“Perspectives on Nicaragua: Two progressive viewpoints on current Nicaraguan reality”

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Submitted by SusanGalloway, Video by Darien Lamen on Tue, 2018-10-02 17:56

Perspectives on Nicaragua: Two progressive viewpoints on current Nicaraguan reality

On September 5th 2018, Rochester Committee on Latin America, ROCLA, presented Michael Argaman and Arnold Matlin in a debate on what is really happening in Nicaragua. Both Michael and Arnie are long time ROCLA members with deep, historical, involvement in Nicaragua. Dr. Karleen West, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at SUNY Geneseo, will moderate the debate.

The program examined the recent anti-government protests and violence in Nicaragua. Generally, the American and international press has blamed the Nicaragua government of President Daniel Ortega for the attacks on citizens, police, and infrastructure. Because of almost uniformly anti-government coverage of these events, it’s difficult to discern the complicated reality on the ground.

Transcript of opening statement of Arold Matlin:

Nicaragua Debate 09-05-18

Tonight the debate is about the recent violence in Nicaragua. I’ll make this point at the beginning: What happened in Nicaragua was a coup attempt. The coup attempt was carefully planned by the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy and the Nicaraguan right wing. Their goal was to overthrow the legal government of Nicaragua, and they failed.

Unfortunately, the coup leaders were able to set the agenda for news about the conflict. They were very good at it. “Evil government forces repressing unarmed students.” This basic narrative got picked up by the right-wing media and then became the mainstream media story of the events in Nicaragua. However, the problem is that it wasn’t true!

In fact, the narrative actually started out with a lie. We were told that an innocent, peaceful student protester was killed on April 18th in Managua. In reality, no protester was killed on April 18th. It was a complete fabrication.

+ To step back, I want to describe some of the social and economic progress that Nicaragua had made since President Ortega’s took office in 2007.

Nicaragua had the second highest economic growth rates and the most stable economy in Central America.

Nicaragua is the Latin American country with the greatest reduction of extreme poverty.

Nicaragua did not contribute to the migrant exodus to the US, unlike the desperate people of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Why not? Because Nicaraguans didn’t have to flee from either gang violence, government repression, or from hunger!

OK—so what were the so-called peaceful protesters protesting? The stated reason for the protests was a change in the Social Security law. Do you really believe that students would stage major protests about changes in the Social Security law? What students do you know who could care that much about what the social security law will be in 2058?

The protests were called for and directed by COSEP, which in English is the Superior Council for Private Enterprise. In other words, the Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce, only worse. COSEP is aligned with the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy. The overarching goal of the National Endowment for Democracy is to “provide a coordinated strategy and media voice for opposition groups in Nicaragua.” That’s exactly what they did.

Since 2014, the NED has given $4.4 million dollars to groups in Nicaragua. The people trained by NED were able to shape and control public opinion on Facebook in the five days from April 18th to April 22nd. Their messages, full of lies, triggered violent protests across the country.

The violence in Nicaragua was terrible. For three months armed right-wing gangs roamed the streets. (Most of the students left the protests when they understood that they were being manipulated by the right wing. When they saw the people protesting next to them, the realized that they were thugs and hooligans.) These armed thugs put up the barricades—called tranques in Spanish—which prevented people from traveling from city to city, and even from traveling from their homes to their work.

These roadblocks were centers of terror. If you were a coup supporter, you were OK. If you weren’t a coup supporter, you were often shaken down for money, robbed, beaten, and even killed.

Why didn’t the police protect the people? Because the police were ordered to stay in their barracks. Why were the police ordered to stay in their barracks? Because every time the police showed up to do their job the video recording began, and the same narrative was presented: armed police and paramilitaries are slaughtering innocent, unarmed student protesters.

At least 200 people died because of the coup attempt. The leaders of the coup claimed that all of them were killed by the government. Does that make any sense? As it turned out, almost exactly half of the people were killed by protesters and the other half were killed by people loyal to the government. If there hadn’t been a coup attempt, all those people would be alive today.

The coup forces caused enormous damage: They burned down 60 government buildings. They attacked schools, hospitals, and health centers. They ruined 55 ambulances. Destruction was everywhere. Do you really believe that so much destruction could be caused by peaceful, unarmed protesters?

At this point, I want you to think about what I’ve said so far. Then think about Guatemala in 1954, think about the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in 1961, think about the invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965, think about the coup in Chile in 1973, think about the Contra war in Nicaragua in the 1980’s, think of the coup in Honduras in 2009. What do all these events have in common? They have in common the bloody hands of the U.S. government overthrowing progressive Latin-American governments. Then ask yourself, “Why should the coup attempt in Nicaragua be any different?” It’s the same game plan, just managed in a slightly different fashion which was made possible by advances in technology.

I’ll remind you that the coup leaders didn’t call for any social or economic reforms, which at least would have made sense. They either called for President Ortega’s resignation or they called for early elections in 2019 instead of 2021.

Why should President Ortega resign? He received 72 percent of the vote in 2016.

In regard to early elections, I looked at the constitution of Nicaragua, and here’s what it says:

Article 148 • Term length of Head of State The President and the Vice President shall exercise their functions for a period of five years counting from their assuming office on the tenth of January of the year following their election.

President Ortega was inaugurated on January 10, 2017. The next president of Nicaragua will be inaugurated on January 10, 2022. It would be unconstitutional for President Ortega to declare an early election. The President of Nicaragua serves for five years, not three.

Now you have to decide which narrative to believe. Did the respected Nicaraguan police turn into the vicious Honduran police on April 18th? Were the armed thugs at the tranques truly peaceful protesters? Is the U.S. government innocent, or was the U.S. government again guilty of attempting to overthrow a progressive government in Latin America?

Arnold Matlin, M.D. 09-05-18

Transcript of Michael Argaman's opening statement:

US involvement/interference in Nicaragua and other Global South countries is possibly one of the oldest professions in the US. Roosevelt #1’s corollary to the Monroe Doctrine basically said that the US runs things in Latin America and no one else should have any power. Roosevelt #2, an apologist for Nicaraguan dictator Somoza, said that Somoza is a son of a bitch, but he’s OUR son of a bitch. Thankfully, the main street in Managua leading from the Sandino silhouette down to the Plaza of the Revolution is no longer named Avenida Roosevelt. US interference was somewhat latent during the neo-liberal years in Nicaragua. It was blatant during the Reagan Regime and the government of Bush #1, with open invasion through the Contra mercenaries and attempts to interfere in Nicaraguan elections. The US has disrespected Nicaragua in particular over the years because of the threat of the good example that Nicaragua represented. As revolutionary Nicaraguan folksinger Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy sings, “Si Nicaragua vencio’, El Salvador vencera’, y Guatemala prepara ya…” (translation: If Nicaragua has won, El Salvador will win, and get ready Guatemala…). The US really fears the Domino Theory.

While US interference never stops, it is wrong to attribute all opposition to the Ortega-Murillo government as US-inspired or US-instigated. Actual conditions on the ground and frustrations building up over many years may be the driving factor behind what I see as a popular rebellion against a repressive government.

Here are ten relevant historical milestones since the electoral defeat of the Frente Sandinista on February 25th, 1990, that show some of the issues with the Ortega-Murillo government. As we review them, you can consider whether or not the Danielista claim that “yanqui imperialism made me do it” is valid. Let’s look at each of these events.

1. 1990 La piñata: Just like it sounds, la piñata was an opportunity for certain people to grab as many of the goodies for themselves as possible. Some of the leadership and other functionaries of the FSLN, in the period just after the electoral defeat, took possession of massive amounts of public land, houses and institutions and reregistered them in their own names. The excuse was that during the land reform people didn’t think to change titles on property because they thought that the revolution was forever. While this may have been true in some cases, the vast majority of the title changes during la piñata were not to the advantage of the urban poor and the rural campesinos.

2. 1994 MRS split with the FSLN: Many intellectuals and former guerrilla fighters in the FSLN became disillusioned with the leadership and direction of the party. This included former Vice President and internationally-known writer Sergio Ramirez, in addition to guerrilla fighter and 2nd in command of the 1978 assault on Somoza’s National Palace Dora Maria Tellez, and many others. They formed the MRS, which is the Sandinista Renovation Movement, which became a pro-Sandinista anti-FSLN opposition party. Another person who split from the FSLN and formed a progressive opposition group was guerrilla fighter Monica Baltodano. She was once introduced by former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman to Bill Clinton during a visit to Nicaragua as “my Monica”.

3. 1998 Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo: The daughter of Daniel Ortega’s wife and current Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is the stepdaughter of Daniel Ortega, came out with very detailed and credible accusations of sexual abuse by her stepfather that took place when she was a teenager during the 1980s. Rosario Murillo strongly supported her husband Daniel Ortega over her daughter Zoilamerica.

4. 1999 Daniel’s pact with Arnoldo Aleman, the Catholic Church hierarchy, and the business community: Since Daniel Ortega and the FSLN were out of power, but still had a lot of influence through the legislature, the judiciary, the army and the electoral council, he decided to make deals with the devil to try to expand his influence and eventually retake power. He entered into a pact with right-wing president Arnoldo Aleman, which eventually led to Aleman not having to serve a prison sentence for corruption. There was also a pact with Cardinal Obando y Bravo of the most reactionary wing of the Catholic Church. Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua now outlaws ALL abortion, even in the event of rape, incest, or a danger to the life or health of the mother. Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua has the most restrictive abortion laws in the Western Hemisphere. The pact was also with COSEP, which is the equivalent to the Chamber of Commerce. Daniel put business interests ahead of the interests of the workers and campesinos. These pacts were consummated with three sectors that were counterrevolutionary during the struggle: Arnoldo Aleman, the church and the business community.

5. 2006 Herty Lewites presidential candidacy: Herty ran for president as the candidate of the Sandinsta Renovation Movement. Although the MRS had had a hard time gaining traction over the years, Herty was the most popular politician in Nicaragua, and had a good chance of defeating FSLN perpetual candidate Daniel Ortega. Herty had been the Tourism Minister after the triumph of the revolution and had brought hundreds of thousands of solidarity tourists to Nicaragua, even during wartime, giving a big boost to the economy. His brother Israel Lewites was a Sandinista martyr who fell during the attack on Somoza’s National Guard headquarters in Masaya in October 1977. Herty was purged from the FSLN in February 2005. He died in July 2006, a few months before the election, of what was said to be a heart attack. No autopsy was done, and many Nicaraguans believe that the full story of Herty’s death has not been told.

6. 2011 Changed rules regarding reelection to consecutive terms: Until 2011, Nicaraguan law did not allow for two consecutive periods of presidency. Daniel Ortega wanted to run for again after his 2006 to 2011 term, so since he controlled the Supreme Electoral Council, he had the law changed.

7. 2013 Rosario Murillo’s $26,000 metal “trees of life”: Vice President Rosario Murillo, wife of Daniel Ortega, thinks of herself as an artist. She designed colorful large tall metallic “trees”, each costing $26,000, and installed more than 100 of them in Managua. Do the math. This is millions of dollars worth of so-called art, in a poor country of the Global South. This doesn’t even take into account the cost of lighting these things every night. During the recent uprising, some of these trees were triumphantly torn down, just like the statues of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.

8. 2014 Canal deal with Hong Kong company: The government of Daniel Ortega made a secretive deal with a company from Hong Kong to build a canal through Nicaragua to compete with the Panama Canal. The terms were very unfavorable to Nicaragua, including environmental harm and massive expropriation of land from campesinos without their input and without clarity regarding just compensation. The canal has not been built and it may never happen, but people are unhappy with the deal.

9. Early April 2018 Indio Maiz natural reserve fire: In the southeastern part of the country there is a huge natural reserve. There was a large fire there negatively impacting the reserve. It is likely that speculators illegally trying to clear the land were responsible for the fire, but by now the fed-up population blamed the government for not doing enough quickly enough to avoid the natural disaster. The government may not have had the capacity to do much more than it did, in a remote rural area. Nevertheless, things were starting to boil with public demonstrations against the government.

10. Mid April 2018 social security changes: The last straw before the massive public outpouring into the streets was the announcement of changes to the social security system. Are you listening Donald? Daniel announced that required contributions to the system would increase and benefits would decrease. He did this due to pressure from his allies in the business community. The problem, other than the policy itself, is that Daniel got the blame for a policy initiated by his less than trustworthy allies. But he had chosen to collaborate with them. And when the public became outraged at the new policy, Daniel waited until it was too late to reverse the policy.

So here we are, four and one-half months after the April 19th uprising. Was it the US that caused the uprising or tried to engineer a coup? I have not seen any credible evidence that US attempts to interfere have been decisive.

So what’s next for Nicaragua? There are various organized and unorganized players vying for power. The FSLN wants to retain power, and has paramilitary groups with backup from the police. The Constitutional Liberal Party or PLC, led by former president Arnoldo Aleman, wants to retake power. The Sandinista Renovation Movement or MRS is actively organizing. The Catholic Church is trying to increase its influence by mediating between the government and opposition groups. My hope is with some of the students, who reject the existing parties and system and have organized themselves in smaller anarchist groups. Many of them have a more progressive vision than the other parties.

Street barricades have gone up throughout the country, including in our sister community of El Sauce. The barricades are generally being built with Somoza stones; the stones that were manufactured in a Somoza family factory and are used to pave many roads in Nicaragua. These same stones were used in the 1970s to build barricades during the Sandinista revolution. There have been many arrests, which are continuing, and hundreds of dead, mostly civilian protestors and bystanders, with some police and FSLN paramilitary members also. Prominent Nicaraguan dissidents, such as folksinger Carlos Mejia Godoy, have fled the country due to threats from pro-Daniel forces. On human rights questions, I rely on the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights CENIDH, founded by former Sandinista revolutionary Vilma Nunez de Escorcia, and is not tied to US interests.

Some of the opposition is clearly sympathetic to US intervention and is opposed to the goals of the revolution, but there are progressive elements in the opposition. Hopefully these elements will gain strength. It’s hard to see what will happen, but it’s clear that the Ortega-Murillo government will have a hard time maintaining their rule. The government has limited control of the streets. People don’t feel safe going out at night and even during the day in some places. The economy, which has always been in difficult shape, is in ruins. The poor are paying the price. The economy can’t be rebuilt until the current government is gone.

Yesterday, according to Dora Maria Tellez, six members of the University Coalition, were kidnapped by Ortega’s paramilitaries. I will say their names:

Iskra Malespin

Gresia Rivera

Alejandro Centeno

Edwin Carcache

Judith Mairena

Ariana Moraga

In the 1980s, after the triumph of the revolution, there was no personality cult of the leadership. There were posters of dead martyrs, such as Sandino and Carlos Fonseca, but no contemporary leaders. On my most recent visit, in February of this year, the streets were full of posters of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. A fellow traveler with me, on his first visit to Nicaragua, observed that “this country is full of Marxist kitsch.” Everything is a façade, empty of almost all of the revolutionary content.

On July 19th, for the 39th anniversary of the triumph of Sandinista Popular Revolution, the FSLN was able to gather a crowd in Managua to celebrate with them. It was a smaller crowd than usual. Sadly, it probably wouldn’t be too out of place for Ortega and Murillo to hand out red hats at their rallies emblazoned with what could be their new slogan: MAKE NICARAGUA GREAT AGAIN.

09/05/18

This event will surely bring more light to the current situation in that country than recent conflicting media coverage has provided.

Protest / Resistance