Latin American cultures, comparable to Dwarf (folklore), dwarves, gnomes, or leprechauns. ...

, or perhaps a whole family of duendes. According to the legend, a duende fell in love with a young woman named Flor, and stole her family's donkey, which they placed on top of the Piedra. Eventually, the family was able to defeat the duendes by playing loud music. Other local folklore includes a tree that is said to shed tears from its branches at midnight, and the legend that any man who bathes in a particular place will marry a woman from the area and never leave.'Memories of Cuapa'
Escape From America Magazine, February 2003

References

External links

El Duende de la Piedra de Cuapa
Article about La Piedra from supplement to ''La Prensa''

Site devoted to Marian apparitions, includes English translation of Bernardo Martinez' account of his visions. {{DEFAULTSORT:San Francisco De Cuapa Municipalities of the Chontales Department