Nicaragua

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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Tue Aug 21, 2018 3:47 pm

They capture in Nicaragua bands responsible for violent acts

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The subjects used the call for peaceful marches to create anxiety and terror in society. | Photo: 19 Digital

Published 20 August 2018

The police reported the capture of two gangs that were in charge of carrying out violent raids in the cities of Masaya and Chontales.

The National Police of Nicaragua dismantled two gangs that participated in the violent events that took place in the cities of Masaya and Chontales during April and July.

The officials indicated that through operatives they managed to capture the armed groups , who were presented this Monday in Managua, capital.

He also explained that they were confiscated firearms, drugs and vehicles in which they committed criminal acts.

The subjects were presented under the crimes of conspiracy to terrorism, possession or possession of firearms and ammunition.

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Photo: 19Digital

The Commissioner of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, Farle Roa Traña, explained that the subjects sought to create terror and anxiety in society under the convening of a peaceful march .

The detainees were identified as Miguel Ángel González, Kevin Torres, Jerry Holman Zapata and Jenaro Soza Méndez.

Lenin Antonio Salablanca Escobar, who assaulted people who participated in peace walks, was also detained .

Salablanca Escobar was one of those responsible for installing dams in the city of Juigalpa, where they attacked and tortured the residents.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/capturan ... -0041.html

Google Translator

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Nicaraguans demand justice for victims of violence

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The walk will last until this Sunday to continue with the purpose of demanding that the guilty pay for the crimes. | Photo: The voice of Sandinismo

Published August 18, 2018

Pay for their crimes! and Justice for the victims of terrorism! They were part of the slogans shouted by those attending the walk.

Thousands of Nicaraguans made a Saturday walk to demand justice and reparation for the victims of the violent acts that took place during three months in the nation.

The city of Managua was the protagonist of the rally, in which thousands of citizens shouted that they pay for their crimes! and Justice for the victims of terrorism!

With banners the assistants demanded punishment to those responsible for the human losses of 198 Nicaraguans and the multiple material damages throughout the Central American country.

The mobilization took place from the Plaza de las Victorias to the Hugo Chávez Rotunda.

This Friday, various residents of the cities of Nicaragua began a process of collecting signatures that aims to demand justice from the authorities.

These signatures will be delivered to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega , and the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), so that the necessary measures are taken to punish those responsible.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/nicaragu ... -0018.html
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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Fri Sep 07, 2018 3:12 pm

Message of Nicaragua to the UN Security Council
Posted by ALEXANDRA VALIENTE on SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

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MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL RECONCILIATION AND UNITY TO THE INFORMATIVE SESSION OF THE MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCILhttps://www.el19digital.com/files/articulos/215327.jpg

Denis Moncada Colindres
Minister for Foreign Relations
New York, September 5th 2018

Madam President,

Ladies and gentlemen members of the United Nations Security Council,

1. In Nicaragua we are lovers of Peace, we strengthen security and promote and defend Human Rights in an integral way.

2. The Government and People of Nicaragua defend the principles of independence, sovereignty and self-determination of peoples as established in the United Nations Charter.

3. Therefore we request and demand the cessation of all interventionist policies that violate International Law.

4. Consensus exists in this Security Council that Nicaragua does not represent a threat to international peace and security. Therefore, its inclusion in this meeting is a clear interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua and a violation of the United Nations Charter and of International Law.

5. As recognized by the international community, including United Nations bodies and agencies, the reality is that our country has been a factor for stability, Peace and regional security with important positive indicators of economic, political and social development, poverty reduction, gender equality and citizen security, being an example and a retaining wall in the fight against international organized crime, terrorism and drugs trafficking in the region.

6. With regard to economic growth, according to figures from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and CEPAL, Nicaragua has shown average sustained economic growth of 5.2% over the last few years which has allowed it to practically double its Gross Domestic Product.

7. Among Nicaragua’s most important achievements sustained poverty reduction stands out. General poverty and extreme poverty nationally have been cut in half in recent years, as recognized by diverse international bodies.

8. Nicaragua is a State Party to Human Rights Agreements and Conventions and is a country that respects its commitments. This Council is not the competent body to deal with this matter. Human Rights should not be politicized or addressed selectively but dealt with based on the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity, by means of constructive dialogue, not confrontation.

9. Our people has defended and continue to defend the Peace, Stability and Progress we have been building.

10. The People of Nicaragua have the right to live freely and to progress in Peace. It has the right to continue to advance in the eradication of poverty and, with sovereignty and dignity, to continue the struggle to achieve sustainable development and the Good Life for our population without exclusions of any kind, with the goal of complying with the Sustainable Development Objectives contained in the Agenda 2030.

11. Our People and Government ratify their deep commitment to Peace and therefore promote a true dialogue between Nicaraguans.

12. That is the way, that is the route and that is the most effective dialogue that can exist, the dialogue of the People with the People, of the family with the family. That is the dialogue Nicaraguans have built and we will continue guaranteeing Peace, Stability and Progress for our country.

13. We thank the member countries of the Security Council and sister countries that have recognized Nicaragua is not a threat to international peace and security and that it does not merit being part of this Council’s agenda.

14. That solidarity expressed is coherent with our country’s reality and with the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter.

Madam President,

Ladies and gentlemen, Members of the Security Council,

15. We recall that the United States was found guilty in 1986 by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. of military and paramilitary activities and terrorist acts against Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan People and the International Community are waiting for the United States of North America to comply with the sentence of the Court indemnifying. Nicaragua and ceasing all types of aggression and interference and to respect in that way the human rights of a whole people.

Many thanks!

Unofficial Translation

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2018/09/ ... y-council/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Tue Sep 11, 2018 10:49 am

Ortega Warns of US Military Intervention, Open to Meeting Trump

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Published 10 September 2018 (19 hours 34 minutes ago)

In an interview to be aired Monday night, Nicaraguan President Ortega says he will talk to U.S. President Trump, but wants U.S. government out of Nicaraguan affairs.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega says he is open to meeting U.S. leader Donald Trump at the United Nations Security Council meeting this month despite the fact that he feels “under threat” from the country’s military amid interventionist comments and actions from the U.S., along with other regional right-wing governments.

In an exclusive interview taped on Sunday night, Ortega told France 24 TV, "We are under threat. We can't rule out anything out as far as the U.S. is concerned. We can't rule out a military intervention," added the Nicaraguan head of state during the interview to be aired on Monday night.

U.S. government officials have not responded to Ortega’s comments, but the United States government is moving forward to apply the Nica Act (Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act) passed in October 2017 to slap sanctions on the Central American country much like it has on Venezuela.

However, Ortega said that if given the chance, he would meet with President Trump at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) scheduled to take place in New York City starting Sept. 24.

"The idea of having a dialogue with a power like the U.S. is necessary," said Ortega, and that going to the UNGA summit, "could be an opportunity (to meet Trump). ... I'd like to go."

The Nicaraguan president added, “I don’t think that Nicaragua is on President Trump's agenda,” in terms of trying to overthrow his government in a soft-coup. He says those ambitions, “have their roots in Florida,” referring to right-wing business leaders and politicians within the state with strong ties to the Central American country.

Last week, the United States ambassador to the U.N. Security Council, Nikki Haley, pushed to include Nicaragua and Venezuela on the September meeting agenda, despite not having a 15-member consensus. China, Russia, Bolivia, and Ethiopia rejected the proposal saying the two Latin American countries don’t pose an international security threat.

Though he expressed interest in talking with Trump during the interview, Ortega added that if the United States wants to “contribute to peace, stability in Nicaragua and the region, they simply have to be respectful of the decisions that Nicaraguans make and not be conspiring against governments that are not enemies of the US. We are enemies of submitting ourselves to U.S. policies," said Ortega, reiterating again that the U.S. should "not mess with Nicaragua."

The U.S. government has long sought to suppress Ortega who first came to power in 1979 as part of a Marxist junta overthrowing the Somoza dictatorship. Voted in several times as president for the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party, Ortega has implemented a slew of social welfare programs, including land redistribution, and greater access to health and education.

Between April and August of this year, 270 people died and over 2,100 were injured during major national protests in Nicaragua, according to Nicaragua's Commission for Truth, Peace and Justice. Demonstrations initially began over state plans to increase social security contributions in order to bridge a budget deficit. Those demonstrations were quickly co-opted by violent opposition groups demanding Ortega's resignation.

When asked by France 24 TV about the stalled peace talks in his country, the FSLN leader responded that “an attempt was made; it simply did not work," but added that he wants to restart dialogue with opposition leaders and had approached Spain and Germany to help play a role. For the moment, said the president, the dialogue is "in the community, in the neighborhood, among the population ... among the people."

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0005.html

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Nicaragua: 'Scientific American Should Try Sticking to Science'
By: Dr. Paul Oquist

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President Daniel Ortega and Vice-President Rosario Murillo consider climate change one of the principal challenges to Nicaraguan development. | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 September 2018
The last thing we need is to introduce all of the world's political conflicts into climate change policy, writes Dr. Paul Oquist, Nicaragua's chief climate negotiator.
The political attack piece 'Nicaraguan Actions Cast a Shadow over its Leadership of Major Climate Change Group' in the Policy and Ethical Section of Scientific American is not scientific and it is not ethical. It is not even decent journalism. Based largely on anonymous sources and unfounded accusations, it supports the coup d'état position that recently failed to produce a violent overthrow of the government of President Daniel Ortega. Ortega was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2016 with 72 percent of the vote, a figure congruent with all of the polls, opposition and government, foreign and national.

RELATED:
Nicaragua: Sandinistas Demand Justice, Ortega Slams UN

Because the internal coup attempt failed, an international campaign to discredit the government has accelerated. Unfortunately, the David Ackerman article lowers Scientific American from 'prestigious science journal' to 'cheap propaganda rag' by adding to this campaign. The article states that some of the sources on forestry issues demand anonymity "for fear of their safety" to give the impression of lack of freedom of expression. Others in the very same article speak freely without such histrionics. The Humboldt Center has criticized government environmental policy for years. It is hard to find a more open society in terms of freedom of expression. There are television channels that call for the violent overthrow of the government, slander and threaten the president daily without consequence. Could that occur in the United States or in Britain? The point is that the article goes out of its way to create a coup-friendly, distorted view of Nicaragua.

The author marvels that there could be a movement over a forest fire in a remote area that soon became a movement against social security reform that continued even after the rescinding of the reform. He finds it difficult to conclude that these were pretexts, even though they were followed by looting, the burning of public buildings and vehicles, road blocks on highways and streets to disrupt the economy and create scarcity, attacks on police stations, 22 policemen killed, 198 Sandinistas killed, kidnappings of Sandinistas seen in videos of the terrorists, naked and tortured, burning of human beings, atrocities, all of which was part of the terrorist campaign to provoke the violent overthrow of the constitutional government. The author cannot see this and sticks to the fairy tale of only peaceful demonstrators and repression.

Biased and Unbalanced

The article is totally biased and unbalanced. The article claims Nicaragua has not protected its forests and especially Indian lands. It discovers in 2018 that Nicaragua – like Brazil, Peru, and Colombia – has a centuries-long agricultural frontier that poses one of its greatest environmental problems. It ignores absolutely and completely the major actions that the government has undertaken to combat this phenomenon of deforestation and land degradation.

The government in the 1980s created the Autonomous Region of the North Caribbean and the Autonomous Region of the South Caribbean to devolve rights over natural resources, health and education to local residents with special protections for Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean rights. The traditional lands have been delimited and titled. A total of 23 Indian and Afro-Descendent territories composed of 304 communities has received title to 38,233.16 square kilometers of inalienable land in perpetuity. This community's rights are represented by territorial governments that can sign leasing agreements for economic activities benefiting their population. To put the magnitude of this in perspective, the sister Republic of El Salvador has 21,000 square kilometers and the Kingdom of Belgium 41,000.

The Army of Nicaragua has created an Ecological Brigade of 300 soldiers to protect the reserve and biosphere territories. It has undertaken armed operations against illegal logger mafias that try to exploit the high value of the tropical hardwoods involved: Rosewood, Granadillo, Mahagony, among many others. Through widespread community forestry participation, forest fires have been reduced by 93 percent since 2007, being highly significant peer pressure in reducing slash-and-burn agriculture.

Valuable Assets

The government, as part of the 20x20 Initiative, is reforesting using a landscape approach 1.2 million hectares of land degraded over the decades by the agricultural frontier. In the final stage of formulating with the World Bank is an ENDE-REDD Plan for the Caribbean Coast that combines community forestry, especially in the Indian communities; agroforestry and silvopastoral solutions, as well as plantations of Teak that do extraordinarily well in the region. The strategy for settling the colonists is farms that have valuable trees, robusta coffee and cacao: valuable assets they won't abandon.

Nicaragua has qualified for the methodologically challenging Forest Carbon Partnership and has committed to sequester 11 million metric tons of greenhouse gases that will activate US$55 million in incentives for the Indian communities, farmers and foresters who participate in the ENDE-REDD plan for reforestation based on results.

Not a single one of these Caribbean Coast policy elements is mentioned in the one-sided attack piece. The same modus operandi is applied to international climate change policy. It criticizes Nicaragua's original position on the Paris Accord, which was a valiant speaking of truth to power. The Paris Accord INDCs do not add up to a 1.5° or even 2°C average world temperature rise in this century. Nicaragua argued that more ambition was required, especially from the large emitter who can make a difference. With the exception of the climate change deniers, that position is now one of consensus. Who maintains now that there is not a need for greater ambition to achieve the Paris Accord goals? That is why Nicaragua signed: to fight with the other developing countries for more ambition from the large emitters.

Fake News

The author, however, prefers to follow the fake news of Climate Home and attribute, based on nothing, motivations to the government by positing a desire to achieve the Co-Presidency of the Green Climate Fund. Nicaragua has served on the Transition Committee of the GCF, negotiated the final agreement at COP-17 in Durban, the Standing Committee on Finance of the Convention, and the Interim Directorate of the Warsaw Loss and Damages Mechanism. It has always been active in climate change issues because President Daniel Ortega and Vice-President Rosario Murillo consider climate change to be one of the principal challenges to Nicaraguan development and, together with weapons of mass destruction, one of the major threats to humankind and life on Earth.

The article questions Nicaragua's environmental policy credentials, ignoring completely that the country has gone from 25 percent renewable energy in 2007 to 54 percent last year, based on hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, biomass and solar projects, with plans to reach 90 percent by 2020. The electricity coverage of households has gone from 54 percent in 2007 to 94.9 percent in July, 2018. This in the second-poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean that has had the third-fastest growth rate in the region (4.8 percent annual in the past seven years) and has reduced extreme poverty from 17 percent in 2007 to six percent in 2016.

The unfounded smear job on Nicaragua, its environmental policies and international climate change positions is used to attempt to politicize the Green Climate Fund, questioning a Co-Chair on political grounds. The last thing we need is to introduce all of the world's political conflicts into climate change policy. Climate change is the one area where all of humanity has common interests around which we should all unite. Scientific American would do better by sticking to science.

Dr. Paul Oquist is Nicaragua's chief climate negotiator.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/opini ... -0022.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:59 pm

This article should be passed around as it is 'accessible'.

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Nicaragua and The New Yorker: A Personal View from Granada

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REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

After reading a piece Jon Lee Anderson published recently in The New Yorker, an incredibly biased account of the recent crisis in Nicaragua, I set out to find out more about the famed war correspondent. I came to understand he was greatly elevated by his writing from Afghanistan, later he was in Iraq. There was little criticism, although someone took exception with a piece he had done on Libya which was also published by The New Yorker. “Damn near every paragraph of this Jon Lee Anderson piece on Libya is dubious.”

Eventually I came upon an interview Anderson had done with Robert Birnbaum which was compelling enough and they had even touched upon the topic of Nicaraguan politics. Still, his latest piece seems like a wart on what is otherwise considered, at least by some, to be a stellar career. Aside, that is, from a little scandal over Venezuela’s Gini coefficient (the most common measurement of inequality). I think that was in 2013 and led to so much criticism Anderson eventually responded to it.

In The New Yorker Anderson’s vision is high on flair but low on substance and loaded with toxic (opposition) antipathy for Ortega and Murillo. Reminiscent of another piece on Nicaragua that was published about a week ago which was written by an intern at The Nation , one person with whom I correspond noted, ‘I’m surprised the Editorial Department would have let that one pass,’ and another wrote, ‘It’s August and most of NYC is presently on vacation.’ Apparently, that includes fact checking departments.

Initially, I had intended to ask Mr. Birnbaum if he could shed some light on Anderson’s attitude as his previous comments regarding Nicaragua had struck me as sincere, sympathetic to the Nicaraguan people and highly critical of imperialistic goals. But a day later that request seemed foolish because I knew perfectly well what had occurred. Jon Anderson is close to Sergio Ramirez and quite possibly Carlos Fernando Chamorro and Giaconda Belli as well. Just last week they were all in attendance at an event sponsored by the Gabriel Garcia Marquez Foundation and in 2015 Chamorro’s on-line media outlet El Confidencial featured a long-winded interview with Anderson.

Too often the outside world fails to realize where many former Sandinistas actually stand as they have purposefully referred to their revolutionary past in a way that lends legitimacy to the opposition view and which works to discredit the Ortega/Murillo government.

Too often the outside world fails to realize where many former Sandinistas actually stand as they have purposefully referred to their revolutionary past in a way that lends legitimacy to the opposition view and which works to discredit the Ortega/Murillo government. Sergio Ramirez left the FSLN in the 1990’s and formed the Movimiento Renovador Sandinista or Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS). However, the party never gained any traction among the populace whereas Ortega’s star remained, distant but constant.

In the 1990’s the administration of Violeta Chamorro —Violeta herself was said to be the figurehead while her son in law Antonio Lacayo actually ran the government—imposed harsh austerity measures and many of the gains of the FSLN were reversed. Economically life was very difficult for most Nicaraguans and in that environment members of the MRS themselves renounced practically everything the revolution had represented including a more equal society. Given the circumstances had they any legitimate claim to Sandinismo one would have thought the reverse would be the case, so when they claim to be a center-left party it is entirely disingenuous and in my opinion the claim to represent the ‘pro-democracy’ wing of the Nicaraguan political scene is equally spurious.

Ana Margarita Vijil, the current president of the Sandinista Renovation Movement and Felix Maradiaga who may be facing criminal charges in Nicaragua presently have both been fellows at the Aspen Institute. The home page of the global think tank presently features Madeleine Albright with the caption, Former Secretary of State shared a to do list for the U.S. to defend democracy. Anand Giridharadas, himself a former member of the club and author of the book Winners Take All described, “The reality of the world outside kept getting worse and worse, and the people in the fellowship, and the sponsors, seemed to be the very people sucking most of the juice of progress.” (New York Magazine Aug. 26, 2018)

Regarding the social security issue Anderson gets it wrong as do most; even Democracy Now has failed to grasp that the protests were not anti-austerity, they were anti anti-austerity. It was José Adán Aguerri president of the private business sector organization known as The Superior Economic Council (COSEP) who walked away from the negotiating table. Aguerri’s position was in line with the recommendations of the IMF and a group called FUNIDES, an economic and development think tank headed by Juan Sebastian Chamorro. The IMF and FUNIDES had called for deeper cuts, raising the retirement age, cutting some benefit plans completely, (the little pensions) and the privatization of clinics. The Ortega government, on the other hand has, over the years, greatly expanded the health care system, refused to throw the families of veterans under the bus and maintained the two-tiered system.

Having failed to grasp those facts Mr. Anderson goes on to embellish the narrative in a colorful manner: “Nicaragua is among the Western Hemisphere’s poorest countries, and the prospect of greater privation inspired outrage.” He fails to recognize or understand it was in the 1990’s, under the Chamorro administration, that the Nicaraguan economy suffered the sharpest decline. “ The years of Violeta Chamorro initiate a period of significant economic and social decline for Nicaragua. From 1990 to 2001, the country fell from 60th to 116th in the world in terms of human development.”

The truth is prior to April 19, 2018 life in Nicaragua had never been better. Due to the close relationship between the National Police and the communities they serve, Nicaragua has kept trans-national gangs at bay. Additionally, according to World Bank data , poverty has been cut nearly in half from 48 percent to 25 percent. That brings Nicaragua far closer to Costa Rica (20 percent), than Honduras (over 60 percent).

When Ortega was elected in 2006 Nicaragua was in bad shape for a number of reasons: the U.S. backed Contra war, amnesty granted to Nicaraguans at the time which encouraged the flight of the affluent with their capital and sixteen years of neo-liberal governments which had failed to deliver even the most basic services. I first came to Nicaragua just before Ortega’s inauguration, so I recall the condition of the roads, the lack of electricity which meant no water, refrigeration, fans, lights, internet. That was the norm in Granada every day from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. while Managua experienced rolling blackouts.

The criticism that Daniel Ortega is too much of a capitalist is often made by the other clique who claim to be Sandinistas. The Movimiento Rescate Sandinista party or Sandinista Rescue Movement , splintered from the original MRS and claim to be more left than Ortega. Monica Lopez Baltadano and Henry Ruiz are often the ones who represent this party in the public sphere. But what discredits this faction and their acolytes, opposition apologists like Trevor Evans and Benjamin Waddell, is that, as is the case with the Renovation Party, they are aligned with the ultra-right, clans like the Chamorros and the Lacayos, oligarchs who are far more powerful than they are, as well as neo-liberals; Piero Coen Montealegre (Western Union, Chiquita, Master Card), Nicaragua’s wealthiest individual, and Michael Healy backed by big business interests in Columbia, all of whom are very much in line with U.S. interests via Nicaragua’s business lobby, principally COSEP and the American Chamber of Commerce AMCHAM.

Mr. Anderson may or may not understand any of this, but it is this attack from the left that was used in the coup-attempt which was very slick in terms of its messaging and promoted the idea that Ortega and Somoza deserve comparison. They created a sort of double bind and used the good relationship Ortega has had with the business community against him, glossing over the reality that he inherited a situation of economic decline in a country with power cuts of 12 hours a day and that by partnering with the business community Ortega was able to create a high-level of stability, necessary jobs and a much greater tax base which allowed the government to invest heavily in infrastructure, healthcare and education. GDP since Ortega took office has more than doubled .

And the outrage Mr. Anderson refers to? That was manufactured and had nothing to do with reforms to the social security system. The point of the protests was to provoke the police into responding and a police officer was one of the first to be killed. Meanwhile José Adán Aguerri encouraged the students. On April 18th the opposition claimed a death that never occurred. The following day, the message circulated by students on social media was, three students killed. There were three deaths on April 19, but they were not university students. One victim was a police officer who was shot in the head, another was a supermarket worker who may have been protesting. These two were apparently killed by snipers while another youth was shot in the back by a gang of opposition youth while on their way to burn the Alcadia (Mayor’s office) in the town of Tipitapa.

The mainstream media ran with the idea that the National Police had opened fire on the protesters and has remained so committed to the narrative nothing else seems to matter. Within Nicaragua, given the right-wing press owned by the oligarchs which has long reviled the Ortegas and human rights organizations, two of which originated with US financial backing and at the time had deep ties to the contras, the level of propaganda was overt and intentional. From the onset we were expected to dismiss as impossible the government’s claim that snipers were responsible for the deaths but over time even the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and Amnesty International picked up on the pattern of shots to the head neck and chest, consistent with what sniper activity would produce. Had the snipers been agents of the government would they have been the ones to suggest as much?

Placed under scrutiny it becomes clear that those who were students were not at the protests and those who were at the protests turn out to not be students. As I continue to comb through the records it is obvious that the IACHR did not perform the due diligence they claim to have carried out. It is also clear that while the Amnesty report of May 29 only focuses on nine cases, the arc of the narrative is a work of invention which leaps from one hypothetical to the next.

The willingness of Jon Lee Anderson to accept prima facie the contour of what every other mainstream outlet has regurgitated seems a departure from the sort of reporting upon which his reputation is based. The Lion’s Grave is a collection of correspondence between Anderson and his editor at The New Yorker which recounts his experience in Afghanistan. In December 2002 Michael Hedges reviewed the book for The Houston Chronicle. “They are not necessarily the notoriously revisable first draft of history produced by daily newspaper reporters,” Hedges wrote. He described Anderson as an ephemeral rather that concise fact-based reporter, a writer’s writer.

The book’s title was taken from a story about Ahmed Shah Massoud, a man who came to be known as the “Lion of the Panjshir”. Massoud was a Mujahideen, anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban who was assassinated two days before the September 11 attacks. The culprits had apparently posed as journalists. Given that scenario one would imagine Anderson might recognize political subterfuge as a possibility in any conflict situation. Yet, where Nicaragua is concerned he did just the opposite and embraced the well-worn talking points of the opposition.

So it remains up to those of us on the ground to counter the hearsay. In that effort I resurrected my internet posts from the time of the attack on Granada (where I live) which compared to other locations experienced little violence. Masaya, only thirty minutes away was, for a number of months, said to resemble a war zone.

June 5 . (morning) Mercado was attacked last night, the livelihood of over 1,000 vendors and an additional 300 who roam around selling this or that. Vandalos, I was told. Hooligans, whatever one wants to call them. I thought they are through with Masaya and have moved on to Granada. I learned a fourteen year-old had been killed. That took place around dawn.

June 5 . (evening) We are in lock down. Mortars have been going all day. In the afternoon I saw smoke in the sky from the direction of the park. I was told it was the Alcadia. (mayor’s office). The stores are in the process of being ransacked. We know of four fires. We hear sirens and yelling. One of the buildings behind us was burning. The owner used the hose to spray the roof with water. We thought we might need to evacuate. Now, it seems we will stay here. ( One hour later ). The mortars are constant now and loud. I can smell the smoke.

June 6 . Just came in from the street. At the corner suddenly everyone was running and screaming. I saw a girl I recognized from a Zumba class I use to go to. She grabbed my hand and said, no this way. I said, my house is just here.

About an hour ago I ventured out to look around. The expressions of people on the street were full of anxiety, everyone in shock. In the park Sandinista supporters were helping to clear the debris of the Alcadia. Everything gone to ash and debris piled up. A girl on a park bench sat with her head down, her face buried in her hands. A bulldozer went back and forth. I had a Manilla folder and magic marker with me. On the folder I wrote, ‘golpe de estado de opposition y derechistas’. I walked through the small crowd showing people the sign, many agreed, at least one was skeptical.

I spoke with someone else and talked about the opposition’s goal to destabilize the country, how they hate Ortega and want to get rid of him at any price. Across the entire wall of a building was scrawled; Daniel vamos por vos. At the corner I looked up and saw a kid riding by on his bike. He looked utterly terrified. I wondered if his family owned one of the businesses that had been gutted. Over by Western Union there was a big line, maybe forty people. I saw two guys with press badges, I got their attention and held the sign in front of my body. They were interested and a minute later we were doing an interview.

They had burned the better half of a city block. The businesses were said to be Sandinista supporters and the mayor is also Sandinista. In addition to the fourteen year-old they had also killed a thirty-two year old male who apparently tried to protect one of the stores from looting.

El Nuevo Dario reported, “El incendio, los saqueos y la zozobra que vive la población granadina, son atribuidas, por algunas personas, a delincuentes originarios de pueblos al sureste de Granada, que también mantienen protestas contra Daniel Ortega.” (Translation: The fire, looting and anxiety that the people of Granada are experiencing is attributed by some to delinquents who are from another town southeast of Granada who have also been protesting against Daniel Ortega). In the same article others with whom the reporter spoke to blamed pro-government groups.

I thought the town referred to in the report must be Monimbo, a neighborhood in Masaya which was the site of much violence throughout the crisis. Video taken in Granada June 5 confirms the presence of youth from Monimbo. The death of such a young victim, a complete innocent, only served the interests of the opposition; it worked to incite others to their cause and fueled the rage which occurred later that night. I am presently looking into another incident which preceded the attack on Granada. Interestingly, this alleged assault on students in Managua also involved the Monimbo crowd and the circumstances bare a striking resemblance to what occurred in Granada, one death took place around dawn, followed by a night of escalated violence.

They left behind a lot of graffiti; Ortega Assesino, se vende patria and a stencil of a face I had originally believed to represent Lesther Aleman (big round eye-glasses), but recently realized refers instead to Alvaro Conrrado, one of the early victims who was shot in the neck, one of the many victims who fit into a certain pattern, shot by a sniper (which means he was specifically targeted), an adolescent too young to be a university student and not belonging to the business class or the upper classes, a youth more likely to be affiliated with the Sandinistas than an opposition party.

Over the course of the following weeks there were sounds of mortars fired at night and gradually that came to an end, but we never went out at night. I don’t think anyone did. In the mornings we did our errands and shopping and by three in the afternoon, four at the latest, we were all inside behind locked doors.

What happened to Granada was repeated in the nearby towns of Catarina, Diria and Niquinohomo as well as Masaya, Leon, Bluefields, Chinandega and Esteli; vandals arrived by the busload, stores were opened up for looting, fires were set which specifically targeted symbols of the government, FSLN offices or other public institutions and the businesses or homes of Sandinista loyalists.

One more detail of my own experience, at some point between the time Granada was attacked and the anniversary of the revolution which was July 19 th I bought a pilot. A pilot is a double-wide magic marker often used for graffiti. Calle Atravesada is one of the main avenues which bisects historic Granada. It has a tree lined median and wide sidewalks and numerous telephone poles all of which had been repainted from the red and black they had once been to light blue and white, the colors the opposition has claimed as their own. I imagine this make-over was done on the night of rampage. In addition to repainting the poles the city was left littered with anti-Ortega graffiti. Granadinos would never deface their own city in such a way, but the poles are used also, as they are in the United States, as free advertising space by businesses who regularly tape flyers to them.

One afternoon as I was either commenting on an existing message on one of the poles or leaving my own, two kids passed by on bicycle. I saw them go to the tranque (barricade) which had been erected very close to the police station. Then, they swung around and were coming in my direction. ‘No no,’ one of them cautioned, he wagged his finger at me. As they passed he said, ‘they kill.’

President Ortega has not betrayed the revolution. Those who formed the Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS) of which Sergio Ramirez was a founder, jumped ship when the ship appeared to be sinking. In 1996 Ramirez ran for President on the MRS ticket and obtained less than 3% of the vote. That the members of the MRS and their allies have moved further and further to the right is in some ways a natural progression as they had always been the elite wing of the party. Like Sergio Ramirez, like Oscar Rene Vargas, like Bianca Jagger, most came from privileged backgrounds, spoke English and had forged strong ties with Americans and Europeans who visited Nicaragua in the 1980’s. That was the experience of Mary Ellsberg, daughter of Daniel Ellsberg and seemingly also holds true for the daughter of Noam Chomsky.

The MRS reject offers of compromise as their self-interest is better served if they can convince the world that Ortega really has become a dictator. And the international/corporate media has been willing to drink the Kool-Aid either because it suits their own self-interest, or because they trust their friends, or the sources provided by their friends, or because they can’t be bothered to do any real investigating.

Following the first day of the initial dialogue Michael Healy, representing the private agricultural sector stated, “We’re tired of calls for peace and the cessation of violence, we want a new government.” At that time the opposition could have extracted any number of concessions were they interested in doing so. Some for example would like the Social Security fund to have more transparency. They want to see how the money is invested. I thought, that’s fair enough. I don’t think I know how the United States is investing our Social Security money, but it sounds like a legitimate demand. But of course, that wasn’t the point. The point was to collapse the talks, walk away from the negotiating table, accuse the government of intransigence, up the violence, call the human rights organizations, claim to be the victims—just as they did over the social security issue.

The problem for the opposition is that since the 2006 elections President Ortega’s popularity has only increased due to a program of development that has been popular, effective and highly democratic. The coup failed for exactly these reasons. The majority of the population understand not only what group represents their interests, they are aware of the deep hostility and bitterness of an opposition comprised of a clique of business and intellectual elites, attenuated by a few other groups said to represent peasants or women, but who in fact do not represent any segment of civil society in any meaningful way.

I suspect the recent wave of propaganda and especially the recent statement of condemnation by the United Nations is intended to give political cover to the architects of the coup-attempt and those who carried out some of the worst crimes. Here is Felix Maradiaga who very recently addressed the United Nations. That Maradiaga has had dealings with organized crime in the lead-up to the crisis is undeniable, a fact which was elaborated on in what has come to be known as the ‘Viper confession’ which as journalist Max Blumenthal, (one of the few to report accurately on the Nicaraguan crisis) noted, might be viewed as suspect if it didn’t completely dove tail with various aspects of the crisis as it unfolded.

This is the present state of affairs in Nicaragua, as criminal agents target, torture and murder government workers or those affiliated with the FSLN, the authorities are expected to do nothing. The last seven deaths and the only deaths since July 22 were all carried out by the opposition.

July 22. Adolfo Rosales Rodríguez was shot in Los Milagros in the Northern Caribbean autonomous region after he and his brother who was also shot and killed (below) were kidnapped with six others by armed men. He was an FSLN leader in the community.

July 22. José Ramón Rosales, a former FSLN secretary and community leader was shot by an armed group, (described above).

July 23. Reyneia Gabrielle Da Costa Lima Rocha, a Brazilian national was killed on her way home from work at the Police Hospital.

July 31. 20-year-old Dariel Steven Gutierrez Rios passed away. He was shot in the head May 30 when an FSLN peace caravan was ambushed in La Trinidad, 21 others were injured.

August 3. Luis Enrique Montano died after he was severely wounded July 14 in Somoto by an opposition member who rode by on a motorcycle.

August 5. Police Captain César Martín Blandón Urrutia was assassinated in the Department of Carazo.

August 11. Lenin Mendiola was shot near an opposition march at 3:50pm. Mendiola, a Sandinista, was the son of Benigna Mendiola and Bernardino Diaz Ochoa, historic union leaders who had been jailed and tortured by the Somoza National Guard.

Because of a law which forbids the police or military from entering the grounds of any university, UPOLI, the technical university and later UNAN, the public university were used as bases of operation by elements of organized crime.

Leonel Morales was a student at UPOLI and the president of the student union. He has not been interviewed by The New York Times or the BBC, although like the opposition’s Lesther Aleman he had also taken part in the first round of the negotiations, but for the government . On April 28, he stated : “La universidad esta tomando por personas que no son estudiantes que andan con armas 9 milimetros”. (Translation: The university has been taken over by people who are not students and they are walking around with nine-millimeter guns.” The organizers of the coup intentionally chose UPOLI and UNAN as bases for their criminal activities because they knew the police would not enter.

After the group of opposition students who would come to be known as the April 19 Student Movement read the list of those killed, (a number of whom turned out to be Sandinistas who were unquestionably killed by the opposition and others who had nothing to do with the protests), Morales said, “I can’t believe these lies.” On June 13, he was abducted by opposition criminals, tortured, shot three times and left in a ditch. The crime was not reported by either of the major newspapers, La Prensa or El Nuevo Dario.

Miraculously, Morales survived. I suspect Jon Lee Anderson has never heard of him. To conclude in ephemeral fashion, in the words of Frank O’Hara, “you don’t get crabs that way and what you don’t know can hurt someone else; how low the moon, flat the sun, etc, etc.”

https://www.laprogressive.com/nicaragua/
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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:36 pm

Camilo Mejia analyzes the soft coup attempt in Nicaragua
Posted Sep 07, 2018 by Eds.

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Originally published: teleSUR English by Rick Sterling (August 28, 2018) |
Western media have described the unrest and violence in Nicaragua as a ‘campaign of terror’ by government police and paramilitary. This has also been asserted by large non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In May, for example, Amnesty International issued a report titled ‘Shoot to Kill: Nicaragua’s Strategy to Repress Protest.’

A Miami Herald op-ed summarized:

It’s not like there’s any confusion over who’s to blame for the recent killings amid Nicaragua’s political violence. Virtually all human rights groups agree that Ortega’s police-backed paramilitary goons are the culprits.

Much less publicized, other analysts have challenged these assertions. They claim the situation is being distorted and the reality is very different. For example, Camilo Mejía wrote an open letter condemning the Amnesty report for being biased and actually contributing to the chaos and violence.

To learn more about the situation, Task Force on the Americas (TFA) invited Camilo Mejía to speak in the San Francisco Bay Area. TFA has a long history of work in Central and South America educating the public, lobbying around U.S. foreign policy and leading delegations to see the reality in Central and South America.

Veterans for Peace (VFP) quickly agreed to co-sponsor events with Camilo in San Francisco and Oakland. Veterans for Peace also has a long history with Nicaragua, having been founded partially in response to U.S. aggression in Central America. VFP members protested against U.S. shipments to the Nicaraguan Contras. VFP member Brian Willson had both legs cut off when a train carrying weapons destined for Central America ran over him. The current VFP president, Gerry Condon, was at that protest and helped stop the blood gushing from Willson’s severed legs. Brian Willson lives in Nicaragua today.

Camilo Mejía
Camilo Mejía was born in Nicaragua, the son of famous musician Carlos Mejía Godoy. His mother was a staunch Sandinista activist but separated from the father soon after his birth. She brought Camilo to the United States as a single mother in 1994, four years after the Sandinista electoral defeat. Living in Florida, Camilo struggled to make ends meet and joined the U.S. Army to pay for college. Just a few months before completing his service, Camilo was ordered into the 2003 invasion of Iraq. After serving one tour of war duty, he refused to return and was imprisoned for nine months.

Camilo was honored as a ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ by Amnesty International. Thus Camilo’s criticism of the Amnesty report on Nicaragua has special significance. Camilo is Nicaraguan, a member of Veterans for Peace, and a hero to both VFP and Amnesty. He is also the author of the compelling autobiography, ‘Road From Ar Ramadi.’

As news of Camilo’s upcoming visit to San Francisco spread, we started to feel a reaction. There is a large and diverse Nicaraguan exile community in San Francisco. While some support the Sandinista government, others are adamantly opposed and some even supported the Contras decades ago. Anti-Ortega Nicaraguan exiles in San Francisco began organizing a protest.

Camilo’s visit to speak on Nicaragua also prompted a reaction from some Americans who had once supported the Sandinistas but now support the opposition. They campaigned to have their viewpoint presented at our events. TFA and VFP organizers thought there was no need to include the opposition voice, because their characterization of the conflict is widespread. However, Camilo wanted to be transparent and not exclude the opposition. He thought that if we allowed an opposition supporter to speak briefly, they were more likely to listen to his analysis and he could directly address their concerns.

At the San Francisco event, protesters arrived early in front of the War Memorial Veterans Building. When the event started, protesters flooded into the venue. As promised, an opposition supporter was invited to speak briefly. The audience of about 120 was split between those who wanted to hear Camilo and those who came to protest. Camilo’s talk was repeatedly interrupted and police arrived to prevent violence. Camilo asked what kind of “democracy” was this they claimed to want for Nicaragua when they would not listen or allow him to speak here in San Francisco?

Camilo showed two short video clips. The first video showed opposition activists torturing a Sandinista supporter under the oversight of a Catholic priest and the remains of a Sandinista burned alive.

A second video showed a statement from an American who has lived in Nicaragua for many years. He described how gangs had invaded his town, set up road blocks, intimidated and abused local civilians. He described the joy of the community when the roadblocks were removed and masked ‘protesters’ departed.

The audience got increasingly disruptive during the question period. A prominent Nicaraguan opposition supporter came forward, offering to quiet the disrupters. After receiving the microphone from Camilo, she did the opposite. The disruptions escalated and the event had to be ended early. The protesters had completed their mission: they had prevented Camilo from being able to present his perspective.

Organizers from TFA and Veterans for Peace decided the event in Oakland needed to be handled differently. Members of Veterans for Peace, including Chapter President Paul Cox and others, prevented the protesters from entering. Ultimately the venue was packed with interested listeners. The anti-Ortega crowd protested on the sidewalk and street but were not able to disrupt the event.

With the loud opposition outside, Camilo was introduced by VFP President Gerry Condon. He gave a clear and concise history of key events in Nicaraguan political history, including:

Nicaragua was connected to the gold rush in California in the mid-1800s. That is when the idea of a trans-oceanic passage through Nicaragua was born.
When Cesar Sandino launched guerrilla war in the 1920s and ’30s, there were two priorities: advancing the working class and anti-imperialism.
The Frente Sandinista which carried out the 1979 revolution had nine commanders: three from each of three factions.
After the Sandinistas lost the 1990 election, splits emerged and ultimately Sergio Ramirez formed the Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS). The more affluent members plus intellectuals, writers and musicians gravitated toward it. But though they were well connected to Western solidarity activists, they had no popular platform nor base. They did poorly in elections and moved toward neoliberal policies and the NGO world.
Since taking power in 2007, Daniel Ortega and Sandinistas have improved living conditions for the poor with free healthcare, free education and better economic policies. Nicaragua now supplies 80 to 90 percent of its own food.
Up until April, Nicaragua was vastly safer than neighboring countries. Their ‘community policing’ is considered a model.
Support for Ortega and the Frente Sandinista has steadily increased. In 2006, they won 38 percent of the vote; in 2011, it increased to 62 percent; in 2016 support increased to 72 percent, with 68 percent turnout.
There has been much misinformation about the proposed changes in social security which sparked the protests in April. To stabilize the social security funding, the IMF wanted to implement an austerity plan which would have doubled the work requirements and raised the qualification age from 60 to 65. The Sandinista proposal was much more progressive, requiring wealthy individuals and businesses to pay much more with minor changes for others.
The death count has been manipulated. Some deaths are counted twice; people who were said to be dead have turned up alive; dead Sandinista supporters have been counted as protesters. The first deaths on April 19 were one student, one police officer and one bystander killed by sniper fire. Camilo asks: Was this done by the government or by outside forces?
The National Endowment for Democracy and other U.S. agencies have trained students and others in using social media, video and symbols to stir up dissent and destabilize Nicaragua.
Goal Accomplished
At the Oakland event, Camilo showed a torture video which demonstrates opposition violence. He also showed video of the huge July 19 celebration of the Sandinista revolution anniversary. His talk was followed by many questions, including from opposition supporters.

At times during the event, there was tension and concern about violence from the protesters outside. Some Nicaraguan families were afraid for their safety. After the event, they had to be escorted with protection to their cars. The car of one Nicaraguan family was besieged by the anti-Ortega crowd. Camilo and his young daughter had to be quickly taken away amid shouts and waving placards.

Ultimately, Camilo’s visit accomplished the goal. Media interviews in Spanish and English reached many thousands. In these and the public presentations, he brought information and analysis which has been largely censored or ignored in coverage of Nicaragua.

Camilo believes Nicaragua has temporarily defeated a ‘soft coup’ attempt but the danger is not over. The opposition forces internally and internationally are still there.

https://mronline.org/2018/09/07/camilo- ... nicaragua/
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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:10 pm

The Nicaraguan Crisis: A US Regime Change Operation
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on SEPTEMBER 17, 2018
Camilo Mejía

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Over the past four and a half months western corporate news reports about Nicaragua have painted a harrowing picture about the Central American country, historically known for a revolutionary legacy that has put the nation at odds with United States foreign policy and interests. In this latest iteration of conflict between the two nations, the United States has made full use of its global propaganda machine and regime change apparatus not only to create chaos and instability in the country, but also to politically and diplomatically isolate it from the rest of the world; the aim? To overthrow the Sandinista government and install a neoliberal puppet government in its place.

What we are hearing vs what is happening

Whether we are getting our news from western media organizations like The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, the BBC, or any of the many US-financed opposition news outlets in Nicaragua, the narrative about the recent wave of violence and chaos that has engulfed country has remained uniformed. This past April the Sandinista government approved a series of reforms to the country’s social security institute, which prompted students to go out into the streets to protest. The government then unleashed its police force against the students and other protesters, who were peaceful. From then on the government went on a killing rampage that resulted in the deaths of more than 400 peaceful protesters.

This narrative has not only been adopted and promoted by US-financed non-profits and opposition news media organizations in Nicaragua, but also by national and international human rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. On the political and diplomatic front, Inter American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), the “human rights” arm of the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OUNHCHR), have also taken the opposition accounts and included them in their reports without verifying the facts or vetting the organizations that produced the narrative in the first place.

The IMF, the US, and the Nicaraguan right

The opposition’s account, however, does not stand to scrutiny. For starters, it was the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a powerful private business group (COSEP), who supported the original reforms to the social security institute, which included cutting out 53,000 retirees, doubling the number of contributions necessary to qualify for retirement, and changing the retirement age from 60 to 65. The government responded with a counter offer that didn’t cut anyone out, or changed the number of contributions or age of retirement, but increased contributions by employees and employers, and removed a salary cap to ensure Nicaragua’s highest paid people who have to pay in accordance with their income. The counter reforms incurred the wrath of Nicaragua’s wealthiest business people, who were in turn the ones who called the initial protests, at first attended only by university students trained by organizations financed and directed United States regime change agencies, such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The vast majority of political entities behind the opposition, starting with the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), the oligarchic political parties, media outlets, Catholic schools and churches, non-profit organizations, university students, and people from different sectors, have received financing from the USAID, NED, and other US agencies. Many of the leaders, according to WikiLeaks’s embassy cables, have been meeting with US officials at the US Embassy in Managua, some since the 90s, and a couple of them since the late 70s, when the US began trying to figure out who would replace Nicaragua’s embattled US-supported dictator as “their new man.”

Human Rights for Regime Change

The human rights organizations are all politicized against the Sandinista government. One of them, the ANPDH (Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights), was founded and financed by the Reagan Administration in the 80s for the sole purpose of white-washing the atrocities of the Contras, the mercenary army trained and financed by the US with money from drugs and weapons sales to Iran. The other organizations, national and international, also receive most, if not all, of their funding from the United States and Europe. They too have played a destabilizing role in Nicaragua by republishing accounts of government killings and atrocities without verifying the sources or conducting any kind of fact checking. One could look into the death reports, accusations of corruption and repression, the portrayal of the opposition as peaceful; none of the accusations publicized by these national and international groups, and easily see that none would match even the most relaxed standards of journalistic or fact checking standards. However, they are supported and promoted by the most powerful country on earth, against a small developing nation, so they get away with it.

In all truth, the opposition has been made up of a mixture of US trained operatives embedded within private university programs, non-profit organizations, media outlets, churches, and political organizations, that have unleashed a wave of political assassinations, destruction of government institutions, undermining of the economy, and a number of other tactics and strategies implemented through social media platforms and international news and human rights organizations, all in order to bring about the demise of the Sandinista government.

Why Nicaragua?

Because Nicaragua has been a thorn on the side of the United States since its very independence, or soon thereafter. Starting with interests around a possible US canal through Nicaragua in the 1850s, and continuing with military invasions and occupations in the 20s and 30s, the 40 plus decades of the Somoza family dictatorship, the Contra war, and this latest attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government, the United States has been trying to impose its will upon Nicaragua, and has always faced fierce resistance. In 2013 Nicaragua signed a concession law giving a Chinese company the rights to build and manage an interoceanic canal, which might require the Chinese to sell US debt in order to start construction.

This time around Nicaragua, one of the least developed nations in the American Hemisphere, has managed to build a strong economy, much to the benefit of its poorest citizens, largely outside of neoliberal standards. Prior to the beginning of the protests in April, Nicaragua boasted one of the fasted growing economies in Latin America, with a steady 5% annual growth for the past few years. The country cut poverty by two thirds in record time since the Sandinistas returned to power in 2006. Nicaraguan citizens produce approximately 90 percent of the food eaten in the country. Lastly, Nicaragua is one of the safest in all of Latin America, and has been able to prevent the Central American drug cartels to establish a presence, which account for the lack of migration to the United States or other nations, as in the case of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

Such level of success happening outside the austerity-and-privatization neoliberal economic model favored by the most powerful countries of the world does not sit well with the United States. The present aggression against Nicaragua merely seeks to turn Nicaragua’s economy into a cheap market so transnational corporations can easily ransack its natural resources and exploit its citizens.

The Way Forward

Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for conscious Americans, especially within the veteran community, to stand up against US interference in Nicaragua’s affairs. Such solidarity should include an effort to become informed about and vehemently oppose new forms of intervention into the affairs of other sovereign nations, even when such interventions are endorsed by reputable media and human rights groups that lend a veil of acceptance of the false narratives, when in reality they are doing the bidding of their funders, much to the detriment of those who depend on them to tell the truth. It falls upon us to find that truth, to expose it, and to defend it at all cost.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2018/09/ ... operation/
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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:04 pm

Nicaragua: “We’re talking about terrorism, about financing terrorism, murder, bodily harm, torture, kidnapping that occurred from April 18th to date”
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on SEPTEMBER 24, 2018
Tortilla Con Sal

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Interview with Police Commissioner Farle Roa, Director of the Judicial Assistance Office

Tortilla con Sal: What is the Judicial Assistance Office and what has been its function within the context of the coup?

Commissioner Farle Roa : The Judicial Assistance Department, is established by law, as the body be in charge of carrying out investigations in the country deemed relevant to it. In context this law indicates and empowers us for those cases deemed relevant in the county such as terrorist attacks. These should be documented and investigated by the Judicial Assistance Office, which is within our competency. What does the Judicial Assistance Office do? It handles investigations based on public accusations, either in writing or via legal procedure. In the course of the investigation it carries out collection of information and investigative procedures as set out in the Code of Criminal Procedure which serve as evidence or proof that is presented to determine the responsibility of the person being investigated for these acts.

We’re talking about terrorism, about financing terrorism, murder, bodily harm, torture, kidnapping that occurred from April 18th to date. We continue to document cases as we are empowered by our Code of Criminal Procedure. Once we complete our files with all the elements of evidence or proof, they are sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office who evaluate bringing a criminal prosecution, once we have presented the case files, within 24 hours. Among these cases, we can point out that from April 18th until now, we have remitted approximately more than 68 cases. Within these 68 cases, as people under arrest we have approximately 204 who have been accused for these acts and who are awaiting trial in the competent courts.

We have already mentioned the crimes committed, such as terrorism, kidnapping, bodily harm. These are the types of crimes that figure in the files we have sent to the Public Prosecutor. Under these barbaric acts of terrorism committed by the coup organizers and elements of the right wing, financed in some cases by the United States, we have 22 dead police officers resulting from reestablishing public order and peace for our population. We have 366 seriously injured police officers. Some have lost parts of their body or part of their arms or legs, as a result of reestablishing public order, and they will be left with these grave and permanent injuries.

Among these terrorist criminals, dedicated to committing terrorist acts, we have actual criminal groups, others who call themselves M19 and others who call themselves “self-organized”. All have the same objective of creating terror and fear , committing acts of torture, arson, damage to public and private property, murder, rape. serious bodily harm to Nicaragua’s population and above all they are attacking Sandinista comrades with the aim of carrying out a coup d’etat.

Among those that we pointed out, in Managua, we have the cases associated with the UPOLI, where we have detained different individuals known as “Viper” Christian Josue. We also have, recently, Ricardo Baltodano Marsenal who belongs to, or identifies with a right wing party and in his capacity as a teacher at the UPOLI permitted vandal groups such as Viper, such as Satan, like Rasta, who are already accused, to take over the UPOLI, with other groups of known criminals, such as the Marijuanitas who devoted themselves to carrying out attacks on the population, causing injuries, commtting torture, destroying public and private institutions, all cases duly documented with evidence, such as witnesses, photographs, identification, such as medical analysis, crime scene inspections, expert appraisals, and ballistic and trace analysis. All of this evidence appears in the investigation records of the 204 people accused of terrorist acts.

Some have already gone to trial, as in the case of journalist Angel Gahona who was killed in Bluefields by these terrorist, coup associated individuals. In such cases, the due process included all the evidence and proof accumulated as evidence by all the investigators and a sentence has already been issued. Other cases are in the process of oral and public trial such as the case of M19 leader Eva Coppens and her partner, Sergio Midence, who just like other organized groups related to theirs, like that of Byron, better known in their ambit as Byrona. The cases are duly documented and are now in the hands of the judges awaiting oral and public trial.

They lead attacks on public and private institutions such as hospitals, such as police offices, such as the office of Attorney General of the Republic, and institutions such as the Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, as they also led attacks on the population of Leon, knocked down tree-of-life monuments, damaged private property, injured Sandinista comrades, all of this is documented in our files with abundant proof, as we have already pointed out, witnesses, expert analysis, criminal investigators photographs, video, investigative work and processing of the crime scene.

These cases are duly documented for our judges to have available when they carry out the oral and public trial, so we can incorporate all of the evidence available in these cases. We also have other cases such as those in Masaya, led by the Fajardos, by Ricardo Sanarussa, a criminal with antecedents locally. We also have the cases of Carazo, led by the Maldonado family, Thomas and Joaho. We have the cases of the area around San Carlos, Chontales Juigalpa, documented cases involving the group of Medarda Mairena with Pedro Mena. We also have other cases in Chontales where we have Francisco Sequiara, alias Badgrass, and Lenin Salablanca.

All of these cases are groups, some with antecedents, played a leading role, and some financed as we already pointed out from the United States. They are the ones who directed and carried out all the attacks, damage to public property, the murders of our police officer comrades, the injuries that we talked about, which are more than 366, among the other things we mentioned. In these trials, something important that we haven’t pointed out, is that we have evidence including AK-47 automatic rifles. Among the evidence we have rifles, industrial weapons, meaning weapons like pistols, revolvers, artisanal weapons that we know are suitable for firing, and that are effective at over 500 meters, as demonstrated by our criminal investigation experts even thought people may say they are not military grade weapons. but its been shown that yes they are and they are capable of firing so as to cause death, injury and damage. They are destructive weapons. This is fully established by our experts that we have already used to court as in the case of the journalist Gahona. We have also confiscated explosive artifacts among other things that have left our police officers with grave injuries, having lost part of their bodies from these attacks and injuries suffered from explosive devices. They have even lost their lives. This is part of the work we have been carrying out in our investigations as the Judicial Assistance Office.

I repeat, all of these cases passed to the Public Prosecutor’s Offic,e that we have already mentioned are more than 68, with more than 204 people detained, are duly documented for acts of terrorism, for bodily harm, for aggravated robbery, for material damage, for arson, for looting. These are the types of crimes established in our legislation, and some of which as we have said, are awaiting oral and public trial.

TcS: Commissioner, when we were talking earlier, you mentioned the financing of these activities. Is it possible to speak a little about how the three months of terrorism during the coup have been financed?

Commissioner Farle Roa: Yes, as we said, during the investigation process in police searches, we found transfer receipts from the United States of payments made to these people we have detained and we’ve investigated the evidence found in their mobile phones. There these transfers are reflected, as bank statements and as in money in cash. We have the case of the financing in Carazo of those who destroyed the Diriamba police station. We found a large amount of money in dollars, originating from North America, documented, I repeat, through transfer receipts and bank statements. They themselves kept them as proof of what they were receiving and it was coming, as we said, from the United States.

We are proceeding and continue to investigate other cases of terrorism that are already in process. We still have the arrests pending of other terrorist elements, as well as other investigations that are in progress.

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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:01 pm

Prosecutor accuses Felix Maradiaga for financing terrorism
Monday, September 24, 2018 | The 19 Digital
Prosecutor accuses Felix Maradiaga for financing terrorism

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The Fifth Court of Criminal District of Hearings of Managua, admitted this September 24 the accusation that the Public Ministry filed against Felix Alejandro Maradiaga Blandón, Pío Humberto Arellano Molina and Jean Carlos Manuel López Gutiérrez, as alleged perpetrators of crime crimes organized and financing terrorism.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, Maradiaga, Arellano and López managed financial resources that were captured and channeled through the Institute of Strategic Studies and Public Policies (IEEPP) at the national and international levels ".

The defendants allegedly used the organizational scheme of that association for the training of groups of people, who subsequently participated in the destabilizing actions of the country since April 18, the Public Prosecutor's Office indicates.

According to the Office of the Prosecutor, Maradiaga Blandón was one of the promoters of the Civil Society Leadership Institute project, which aimed to train young people and people from different departments, through courses taught in some university campuses and capital hotels, under the facade of "leaders in the struggle for human rights and democracy".

Once the accusation was admitted and at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the Fifth Court of Hearings ordered the arrest of the accused.

https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/v ... terrorismo

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Trial against terrorists of Tipitapa begins
Tuesday, September 25, 2018 | Pedro Ortega Ramírez
Trial against terrorists of Tipitapa begins

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The head of the Second Court of Criminal Trial Court, Adela Cardoza, initiated the trial against the criminal gang that provoked violence, set up dams and committed various crimes in the municipality of Tipitapa .

The 12 members of the group are being accused by the Public Ministry of the crimes of terrorism, illegal possession and possession of weapons and organized crime.

Among the defendants are Wilmer Martínez Díaz, Ervin Alexander Zamora Peña, Daniel Alexander Sánchez, Júnior Alexander Sánchez, Guillermo José Ruiz, Juan Carlos Bermúdez, José Margarito García Orozco, Yader Rubén Cantón Rodríguez, Francisco José López Rivera, Wilfredo Antonio Orozco Urbina, Mauricio Antonio Paniagua García and Yudielka Yaneris Flores Aburto.

Extension soon.

https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/v ... e-tipitapa

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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Wed Sep 26, 2018 3:42 pm

Nicaragua: Evidence Reveals Malicious Intent to Destroy the Country and its Institutions
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
Tortilla Con Sal

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Interview with Vice Minister of Governance Luis Cañas Novoa

Tortilla con Sal: How do you classify the accusations of abuse and torture against the National Police?
Vice Minister Luis Cañas: I consider it to be a disgrace. Lies created to destroy, to attack an institution that has not just national but international recognition. I say this because, before I was Vice Minister, I was in the National Police for 25 years and I know very well how that institution operates. I am proud that I spent my youth there and to have worked for the Nicaraguan People in this institution.

And when you receive a prisoner that arrives in these conditions, for example this prisoner Medardo Mairena who was supposedly tortured, in deplorable health, who couldn’t move, who couldn’t walk, there you put an end to all types of lies and hoaxes like what people were saying in the Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena cases.

They even brought this case to Geneva to denounce.

See also the photographic evidence here on:

False allegations of abuse of women prisoners accused of terrorism
False accusations of ill treatment of male priosners accused of terrorism
And here are these photos that may be the principal proof as to who the liars are, as to the malicious intent to destroy our institutions and Government of Reconciliation and National Unity. Here is one showing these same prisoners when they are arrived to the Penitentiary System and they are doing a medical exam on Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena.

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Here we have Edwin Carcache who was supposedly isolated, tortured, who didn’t receive visits. There he is receiving visits from his wife, his father, his mother and his grandfather. And here we have the same Edwin Carcache, who has had protests on his behalf, who has had his case taken to international forums saying his was being tortured and isolated. After the visit of the family, there he is receiving a packet of basic products, food products, basic necessities. Any citizen can see with their own eyes his physical state.

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Here are other prisoners receiving visits. Look at the quantity of products that are on the side table. They are food products that they can receive. These are the people that are supposedly being isolated, tortured, in subhuman conditions according to some organisms that are attacking our government. The coup’s intentions fall to the ground just by showing these images. There it is. You can see the type of clothing, the buildings, the beds, mattresses, physical appearance.

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This person who is wearing a yellow shirt was until a few days again leading protests saying that his daughter was being held alone, that she was being denied visits and there he is inside the womens’ prison building visiting her along with her family and bringing her basic goods. His name is Carlos Valle Guerrero, a longtime political activist. Here the person who says that he can’t see his daughter reappears in the photo.

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TcS: What has been the attitude and behavior of international organizations like the IACHR and UN High Commission?

Vice Minister Luis Cañas: I received the IACHR and the UN High Commission in the Tipitapa prison to order to answer a series of questions. I also turned in documentation. They had little interest in knowing what happened in the prison. They had very clearly defined objectives and we have not seen in any of their reports the elements, evidence, or accounts that we gave them. The positions they have taken in relation to their visits to the National Penitentiary System are completely biased.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2018/09/ ... titutions/
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Re: Nicaragua

Post by blindpig » Tue Oct 30, 2018 12:42 pm

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega at 80% Approval Rating: Poll
Published 19 October 2017

The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front is ahead in polls for the upcoming municipal elections.

President Daniel Ortega has an almost 80 percent approval rating among Nicaraguans and his party is ahead in polls for the Nov. 5 elections that will elect mayors across the country, according to a recent survey.


Some 77.5 percent say that President Ortega has led Nicaragua correctly, while 77.8 percent said the Sandinista National Liberation Front government gives them hope, according to a recent poll by Consultora M&R published Wednesday.

The poll also showed that 78.6 percent of the people believe the current government works for the benefit of the population.

The report added that 71.5 percent consider the government "democratic" and "that it complies with the laws" and 79.1 percent said that it brings "unity and reconciliation" to the Central American nation.

According to the poll, the ruling Sandinistas have a 57.5 percent approval, while the opposition parties received 6.3 percent. Another 36.2 percent declared themselves independent.


The poll also asked citizens to outline life priorities. Health received the number one spot, with 91 percent, followed by work with 76.8 percent, housing at 70.1 percent, and economic welfare with 60 percent.

The poll was conducted from Sept. 28 through Oct. 11 in 15 departments and two autonomous regions of Nicaragua, with a margin of error of 2.5 percent and 95 percent reliability.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Nic ... -0008.html
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