Nicaragua

[blindpig]

Here we have an example of TeleSur (English) posting reactionary crap without challenge. Gotta watch that account, the Spanish language account more politically reliable.

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Nicaragua University Students 'Ready to Dialogue with Gov't'
Published 8 May 2018 (10 hours 44 minutes ago)



Students protesting social reform proposals have rejected the Truth Commission, saying it lacks "all the legitimacy and support of Nicaraguan society."
The National Coalition of Nicaraguan University Students is ready to cooperate with the Sandinista government in a united push for peace, the group has announced, following the recent protests prompted by proposed social reforms.

Elected representatives have presented their demands to state officials, calling for justice and the "opening of a broad and deep process of national democratization." The delegation of students also requested the rule of law be reinstated.

Five students will be participating in the government dialogue "to defend the demands of the Nicaraguan brothers." Their names will be withheld until the date for the talks has been set.

Since the government proposed changes to social security and state medical benefits last month, violent protests have consumed the nation.

On April 16, the government amended its proposals, stating it would implement a 0.75 percent increase in monthly contributions by workers to the state social security system, and a 3.5 percent increase in employer's contributions by January 2019.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) should be present for over 36 hours to ensure the state forms a just and reliable truth commission, the students said.

They have rejected the Commission for Truth, Justice and Peace which was ratified and sworn in by the National Assembly on Sunday to investigate the litany of crimes and murders committed during the protests.

Students said the Truth Commission lacked "all the legitimacy and support of Nicaraguan society."

Finally, the delegation has demanded the immediate end of the "illegitimate and arbitrary trials" connected with the murder of journalist Angel Gahona.

The students first showed their interest in dialogue on April 26, agreeing to end protests on the condition that students and civilians be guaranteed safety and officials put an end to the political prosecution of prisoners. At least 11 people died during the protests.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0033.html

Initially the government wasn't even talking to these punks and thugs, it went straight to the source of the problem, the 'business community'. This was wise and illustrated what was really going on. These punks got no dog in this fight(other than their potential inheritance and of course class interests). I suppose they'd make a stink if not recognized but it still gives legitimacy to their flagrant terrorism. I'm sure President Ortega has been a keen observer of affairs in Venezuela and knows what the Sandinistas are up against.

" 2 bits to a bottle of piss all them bootlickers look like aryans"
courtesy Xi Hung@TacTKrl

[blindpig]

Daniel: Long live peace in Nicaragua!
We recognize the effort made by His Eminence, Most Reverend Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, with the bishops, to support this process of dialogue, he indicated.CCC _ JAIRO CAJINA _140
|


THE VOICE OF SANDINISM | 05/01/2018

The President of the Republic, Commander Daniel Ortega, from the Plaza de las Victorias and in front of the Nicaraguan people, said that our country says no to death, no to destruction, no to violence, no to barbarism, and yes to life, yes to dialogue, yes to work, yes to peace.

Before thousands of families gathered in support of dialogue and peace in our country, Commander Daniel exclaimed: Let us raise our hands and ask God for strength saying: Give us Lord strength, give us Lord the strength to be an instrument of peace and where there is hatred Let's plant love. Long live peace in Nicaragua!

In his speech he stressed that our country has been building peace in the midst of immense pain, because the war imposed by the usual interventionists charged the heroic people of Nicaragua more than 50 thousand deaths.

The words of President Daniel were accompanied by shouts of "the united people will never be defeated!".

Little by little we have been consolidating peace, with joy, with love, with solidarity, with a youth that has been forging itself with a truly Christian spirit, which starts from the beginning and loves your neighbor as yourself. Unfortunately the same ones that incited war before, now incite violence again, and in the middle the victims of violence, those killed by these violent acts that we have all repudiated, condemned. Again the sowers of hatred have caused a deep wound in the heart of the Homeland, and the Homeland is mourning, President Daniel stressed.

He also asked to observe a minute of silence to remember the deceased, in solidarity with all the families of the deceased and to commit ourselves so that violence does not return to our homeland.

At this moment of the words of President Daniel the crowd erupted in cheers and exclamations of "Long live Daniel!".

This afternoon we pay homage to our beloved Commander Tomás Borge on the sixth anniversary of his departure and welcome him to that glorious date that is workers' day, May Day, Daniel said.

Daniel highlighted the role of the Sandinista Youth July 19, whose boys and girls study and then work in the different institutions to travel through the neighborhoods of the cities, the peasant communities, to bring the bread of solidarity to the most impoverished families, and accompany families in all situations that are affected such as floods, earthquakes, fires, among others.

He indicated that Comandante Eden Pastora and Commander of the Revolution Víctor Manuel Tirado López also participated in the ceremony, who greeted the population gathered in the Plaza de las Victorias and asked him to "go ahead without hesitation".

"Now it's about the defense of peace. In the defense of peace not a step back ", ratified Commander Daniel.

He stressed that it is important to maintain peace so that the peasants can continue to work the land as they have been doing throughout these years, in peace, stability and security, to guarantee the food of all Nicaraguans, so that the workers can march to your factories without obstacles and do not put jobs at risk, because violence affects formal and informal employment.

He indicated that the installation of a dialogue is pending to address issues that have to do with social and economic justice and the security of Nicaraguans, with justice in relation to the condemnable events that have occurred, situations that have to be investigated to that the guilty can be found, not to throw us full of hatred against them, not to throw us with the knife against them, but to understand that already whole Nicaragua chose the path of peace, stability, security.

We recognize the effort made by His Eminence, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, with the bishops to support this process of dialogue. Dialogue for peace, that is the great goal. We are totally committed in any circumstance that is present, even in the most difficult, because there are those who are boycotting the dialogue, but it is the families, the peasants, the workers, the people, the youth, the women, who will fight for defend peace, he stressed.

We raise our hands this afternoon in our commitment to all the deceased, in the different races that our country has experienced, with the thousands of victims and dead, said Daniel.

Not death, not destruction, not violence, not barbarism, yes to life, yes to dialogue, yes to work, yes to peace, Comandante Daniel exclaimed.





It is easy to chaff at the insistence upon 'peace & love" given the provocations but then I haven't suffered a Contra War. Ortega will prove to be no more of a 'pushover' than Madero.

[blindpig]

(Courtesy James Casey @MrJames_Casey)

FUN FACT: In the early 1980s, the U.S. Government was determined to undermine or overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua. As part of this campaign, the CIA distributed a comic book designed to destabilise the Nicaraguan Government and economic system.






and they ain't changed a lick

[blindpig]

Here we have TeleSur En at it's worst:

Peace Talks Start Tomorrow in Nicaragua
Published 14 May 2018

"After hearing the roar from the majority of society and the gravity of the situation in our country, ... we are announcing the talks," Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes today.
Nicaragua’s national dialogue for peace will begin tomorrow, announced the country’s Episcopal Conference today.

"After hearing the roar from the vast majority of society and the gravity of the situation in our country, and even though the circumstances for dialogue aren’t ideal, we are announcing the talks," said president of the conference, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes.

The conversations will start at 10:00 AM local time at the Our Lady of Fatima church in Managua.

The Episcopal Conference will act as a mediator and witness to the talks but says it does not have all the solutions for the particular questions that may arise. However, says the cleric, that the proposals that best respond to human dignity and the common good are the best to be translated into political action.

It’s expected that, in addition to the Catholic church, representatives from student associations, business associations, and the government will also be a part of the peace dialogue.

"We hope that this dialogue structurally takes up the topic of the institutions of the country with the objective to lead the way to democracy," said the archbishop of Managua in a press conference.

Brenes asked all sectors - the government and all of society - to back the dialogues and maintain an environment of respect and tolerance and, moreover, only hold demonstrations that are peaceful. He asked all members of society to avoid provoking violence.

Peaceful protests began in April demonstrating against the government’s announcement to increase workers’ and employers’ monthly contribution to the state social security system. Demonstrations were immediately hijacked by more right-wing factions that were calling to get rid of President Daniel Ortega. Dozens of people have died over the past month during the manifestations.

Ortega backed down from his initial proposal and massive demonstrations remained peaceful until the past several days when anti-government protesters set fire to a municipal building in the city of La Concepcion and attempted to set fire to a Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party headquarters in the same city.

Ortega announced today that the Inter American Commission of Human Rights (ICHR) will investigate the deaths of several demonstrators that have occurred over the past month.

"The government of Nicaragua expresses its consent that the Commission … carries out its work with the objective to observe in loco the human rights situation in Nicaragua in the context of what happened on April 18" when protests initially broke out.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0020.html

First the red bird makes this ambiguous statement giving the impression that the vast majority of the populace is against the government when in fact they are protesting the violent hooliganism. Vast majority approve of the changes to social security as they bring improved services at an minimal reduction in cash benefits. It is the capitalist and their tools, including this red bird who object to an increase in contributions from business.

I'd like to see the Sandinistas come down hard on these assholes, they seem to have the popular support, but do not know what their realistic options are.

[blindpig]

Dialogue advances in Nicaragua after a month of violence
Convened by President Daniel Ortega, the national dialogue began on Wednesday in the capital of the Inter-Diocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fatima after almost a month of violence, confrontations and vandalism, reports Prensa Latina

Author: International Writing | international@granma.cu

May 17, 2018 22:05:28


The majority of Nicaraguans pronounce themselves for the end of violence. Photo: The Voice of Sandinismo

MANAGUA.- Nicaragua entered into a national dialogue for stability, justice and peace, after a month of violence, confrontations and acts of vandalism, with a balance of deaths, injuries and economic damages yet to be determined.


The crisis, unprecedented in recent decades, broke out on April 18 against social security reforms, later repealed, but did not stop the protests, which were joined by other political demands.

Convened by President Daniel Ortega, the national dialogue began on Wednesday in the capital of the Inter-Diocesan Seminary of Our Lady of Fatima after almost a month of violence, confrontations and vandalism, reports Prensa Latina.

Ortega recalled at the beginning of the talks the horrors of the wars Nicaragua has lived through throughout its history. One war, he said, that "cost more than 50,000 victims and that it was finally fought thanks to dialogue and consensus among all sectors of the country."

Today, before all the violent actions that are happening, "the people demand justice, that they let them work and live in peace, that they do not kill Nicaragua. That is what the people are asking for, "the president said, quoted by La voz del Sandinismo.

Within the dialogue table there are sectors that demand the exit of the current Executive, while the majority demands the cessation of the violent actions of the destabilizers and the respect to the results of the last general elections, in which Ortega won with more than 70% of the votes.

http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2018-05-17/a ... 8-22-05-28

Google Translator

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Nicaragua: Extortion, Dialogue And A Longing for Peace
By: Tortilla Con Sal


Above all, people in Nicaragua want to be able to live, work and study in peace, writes Tortilla Con Sal. | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 May 2018 (19 hours 4 minutes ago)

Above all, people in Nicaragua want to be able to live, work and study in peace, writes Tortilla Con Sal.
Nicaragua: Extortion, Dialogue And A Longing for Peace
by Tortilla Con Sal

Above all, people in Nicaragua want to be able to live, work and study in peace, writes Tortilla Con Sal.
Recent experience confirms that the Latin American and the Caribbean right-wing, like the U.S. government, cannot be trusted to comply with agreements. That has been true for Cuba's revolutionary government in its direct talks with the U.S. authorities; for Colombia's FARC former guerrillas over government implementation of the peace agreement, and for Venezuela's government in the national dialogue with the political opposition. Likewise, misgivings prevail about the integrity of the National Dialogue for Peace in Nicaragua mediated by the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church as witness of the process.

Ever since April 23, violent right-wing extremists have murdered government supporters and bystanders; continued to attack municipal offices and police installations; vandalized and looted commercial property – as well as buses, taxis and private vehicles – and have shot and wounded numerous police officers. But the Episcopal Conference openly sides with the opposition, falsely suggesting that the violent opposition are victims. The dialogue process has only been kept on track thanks to the dour patience of the Nicaraguan authorities, led by President Daniel Ortega, and their determination not to allow provocations to sabotage the chance for peace.

Dialogue Without Conditions

On April 22, President Ortega asked the Catholic bishops to mediate a dialogue without conditions. The bishops, led by Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, accepted. But they took almost three weeks to agree the dialogue with an opposition made up of business organizations, students and opposition politicians. Everything suggested the opposition simply did not want dialogue. That was confirmed on May 11, when – after originally agreeing to mediate without preconditions – the bishops set out four aggressive preconditions involving a fundamental contradiction. Claiming to defend the rights of all Nicaraguans, the bishops insisted that the police be taken off the streets, implicitly leaving the violent opposition gangs free to continue their attacks.

President Ortega accepted the four preconditions of the bishops' provocative ultimatum, self-contradiction and all, noting diplomatically his government's agreement about the need to stop all violence, intimidation and aggression. He also expressed "our great concern about climates of fear in communities, where – far beyond peaceful protests, which we absolutely respect – acts of violence proliferate that destroy and damage the quality of life of Nicaraguans of all ages, who cry out to God for a return to normality." All through that same weekend, armed gangs attacked and intimidated people across Nicaragua, burning down a famous craft market in Masaya and setting up road blocks, the majority operated by masked thugs preventing freedom of movement.

Between the events of May 11 up to and including the day the dialogue finally began on May 16, the armed gangs attacked police installations and municipal offices in Matagalpa, Masaya and Jinotega. In Matagalpa, they shot dead two government supporters and a one-year-old girl. They also shot and wounded three police officers. In Masaya, they shot dead a government supporter. In Jinotega, they wounded two police officers. At one of the roadblocks, a female patient in an ambulance held up for hours went into convulsions and died before she could be stabilized.

These were the most serious of innumerable incidents of violence and intimidation by the right-wing opposition gangs. In response to these events, on May 12 Cardinal Brenes issued a general appeal calling for an end to all violence, omitting any explicit call on the political opposition to stop their violent provocations. The bishops' extraordinarily cynical statements, biased in favor of the opposition, falsely suggest that primary responsibility for the violence lies with the government.

Perverse Propaganda

That perverse propaganda line persists and also characterized the dialogue's opening session on May 16. Aggressive opposition students tried unsuccessfully to shout down President Ortega during his statement, while the mediating bishops themselves attacked the government for not withdrawing the police from the streets. In response, President Ortega pointed out that the opposition were responsible for the violence, and that the police had orders not to use their firearms and had indeed refrained from taking action.

He noted, however: "We cannot be in a country where one part of Nicaraguans has the right to terrorize and the other part has no alternative but to be terrorized, as currently thousands of families are." That opening session of the dialogue, with the bishops mediating entirely in favor of the opposition, was a triumph of resilient patience on the part of the government representatives in an atmosphere designed to provoke them. Subsequently, on May 18, the first session of direct talks ended with an agreement from both sides to work for peace and develop proposals covering the various issues to be negotiated. The day before, on May 17, a delegation from the OAS Inter-American Commission for Human Rights arrived to begin their investigation of the violent events from April 18 onward.

Even OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro has conceded that dialogue in Nicaragua has worked in terms of promoting peace. For the moment, the government has defused the opposition violence and intimidation ordinary Nicaraguans have experienced for over three weeks now, while opposition forces absurdly pretend they are victims. Apart from the intimidation they have suffered, tens of thousands of workers and small businesses and farmers have been unable to work normally, and the cost to the economy currently runs to over US$200 million. As for the opposition, as usual, they are divided. Most of the business sector and their associated politicians are anxious to get the economy back to normal.

By contrast, the extremist political opposition led by ex-Sandinistas are not, This is logical enough, because the income for the NGO network they depend on is guaranteed by funding from the United States and Europe. Similarly, many of the students regret the damaging results of the violence, but others are more intransigent. The bishops, too, are divided. The most right-wing bishops continue to cynically exploit their mediation role in favor of the opposition, while others do not. Priests at grassroots level have played an important role, genuinely mediating, often in very difficult conditions and at some risk to themselves.

Divisions and Disadvantage

These divisions put the opposition and their supporters among the bishops at a disadvantage, up against a solidly united government team with vast experience and negotiating skills accumulated over more than 30 years. Some opposition leaders – such as Violeta Granera, a perennial client of U.S. government funding – are now so frustrated they have even accused Luis Almagro of treachery for not facilitating their extremist agenda as they had expected. The problem for the government in the negotiations is that whenever these opposition extremists feel they are losing ground, they can reactivate their violent terrorist gangs and plunge the country into chaos again.

Against that constant extortionist threat, the government is likely to sit tight, waiting for public opinion to force the extremists to back down. If the extremists withdraw from the talks, it will be very hard for the bishops to continue to insist – as they have done implicitly for weeks now – that the government allows violent opposition extremists to destroy public order when a clear majority in the country craves normality. While talks on issues such as institutional changes or social security and tax reform take their course, above all, people in Nicaragua want to be able to live, work and study in peace.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/opini ... -0016.html

Smash the bishops.

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Nicaragua,Venezuela: One Enemy, One Fight For Democracy
By: Tortilla Con Sal


All the signs are that – just as in Venezuela – people at the grassroots level in Nicaragua won't get fooled again. | Photo: Reuters

Published 26 May 2018

All the signs are that – just as in Venezuela – people at the grassroots level in Nicaragua won't get fooled again.
Nicaragua,Venezuela: One Enemy, One Fight For Democracy
by Tortilla Con Sal

All the signs are that – just as in Venezuela – people at the grassroots level in Nicaragua won't get fooled again, writes Tortilla Con Sal.
Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are all targets of the U.S. government because they challenge control of Latin America and the Caribbean by Western corporate elites and their local allies. By means of soft coups these interests have – at least for now – taken power in Brazil and Argentina, hijacked the government in Ecuador and derailed the peace process in Colombia. Currently, U.S. efforts at regime change focus most urgently on Venezuela and Nicaragua, while reverting to the failed policy of punitive sanctions against Cuba and biding their time for the moment in Bolivia.

Despite the relentless psychological warfare campaign to discredit them, the governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela defend their peoples' fundamental democratic rights to peaceful economic development focused on human needs rather than corporate profit. This is especially important to understand in the case of Nicaragua. There, the government has democratized the economy to the point where the cooperative, associative and family-based small- and micro-business sectors generate 70 percent of employment, contributing over 50 percent of GDP.

In their different ways, these four countries – all members of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) – have developed viable economic models directly opposed to Western corporate monopoly finance capitalism. They all face illegal actions by the U.S. government and its allies aimed at destabilizing – and, if possible, overthrowing – their legitimate governments. They all promote diverse models of genuine political and economic democracy for their peoples. Theirs is a common struggle against the U.S. and European imperial elites, whose governments are desperate to brake their own accelerating decline relative to China, Russia and other majority world countries.

Nicaragua and Venezuela: Similarities

While the endless war on Venezuela aims at controlling the country's enormous oil and mineral resources, Nicaragua also has significant natural resources. It has Central America's most abundant water resources, well over 60 percent of Central America's natural eco-systems and also around seven to 10 percent of the world's biodiversity.

The geostrategic position of Nicaragua and Venezuela enables their governments to project into the Caribbean and their respective neighboring countries the political and economic vision of a multi-polar world based on solidarity and cooperation rather than the subjugation and pillage now rampant in Brazil, Argentina and elsewhere.

The minority opposition – led by the private business, media and NGO sectors in both Venezuela and Nicaragua – have consistently failed electorally and politically, resorting to insurrectional violence aimed at regime change, rejected by the countries' majorities.

The political opposition is deeply divided in both countries, incapable of offering the electorate a viable inclusive program of sustainable national human development that meets everyone's needs in every sphere of civil, political, economic, social and cultural life.

The governments of both countries have repeatedly demonstrated their institutional legitimacy in serial elections.

Both countries are surrounded by U.S. and allied military bases.

Both countries are committed to regional integration initiatives – Venezuela in Unasur, Nicaragua in the Central American Integration System (SICA), while both are strong supporters of CELAC.

In the United Nations and other international forums, Venezuela and Nicaragua defend international law, condemning the criminal actions of the United States and its allies against, for example, Palestine, Syria and Iran.

Both governments insist on dialogue and mutual respect to resolve both domestic national conflicts and regional and global international conflicts.

De Facto Popular Front

Differences between the two countries result directly from their different geography and economic structure. Venezuela was able to decide to leave the Organization of American States because its status as a supplier of oil and mineral resources give it sufficient autonomy. Nicaragua, more dependent on agricultural and commercial trade with regional partners, has chosen not to abandon the OAS. That decision may well be partly in order to maintain the number of OAS member countries resisting pressure to legitimize the illegal U.S. war on Venezuela. But Nicaragua's government also thinks maintaining dialogue with this North American-dominated forum will help disarm potentially strongly aggressive measures from the U.S. government against Nicaragua's vulnerable economy.

That is also probably why Nicaragua remains a faithful ally of Taiwan, while U.S. client states such as Costa Rica and Panama have abandoned Taiwan in favor of the People's Republic of China, a key investment and trading ally of Venezuela. However, its loyalty to Taiwan has not prevented Nicaragua from working with China to develop the proposal for a new inter-oceanic canal to complement the Panama Canal by expanding shipping capacity across the Central American isthmus. Nicaragua also maintains excellent commercial and development cooperation relations with South Korea and Japan, as well as various Arab nations, as well as Iran. Venezuela and Nicaragua share this eclectic approach to international relations. Both have very important trade and investment relations with Russia and are developing relations with India.


In effect, the ALBA countries form a modern-day Popular Front. Regionally, they resist the determination of the region's fascist corporate elites to seize or keep power and subordinate their countries' economies to North American and European corporate interests. Globally, they defend the vision of a multi-polar world based on solidarity and international law against repeated criminal imperialist economic and military aggression from the United States and its allies. Nicaragua is under attack now because it is a vital component of that regional Popular Front, both for strong political and economic reasons and, too, for deep historical and cultural reasons.

Current National Developments

After five years of unprecedented siege, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has again defeated the U.S. government and its allies, decisively winning the May 20 elections. Now the war on Venezuela will intensify even more: economically, diplomatically and militarily. Similarly, U.S. government efforts to overthrow Nicaragua's elected government will also fail. In what amounts to a war of attrition, President Ortega and his government team are systematically dismantling the illegitimate pretensions of the minority opposition's makeshift coalition, despite cynical manipulation by the mediating Episcopal Conference trying to gerrymander the National Dialogue for Peace in the opposition's favor.

Just as in Venezuela, public opinion in Nicaragua is strongly against the violent tactics of extortion and intimidation by the minority opposition. Even OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro has denounced the lies of the opposition representatives in Nicaragua. The Inter American Commission for Human Rights has acknowledged that the deaths and injuries mentioned in its preliminary report have yet to be investigated. As the facts come out, a truer picture will emerge confirming that most of the deaths and injuries have been of government supporters or bystanders caught up in the violence. For example, testimony from one of the protesters unable to square events with his conscience alleges that the two students killed on April 20 in Esteli were shot by paid opposition thugs. Similar testimonies will confirm that the violence in Nicaragua was deliberately instigated by the opposition – exploiting genuine protest – to discredit the government unjustly, just as in Venezuela.

This weekend, campesino leader Comandante Jorge Diaz, president of a demobilized ex-combatants association, withdrew from the opposition side of the National Dialogue urging his rank and file to dismantle their roadblocks, a phenomenon that has paralyzed the country for weeks. He denounced manipulation of his rural worker membership by some of the bishops and the opposition. That move recalls the clear-sighted remarks of assassinated former Nicaraguan Contra leader Comandante Franklin to a Sandinista leader after the 1990 elections: "The oligarchy used you to overthrow Somoza. Now they have used us to overthrow you." All the signs are that – just as in Venezuela – people at the grassroots level in Nicaragua won't get fooled again.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/opini ... -0024.html

[blindpig]

How does the Nicaraguan Government respond to opposition violence?


Local media have verified the use of mortars among Protestants. | Photo: Reuters

Published May 31 2018

The call for constant dialogue is the central action taken by the Government of Nicaragua in the face of the escalation of vandalism.
Fires, destruction, mortar attacks are some of the actions registered in Nicaragua in recent weeks by violent protesters, who have taken to the streets to express their rejection of the government of President Daniel Ortega; who has advocated dialogue and peace.

From the middle of April the protests began after a reform to the social security that Ortega later revoked, nevertheless continued the facts. In recent days there has been a resurgence of vandalism despite conversations between the parties.

Peace talks

"We want a peace, for all Nicaraguan families, security for all Nicaraguan families, from the most to the least, because we all have the same rights, before God and before the law," the president said on Wednesday. a speech before his followers concentrated in the avenue of Bolivar to Chávez, in Managua (capital).

It was the first time that Ortega appeared at a public ceremony after he participated on May 16 in the installation of the national dialogue table , whose sessions have been suspended since last week, in which a civil society alliance and the Government with the mediation of the Catholic Church seek to end violence.

The Nicaraguan Executive, headed by Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo , have maintained their desire to talk with the opposition and thus solve their problems. On several occasions they called their opponents, but it was only possible to set up the table with the mediation of the Episcopal Conference.

Authorization of inquiry

One of the central themes is the deaths that have been counted since the demonstrations began. Given this, the parties agreed to the creation of an Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts to investigate and clarify deaths due to violence.

The Government, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States ( OAS ) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ( IACHR ) decided to establish this body to clarify the issue of the deceased. Until now there is no official figure.

"The agreement was signed today, our Government is honoring the commitments of the dialogue table, with investigation of all acts of violence, with justice, around all those acts of violence." We are fully available and in full commitment to convene to talk about all the issues in a respectful way, "said Murillo on Wednesday.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/gobierno ... -0054.html

OAS &IACHR, not good at all. I'm sure the Sandinistas know what to expect.

[blindpig]

Nicaragua: Ortega Renews Call For Peace Following Recent Opposition Violence
Published 31 May 2018

The owners of Nicaragua are all Nicaraguans, regardless of religion and political ideology,” said Ortega
Following a series of violent actions by Nicaraguan opposition forces, President Daniel Ortega has renewed the call for peace and declared that Nicaragua didn't belong to the various interest groups foreign and domestic, which have sort to use the conflict to oust him from office.

“Nicaragua belongs to all of us, and we all stay here... the owners of Nicaragua are all Nicaraguans, regardless of religion and political ideology,” said Ortega in front of thousands of supporters during a Mothers' Day event Wednesday.

Ortega rejected the opposition's petition for his resignation and reminded the public of the “long journey” Nicaragua had gone through reach peace, from the armed conflict since the 1960s to peace agreements in the 1990s.

“The devil is ready to destroy a country that was in peace, a Nicaragua admired by the world for its reconciliation capacity,” he said.

The president also expressed his willingness to reach a peaceful agreement with the opposition groups, in the face of the violence, which had led to the suspension of negotiations last week.

“We want peace for all Nicaraguan families, security for all Nicaraguan families, from the one that has more to the one that has less, because we all have the same rights in front of God and the law,” said Ortega.

Violent protests and clashes with security forces have caused the death of many of many pro-government individuals, who have been in many instances targeted by armed protesters, it has also led to the death of some protesters.

On Wednesday, several opposition groups organized a series of violent protests with specific objectives, destroying buildings, injuring many and killing at least five.


Demonstrators burn the Sandinista radio station during clashes with riot police during a protest against Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, May 30, 2018. Photo | Reuters

An opposition group armed with homemade mortars attacked a Sandinistas caravan heading to Managua for the Mothers' Day homage, killing two and injuring at least 12 people including police officers.

The mayor of Esteli, Francisco Valenzuela, said the caravan was attacked with rocks, homemade mortar, and gunfire by people wearing hoods.

“We spoke with them for about three or four hours. It was difficult, and we were brutally ambushed, attacked when we tried to pass. Some of our comrades are injured. We have a situation of excessive violence in relation to our mobilization's peace, security and calmness terms that must prevail,” he said.

Other sources report that at least four members of the Sandinista Youth were killed during another attack on a caravan leaving the rally.

Also in Esteli, a group attacked, looted and burned the offices of tax collection office, but no people were reported injured.

Nueva Radio Ya (New Radio Now), the State's leading radio station, was also attacked on Wednesday and set on fire, just two days after demonstrators burned its facade. The offices of 100% News Channel and the Dario radio station, both critical of the government, were also attacked.

A group also set fire to the agriculture and livestock cooperative buildings and in the city of Chinandega people who were taking care of the city's town hall were attacked.

A clash between the opposition and pro-government groups was reported near the Central American University (UCA), the Engineering National University (UNI) and the Cathedral of Managua, leaving at least one dead and eight people injured.

And an opposition group, armed with guns and home-made mortars, attacked and looted the Dennis Martinez National Stadium.

Amid the clashes and attacks, Ortega called for all parties to come together to continue the talks, despite the violence shown by some of the most radical opposition groups, saying that peacebuilding is the only way to move forward.

The government has allowed the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Organization of American States to investigate the recent violent events, and agreed to create an Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts to research and shed light on deaths during the protests.

“The agreement was signed today. Our government is respecting the commitments of the dialogue roundtable by investigating every violent act, with justice... We're totally willing and committed to calling for dialogues on every theme in a respectful manner,” said Vice President Rosario Murillo.

The Catholic church has promoted dialogue between different parties, but they recently said that the discussions can't continue while violence is still present on the streets.

In a press release issued Thursday, the Reconciliation and National Unity Government denounced the crimes carried out since April 18, and denied any responsibility of the violence and the existence of paramilitary groups linked to it and reaffirmed its commitment on building peace and searching for truth to achieve what the people want.

The Nicaraguan political crisis began in mid-April when protesters took to the streets against a proposed social security reform that sought to overcome the system’s financial crisis by increasing contribution by both employees and employers to avoid raising the retirement age.

Employers would have faced a 3.5 percent hike while workers a 0.75 percent hike. President Ortega withdrew the reform and issued calls for dialogue to avoid a spiral of violence.

Despite this, clashes between violent protesters and state security forces continued. Violence in Nicaragua has left dozens dead and injured.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0015.html

We can see here TeleSur Eng again indulging in passive-aggressive journalism, the word 'clashes' implying false equivalency in that the violence is entirely instigated and prosecuted by these proxies for the chamber of commerce. Somebody needs going to the woodshed.

[blindpig]

US fingerprints all over Nicaragua’s bloody unrest

William Whiteman is an award-winning British war correspondent and political commentator, currently working for teleSUR English in South America.
Published time: 4 Jun, 2018 23:25


Protest against Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, Nicaragua May 30, 2018 © Oswaldo Rivas / Reuters

The student-led anti-government movement in Nicaragua is unlike other recent attacks on the Latin American socialist bloc; it emanates mainly from the left of the political spectrum. But that doesn’t mean the US isn’t behind it.

The so-called marea rosa, or ‘pink tide’, of allied leftist governments which held sway across Latin America in previous years is being rolled back. Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff was removed from power in a right-wing coup, co-conspirators of which have now managed to imprison the current presidential frontrunner, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno has stabbed his former leader Rafael Correa in the back by barring him from seeking re-election, while seemingly purging his cabinet of remaining Correa loyalists and beginning the process of allowing the US military back into the country. Alongside other democratic and not-so-democratic removals of leftist governments from power, NATO has nabbed itself a foothold in the region, now that Colombia has joined the obsolete yet aggressively expanding Cold War alliance, in a thinly veiled threat to neighboring Venezuela.

And now it’s Nicaragua’s turn under the boot. Again.

Over 100 people have been killed since unrest broke out in mid April. Student demonstrations began in the capital Managua as a reaction to the country’s failure to handle forest fires in one of the most protected areas of the Indio Maiz Biological Reserve. The situation was then exacerbated when, two days later, the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front announced it was slashing pensions and social security payments, sparking further anti-government protests. Targeted opposition violence along with police repressions have led to a mounting body count on both sides. Violence persists in the country, despite the fact that President Ortega has now ditched the proposed welfare reforms and has been engaging in talks with the opposition.

The government has adamantly denied it was responsible for snipers killing at least 15 people at a recent demonstration. And, while we may never know what really happened, it’s fair to say an embattled national leadership in the midst of peace talks has little to gain from people being gunned down in front of the world’s media at an opposition march on Mother’s Day. All I’ll say on the matter is it’s not like we didn’t have mysterious sharpshooters picking off protesters during US-supported coups in Venezuela and Ukraine.

With his approval ratings recently reaching as high as 80 percent during the 2017 presidential campaign, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega is far from a dictator. As a Guerrilla leader, Ortega’s leftist Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) overthrew Anastasio Somoza Debayle’s brutal regime in 1979, thereby ending the Somoza family dynasty which had ruled Nicaragua since the mid-1930s. The US responded by arming, funding and training right-wing death squads, in an insurgency that would ultimately cost the lives of more than 60,000 people over the course of a decade. While all this was going on, Ortega called a free and open presidential election in 1984 and won with 67 percent of the vote. Under Ortega’s Sandinistas, Nicaragua went through a hugely successful literacy campaign and land reform process.

Ortega was then defeated in the 1990 presidential elections and remained an opposition figure until 2007, when he was reelected. He has been back at the helm of the country now for over 10 years. Despite his Marxist past, Ortega’s embracing of populist politics has seen him pander to conservative religious attitudes. In a country whose national identity has been so shaped in recent history by iconic revolutionary movements, Ortega’s moves to appease the right have alienated some on the left, most noticeably among the nation’s younger cadres.

It is unsurprising then that the US is apparently capitalizing on growing discontent, stoking dissent among the youth in a deliberate attempt to destabilize the Sandinista government. Infamously nefarious US soft power organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy, also known as the CIA’s ‘legal window’, have set up extensive networks in Nicaragua.

Among the leading Nicaraguan student activists currently touring Europe to garner support for the anti-government movement is Jessica Cisneros. Cisneros is a member of the Movimiento Civico de Juventudes, which is funded by Madeline Albright’s National Democratic Institute (NDI). You remember Albright, right? She’s the former US Secretary of State that said that 500,000 Iraqi Children dying as a result of US sanctions against Saddam Hussein was "worth it".

According to the NDI’s website, the organization “has partnered with Nicaraguan universities and civic organizations to conduct a youth leadership program, which has helped to prepare over 2,000 current and future young leaders from across the country” in order to improve the “country’s democratic development”.

Joining Cisneros on tour in Europe is Yerling Aguilera. At the time of writing this article Aguilera’s LinkedIn profile has her listed as a former employee and consultant for Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos y Políticas Públicas (IEEPP) in Nicaragua. IEEPP has received extensive funding from the National Endowment for Democracy.

If the idea of Washington supporting progressive anti-government forces in Latin America confuses you, then you’re failing to grasp the nature of US interference. During the Cold War, for example, the US supported both the Mujahideen in Afghanistan as well as eastern European trade unionists against the Soviet Union. Indeed, throughout the Syrian conflict, Washington has been arming leftist groups alongside jihadist organizations. It goes without saying that, despite US politicians getting all dewy-eyed over “freedom fighters,” the likes of Jihadists or even trade unionists are not welcome in US society. Certainly not if they receive foreign funding to carry out anti-government activities.

It’s all well and good saying things like ‘let Nicaraguans decide their future for themselves without foreign interference’, but criticism of Nicaragua’s young activists, based purely on the grounds of their acceptance of foreign backing, misses the point. Doing so ignores the historic fact that the Sandinistas also received extensive foreign support from the Cuban intelligence service (DGI) during the revolution. The difference between the two, however, are the stringent financial and economic conditions that go hand-in-hand with US support. When it comes to Washington backing your fight, there’s no such thing as a free ride.

Ortega’s government is far from perfect, but Nicaragua’s progressive opposition must be made to recognize the dangerous path down which they are leading their country. Yes, on the surface the organizations funding them may well have liberal-sounding mission statements that stress the need to “increase women's political participation and initiatives to decrease discrimination against LGBTI people”, but they should know the destructive role that Washington non-profit foundations such as the NED or NDI have played around the world. They literally share the same agenda as the CIA.

Nicaraguans struggled against Washington’s subjugation of the country for most of the 20th century. Revolutionary Augusto C. Sandino, whose name Ortega’s Sandinistas incorporated, led an iconic guerilla war against US military occupation of the country between 1927-1933. He was eventually assassinated by the forces of General Anastasio Somoza Garcia (Anastasio Somoza Debayle’s grandfather), who went on to seize power two years later in a military coup. It was through Somoza that Washington first perfected its soft power form of imperialism, breaking with the European military occupation model. Somoza, armed and funded by Washington, crushed all opposition while making himself and his cohorts fantastically rich on the condition that he kept the country open to any and all US financial interests. Washington began to replicate this model all over Latin America, modernizing its tactics from the 80s onwards, all towards fostering corrupt neoliberal governments.

With the David and Goliath-style struggle for freedom and dignity their nation has waged over the years, the tens of thousands of Nicaraguans turning out into the streets for pro-government rallies undoubtedly want to preserve the security and relative prosperity they have known in recent years. Handing the keys of their country back over to Washington negates both of those things.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/428718-nicarag ... ngerprint/

"emanates from the Left" Um, you sure about that? As we can see, the NGO strings clearly ain't remotely 'left'. And as noted in a post above, these students hail from two schools, one run by American Evangelicals and the other run by Jesuits, both tools of the ruling class. Perhaps some of these kids are dupes , but I bet a lot are class actors.