Nicaragua Network

1. Nicaraguans celebrate another anniversary of the revolution
2. Forum on Nicaragua held at Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, DC
3. Solidarity conference held in Managua
4. Earth tremblers at Casita Volcano

1. Nicaraguans celebrate another anniversary of the revolution

Many thousands of Nicaraguans gathered on July 19 to celebrate the 36^th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution which overthrew the Somoza family dictatorship on that date in 1979. While waiting for the speeches to begin, the crowd sang along with revolutionary songs from the 1970s and ‘80s and newer songs from recent years while Communications Coordinator Rosario Murillo introduced some of the notable visitors at the celebration. Among those present were the Cuban Five, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González, the last of whom were released from US prisons as part of the renewal of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba; Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu from Guatemala; former presidents Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, and Vinicio Cerezo of Guatamala; and Clarisa Lopez Ramos, daughter of Puerto Rican independence fighter Oscar Lopez Rivera, serving a 70 year sentence in the US for seditious conspiracy.

Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo, retired archbishop of Managua, in his invocation, remembered the young people who filled the plaza in 1979 and said that young people today faced the challenge of preserving the peace that was achieved at great price by those of 36 years ago. He called it “a struggle to achieve change as described by Pope Francis, a positive, redeeming change.” He called on Nicaraguans to abandon sentiments of rancor that can only hurt Nicaraguan society. After Obando’s invocation, Murillo read two poems by Fr. Gaspar Garcia Laviana, the Spanish priest who died in 1978 fighting with the Sandinista Front against the Somoza dictatorship and whose memory was being especially honored on the 36^th anniversary.

Miguel Diaz Canel, first vice-president of Cuba, said in his speech that the Sandinista revolution has been faithful to its historic legacy and has been consolidated with achievements in the economic and social arenas. He noted Nicaragua’s participation in the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and PETROCARIBE as well as the collaboration of Cuban experts who work with Nicaraguans in the areas of education and the environment. Venezuelan Vice-President Jorge Arreaza said that Augusto Sandino was the first in modern times to develop the ideas of South American liberator Simon Bolivar of Venezuela. He said that now was the time to assure that “the US empire removes its claws from our lands so that we can … move our people forward with social justice and equality.”

In his speech, President Daniel Ortega made reference at the beginning to the recent tragedy in which an anti-narcotics squad of the National Police mistakenly killed three members of a family and injured others. He said that the methodology of these operations must be reviewed and changed and he expressed his solidarity and that of his wife Rosario Murillo with the suffering family. He went on to say that the advances made by Nicaragua, revealed in his report to the National Assembly last month, in the fight against poverty, with investment in infrastructure and communications, in investments in agricultural and industrial production and tourism, in disaster preparation, in the alliance with the private sector, and in Nicaragua’s relations with other countries were all achievements of the Nicaraguan people. He noted that those advances have been made when the world is still confronting savage capitalism and that Latin America has achieved great revolutionary victories because of the efforts of leaders such as “Fidel and Raul Castro in Cuba, [Nicolas] Maduro in Venezuela, Evo [Morales] in Bolivia, [Rafael] Correa in Ecuador, [Ignacio] Lula and Dilma [Rousseff] in Brazil, Cristina [Fernandez] in Argentina, Pepe [Mujica] and Tabare [Vasquez]  in Uruguay, and [Salvador] Sanchez Ceren in El Salvador.” He noted that in the United States President Barack Obama has had to confront the “flag of the racists while discrimination continues against Afro-Americans and Latin Americans.”

The political opposition said that Ortega said nothing new and that those who came to the plaza were people who were public employees or who just liked to attend a party. National Assembly Deputy Mauricio Diaz said, “The president said nothing, nothing special. He didn’t even speak about the canal; he didn’t speak about the sensitive subjects; he didn’t even speak about that barbarity that just happened in Las Jaguitas,” referring to the disastrous anti-drug operation. This, of course, was not true, as reported above. Diaz said that filling plazas with people was not a guarantee of popular support and the crowds can blind political figures to think that they are gods and eternal. (Informe Pastran, July 19, 21; Radio La Primerisima, July 19)

2. Forum on Nicaragua held at Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, DC

The Inter-American Dialogue (IAD), a Washington, DC, think tank, held a forum on the political situation in Nicaragua recently at which there was general agreement that in spite of noisy protests against President Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista Party, the opposition has virtually no chance of winning next year’s elections. IAD president Michael Shifter said, “This is quite a remarkable situation. I don’t think there is anything quite like it in the region today. There are concerns about democratic erosion, but if one looks at sheer political astuteness in a context in which the economy is growing, it’s striking. The question is, how long can this be sustained?”

Juan Sebastian Chamorro of the Nicaraguan Foundation for Social and Economic Development (FUNIDES) said, “The opposition is talking about freedom and improving the electoral system, but that’s not tied to the needs of the poorest. They are not focusing on important issues—and the conflict among opposition leaders is not helping them either.” He said his organization does not oppose the inter-oceanic canal but noted, “The government has been successful in raising the people’s hopes that this canal might be influential in solving their problems, but this is problematic. If the canal is never constructed, then a large proportion of the population will be disappointed. Only time will tell.”

Jim Swigert, regional director for Latin America of the National Democratic Institute, an organization affiliated with the US Democratic Party, said that he believes that Ortega will run again if his health permits and, with support for the opposition parties so low, he has good reason to be confident of winning even if the Sandinistas reform the electoral system as the opposition demands. “If the polls are to be believed, Ortega is fairly certain to win—even in a pristine election,” Swigert said, adding, “That was probably also the case in 2011.” He stated, “Moving toward greater transparency in elections could very well strengthen the Nicaraguan government’s legitimacy internally and internationally in ways that matter to the governing party.” (Informe Pastran, July 21; Tico Times, July 20)

3. Solidarity conference held in Managua

A conference in solidarity with the Sandinista Revolution was held in Managua on July 20 and 21. The conference was organized by the European solidarity movement and the Sandinista government and was also attended by many representatives from Latin America and other regions [including the writer of this Bulletin]. Carlos Fonseca Teran, son of FSLN founder Carlos Fonseca Amador, facilitated the conference which included a talk on the advances of the revolutionary process by presidential social policy adviser Orlando Nuñez Soto, best known among solidarity activists as the developer of the ideas behind the Zero Hunger Program. Sugeys Morales reported on the situation of the sister city movement in Europe; Massimo Angellini of Italy spoke of the difficulties of organizing solidarity in Europe at a time of economic crisis. Javier Huerta of Spain reported on the 27 person European brigade that had completed work in five departments of Nicaragua in the days before the conference.

In side trips, the delegates visited a massive wind farm in the department of Rivas which is a joint Nicaragua-Denmark effort; the modern La Chureca recycling and garbage disposal project which was completed in 2012 with the assistance of Spain; and examples of the Houses for the People and Zero Hunger projects.

In the final declaration of the conference, the delegates expressed their pleasure at seeing firsthand the advances of the second period of the Sandinista revolution headed by President Daniel Ortega and committed themselves to making known the reality of the Nicaraguan process in their countries. The European delegates committed themselves to promoting more actively the movement of sister cities (or twin cities in Britain) in their nations. The declaration condemned “any possible interference by the governments of the United States or the European Union or any of their institutions or organizations against the democratic electoral process that will take place in November 2016 in Nicaragua,” a point proposed by the Nicaragua Network. 

The conference expressed “support for the strategic project of the Grand Canal of Nicaragua, promoted by the Nicaraguan government, so that the country can leave behind the poverty caused by many years of wars, military interventions by US imperialism and the systematic sacking of its natural resources by colonial and neo-colonial powers.” Reflecting environmental concerns on the part of the grassroots base of the solidarity committees in the various countries, there were proposals by several delegations to change the wording to say that the conference supported “the sovereign right of Nicaragua to build the canal” but, in the end, the majority view was to support the canal itself.

President Ortega attended the closing ceremony of the conference where he read off the names of the delegates with greetings to the gray heads he remembered [including this writer] and welcomes to the young solidarity activists.  He said, “Note these faces; these are well-known faces; we have known them over time, always in the struggle! Many faces that we see here are young faces that we are just getting to know and it is with great happiness that we see so many young faces: women, men and young people committed to the struggle.” In his speech, he spoke of the heroism of “the people of Greece who voted against the packet of measures imposed by those who dominate the economic structure of Europe.” He added, “Definitively, the people of Greece challenged the tyranny of global capitalism” but, he noted, while the global economic powers present themselves as supporters of the vote of the people, “when the vote goes against them there is no respect.” He then spoke of the work his government is doing to promote a fund for developing countries to confront the problem of climate change. He said that the rich countries have not fulfilled their commitments to contribute even a small amount of money to the fund when what is needed is actually much more. He closed by saying that, “We feel honored by your presence in Nicaragua, by your commitment to our people, and we know that you are fighters for the common causes of humanity which are peace, justice and freedom.” (Radio La Primerisima, July 20; El Digital 19, July 23; Tortilla con Sal, July 22)

4. Earth tremblers at Casita Volcano

Authorities of the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER) said that seismologists are studying three tremblers near the Casitas Volcano last weekend which could mark the beginning of a swarm of earthquakes at that volcano. INETER adviser Wilfried Strauch said that the tremblers began at 8:00 pm on July 18 and continued until early the next day. The tremblers measured 2.5, 2.1 and 4.5 on the Richter scale. Strauch noted that the last quake “was quite strong although not destructive.”  He added, “We think that these are not quakes that are related to the volcanoes but rather to the faults.” He also stated, “In the process of a seismic swarm it is possible that after some small tremblers something larger can occur.” (Informe Pastran, July 21)