What's really happening in Nicaragua - NSCAG reports
NSCAG News |
on: Friday, 11 June 2021
Corporate media such as the Guardian, Daily Mail, Washington Post and New York Times are now awash with accusatory articles about Nicaragua. Dancing as ever to the tune of the United States and Nicaragua’s right-wing opposition, the articles claim among other things that the government is disqualifying political opponents in order to give Daniel Ortega and the FSLN an easy win in this year’s elections and that the elections will not be free and fair. At a time when the Nicaraguan right-wing opposition has been riven by internal squabbling and can barely muster 20% popular support (as opposed to an approval rating of around 60% for the FSLN and Daniel Ortega), this could not be further from the truth. The fact is that the US is now becoming increasingly anxious that its regime change agenda will fail and is now turning up the heat in order to sabotage the elections. They are continuing to pour millions of dollars into Nicaragua’s right-wing opposition and have just imposed even more sanctions on Nicaragua’s government and Sandinista officials. There are fears that the US may even be planning another coup see here and the US has now stated that it is prepared to review 'trade-related activities' with Nicaragua, including Nicaragua's participation in the Central America free trade agreement 'if the country's coming elections are not free and fair'. As far as the US is concerned, the elections will only be considered free and fair if the US-backed right wing opposition wins.
The Nicaraguan government has published a statement on recent events and explaining their context. This can be found here.
An article just published on the Alliance for Global Justice website by Rita Jill Clark-Gollub sets out in detail what’s really happening in Nicaragua. The article - U.S. Cries Foul Because Nicaragua Stops It from Buying This Year’s Elections – is available here.
A briefing produced by NSCAG in January also sets out the context to what's happening in Nicaragua and details the achievements of the FSLN government since 2007 - you can read it here
Two further articles are also worth reading in this context:-
Not policital persecution but defense of national sovereignty and of peace - translation of article by Nicaraguan Margine Gutierrez which first appeared in Revista de Frente - available here
The Run-Up to Nicaragua’s 2021 Elections: Part 1 - this article has been written by Rohan Rice in collaboration with NSCAG. Rohan is a writer, translator and photographer. It has been published by Alborada and is available here
Part 2 is now available here
For further reading, please also see
Nicaragua – we are not anyone’s colony - article published in the Orinoco Tribune and available here
How USAID created Nicaragua’s anti-Sandinista media apparatus, now under money laundering investigation by Ben Norton, The Grayzone, available here
And a recent interview with Max Blumenthal (with two-way interpreting) - see here
