El 10 de abril se cumple un año del fallecimiento de Florentina Pérez Calderón, defensora del internacionalismo, férrea defensora de la Revolución Popular Sandinista y una querida líder de la comunidad campesina de El Lagartillo, Nicaragua. Con su tenacidad y sacrificio, Tina (como la conocían quienes la amaban) dejó un ejemplo de vida para quienes luchamos por la revolución y la liberación.

Tina nació el 20 de junio de 1948 y creció en las montañas del norte de Nicaragua, la región donde Augusto César Sandino y su ejército campesino habían librado una guerra de guerrillas contra Estados Unidos unas dos décadas antes. Su infancia y las experiencias de su familia reflejaron la extrema pobreza, la falta de atención médica y el sistema educativo deficiente que padecieron los campesinos nicaragüenses bajo la dictadura de Somoza, apoyada por Estados Unidos. Cuando tenía un año, Tina cayó en un horno de procesamiento de caña de azúcar, quemándose los pies y apenas sobreviviendo. Debido a este accidente, sería la única niña de la familia que tendría zapatos. Al igual que sus padres, no pudo asistir a la escuela y fue analfabeta durante su juventud.

A los 15 años, Tina conoció a José Ángel Pérez, su “compañero de vida”. En 1963, la pareja se casó y al año siguiente tuvieron su primera hija, María Zunilda, quien contrajo polio a los dos años y medio. María Zunilda sobrevivió, pero quedó con una discapacidad en una pierna de por vida. Su segundo hijo, Osmar, falleció por una sobredosis de anestesia a los 6 años. Tras el nacimiento de María Zunilda y Osmar, Tina y José Ángel tuvieron cuatro hijos más: José María (o Chema), Osmar (nombrado en honor a su hermano mayor fallecido), Julia Marina y Aracely de la Concepción. En total, Tina también sufrió cinco abortos espontáneos.

Las vidas de la familia Pérez, de otros campesinos, trabajadores y estudiantes de toda Nicaragua comenzaron a cambiar a finales de la década de 1970. Por supuesto, esta revolución fue obra suya. José Ángel comenzó a asistir a talleres de concientización impartidos por un joven sacerdote llamado Gustavo Martínez en Achuapa, el pueblo más cercano a su aldea. Le contaba a Tina lo que había aprendido sobre Carlos Fonseca y el Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN). Antes de estas conversaciones con Martínez, Tina y su familia habían sido persuadidos por las emisiones de radio propiedad de Somoza, que les habían enseñado que el FSLN “eran muy malos, enviados desde Cuba, donde comían niños y mataban a los ancianos”. Pronto, los Muchachos, como los campesinos llamaban a los jóvenes guerrilleros del FSLN, se adentraron más en las montañas e identificaron a la familia Pérez como posibles colaboradores. Ante la creciente represión de la Guardia Somocista, Tina y José Ángel tomaron la arriesgada decisión de apoyar al FSLN y luchar por la liberación de Nicaragua.

Al principio, Tina enviaba comida o preparaba café para los Muchachos, con cuidado de limpiar inmediatamente las colillas para que la Guardia no sospechara de las alianzas de la familia Pérez. Con la dictadura de Somoza luchando por su supervivencia, la Guardia realizó limpiezas para torturar y, a menudo, asesinar a simpatizantes del FSLN. Después, Tina y José Ángel confeccionaron brazaletes para los guerrilleros con tela negra y roja, un claro símbolo de compromiso revolucionario si la Guardia los hubiera descubierto. La casa de los Pérez se convirtió en un refugio para los Muchachos mientras lanzaban ataques contra la Guardia por las montañas y pueblos de la región.

Los sacrificios y riesgos asumidos por campesinos, trabajadores y guerrilleros en toda Nicaragua dieron sus frutos el 17 de julio de 1979, cuando Anastasio “Tachito” Somoza Debayle, el tercer miembro de su despótica familia en gobernar Nicaragua, huyó del país. Dos días después, los sandinistas tomaron Managua y comenzaron a construir un gobierno soberano, un estado que realmente beneficiaría al pueblo nicaragüense. Tina y su familia se dedicaron a la creación de una nueva Nicaragua.

En su biografía, Tina señaló que la Campaña Nacional de Alfabetización de 1980 fue particularmente importante para los campesinos. Casi 60.000 estudiantes de secundaria y universitarios, 30.000 adultos y equipos de maestros cubanos se desplegaron por el campo y barrios urbanos previamente desatendidos para fomentar la alfabetización y la conciencia política de los nicaragüenses comunes. Ismael Fernández, un educador cubano, se quedó con la familia Pérez y les enseñó mientras sus compatriotas construían la primera escuela en la comunidad. Tina comentó sobre la experiencia: “La campaña de Alfabetización nos sacó de la oscuridad en la cual estábamos sumergidos.” En cinco meses, el analfabetismo se redujo drásticamente del 50 % al 15 % y la educación política ayudó a consolidar la visión del FSLN para Nicaragua.

La Revolución Sandinista también mejoró la situación económica de la familia Pérez y otros campesinos nicaragüenses cuando el FSLN emprendió la reforma agraria. En 1983, el FSLN distribuyó las tierras del exteniente de la Guardia, Antonio Palacios, en El Lagartillo, a la familia Pérez y a otros campesinos que antes no tenían tierras. Ese mismo año, José Ángel viajó a la hermana república de Cuba para estudiar cooperativas, y los campesinos de los alrededores de El Lagartillo formaron la Cooperativa Santiago Arauz Reyes. Los cooperativistas comenzaron a trabajar la tierra colectivamente, recibiendo por primera vez las cosechas de su trabajo.

Para deshacer estos avances, el imperialismo estadounidense, la ex Guardia Civil, los terratenientes y la burguesía nicaragüense —quienes se beneficiaron del sistema anterior— comenzaron a organizar a la Contra. Estos paramilitares asesinaron civiles, violaron mujeres y atacaron clínicas de salud, cooperativas y otras formas de progreso social apoyadas por el gobierno sandinista. En noviembre de 1984, comenzaron a aterrorizar los alrededores de El Lagartillo, secuestrando campesinos y profiriendo amenazas de muerte. “La Contra andaba muy cerca, moviéndose como una manada de perros ensangrentados, queriendo matar a los campesinos,” escribió Tina.

En la mañana del 31 de diciembre de 1984, llegó el temido ataque. 150 contras rodearon El Lagartillo y dispararon bombas y artillería pesada contra el pueblo. Con pocas armas a su disposición, 14 miembros de la comunidad se quedaron para permitir que las mujeres y los niños huyeran por el terreno rocoso. “Fue infernal – mujeres y niños gritando, llorando,” describió Tina. “No sabíamos dónde íbamos. Era tan precipitado que teníamos que dejar caer los niños para ser agarrados por la gente que estaba abajo.” Sin embargo, la hija de Tina, Zunilda – de 20 años, muralista que encontró tintes en los bosques alrededor de su casa y sobreviviente de la polio – permaneció. Tomó un rifle y ocupó su posición de combate en la parte sur del pueblo.

El grupo tardó tres horas en bajar la montaña. Esperaron todo el día noticias de lo sucedido en El Lagartillo. Finalmente, un camión bajó para dejar los cadáveres en el centro de salud. Tina escribió: “Hubo seis muertos de la cooperativa: Tres adultos, Jose Angel Rameiro Bravo y Encarnación Palma; dos jóvenes de catorce años, Reynaldo Ramírez y Javier Pérez (mi sobrino: y mi hija Zunilda de 20 años.”

Mientras Tina lloraba la pérdida de sus seres queridos y la cooperativa intentaba reconstruirse, los brigadistas viajaron a la comunidad para observar tanto la Revolución Sandinista como el impacto del imperialismo estadounidense. Tina asumió su rol como activista solidaria, recibiendo a cientos de visitantes y manteniendo viva la memoria de José Ángel y Zunilda. En 1986, Witness for Peace ayudó a Tina a recorrer Estados Unidos y exponer las atrocidades que el gobierno de Reagan había cometido contra su familia y el pueblo nicaragüense. Escribió: “Hicimos todo lo que pudimos para parar la guerra para poder vivir en paz y dignidad. El viaje me ayudó mucho emocionalmente. Contando mi historia, compartiendo mi tragedia una y otra vez me ayudó muchísimo. También me ayudó a sentir que sus muertes no pasaron inadvertidas.” Tina finalmente publicó su propia autobiografía, La Vida de Tina, y su historia es una parte central de Nicaragua: Sobreviviendo al legado de la política estadounidense, de Paul Dix.

A pesar de los grandes esfuerzos de los sandinistas por construir una nueva sociedad, las atrocidades del imperialismo estadounidense acabaron desgastando a la población nicaragüense, que eligió a Violeta Chamorro, apoyada por Estados Unidos, para detener la guerra. “Para mí, ésto fue el peor golpe en la entera la lucha por la liberación,” escribió Tina. “Fue incluso peor que cuando perdí mi familia porque sus muertes fue lo que yo perdí personalmente. La pérdida de la revolución fue la pérdida de la libertad de todo el país.”

El gobierno neoliberal de Violeta Chamorro revirtió las victorias de la Revolución, privatizando los recursos públicos y restituyendo a los grandes terratenientes a sus posiciones anteriores en la sociedad nicaragüense. En El Lagartillo, esta contrarrevolución implicó vender tierras para pagar la matrícula universitaria, largas caminatas para obtener agua potable y un estancamiento general del progreso social. A principios de la década de 2000, en respuesta al empeoramiento de las condiciones económicas, los jóvenes de El Lagartillo —en esencia, los primos de Zunilda— fundaron la escuela de idiomas Hijos del Maíz, utilizando un modelo cooperativo inspirado en el ejemplo de sus padres de la década de 1980.

Visité El Lagartillo por primera vez en 2017 como parte de este programa, atraído por las descripciones de la historia cooperativa del pueblo en el sitio web de la escuela. Llegué a Nicaragua con algunas ideas preconcebidas sobre la situación actual del país. Aunque yo era escéptico ante las descripciones del Sur Global que el imperialismo hacía del país, había leído en fuentes confiables de izquierda la narrativa típica de que el FSLN había regresado al poder, pero se había convertido en la maquinaria política personal del presidente Daniel Ortega. Según prácticamente cualquier medio de comunicación estadounidense, el FSLN era indistinguible de sus anteriores oponentes y todos los verdaderos sandinistas habían abandonado el partido.

Pasé una noche en Managua, observando las estatuas iluminadas de Hugo Chávez y el Árbol de la Vida, que representan la visión del gobierno actual, antes de tomar varias camionetas y autobuses para finalmente llegar a El Lagartillo. Inicialmente me alojé con Fermín y Rufín, una pareja de ancianos que sobrevivió al ataque y vivía a pocas casas del mural de los 7 mártires (los seis que murieron en El Lagartillo, además del internacionalista suizo Maurice Demierre, quien había ayudado a la cooperativa antes de ser asesinado en otro ataque de la Contra). Este lugar también marca el lugar donde Zunilda murió protegiendo a su familia y a la cooperativa. Lisbeth — mi primera profesora de español, hija de Fermín y Rufín, y nuera de Tina — rápidamente desmintió cualquier idea de ruptura entre la lucha de los años ochenta y el proyecto actual del FSLN. Durante las clases de español en cabañas a pocos metros del mural, explicó las continuas transformaciones sociales de Nicaragua.

El regreso de Daniel Ortega a la presidencia en 2007 marcó el inicio de la segunda etapa de la Revolución Sandinista. El progreso ha sido gradual, pero sustancial para el ciudadano común nicaragüense. Una clínica móvil visitaba la comunidad una vez por semana, facilitando la atención médica a mujeres y niños de pueblos en las profundidades de las montañas. Estudiantes de El Lagartillo asistían gratuitamente a universidades en León y Managua para convertirse en médicos e ingenieros. El acceso a la electricidad, el agua potable y los techos mejoró significativamente. La sinuosa carretera que atravesaba las montañas hacia El Lagartillo había sido repavimentada por primera vez en una generación, simplificando los viajes y el comercio.

Parafraseando a mi otra profesora, Norma, cuyo hermano Javier, de 14 años, murió durante el ataque: Solo quienes nunca han vivido sin estas necesidades básicas no pueden comprender la diferencia que suponen. Contrario a los artículos de la prensa occidental sobre los sandinistas de alto perfil que habían abandonado el FSLN, quienes vivían en el campo, quienes habían derramado sangre para ganar y defender la Revolución, continuaron con El Frente.

Me mudé a casa de Tina el 30 de octubre de 2017, el día de mi 25 cumpleaños. La había visto varias veces de pasada durante mis dos primeros meses en El Lagartillo, guardando un silencio absoluto por miedo a faltarle el respeto a una leyenda. Como me quedaba un mes, Lisbeth quería que tuviera la oportunidad de aprender de ella. Esa primera noche, le expliqué que últimamente no había podido dormir y Tina me preparó el remedio — un té de canela y hojas de naranja — que usaba para relajarse en los años posteriores al ataque, durante su duelo. Durante ese tiempo, José Ángel y Zunilda aparecían con frecuencia en sus sueños. Mientras bebíamos este té, Tina empezó a hacerme todas las preguntas necesarias para fomentar la confianza y la amistad entre culturas: ¿Te pareces más a tu madre o a tu padre? ¿Eres cercana a tu hermano? ¿Cómo es Nueva York? ¿Por qué no te casas todavía?

Todo un mundo fluía dentro y a través de la cocina de Tina. Con su cabello negro recogido y probablemente vestida con su color favorito, el morado, Tina se movía entre la estufa de leña, el fregadero y la mesa, preparando el desayuno, el almuerzo y la cena. Todas las mañanas, Radio Estelí publicaba noticias, consejos de salud y cumpleaños en la región. Su hijo Chema, su nieto Gabriel y otros trabajadores agrícolas traían leche, maíz, verduras y otras cosechas de la milpa. En manos de Tina y las muchas mujeres que la ayudaban, esos productos se convertían en cuajada (un queso tradicional), tortillas, jugos y gallo pinto (el plato nacional de Nicaragua): el combustible de la comunidad. Sus sobrinos y sobrinas nietas corrían por la puerta principal y trasera jugando a la mancha mientras perros y gatos aparecían en busca de algo de comida. Ancianos de las profundidades de las montañas llegaban a su porche para tomar un café y presentar sus respetos.

Al caer la noche y cuando todo el pueblo regresaba a sus casas a ver telenovelas o béisbol, la familia de Tina seguía conversando. Su hijo Chema, quien se había convertido en líder de una cooperativa al igual que su padre, me preguntaba sobre geopolítica y los últimos esfuerzos del imperialismo estadounidense para reprimir la lucha popular. Su sobrino Juan, bibliotecario de la escuela de idiomas y parapléjico que sobrevivió al ataque arrastrándose por un túnel, describía a todos los brigadistas y mochileros que habían pasado por El Lagartillo.

Había una seriedad especial cuando Tina contaba historias de la fundación de El Lagartillo, equilibrando anécdotas humorísticas sobre animales de granja rebeldes con el terror de esperar el eventual ataque de la Contra. Con una sonrisa que dejaba ver su diente de plata, ¡siempre hablaba de lo frío que era Michigan! Una vez, sacó un álbum lleno de fotos de internacionalistas de todo Estados Unidos y Europa que se habían alojado con ella. José Ángel y Zunilda y todos los mártires de la Revolución vivieron en sus historias.

En abril de 2018, el imperialismo estadounidense y la sociedad nicaragüense afín a él se organizaron una vez más para socavar al FSLN. Los medios estadounidenses publicaron los informes del Departamento de Estado sobre la represión gubernamental de las protestas, a la vez que censuraron por completo cómo matones a sueldo atacaban e incluso asesinaban a sandinistas. Recibí rápidamente mensajes de Facebook y WhatsApp de mis amigos de El Lagartillo, perplejos y enojados por esta mala fabricación de la verdad. Visité El Lagartillo ese julio para verlo con mis propios ojos, hablando con sobrevivientes de los sangrientos bloqueos callejeros. Por primera vez desde la guerra, miembros de la comunidad patrullaban El Lagartillo para garantizar su seguridad.

Sobre todo, recuerdo la confusión de Tina cuando me preguntó qué había pasado con todos los activistas estadounidenses y europeos que habían visitado El Lagartillo y habían aprendido de su lucha. ¿Dónde estaba la solidaridad ahora que Nicaragua estaba nuevamente bajo ataque? En ese viaje, me uní a los Amigos de la ATC, una red de solidaridad antiimperialista que apoya a la Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (ATC) de Nicaragua. La ATC había organizado a los campesinos contra la dictadura de Somoza, había ayudado a implementar la reforma agraria en El Lagartillo y en toda Nicaragua, y había continuado desarrollando cooperativas agrícolas en las décadas posteriores a la Revolución. Tina y la ATC me revelaron la importancia de la lucha prolongada. El internacionalismo no es un acto único, sino un compromiso de por vida con la oposición al imperialismo. Un internacionalista debe construir solidaridad tanto en las revueltas como en las crisis, al igual que la ATC había continuado organizando a los campesinos durante la revolución y la contrarrevolución.

En mi tercer viaje, entre diciembre de 2018 y enero de 2019, acompañé a Tina a la Caminata, una recreación anual de cómo huyeron las mujeres y los niños durante el ataque a Achuapa. Al amanecer del 31 de diciembre, la familia de Tina, los miembros de la comunidad y los perros se reunieron frente a su casa. Luego descendimos por un infierno de maleza, rocas y un sendero sin pavimentar antes de desayunar en las piedras de un arroyo. Tina, con un palo y un gran sombrero para protegerse del sol, nos condujo al cementerio de Achuapa, donde residen su esposo y su hija. Después, todos nos apretujamos en una camioneta para regresar a El Lagartillo. Se sentó frente al mural con los retratos de su esposo e hija mientras los jóvenes de El Lagartillo cantaban música revolucionaria y realizaban danzas tradicionales para conmemorar a los mártires. Con la llegada del Año Nuevo, El Lagartillo comió nacatamales y lanzó fuegos artificiales.

El 10 de abril de 2024, a los 75 años, Tina falleció en Managua tras un ataque de alergia. Tras una caravana de camionetas, motocicletas y un autobús prestado por la empresa local, El Lagartillo la enterró en Achuapa junto a José Ángel y Zunilda. Su vida ejemplificó la verdad de que «El pueblo, y solo el pueblo, es la fuerza motriz que forja la historia del mundo».

Así como Tina preservó la memoria de su esposo e hija, sus numerosos seres queridos perpetúan su legado revolucionario.

En palabras de su nieta, Angélica Webster Pérez: “El único consuelo que tengo es que Mamá Tina siempre nos enseñó que nuestros queridos difuntos siempre nos cuidaban: todos los nietos fuimos criados con ese amor, esa presencia y ese respeto hacia la tía Zunilda y Papá Chango, aunque ninguno de nosotros los conocimos en vida. Y bueno, al menos el dolor se alivia un poco al saber que se ha reunido con ellos.

Quienes conocieron a Mamá Tina, o su historia, saben que era una leyenda y me siento muy, muy orgullosa de llevar su sangre, y sé que nos aseguraremos de que la próxima generación también lo sea.”

Florentina Pérez Calderón – ¡Presente, Presente, Presente!

#International #Nicaragua #Sandinista #Remembrances

Los Angeles, CA – April 10 marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Florentina Pérez Calderón, a champion of internationalism, a staunch defender of the Sandinista People’s Revolution and a beloved leader within the peasant community of El Lagartillo, Nicaragua. With her steadfastness and sacrifice, Tina (as she was known by those who loved her) left a model of life for those of us who struggle for revolution and liberation.

Tina was born on June 20, 1948, and grew up in the mountains of northern Nicaragua, the region where Augusto César Sandino and his peasant army had waged a guerrilla war against the United States about two decades before. Her childhood and the experiences of her family reflected the intense poverty, lack of healthcare and broken educational system that Nicaraguan campesinos endured under the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship. When she was one, Tina fell into an oven for processing sugar cane, burning her feet and barely surviving. Due to this accident, she would be the only child to have shoes in her family. Like her parents, she was unable to attend school and was illiterate during her youth.

At 15, Tina met José Ángel Pérez, her “compañero for life.” In 1963, the couple married and the following year they had their first child, Maria Zunilda, who contracted polio at two-and-a-half years old. Maria Zunilda survived but had a leg impairment for the rest of her life. Her second child Osmar passed away from an overdose of anesthesia when he was six years old. After the births of Maria Zunilda and Osmar, Tina and José Ángel went on to have four more children: José Maria (or Chema), Osmar (named in honor of his deceased older brother), Julia Marina, and Aracely de la Concepción. In total, Tina also suffered five miscarriages.

The lives of the Pérez family, other campesinos, workers and students across Nicaragua began to change in the late 1970s. Of course, this revolution was of their own making. José Ángel started attending consciousness-raising workshops led by a young priest named Gustavo Martinez in Achuapa, the closest town to their village. He would bring back to Tina what he learned about Carlos Fonseca and the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Before these conversations with Martinez, Tina and her family had been persuaded by Somoza-owned radio broadcasts, which had taught them that the FSLN “were very bad, sent from Cuba where they ate children and killed old people.” Soon los Muchachos, as campesinos referred to the young guerilla fighters of the FSLN, penetrated deeper into the mountains and identified the Pérez family as potential collaborators. In the face of increasing repression by Somoza’s Guardia, Tina and José Angel made the life-threatening decision to support the FSLN and take a stand for the liberation of Nicaragua.

At first, Tina sent food or prepared coffee for the Muchachos, being careful to immediately clean up their cigarette butts so that the Guardia wouldn’t suspect the Pérez family’s allegiances. With the Somoza dictatorship fighting for its survival, the Guardia conducted limpiezas, clean-up operations to torture and often kill FSLN supporters. Next, Tina and José Angel made armbands for the guerillas out of black and red cloth, a clear symbol of revolutionary commitment if the Guardia had ever discovered them. The Pérez home became a safehouse for the Muchachos as they waged attacks on the Guardia throughout the mountains and towns of the region.

The sacrifices and risks taken by peasants, workers and guerillas throughout Nicaragua bore fruit on July 17, 1979, when Anastasio “Tachito” Somoza Debayle, the third member of his despotic family to rule Nicaragua, fled the country. Two days later, the Sandinistas claimed Managua and began constructing a sovereign government, a state that would actually benefit the Nicaraguan people. Tina and her family devoted themselves to the creation of a new Nicaragua.

In her biography, Tina noted that the National Literacy Campaign in 1980 was particularly important for campesinos. Nearly 60,000 high school and university students, 30,000 adults and teams of Cuban teachers spread across the countryside and previously neglected urban neighborhoods to raise the literacy and political consciousness of common Nicaraguans. Ismael Fernandez, a Cuban educator, stayed with and taught the Pérez family while his countrymen built the first school in the community. Tina said of the experience, “The Literacy Crusade lifted us out of the darkness in which we were submerged.” In five months, illiteracy plummeted from 50% to 15% and the political education helped consolidate the country to FSLN’s vision for Nicaragua.

The Sandinista Revolution also improved the economic status for the Pérez family and other Nicaraguan campesinos when the FSLN undertook the process of agrarian reform. In 1983, the FSLN distributed the land of former Guardia lieutenant, Antonio Palacios, in El Lagartillo to the Pérez family and other once-landless peasants. That same year José Angel traveled to the sister republic of Cuba to study cooperatives, and the peasants around El Lagartillo formed la Cooperativa Santiago Arauz Reyes. Cooperative members began working the land collectively, receiving the harvests of their labor for the first time.

To undo these breakthroughs, U.S. imperialism, former Guardia, large landowners and the Nicaraguan bourgeoise – those who benefited from the previous system – started organizing the Contras. These paramilitaries killed civilians, raped women and targeted health care clinics, cooperatives and other forms of social progress supported by the Sandinista government. In November of 1984, they started terrorizing the areas around El Lagartillo, kidnapping campesinos and leaving death threats. “The Contras were very close, moving like a pack of bloody dogs, wanting to kill all of the campesinos,” wrote Tina.

In the morning of December 31, 1984, the feared attack arrived. 150 Contras encircled El Lagartillo and fired off bombs and heavy artillery at the village. With few arms at their disposal, 14 community members stayed to allow the women and children to flee through rocky terrain. “It was like hell – women and children screaming, crying,” described Tina. “We didn’t know where we were going. There were drops so steep that we had to drop the children to people waiting below.” However, Tina’s daughter Zunilda – 20 years old, a muralist who found dyes in the woods around her home and a survivor of polio – remained. She grabbed a rifle and occupied her combat position in the southern part of the village.

It took three hours for the group to descend the mountain. They waited all day for news of what had happened in El Lagartillo. Eventually, a truck made its way down to leave cadavers at the health clinic. Tina wrote, “There were six dead from the cooperative: three adults, José Ángel, Ramiro Bravo and Encarnación Palma; two 14-year-old boys, Reynaldo Ramirez and Javier Pérez (my nephew); and my daughter Zunilda, 20 years old. We laid all of our dead out in the church. It hurt my very soul to see little Javier with his head split open.”

As Tina mourned the loss of her loved ones and the cooperative attempted to rebuild itself, brigadistas traveled to the community to observe both the Sandinista Revolution and the impact of U.S. imperialism.

Tina transitioned into her role as a solidarity activist, hosting hundreds of visitors and keeping the memory of José Angel and Zunilda alive. In 1986, Witness for Peace helped Tina tour the United States and expose the atrocities that Reagan’s government had committed against her family and the Nicaraguan people. She wrote, “We did all we could in the interest of stopping the war so that we could live in peace and dignity. The trip helped me very much emotionally. Telling my story, sharing my tragedy over and over again was helpful. It also helped me feel that their deaths would not go unnoticed.” Tina eventually published her own autobiography, La Vida de Tina and her story is a central part of Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S. Policy by Paul Dix.

Despite the best efforts of the Sandinistas to construct a new society, U.S. imperialism’s atrocities eventually wore down the Nicaraguan population, which elected the U.S.-backed Violeta Chamorro in order to stop the war. “For me, this was the worst blow in the entire struggle for liberation,” wrote Tina. “It was even worse than when I lost my family, because their deaths were my personal loss; the loss of the revolution was the loss of freedom for my entire country.”

The neoliberal government of Violeta Chamorro rolled back the victories of the revolution, privatizing public resources and restoring large landowners to their previous positions within Nicaragua society. In El Lagartillo, this counterrevolution meant having to sell land to afford university tuition, long hikes to obtain potable water, and a general halt in social progress. In the early 2000s, responding to worsening economic conditions, young people within El Lagartillo – essentially the cousins of Zunilda – founded the Hijos del Maiz language school, using a cooperative-based model inspired by their parents’ example from the 1980s.

I visited El Lagartillo for the first time in 2017 as part of this program, attracted by the descriptions of the village’s cooperative history on the school’s website. I arrived in Nicaragua with some preconceptions about the country’s current state; while always skeptical of imperialism’s descriptions of the Global South, I had read from reliable left sources the typical narrative that the FSLN were back in power but had converted into President Daniel Ortega’s personal political machine. According to pretty much any U.S. news outlet, the FSLN was indistinguishable from their previous opponents and all true Sandinistas had left the party.

I spent one night in Managua, passing by the illuminated Hugo Chavez and Tree of Life statues that represent the current government’s vision, before taking a series of vans and buses to finally get to El Lagartillo. I initially stayed with Fermin and Rufin, an elderly couple who had survived the attack and lived a few houses down from the mural for the seven martyrs (the six who died at El Lagartillo as well as the Swiss internationalist Maurice Demierre who had helped the cooperative before being killed in a separate Contra attack). This spot also marks the location where Zunilda died protecting her family and cooperative. Lisbeth – my first Spanish teacher, Fermin and Rufin’s daughter, and Tina’s daughter-in-law – quickly dispelled any notion of a rupture between the struggle from the 1980s and the FSLN’s current project. During Spanish lessons in cabins a few feet away from that mural, she explained Nicaragua’s ongoing social transformations.

The return of Daniel Ortega to the presidency in 2007 had in fact commenced the second stage of the Sandinista Revolution. Progress has been incremental but substantial for ordinary Nicaraguans. A mobile clinic visited the community once a week, making health care possible for women and children from villages deep within the mountains. Students from El Lagartillo were attending – for free – universities in Leon and Managua to become doctors and engineers. Access to electricity, potable water and roofing significantly improved. The winding highway through the mountains to El Lagartillo had been repaved for the first time in a generation, simplifying travel and commerce.

To paraphrase my other professor Norma, whose 14-year-old brother Javier had died during the attack: Only those who have never lived without these basic necessities could not understand the difference they make. Contrary to the hit pieces in the Western press about high-profile “Sandinistas” who had abandoned the FSLN, those in the countryside, those who had shed blood to both win and defend the Revolution, continued with El Frente.

I moved into Tina’s house on October 30, 2017, my 25th birthday. I had met her a few times in passing during my first two months in El Lagartillo, keeping extremely quiet in fear of disrespecting a legend. As I had one month left, Lisbeth wanted me to have the opportunity to learn from her. On that first night, I explained that I hadn’t been able to sleep lately and Tina prepared me the remedy – a cinnamon and orange leaf tea – that she used to relax herself in the years after the attack as she grieved. During that time, José Ángel and Zunilda regularly returned in her dreams. As we sipped this tea, Tina began asking me all the necessary questions that build trust and friendship across cultures: Do you look more like your mother or your dad? Are you close with your brother? What’s New York like? Why aren’t you married yet?

A whole world flowed within and through Tina’s kitchen. With her black hair pulled back and most likely wearing her favorite color purple, Tina moved between her wood stove, sink and table, preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every morning Radio Esteli publicized news updates, health tips and birthdays in the region. Her son Chema, grandson Gabriel and other agricultural workers brought milk, corn, vegetables and other harvests from the milpa. In the hands of Tina and the many women who helped her, those products became cuajada (a traditional cheese), tortillas, juices and gallo pinto (the national dish of Nicaragua) – the fuel for the community. Great-nieces and nephews ran through the front and back door playing tag while dogs and cats showed up to find a scrap of food. Elders from deep within the mountains arrived at her porch for a cup of coffee and to pay their respects.

When the night would settle and the whole village had returned to their homes to watch novelas or beisbol, Tina’s family would keep conversing. Her son Chema, who had become a leader in a cooperative just like his father, asked me about geopolitics and the latest efforts by U.S. imperialism to roll back the people’s struggle. Her nephew Juan, the language school’s librarian and a paraplegic who had survived the attack by dragging himself in a tunnel, described all the brigadistas and backpackers who had come through El Lagartillo.

There was a special gravity as Tina recounted stories of El Lagartillo’s founding, balancing humorous anecdotes about unruly farm animals with the terror of expecting the eventual attack by the Contras. With a grin that exposed her silver tooth, she would always talk about how cold Michigan was! Once she came out with an album full with photos of internationalists from across the U.S. and Europe who had stayed with her. José Ángel and Zunilda and all the martyrs of the Revolution lived in her stories.

In April 2018, U.S. imperialism, and those from Nicaraguan society aligned with it, once again organized to undermine the FSLN. U.S. media published the state department’s reports of the government cracking down on protests while completely censoring how paid thugs were attacking and even killing Sandinistas. I quickly received Facebook and WhatsApp messages from my friends in El Lagartillo, perplexed and angry about this fabrication. I visited that July to see for myself, speaking with survivors of the bloody street blockades. For the first time since the war, community members patrolled El Lagartillo to keep it safe.

Most of all, I remember Tina’s confusion as she asked me what had happened to all the American and European activists who had visited El Lagartillo and learned from their struggle. Where was the solidarity now that Nicaragua was once again under attack? On that trip, I joined the Friends of the ATC, an anti-imperialist solidarity network that supports Nicaragua’s Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (Rural Workers’ Organization or ATC).

The ATC had organized peasants against the Somoza dictatorship, helped implement land reform in El Lagartillo and across Nicaragua and continued developing agricultural cooperatives in the decades after the Revolution. Tina and the ATC revealed to me the importance of protracted struggle. Internationalism is not a single act but a life-long commitment to opposing imperialism. An internationalist must build solidarity in both upsurges and downturns, just as the ATC had continued to organize peasants during both revolution and counter-revolution.

On my third trip in December 2018 and January 2019, I accompanied Tina for the caminata, an annual re-creation of how the women and children fled during the attack to Achuapa. As the sun came up on December 31, Tina’s family, community members and dogs gathered outside her house. We then descended through the infierno – a hell of wild brush, boulders and unpaved path – before eating breakfast on the stones within a creek. Tina, with a walking stick and a big hat to protect her from the sun, led us to the cemetery in Achuapa where her husband and daughter reside. We then all squeezed into a pickup truck to get back to El Lagartillo. She sat in front of the mural with her husband and daughter’s portraits as El Lagartillo’s youth sang revolutionary music and performed traditional dance to commemorate the martyrs. As the New Year arrived, El Lagartillo ate nacatamales and shot off fireworks.

On April 10, 2024, at the age of 75, Tina passed away in Managua after a bout with an allergy. Following a caravan of pickup trucks, motorcycles, and a bus loaned from the local company, El Lagartillo laid Tina to rest in Achuapa alongside José Angel and Zunilda. Her life exemplified the truth that “The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.”

Just as Tina preserved the memory of her husband and daughter, her many loved ones carry forward her revolutionary legacy.

In the words of her granddaughter, Angélica Webster Perez, “The only consolation I have is that Mama Tina always taught us that our beloved deceased were always taking care of us: all of us grandchildren were raised with that love, knowledge of presence and respect towards Aunt Zunilda and Papa Chango, although none of us had met them in life. And well, at least the pain is relieved a little knowing that he has reunited with them.

 “Those who knew Mama Tina, or her story, know that she was a ‘complete legend’, and I feel so, so proud to carry her blood, and I know that we will ensure that the next generation will be too.”

 ¡Florentina Pérez Calderón – Presente, presente, presente!

#LosAngelesCA #CA #International #Nicaragua #Sandinistas #Remembrances

Chicago, IL – On January 24, over 60 people crowded the Latino Cultural Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to join a discussion with Juan González of the Great Cities Institute and David Ramirez of the Cuban Embassy around the current immigrant crisis and its root causes. The discussion was co-hosted by two campus groups: New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at UIC and Mexican Students de Aztlán (MeSA) at UIC.

SDS is a national grassroots organization fighting for progressive change on campus, led by and for students. Members of SDS continually work to fight against U.S. wars and interventions, racist discrimination, police crimes, homophobic and transphobic attacks, attacks on women, attacks on reproductive rights and more through mobilizing protests and campaigns. MeSA is a Chicano, Latino, community-based organization that was established in 1993. MeSA emerged primarily to address pressing problems and issues affecting the Mexican, Chicano and the Latino communities. Young student activists and representatives from six other organizations also got the opportunity to chime in and speak at this extremely insightful gathering.

The importance of a conversation around the current immigrant crisis was made clear to members of SDS and MeSA after tens of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants began pouring into Chicago after being bused out of states like Texas and Florida by racist right-wing Republican governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis. These new arrivals are living in poor conditions inside and outside police districts, local parks, empty lots, and sometimes on street corners and sidewalks. Meanwhile, both major political parties are set to host their national conventions in the summer of 2024 – with the Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago.

In October 2023, the veteran activist and renowned journalist Juan González published his report titled How U.S. Policy Toward Latin America Has Fueled Historic Numbers of Asylum Seekers. It was then that SDS and MeSA decided to team up with the Chicago Cuba Coalition to organize this educational event. Student activists and representatives from the endorsing organizations were asked to speak about the effects U.S. foreign policy has had on immigration from their respective homelands, as well as what that means for our movement today.

First to speak was Louise Macaraniag from Anakbayan at UIC, a youth activist organization fighting for the liberation of the Philippines through the national democratic movement. Macaraniag drew connections between the newly arrived immigrants from Venezuela to those coming from Mexico, Syria and the Philippines, reminding the crowd that this immigration “is a symptom of U.S. imperialism.” After elaborating on the economic ties between the governments of the Philippines and the U.S., they shared the story of their own family’s forced migration and the trauma that ensued. Macaraniag urged those in attendance to “stand in solidarity with all colonized people across the world to fight against U.S. imperialism.”

Next was the vice-president of the Union of Puerto Rican Students at UIC, Patricia Sepulveda. She began her speech by commending the discussion’s attendees for refusing to stay silent in such turbulent times. Sepulveda shocked the room as she quoted what Puerto Rico’s first civilian governor, Charles Herbert Allen stated in 1901, “Puerto Rico is a beautiful island with its natural resources undeveloped, and its population unfitted to assume the management of their own affairs. With American capital and American energies, the labor of the natives can be utilized to the benefit of all parties.” However, Sepulveda pointed out that what followed was exploitation and destruction of the island in the name of profits, much to the benefit of the U.S. and to the detriment of Puerto Ricans.

Sepulveda concluded that there is an immigrant crisis only because the U.S. has “created a system that leaves people all over Latin America in shambles, and with no choice but to come here, just to be treated like second-class citizens.”

Mahdi Muhamad spoke immediately after on behalf of the Students for Justice in Palestine at UIC, a powerful student organization that promotes justice, human rights and liberation for the Palestinian people. His passionate speech further exposed the heinous crimes that the U.S. government continues to facilitate in Gaza and all of occupied Palestine by sending billions of dollars in “aid” to the genocidal state of Israe. Muhamad closed his remarks with chants of “Free Palestine” that participants proudly echoed.

A co-founder of the newly formed Latine Student Coalition at UIC, Jay Campos, spoke about the brutal exploitation of Latin America by U.S. multinational corporations in the 20th century and the crippling consequences of the coups that they backed against several democratically-elected governments in the region. He also identified the annexation of northern Mexico by the U.S. in 1848 as a “critical point in history” and oppression.

Then, Sol Márquez joined the discussion online to represent Legalization For All (L4A), a large network of organizations and individuals fighting for immigrant rights and legalization for all 12 million undocumented people across the country. Márquez shared what she and others in L4A witnessed during their delegation to the U.S./San Diego border in April 2023, “Policies like NAFTA and embargos like the ones placed on Cuba and Venezuela led to immigration waves from these progressive nations.”

Márquez continued, “We have witnessed protective asylum status for Ukrainian immigrants, and the U.S. fondly referring to them as refugees – but the same gestures are never afforded to immigrants like my Mexican parents or Central American ones.”

The co-hosting student organizations, MeSA and SDS, made their final remarks before segueing to Juan González and David Ramirez. The president of MeSA at UIC, Lucy Arias, called attention to the historic hypocrisy of the U.S. government for their use of Mexican labor via the “Bracero” program implemented during World War II. She said, “Policies have been passed in the United States to both impede and facilitate the flow of immigration, depending on what is most convenient and needed by the United States. We are exposed to exploitation, maltreatment, threats, extortion and more, all because we looked for a new opportunity. They wanted our Braceros, “our brazos” but not our persons and people.”

Sahian Sotelo, a student organizer, emphasized the importance of community and solidarity in their speech on behalf of SDS at UIC. “Recently,” they said, “right-wing reactionary politicians have been having their way as they watch generations of existing Latino communities in Chicago turn against the incoming Venezuelans. The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. In turning against each other, we oppress ourselves and our very own community, when the reality is we are all struggling- and struggling together at that. In the struggle, there should be solidarity. Solidarity to stand up to our true oppressor.” Sotelo left the crowd on a powerful note with the vintage SDS chant, “Dare to struggle, dare to win!”

After the student activists and organizers finished their remarks, keynote speakers Juan González and David Ramirez were set to talk. At this point in the program, they both acknowledged and informed the audience that the youth speakers had energized and fired them up. González, in particular, fondly recalled being a member of the original SDS during his time as a youth activist in the late 1960s. During the presentation of his report on the current immigrant crisis, González repeatedly drew attention to and identified U.S. economic warfare against three specific countries – Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba – as a driving force in the latest migration surge.

González also detailed why so many people are fleeing Venezuela; the endless Cuba embargo; the sanctions against Nicaragua; the history of U.S. intervention in Latin America, and practical solutions.

Finally, David Ramirez joined the discussion virtually from Washington, DC to speak on his work at the Cuban Embassy, the historic relations between the governments of the U.S. and Cuba, and Cuba’s tourist economy. Ramirez explained that we need background and context to understand why over 400,000 Cubans have immigrated to the U.S. Southwest border in the last couple years – the vast majority then heading to Florida.

Julie Wolenski spoke on behalf of the Chicago Cuba Coalition and motivated the audience to see Cuba for themselves. She suggested to folks, “Join a May Day delegation or brigade and join the campaign to take Cuba off the SSOT list!”

Afterwards, the students, organizers and community members gathered and held banners to record a short video demanding the U.S. end its blockade against Cuba and lift the sanctions against Venezuela and Nicaragua. The Latino Cultural Center was soon infused with a militant mood as activists broke out in a spirit of solidarity. We chanted “Cuba si! Bloqueo no!” and “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!” Juan González and David Ramirez reminded those of us in the room that day that things didn’t have to be this way. If we wanted the situation to change, we had to fight for it.

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #SDS #MECHa #International #Venezuela #Nicaragua #LatinAmerica #Cuba #L4A

Managua, Nicaragua – Thousands of FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional) youth and militants filled the Plaza de la Revolución in Managua, Nicaragua to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the Sandinista Popular Revolution, which triumphed on July 19, 1979. Thousands more filled the Managua city center, chanting, dancing and waving the flags of Nicaragua and the FSLN.

With revolutionary dance and songs, the crowd enthusiastically chanted militant slogans in Spanish like “Esta patria no se rinde, se defiende,” meaning, “This nation does not surrender, it defends the nation.”

The event included many beautiful inspirational songs, dances of the revolutionary struggle of Nicaragua. The plaza was decorated with images on Agosto Sandino, the Nicaraguan revolutionary leader who defeated the U.S. Marines in the 1930s.

The Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional takes its name from Sandino, who is the country’s national hero. The FSLN successfully fought the brutal U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship till victory on July 19, 1979.

In response to imperialism’s defeat in Nicaragua, the U.S. funded and controlled the Contras to curtail the Nicaraguan revolution. The Contra War culminated in the FSLN’s electoral defeat in 1990. The reactionary governments that followed the first stage of the revolution privatized the victories of the Nicaraguan people during the 1980s and rolled back social progress.

Since returning to power in 2007, the FSLN government with the leadership of President Daniel Ortega has built a national healthcare system, free public education from early age to high school, among other advances. It managed to develop an agricultural economy to provide for its people and for exportation. It continues to build and improve its infrastructure also, with new highways and lower COVID-19 deaths.

But the U.S. government imposes unjust sanctions against Nicaragua. Talking to people during the celebration, one young man said that all they wanted for the people of Nicaragua was peace and respect to be able to run their own country.

It is clear that the FSLN and its leadership have the support of the masses of the Nicaraguan people. We here in the U.S. must pressure the government to end the sanctions against Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba.

#ManaguaNicaragua #Managua #Nicaragua #SandinistaNationalLiberationFrontFSLN #Americas

Lincoln Heights, CA – On Sunday, November 7, the Immigration Committee of the Community Service Organization (Centro CSO) hosted a screening of Nicaragua Against Empire, a film by Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez.

The screening, at the Church of the Epiphany in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, fell on the day of the Nicaraguan presidential elections, which resulted in the victory of leftist Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) with 75.96% of the vote. The country named these elections “Elecciones Soberanas 2021” (Sovereign Elections 2021) and invited international elections observers to ensure clean and fair elections. Long lines of Nicaraguans filled the streets to cast their vote, and when it was clear that the FSLN won, people celebrated.

U.S. corporate media quickly responded to the results with false narratives about Ortega jailing his opponents before the election and suppressing peoples’ vote, calling him a dictator. The U.S. government is already preparing heightened sanctions for Nicaragua, as they have done in countries like Cuba, Venezuela and China.

At the event in LA, 25 people got a look into the reality of the country. Nicaragua Against Empire, shot on a Friends of the ATC solidarity delegation in March 2021, shows that people are very supportive of the FSLN and the life-changing benefits of the socialist government. Youth, women, and Afro-indigenous Nicaraguans are encouraged to participate in politics as part of the country’s path towards sovereignty.

During the discussion around immigration, Fúnez noted that the majority of immigration into the United States is from Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti and Mexico, because of these countries’ state violence and lack of economic opportunities caused by decades of U.S. intervention and detrimental trade agreements. There is not a lot of immigration from Nicaragua, which has been rated one of the safest countries in the hemisphere and whose government offers economic opportunities, free education and healthcare, convenient transportation, and access to land. This allows Nicaraguans to stay in their home country.

The event was also a fundraiser to raise money to send families from LA whose loved ones have been killed by LAPD or LASD to the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) conference in Chicago in December. The national conference is an opportunity to share strategy with other organizations fighting police brutality and to create plans to push for community control over the police in cities across the U.S. The fundraiser included a donation at the door, sales of plates of pupusas and aguas frescas, a raffle of succulents, and an auction of revolutionary memorabilia from Nicaragua and Venezuela, donated by CSO members who have visited these countries.

Fúnez remembered the connection that during the 70s, Nicaraguans were organizing to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship in churches at the same time that Chicanos were organizing for national liberation in Los Angeles, with the Church of the Epiphany as a historic organizing space.

Centro CSO supports the right to self-determination of other nations against U.S. imperialism and opposes the U.S.’ cruel sanctions. If you wish to join the Immigration Committee of CSO, send us a message at CentroCSO@gmail.com, text us at our hotline 323-943-2030, or contact us at our various social media platforms. @CentroCSO on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram. The next public meeting will be online via Zoom, November 18, 6:30 p.m. PST.

#LincolnHeightsCA #OppressedNationalities #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #CentroCSO #Nicaragua

Tucson, AZ – For a small, largely agricultural country, Nicaragua has delivered several losses to the much larger, more militarily advanced U.S. empire. From Augusto Sandino’s peasant army expelling the U.S. Marines in the 1930s, to the Sandinista Revolution of 1979 that toppled the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship, to the electoral return of the Sandinistas in 2006, to the defeat of the U.S.-coordinated soft coup attempt in 2018, the 2021 elections are another win for people of Nicaragua.

With over 65% of eligible voters participating, the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) won the presidency and vice presidency with a resounding 76% on November 7. In a country of 6.3 million people, the FSLN is immensely popular, with over 2 million registered party members. This election took place under the continued threat of more sanctions from the declining U.S. empire.

The U.S., through the CIA’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED), routinely funnels millions of taxpayer dollars to fund opposition groups and influence media narratives to undermine the FSLN. These opposition groups and media drove a campaign in the months leading up to November’s elections to slander President Ortega and question the legitimacy of the voting process. On top of that, in recent weeks, the U.S. government cooked up new sanctions as a threat to Nicaraguans: vote out the Sandinistas or we’ll make the economy scream. Considering the results of the election, they failed miserably. Again.

Since ending the 16-year reign of neoliberal privatization of public services by winning the presidency in 2006, the FSLN has achieved numerous important victories in the service of their people. By having a national democratic orientation, the FSLN has helped Nicaragua construct dozens of hospitals, procure ambulances and fire trucks, reinstate free public education, lower mortality rates for infants and mothers, once again eliminate illiteracy, build public housing, offer zero-interest loans, provide subsidized electricity, reduce violent crime and drugs, and enhance their food sovereignty.

It is no mystery why the FSLN won in such a big way – the people of Nicaragua are proud of the accomplishments and determined to forge their future free of U.S. domination.

#Nicaragua #PeoplesStruggles #SandinistaNationalLiberationFrontFSLN #Americas

¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevistó un líder del sector de Juventud del Frente Sandinista Liberación Nacional, Rosalía Bohórquez. ¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Con cuáles organizaciones estás un integrante?

Rosalía Bohórquez: Juventud Sandinista.

¡Lucha y Resiste!:¿Cómo sucedió la experiencia con el Covid-19 en Nicaragua?

Rosalía Bohórquez: Nicaragua tomó una actitud preventiva desde que se declaró la pandemia. Gracias al modelo de salud comunitario se logró hacer una campaña de concientización casa a casa, en todos los barrios del país, seguido a esto se inició un mapeo de salud para identificar las zonas donde había mayor riesgo de contagios, esto permitió que las autoridades sanitarias tuvieran mayor control, desde el primer caso en el país, se activaron los protocolos sanitarios. Gracias a la oportuna capacitación y concientización, en Nicaragua no se registraron una gran cantidad de fallecimientos, y pues como no hubo restricciones los nicaragüenses podía y pueden mantener una vida normal en la medida de lo posible así mismo no dejar caer la economía del país.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Qué hizo el gobierno después del golpe suave del 2018?

Rosalía Bohórquez: Desde la intentona golpista, el gobierno impulsó la ley de reconciliación y diálogo nacional, para unificar al pueblo que realmente había sido manipulado, entonces el diálogo para la paz se instaló en cada barrio. El trabajo principal es reconstruir lo que los golpistas habían destruido. Sin embargo, las intenciones de dañar al país seguían latentes y se detectó que los principales enemigos del pueblo eran financiados desde instituciones yanquis a través de ONG, cuyos directivos se lucraron de ese dinero a costa de la destrucción del país.

Y simplemente se aplicó la ley ya existente que fue reforzada nada más.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cómo se parece el camino a las elecciones en Noviembre?

Rosalía Bohórquez: El proceso electoral nicaragüense es un proceso amplio, participativo y democrático. Actualmente se hicieron reformas que van a permitir una participación equitativa, equilibrada con enfoque de género para todos los nicaragüenses. Ahorita se eligieron a las autoridades del Consejo Supremo Electoral, que cabe mencionar que en Nicaragua esto es un poder del Estado con garantías constitucionales. Entonces lo principal ahorita es la activación de autoridades locales en el Marco electoral. Todo en el marco legal de nuestro país. El pueblo de Nicaragua quiere vivir en paz y lograr encaminarnos como lo estábamos haciendo antes del intento de golpe de estado, y es por eso que ahorita se está trabajando para lograr vivir un proceso electoral tranquilo y en paz. Y los aires según las encuestas la mayoría sabe que solo el FSLN va a continuar cambiando Nicaragua.

#Nicaragua #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #FrenteSandinistaDeLiberaciónNacionalFSLN

Fight Back!: What organization are you a member of?

Rosalía Bohórquez: Sandinista Youth

Fight Back!: How has the experience with COVID-19 been in Nicaragua?

Bohórquez: Nicaragua took a preventive attitude since the very beginning of the global pandemic. Thanks to the public health system, a community model, we succeeded in an awareness campaign by going house to house, neighborhood by neighborhood all over the country.

Alongside this campaign, the government began a health mapping process to identify areas with the greatest risk of infection. This allowed the health authorities to gain greater control over potential spreading. From the first case of COVID-19, the government activated and implemented all the necessary sanitary protocols.

Thanks to the devoted capacity of the government and the awareness campaign, Nicaragua did not have a high number of deaths related to COVID-19. Also, because of this success, there were no social or economic restrictions, so Nicaraguans could live a normal life for the most part and we did not let the economy drop and hurt the country.

Fight Back!: What has the government done since the attempted U.S.-backed coup in 2018?

Bohórquez: Since the defeat of the attempted coup, the government implemented the National Law of Reconciliation and Dialogue to unify the people, many of who were truly manipulated by the right-wing press. In practice, this dialogue for peace took place in each neighborhood around the country.

The main work is to rebuild all that was destroyed by the coup plotters. However, the intentions to harm the country took place under the noses of many Nicaraguans without many realizing it. It was discovered that the main enemy of the people, the coup plotters, were financed by institutions from the U.S. government through NGOs. They took their directives from the U.S. to create chaos and destroy the country and they made a lot of money to do it.

There has been a lot of noise about the Ortega government cutting funding for NGOs but the president is simply using a pre-existing law about foreign interference in national elections and reinforcing its implementation.

Fight Back!: After the U.S. coup attempt in 2018, how does the road to the national elections in November look?

Bohórquez: The Nicaraguan electoral process is a wide-reaching effort that is participatory and democratic. There have been important reforms made that will allow more equal participation, more balanced for gender, for all Nicaraguans. Recently, new leaders were chosen to the Supreme Electoral Council; it is worth mentioning that this body is backed by the power of the state with constitutional guarantees. From now until November, the main work is to activate the local authorities in this electoral process, to pull the whole country together towards this election.

Nicaraguan people want to live in peace and continue to live how we were before the U.S.-backed coup attempt. That is why we are working hard to have a peaceful electoral process. With this approach, the majority at the polls know that only the FSLN will continue to improve and transform Nicaragua.

#UnitedStates #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Nicaragua #SandinistaNationalLiberationFrontFSLN

En enero unos periodistas de ¡Lucha y Resiste! participaron en el Encuentro Mundial Antiimperialista en Caracas, Venezuela. Allí hicieron entrevistas con delegados de varios países. Esta es una entrevista con una lideresa del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) y una miembro(a) de la UNEN – la Unión Nacional de Estudiantes de Nicaragua. Este es su mensaje al pueblo trabajador y progresista de los Estados Unidos. Rosalía Bohórquez: Mi nombre es Rosalía Bohórquez, nicaragüense y miembro del Frente Sandinista para la Liberación Nacional (FSLN). Igualmente soy estudiante y miembro de la UNEN – Unión Nacional de Estudiantes de Nicaragua.

Nos encontramos acá en Venezuela en este encuentro antiimperialista. Quisiéramos hacer un llamado al pueblo estadounidense a decirles no a las mentiras, a decirles no a la 'fake news' de la manipulación mediática del poder hegemónico. Sabemos muy bien que el poder hegemónico tiene el poder económico, las transnacionales quienes manejan definitivamente las mentiras que atacan a Venezuela, que atacan a Nicaragua, que atacan a Cuba.

Mi mayor llamado al pueblo estadounidense es que se unan a esa batalla comunicacional y sobre todo a que hagan una campaña de solidaridad permanente con nosotros, los pueblos agredidos de nuestra América.

En Nicaragua hemos logrado romper ese cerco mediático muchas veces, porque hemos logrado decir la verdad. La verdad es que Nicaragua tiene progreso. Nicaragua accede los estudiantes a la educación gratuita y de cualidad. Hemos ido avanzando en senda de desarrollo y también nosotros accedemos a la salud pública y gratuita. Accedemos a bonos productivos. El protagonismo de las mujeres que hemos logrado.

Nicaragua, de ser uno de los países más pobres de Latinoamérica es ahora uno de los países que tiene la mejor economía de Centroamérica después de Panamá.

Sin embargo, a pesar de que quisieron destruir nuestra economía en el año 2018 con este intento de golpe del estado, no lo lograron. Por que nosotros los nicaragüenses estamos dispuestos a luchar y a combatir la pobreza, que es el mal que nos han aplicado los gobiernos neoliberales financiado por el imperialismo yanqui.

Nosotros como nicaragüenses iremos hacia el sol de la victoria como nos dijo Sandino.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #Nicaragua #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #FrenteSandinistaDeLiberaciónNacionalFSLN #UniónNacionalDeEstudiantesDeNicaraguaUNEN

In January, Fight Back! reporters participated in the World Anti-Imperialist Gathering in Caracas, Venezuela. While there, they interviewed delegates from several countries. Here’s an interview with a leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and a member of the National Union of Nicaraguan Students (UNEN), Rosalía Bohórquez. Bohórquez delivers a message to working people and progressive people in the United States. Rosalía Bohórquez: My name is Rosalía Bohórquez. I'm Nicaraguan and a member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). I'm also a student and a member of the National Union of Nicaraguan Students (UNEN).

We're here in Venezuela at this anti-imperialist gathering, and we'd like to call on the people of the United States to say no to the lies and to say no to the fake news of the hegemonic power’s media manipulations. We know very well that the hegemonic power has the economic power – the transnationals that clearly are behind the lies that attack Venezuela, that attack Nicaragua and that attack Cuba.

The biggest thing I’d say to the people of the United States is that they join in this struggle, and above all that they engage in an ongoing solidarity campaign with us, the peoples of our America who have been victimized.

In Nicaragua we've managed to break through the media obstacles many times because we speak the truth. The truth is that Nicaragua is progressing. Nicaragua gives students free quality education. We've made advances in development and we also have free public health care. We have production surpluses. We've achieved women's empowerment.

Although Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, it more has one of the strongest economies in Central America after Panama, even though they tried to destroy our economy in 2018 with an attempted coup d’état which didn't succeed.

Because we as Nicaraguans are willing to struggle and willing to combat the poverty that neoliberal governments have imposed on us, financed by the Yankee imperialists.

As Nicaraguans, we will keep moving forward until we win, like Sandino taught us.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #Nicaragua #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #SandinistaNationalLiberationFrontFSLN #NationalUnionOfNicaraguanStudentsUNEN

Managua, Nicaragua – On July 19, 500,000 Nicaraguans filled Managua’s Plaza de la Fe to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista Popular Revolution and Nicaragua’s liberation from the U.S.-imposed Somoza dictatorship.

President Daniel Ortega, Vice President Rosario Murillo, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and international representatives electrified the crowd – many in attendance had traveled hours in packed caravans from all over the country – with calls for peace, continued economic and social progress, and the defense of Nicaraguan sovereignty in the face of U.S. aggression. Wearing their traditional rojinegro and waving the flag of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the Nicaraguans in the Plaza de la Fe demonstrated to the United States and the country’s right wing their increased unity and strength born out of the FSLN government’s victory over the U.S.-designed coup attempt of 2018.

As members of the Sandinista Youth swayed behind her, Vice President Murillo opened the event by cheering, “No pudieron, ni podrán! (They couldn’t and they never will be able to),” the FSLN slogan referencing the failed coup. She then affirmed the sovereignty of Nicaragua and her country’s commitment to peace: “Nicaragua advances in peace, with effort and hope...Our people own their history and are the architects of their liberation.”

A theme of Vice President Murillo’s speech was thankfulness toward the historic Sandinistas who’d fought for the liberation of Nicaragua, like Carlos Fonseca, Tomás Borge, and Arlen Sieu as well as the government officials and international representatives in attendance. She also recognized Bismarck Martinez, a Sandinista activist who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the opposition during the failed coup.

Following Vice President Murillo’s introduction, a series of religious leaders from different denominations spoke before turning the stage over to international dignitaries from fraternal countries.

President Anatoly Bibilov of South Ossetia described Nicaragua as a “magnificent example for other peoples” as his hosts had “taught other peoples to be masters of their own destinies.” First Vice President of Cuba Salvador Valdés listed the progressive achievements of the current FSLN government and condemned the sanctions against Nicaragua being implemented by the U.S. Vice President Valdés concluded his remarks by quoting Fidel Castro’s words to the Sandinistas attending the 1979 celebration of the Assault on the Moncada Barracks, one week after their own revolution’s triumph. “The Sandinistas have given one more lesson about what the revolutionary spirit can do. Men of weak character never reach a goal. Weak souls will never get anywhere. The revolutionary spirit is capable of achieving the most incredible goals.”

Carrying “a hug from our president and leader, Nicolas Maduro” for President Ortega, Vice President Murillo, and the Nicaraguan people, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez roused the crowd during her ten minutes at the podium. Vice President Rodríguez first linked the “three-twinned revolutions” of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, describing how the youth of Cuba and Nicaragua’s victory over dictatorships had inspired the Bolivarian struggle in Venezuela. She then turned to the current moment as all three countries are threatened by the United States and its “criminal economic blockades.” As the Sandinista crowd roared, Rodriguez delivered “bad news” for Donald Trump “from the free Nicaragua that resists and wins, from the free Cuba that resists and is victorious, from the indestructible Venezuela” that “We will never be anyone's backyard again! Go away with your Monroe Doctrine, far away!”

Introduced by Vice President Rodríguez’s stirring defense of revolutionary struggle in Latin America, President Ortega rose to speak. His subject was simple: Nicaraguans want peace, “the fundamental condition” for prosperity. President Ortega said, “A people needs peace to work, to live...Nicaragua is our home and there must be peace.”

“It has been the same throughout history, the struggle of humanity, the struggle for justice, the struggle for peace in the midst of so many wars, in the midst of so much destruction, in the midst of so much exploitation,” said President Ortega. “[There have been] peoples fighting for peace and in these times, times when there are those who cheerfully beat war drums without thinking that by beating war drums they endanger the existence of themselves and their people, the peoples of the world, and I am sure that the U.S. people want peace, they want justice.”

Before addressing the United States, President Ortega thanked Brian Wilson, a veteran of the Vietnam War and “hero of peace.” In 1987, Wilson lost his legs while protesting U.S. involvement in Central America when a train carrying weapons bound for El Salvador and Nicaragua hit him as he laid on the railroad tracks. President Ortega then turned toward more contemporary injustices of U.S. imperialism: the violation of people’s right to migrate and economic sanctions. “These are times in which we must unite all of us, Nicaraguans, Central Americans, Mesoamericans, Latin Americans and Caribbeans, with the North American people, to fight for peace in all of our America,” he declared.

After this call for peace, President Ortega contextualized the 2018 attempted coup, disguised by the U.S. and Nicaraguan opposition as a “popular rising,” within the history of U.S. intervention in Nicaragua. The inaccurate, exaggerated media coverage of the attempted coup misled many activists in the U.S. President Ortega linked the Nicaraguan right to the same “traitors” that had worked with the “hand of the empire” to bring William Walker to Nicaragua in the 1850s, kill General Augusto Cesar Sandino in 1934, prop up the Somoza dictatorship, and threaten the Sandinista Revolution through the Contras.

Having outlined those who’ve historically betrayed Nicaragua, President Ortega invited all Nicaraguans to participate in the reconstruction of peace and the eradication of poverty in their country. Referencing the failed negotiations that the opposition used as a pretext to incite violence in 2018, he promoted a dialogue, “the only one that makes sense,” with “peasants, with workers, with small businesspeople, with artisans, with small, medium, and large producers, with all those who are willing to work for peace and for economic and social production in this country, in order to achieve economic and social development in this country.” President Ortega concluded his speech with a reference to the 2021 general election which the opposition has demanded be moved up and the need for the Nicaraguan people to defend their interests and rights through an FSLN victory.

Along with the hundreds of thousands of Sandinistas, international delegations from all over the world participated in the festivities at the Plaza de la Fe to show their solidarity with the FSLN government and the continuation of the Sandinista revolution. A group of the Friends of the ATC – a solidarity network that supports Nicaragua’s Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (Rural Workers’ Association), which has organized Nicaraguan farm workers and small farmers since the insurrection against the Somoza dictatorship – were among the foreign allies invited by the FSLN to experience the proceedings from the stage.

From July 11 to July 21, the ATC and the Friends of the ATC hosted the “Solidarity with Nicaragua!” delegation based around the July 19 celebration. The Nicaraguan Revolution has inspired many Latinos in the U.S. to continue to fight for equality at home and stand in solidarity with the revolutionary struggles in Latin America. The Friends of the ATC believe that those struggling to change conditions within the U.S. can deepen their own analysis by observing and studying the efforts to build socialism in Nicaragua.

In the days leading up to the July 19 anniversary, the delegation visited historic sites and the Salvador Allende Port in Managua, the women-led Gloria Quintanilla coffee cooperative in Santa Julia, the Agroecological Institute of Latin America (IALA), which provides technical, political and ideological training to young peasants from Central America and the Dominican Republic, and the ATC-organized Marlon Alvarado community in Carazo. Throughout these visits, delegates conducted interviews with ATC organizers, students, and members as part of an ongoing testimony project that will be released in the coming months. The goal of these reports is partly to clarify the current Nicaraguan context for international audiences as the U.S. government has relied upon a coordinated misinformation campaign about the failed coup attempt in order to justify the imposition of sanctions against Nicaragua.

For more information on the ATC, Friends of the ATC, and their efforts to build internationalist solidarity with Nicaragua, please visit https://friendsatc.org/.

#ManaguaNicaragua #Managua #PeoplesStruggles #Sandinista #FSLN #Nicaragua #Americas

The FRSO delegation will be led by Tom Burke, the Organization Secretary of Freedom Road.

Much has happened since the Sao Paolo Forum first began in 1994. At that time, the international left was trying to summate the overthrow of the Soviet Union and the apparent victory of imperialism in the late 1980s. In Latin America, this world-historic tragedy followed three decades of carnage, during which U.S. imperialism did everything that it could to prevent socialism from taking hold in its hemisphere. Successive presidential administrations organized the overthrow of progressive and socialist governments, propped up murderous dictatorships, and armed and trained militaries that waged genocidal civil wars in Central America and Colombia. In every country in Latin America, thousands of revolutionary cadre and civilians were killed. The organized forces of the left were physically weakened, more so than any other region in the world.

Coming out of that period, two of the main left-wing organizations largely intact in the region – the Communist Party of Cuba and the Workers Party of Brazil – founded the Sao Paolo Forum as an attempt to gather those forces that remained. Their numbers were small, and there was little unity around what path must be taken to defeat imperialism and capitalism. Many of those who initially came together were reformists without any revolutionary commitment. Then, the anti-imperialist struggle was given strength by the victory of Hugo Chávez in 1998 and the start of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. The so-called Pink Tide began, and many of the wide-ranging political parties of the Forum found themselves elected into government. Many believed that the dark days of U.S. dominance were a thing of the past, and that the masses could now democratically determine their own future. Venezuela played a leading role, directing part of its oil revenue to support these new progressive governments.

Then, Barack Obama became President and the United States began to reassert its dominion. In 2009 the world watched stunned as a military coup d'etat took place in Honduras, with the full support of the CIA and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Pink Tide began to be rolled back. The tactics varied by country – impeachment, trials, street violence, betrayals from within their own ranks – but the message was the same: “Every attempt to bring change through reforms and elections that you try will be broken by the old forces of reaction whose institutions you now occupy, but they still own.”

Today, only the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua remain firm against imperialism. All others have been defeated. The Bolivarian Revolution stands out, for while the imperialist counter-offensive came crashing down around them, the Venezuelan masses deepened their revolutionary process. Socialism is their horizon. President Nicolás Maduro says that a new popular offensive must sweep Latin America, one more radical and profound than the last – a “Red Tide” perhaps? And as Latin America's left-wing forces gather once again, the Venezuelan movement plans to lay the groundwork for such an offensive. FRSO will be there, building relations with the revolutionary forces of our hemisphere for the common goal of ending U.S. imperialism and building a future that belongs to the masses.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Cuba #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #Bolivia #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Socialism #Brazil #Nicaragua #SaoPaoloForum

Caracas, Venezuela – The delegation from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) attended a ceremony in the 23 de Enero neighborhood in Caracas for the 90th anniversary of the “Plan to Realize the Great Dream of Bolivar.” The Plan was written by Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto Sandino during his armed struggle against the U.S. occupation of his country. Among the event's attendees was Yaosca Calderon Martin, the Nicaraguan ambassador to Venezuela, along with veterans of the Sandinista struggle in the 1970s and 1980s.

The event was organized by the Coordinadora Simon Bolivar, a revolutionary organization based in 23 de Enero. The ceremony began with a wreath-laying ceremony at a statue of Sandino, along with the singing of the national anthems of Venezuela and Nicaragua, and a singing of the hymn of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). It was followed by a presentation of the ideas of Sandino, in the headquarters of the Coordinadora, and a lively discussion about the ongoing struggle to build Latin American unity and drive out imperialism once and for all.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization has a delegation in Venezuela working to build connections with the revolutionary movement of the country, and to form fraternal relations with its political parties.

#CaracasVenezuela #Venezuela #PeoplesStruggles #frso #Socialism #Nicaragua #Sandino #Americas

Amanda Martínez: El golpe suave, fue pasando en proceso, se comenzaron a reunir los líderes que siempre han sido la oposición al gobierno actual. De repente el 11 de mayo en la madrugada instalaron los tranques, este día no permitieron el paso de nadie ni siquiera a pie. Los tranques pasaron por diferentes etapas, todos con violencia, primero permitían el pase en vehículos privados de sus simpatizantes. Luego, comenzaron a permitir el pase de algunas unidades del transporte público, que para que lo hicieran los apoyaron casi obligatoriamente. Luego, permitieron el paso de las unidades de transporte pero debían pagar un peaje cada dí, y seguir todas sus exigencias y regulaciones. Era relativo el trato a los sandinistas, dado que es un pueblo, muchos de ellos tenían familiares sandinistas, así que algunos no sufrieron agresiones, otros sufrieron agresiones verbales. Si secuestraron a uno de los activista Sandinistas que estaba defendiendo a una familia Sandinistas que sufrió un brutal ataque por parte de estos grupos delincuenciales, su casa fue quemada y robada, junto a otras familias de muy escasos recursos. La policía nacional se mantuvo al margen, no actuó, ni siquiera la mirábamos patrullar por el pueblo, nos sentíamos sin protección.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: Como el golpe afectó La Concepción y otros pueblos?

Martínez: La afectación mayor, fue la parte económica ya que muchos productores no podían transportar sus productos, y cuando lo lograban hacer, eso implicaba un alto costo. Finalmente, cuando el producto lograba llegar al mercado, por todo los bloqueos en la carretera no habían tantos compradores y eso traía como consecuencia, dar los productos a un bajo precio, generando grandes pérdidas para los productores. A esto debemos agregar que tenemos un poco de turismo, ya que estamos muy cerca del volcán Masaya y debido al bloqueo dejamos de percibir a los turistas nacionales y extranjeros. Otra afectación fue la falta de extranjeros que llegaban a la escuela de español la Mariposa Hotel, lo que significaba una generación de empleos, para los maestros, las familias donde este hospedan, el personal que trabajaba directamente en el hotel y la comunidad que recibe el beneficio de los proyectos sociales.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cuándo cambio la situación controlado por los Golpistas? ¿Levantaron a la gente Sandinista?

Martínez: Los Sandinistas del pueblo teníamos mucho miedo, así que no hicimos nada directamente para terminar con esta tortura, fue hasta que llegaron al pueblo los militares encubiertos [una mezcla de fuerzas civiles y policías] que obligaron a los golpista a huir y a retirarse. Aunque muchos de ellos ya habían retirado por orientaciones del sacerdote del pueblo, por lo que estaba sucediendo en otras ciudades.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿En los meses desde que El Pueblo y El Gobierno han retomado el poder, cómo han sentido los días? ¿Hay mucha división? ¿La gente herida, torturada están manifestando por justicia?

Martínez: Desde que el pueblo y el gobierno han retomado el control, las cosas han comenzado a volver a la normalidad. Ha sido un proceso difícil, pero hemos logrado mucho, con unidad y organización, más que una división partidaria. Lo que ocurrió fue una división familiar y social, pero desde la perspectiva del partido nos hemos fortalecido con la unidad por toda la situación dolorosa que vivimos en el tiempo de secuestro y bloqueo. Las personas que fueron víctimas de agresiones han clamado por justicia y participan directamente en las caminatas y las actividades realizadas con este fin.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Qué piensa que tiene que ocurrir en Nicaragua para prevenir otro golpe suave de Estado?

Martínez: La unidad de nosotros los hermanos Sandinista es muy importante. Así como hablar con nuestras familias y vecinos que fueron engañados por la derecha golpista y que han sido víctimas de la manipulación.

#Nicaragua #AntiwarMovement #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Coup #Sandinista

Martinez: [For us], the soft coup was already in process and the leaders of the opposition who have always been against our government started meeting. In La Concepcion, all of a sudden in the dawn of May 11, they installed the roadblocks and from that day on they did not allow any cars to pass and nobody even on foot. There were different phases of the roadblocks, all of them violent. First, they started allowing private vehicles to pass if they were known sympathizers with the coup attempt.

Later, they began allowing some public transportation to pass but they made them declare their support for the opposition in order to pass. Then, they allowed some traffic to pass but only by forcing them to pay a toll each day but always at their whim.

The treatment of Sandinistas by the tranquistas, the golpistas, was uneven. [The roadblocks used by the opposition were called tranques and those who set them up were called tranquistas. In Spanish, golpe del estado is an overthrow of the government and those who support it are called golpistas.] Because it is a small town, some of the golpistas have family who are Sandinista and so they were not abused for mistreated. But some did receive physical aggression and many other verbal threats. They did kidnap an active Sandinista who was defending a Sandinista family. He suffered a brutal attack by the criminal groups who later robbed his house then set it on fire. They did this to other families who have scarce resources and mostly wood houses. At this time, the National Police were under orders to stay out of action and did not even go around patrolling the town. We felt unprotected.

Fight Back!: How did the soft coup affect La Concepcion and the other small towns?

Martinez: The greatest impact was economic and so many of the small and medium agricultural producers could not transport their products and when they could, it cost them a lot. Even when they were able to reach the market, the roadblocks prevented so many consumers and buyers from getting to the market, so their prices dropped and they lost a lot of money. In our region, we have a little tourism industry because we are close to the Masaya Volcano and the roadblocks prevented tourists from moving and spending their money. The other impact was that the whole situation prevented tourists from coming to the Spanish school at La Mariposa Hotel that employs many people and helps their families.

Fight Back!: When did the situation in La Concepcion change? Did the Sandinistas rise up to take control?

Martinez: The Sandinistas in our town, we were very fearful. We did not directly do anything to end the terror and torture. It was only when the undercover militantes [masked civilian and police forces] arrived and forced the golpistas to flee and hide. But we know many of them hid with the local priest. We know that’s what happened in other cities too.

Fight Back!: In the months since the people and government retook power, how has it felt? Is there division among the people? Are the tortured and injured mobilizing to demand justice?

Martinez: Since the people and government have regained control things have started to return to normal. It has been a difficult process, but we’ve achieved a lot through unity and organization, more than partisan division. What happened drove divisions through families and the society. But from the perspective of the party [Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional], we have strengthened with a unity because of the painful situation that we all lived through during the roadblocks. The victims of the violence by the opposition have demanded justice and they participate in the marches and demonstrations.

Fight Back!: What do you think needs to happen in Nicaragua to prevent another soft coup attempt?

Martinez: The unity among our Sandinista sisters and brothers is very important. This is how we should speak with our families and neighbors who were deceived and cheated by the right-wing golpistas. They were victims of manipulation.

#Nicaragua #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #DonaldTrump #Sandinista #softCoup

Claramente, ahora Nicaragua no tiene el socialismo pero mucha gente lo desea. Y además, no hay una posibilidad por socialismo en Nicaragua si los golpistas triunfaron a sus planes a quitar Ortega. Muchos Sandinistas saben que si ganan los ultraderechistas, un gobierno al placer de los EEUU se van a dominar su vida una vez más. Por esta razón, han luchado en la calle, en la media por su patria, por sus soberanía, por su libertad.

Por una comprensión, necesitamos a espigar la verdad de los hechos.

El Contexto

Es importante a entender el contexto históricamente de la situación actual en Nicaragua. Tenemos que reconocer la historia de intervención al parte de los EEUU en Nicaragua desde los 1920s. Después la lucha histórica del héroe nacional Augusto Sandino y su ejército de Los Hombres Libres, los EEUU han intentado a controlar el país de Nicaragua. El gobierno de los EEUU usaron la dictadura brutal de los Somozas por más que cuarenta años. En 1979, el Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional guió una lucha masiva a sacar el último Somoza. Pero, llegó al Presidencia de los EEUU Ronald Reagan quien comenzó una guerra sucia con los terroristas llamados Los Contras. A pesar de tantos actos violentos por los EEUU durante los once años de poder, La Revolución Sandinista logró muchos éxitos. En 2006, después 16 años de dos gobiernos en el servicio de los EEUU y el capitalismo neoliberal, Daniel Ortega una vez más triunfó la elección presidencial. En los años que siguieron, su gobierno ha logrado muchas programas sociales, levantó el nivel de producción económica, en frente de la cara del instituto de financia el Fondo Monetarios Internacional y los EEUU. Además, con estos éxitos, Ortega ganó la elección en 2016 con 72% de la vota.

Si creemos la narrativa de la prensa al lado del capitalismo, entendemos que todo estos éxitos económicos existen porque el Ortega es en el servicio del FMI y apoya neoliberalismo. Y explicamos que todos sus exitos políticas existen porque él, personalmente, ha consolidado todo el poder a su lado, como un dictador. Pero, la verdad se escapa la perspectiva en el servicio del capitalismo. Si examinamos los hechos sobre la economía de Nicaragua, aprendemos que el gobierno asegurado $400 millones (USD) hacia 60% de la economía que trabajan en el sector informal. Mucho de este apoyo financial resultó en 80-90% de alimentación producción nacional que ahora es autosuficiente y independiente del FMI. Además, se bajó la pobreza, subieron los salarios mínimos, y igualdad género en negocios se levantó hasta el duodécimo en el mundo. Una orientación al neoliberalismo no se puede a lograr eso. El neoliberalismo traiga más pobreza, más desigualdad, salarios bajados, servicios sociales acuchillados, y mas cosas malas. Entonces, el primer punto de la perspectiva que sirve a lado del capitalismo, del imperialismo está vencido por la verdad de los hechos. Segundo, El Centro de Democracia de Jimmy Carter siempre reconozca que los elecciones Nicaraguense estan limpios y justos. No es una dictadura de Ortega. En el reverso, la oposición y su agenda no esta popular con la masas.

El Comienzo

En Abril, el tripartito de los sindicatos, el sector privada, y gobierno eran en negociaciones sobre de los beneficios y la seguridad social. El FMI y el sector privada propusieron a bajar su contribución, levantar el edad a retirarse, y doblar cuantas semanas necesario a trabajar a sacar seguridad social. Los sindicatos, por supuesto, lo rechazó. El gobierno, propuesto a aumentar la contribución de los empleadores por 3.5% y la contribución de los trabajadores por 0.75%.Tambien, 5% de los pensionados a mover al su cuido de salud. Otro punto olvidado es el gobierno quiso a cerrar una escapatoria por los ricos a esconder su salario entonces se podrán a acceder beneficios de salud.

Después la prensa privada en Nicaragua, controlado por las familias más ricas, anunciaron una versión retorcida del presupuesto del gobierno con dato falso, y un grupo de estudiantes de la Universidad Técnica en Managua manifestaron. Esta misma prensa luego publicado noticias diciendo que La Policía Nacional han usado municiones actuales y le mataron un demostrador . Ahora, verdaderamente, sabemos que echaron puras mentiras en esos dias fragiles al comienzo. Después, algunas dias de las manifestaciones, Ortega lo retrajo el propuesto a demostrar su compromiso a respetar los deseos del estudiantes confundidos. Pero, la oposición, respaldada por los EEUU, ya activaron su planes de crear caos, confusión, y desestabilización.

La oposición, en control de la mayoría de la prensa en Nicaragua, comenzaron un gran plan de propaganda que es un parte del manual a cambiar el gobierno y pedir la intervención de los EEUU. Sus tácticas son: agarrar narrativa con mentiras y cuentas emocionales, manipular los imagens de violencia, y usar las palabras de “los expertos de ‘derechos humanos.’’ Tenemos que decir que esto manual ha usado en los países destruidos por los EEUU – Libya, Syria y los países que quieren destruir como Iran y Venezuela.

El manual usa manifestaciones en la calle, elementos delincuentes que usan armas a provocar la policía a usar sus armas, bloqueos de las calles, ruptura en la economía y servicios básicos, y la prensa reporta solamente el lado de la oposición que siempre quiere pedir los EEUU a ayudar. Eso es lo que pasó en Nicaragua. La oposición, como Venezuela, verdaderamente no es popular y tienen que usar elementos delincuentes y extranjeros a cumplir sus planes. Si muchos trabajadores y campesinos en Nicaragua no les gusta el Ortega y el gobierno porque están maltratados, porque no hay una huelga nacional? Porque los sindicatos no están llamando por una huelga? Tenemos que decir es porque ellos saben lo que los esperan se caiga el Ortega – un gobierno al servicio de los EEUU. Otro punto a aclarar, si el Ortega actúa en interés de los EEUU y el FMI, porque permiten todo este caos y daño a la economía? Ya se cayó otra mentira, otro punto falso que el Ortega sirve los EEUU y el FMI. Precisamente porque el Ortega y el FSLN han intentado, con la ayuda de otros países como Venezuela, de ser independiente del FMI y el control de los EEUU que el Ortega está el objetivo de su golpe suave.

La Ofensiva llamado Nicaragua Libre

Como una guerra psicológica, la prensa manipular fotos intentar que la policía nacional asesinar gente inocente o dirigentes del FSLN pintado como “paramilitares” a convencer la gente Nicaragüense que el gobierno es brutal y no les importa la sangre y violencia. Después mucha de esta marea de mentiras, muchos Sandinistas empezaron a tomar el poder patras. En lugares y barrios, Sandinistas normales organizó guardias de los barrios a cuidar sus calles y guardar por los delincuentes. Otra forma de la ofensiva a volver a tomar poder de su país, el esfuerzo a deconstruir los tranques, bloqueos de las calles. Estos tranques han dado tanto daño a la economía y las vidas Nicaragüense. También, son puntos a atrapar gente conectado al FSLN, a secuestrarlos e incluso torturar algunos. No se puede estar dicho tan alto que la deconstruir de los tranques significa momento gigantes a librar el país de la oposición y sus soldados de carteles delitos. Eso es porque mucha gente llaman sus ciudades y pueblos “Territorio Libre.”

Lastimosamente, un gran parte de la coordinación de la oposición incluye La Iglesia Episcopal. Sus iglesias han usado como sitios de tortura y a guardar las armas y mortars por la oposición ultraderechista. Esto revela el nivel alto de coordinación interiormente en Nicaragua con el sector privada y está financiado por los EEUU vía el National Endowment for Democracy. Hay mucha evidencia que los líderes estudiantil y los ONG han visitado con los políticos de los EEUU que escribieron y apoyan la Nica Act que castiga al Nicaragua y Ortega. El gobierno de los EEUU han dado $400millones (USD) en apoyo de la prensa que están hablando sobre del plan que se vaya el Ortega.

Pero, gracias a los Sandinistas leales, las fuerzas patrióticas, Nicaragua viva libre todavía. Las marchas masivas en las últimas semanas en respaldo del gobierno significa a la oposición que están vencidos. El frase “Patria Libre o Morir” hace eco de las montañas y las calles una veza más a decir finalmente al gran imperio: “Nicaragua Libre!”

#TucsonAZ #Sandinista #FSLN #Nicaragua #Americas

Typically, the gathering commemorates important events like the historic struggle that began back in the late 1920s with national hero Augusto Sandino’s army’s successful expulsion of U.S. Marines; the toppling of the vicious Somoza family dictatorship, and the inspiring accomplishments of the Sandinista era in the 1980s. Oftentimes, there are international guests, like in 2007, when the Sandinistas returned to power, attendees were then-Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Manuel Zelaya of Honduras. Ironically, at that gathering of an anti-imperialist political party like the FSLN, on stage with Daniel Ortega were a survivor a U.S.-coordinated coup d’etat in 2002, Hugo Chavez, and a future victim of a U.S.-supported coup, Mel Zelaya, in 2009. Since Zelaya’s forced removal, Honduras has had some of the highest levels of violence in the Americas that has driven many Hondurans to migrate to the U.S., only to face repression from ICE. And now, in 2018, it is Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega who is under threat from a U.S.-supported ‘soft coup.’

Like the rescue of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez from the hands of the golpistas in April 2002, it is the masses who are the primary actor in the maintenance of Nicaraguan sovereignty amid a U.S. -backed ‘regime change’ push. Since mid-April, the country has been embroiled in violence created and maintained by opposition forces seeking the removal of democratically-elected President Ortega. One of their tactics has been the use of tranques (roadblocks) in order to create chaos and disorder through economic and social destabilization and provoking the National Police into shootouts.

Amid this disorder is the opposition media that manipulates imagery and stories in order to make it appear that the National Police are responsible for heavy-handed, bloody repression. Then, they make the call for President Ortega to step down and for the U.S. to intervene if necessary. This resembles the U.S. intervention playbook from Venezuela 2002 and 2014, when the corporate-controlled media manipulated imagery and messaging to make it appear the leftist government is ‘authoritarian’ and ‘unpopular.’

Despite the claims that Ortega is ‘unpopular,’ although he was re-elected with 72% of the vote in 2016, it is clear the opposition and, specifically their violence, is unpopular. For example, the opposition has used gang members from not only Nicaragua, but also from El Salvador as foot soldiers to carry out their violent political mission, because they cannot find ordinary Nicaraguans willing to destroy their own country. Second, since the character of the violence by the opposition has had a very clear, very vicious political character, attacking regular, rank-and-file Sandinistas, there has been a massive demonstration of support for the FSLN and President Ortega in the last few weeks, culminating in the weekend’s festivities.

The FSLN, its many organizations, and rank-and-file members have started to combat the opposition’s two fronts of struggle: the tranques and social media. In town after town, city after city, Nicaraguans have demonstrated their resolve and commitment to a peaceful, sovereign country by running off the delincuentes, disassembling the tranques, and rebuilding the roads. The heightened political level of this ‘soft coup’ is not lost on proud, patriotic Sandinistas who call their reclaimed city or town ‘liberated territory.’ All of these stories are promoted through a counter-offensive on social media by popular, revolutionary forces because the corporate-controlled, pro-opposition media does not report them on the whole. That media instead manipulates images of two different people and yet shares the story that the person was abducted and tortured by the National Police and paramilitaries. False narratives like this dominate the landscape and its impact is disastrous.

It is clear that despite the level of coordination from the comprador bourgeoisie in Nicaragua and the U.S. government, the opposition and their wave of violence is unwanted and unpopular. Whatever political opportunism they attempted after students protested a Social Security proposal by Ortega, has been lost in their bid to undemocratically decide who rules Nicaragua. The tide has turned back in favor of La RojiNegra (FSLN colors red and black) because the call for “Nicaragua Libre!” wasn’t just an 80s thing, it’s here to stay.

#Tucson #AZ #Imperialism #Americas #Socialism #Nicaragua #Sandinista #FSLN

Since returning to power in 2006, Ortega and the Sandinistas, formally the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN), have reversed the neoliberal agenda of privatizing important public services like water and electricity. Not only that, but they have overseen significant achievements in public housing, Zero Hunger programs, Zero Usury microcredit programs, free public education, increases in productivity, development of a strong cooperative sector, and a diversification of economic activity that even the U.S.-controlled World Bank is forced to acknowledge. The Sandinista view is that government should serve the people, not the other way around.

Despite all these accomplishments that have lifted Nicaragua out of being the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere, violence and terrorism are now gripping the country. For nearly two months, violent protesters are aiming to destabilize the country and force out President Ortega. On the surface, the U.S. corporate press makes it seem as if the entire country wants Ortega to step down amid a controversy over social security changes. To combat this distortion, we must examine deeper issues and seek truth from facts.

Media stokes opposition with twisted story

Most observers agree that the point of origin for the unrest and violence was a proposed change by the Sandinista government to social security benefits. However, after the initial student protests began at the Managua Technical University, President Ortega immediately rescinded the proposal. It is important to note, it was merely a proposed change, hoping to break the impasse between the business sector, labor unions and the government, which have an agreed-upon tripartite relationship.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was attempting to push the business sector to cut benefits, reduce health coverage and privatize public sector clinics. What has the FSLN government done since returning to power? Fight neoliberal attacks against public services. So the government proposed modest, fairly distributed increases to the social security contribution for both employer and employee, and in addition, improved healthcare coverage for pensioners.

All of this sounds rather routine for negotiations, except if the right-wing dominated press twists the story and feeds the students a slanted version. It is not conspiracy to say that the family that controls one of the country’s largest newspapers that daily calls Ortega a dictator is the same family that produced Violeta Chamorro, the U.S.-backed candidate for president in 1990. This paper is currently running stories comparing Ortega to the U.S.-backed dictatorship of the Somozas. The world turned upside down.

Similarly, when quoting the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), the corporate press is not clear that all the deaths since late April are related to protests, with other deaths being lumped into the figures. Moreover, neither the corporate press nor the groups claiming the large death toll have made the qualification of who is dying at whose hands? It has been made to appear that all deaths are at the hands of the government. In fact, many videos and stories have surfaced showing the ultraderechistas (ultra-rightists) being violent and committing acts of terror. This was also the character of the opposition guarimbas in Venezuela. As well, the corporate media in both the U.S. and Nicaragua have failed to report that many of the NGO groups promoted in their stories are heavily funded by the U.S. government.

U.S. funding opposition NGOs and media

From 2014 to 2017, the U.S. State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funneled 55 grants worth $4.2 million to NGOs that create media stories for the opposition. One of the groups often quoted by U.S. media received over $220,000 since 2014 and is run by the son of ex-president Violeta Chamorro. The U.S. corporate media reports one-sided accounts that omit important facts: police are being murdered by ultras, the ultras’ blockades are harmful to working people, and the ultras are burning people’s houses. The one-sided reporting fits with what the U.S. government has said about Ortega, despite his popularity, since the 1980s. It also aligns with U.S. imperialism’s goals of attempting to reverse the rising tide of left movements and independent governments in Latin America.

Character of the violence reveals character of the opposition

It must be made clear: Who is being attacked? Where are the attacks being centered? In the traditional stronghold areas of the FSLN like Masaya and Leon, FSLN offices have been attacked and destroyed by the ultraderechistas (ultra-rightists). The attacks also include the private homes and small businesses of long-time Sandinistas who are working class, small owners and campesinos.

It is clear the politics of the attackers are against the most popular political party in the country and speaks to their obvious connection with the goals of U.S. imperialism. Furthermore, in small towns, the blockading of roads has cut off vital services of food and fuel to families and communities in more distant areas. This also displays the anti-working class character of the protesters. Like in Venezuela where two children’s hospitals were set on fire, Nicaragua’s violent opposition attacked health care workers. These facts allow us to conclude that the opposition is not aimed at improving Nicaragua but bringing about its destabilization. The far right hope to invite U.S. intervention and a full-on assault on public services and any gains accomplished by the Sandinistas since 2010.

While criticisms can certainly be made of some of Ortega’s concessions to the Catholic Church on abortion rights, the Sandinistas making those criticisms are also being attacked by the ultraderechistas. The U.S. media pundits will use anything they can against President Ortega’s popular leadership. As internationalists we must call for “Hands off Nicaragua” and support a restoration of peace.

U.S. imperialism continues Monroe Doctrine

In 1823, with the anti-colonial rebellions throwing off the Spanish empire throughout Latin America, the U.S. boldly declared to European empires that the region was the U.S.’s ‘backyard.’ Since then, U.S. intervention in Latin America has left millions dead, while supporting military dictatorships, and massive theft of natural resources and wealth by corporations.

The 21st century has seen little change to the U.S. approach to its southern neighbors. In April 2004, U.S. imperialism attempted a coup against democratically elected President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Since 2014, the U.S. also supported two coup attempts against democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Maduro successfully thwarted them and came out stronger. Last month, the U.S. strengthened its military presence in South America by having Colombia join as a partner in NATO. Colombia’s eastern neighbor Venezuela immediately recognized the threat posed to their Bolivarian Revolution by having a nuclear-armed partner on their doorstep. Many on the left recognize the U.S. is attempting to regain nations that broke away from U.S. domination when the U.S. was occupied with invading and destroying Iraq in the early 2000s. In this time period, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Brazil and Honduras all saw left-leaning parties claim significant electoral victories as the movements against U.S. domination grow inside their countries. It is clear that U.S. imperialism wishes to reverse the popular trend by sowing terror and destruction through violence and calls for ‘regime change.’

Legacy of anti-imperialism

The resolve of Nicaraguans to resist and at times, successfully defeat U.S. imperialism, cannot be overstated. Their commitment to their country and their people, and to fight off the imperialists is nothing short of heroic. The way forward for internationalists in the U.S. must be to call for “U.S. hands off Nicaragua!”

Lifting the enormous influence and burden of U.S. imperialism in Nicaragua allows for a process internal to Nicaraguans to develop. The responsibility of ending the U.S. intervention machine falls squarely on the shoulders of the anti-war movement in the US. Once again, Nicaraguans are suffering through a playbook designed by U.S. imperialism to collapse an ardent anti-imperialist government whose track record of improving conditions for the workers and campesinas and campesinos stand head and shoulders above the neoliberal regimes of the 1990s.

U.S. hands off Nicaragua! No U.S. funding to opposition groups! Dialogue and peace now!

#Nicaragua #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #OpEd #Commentary