[Peace-discuss] Fwd: NicaNotes: Nicaragua – Rebutting Chomsky
Brussel, Morton K
brussel at illinois.edu
Thu Aug 9 19:43:28 UTC 2018
Begin forwarded message:
From: Alliance for Global Justice <Afgj at Afgj.org<mailto:Afgj at Afgj.org>>
Subject: NicaNotes: Nicaragua – Rebutting Chomsky
Date: August 9, 2018 at 12:33:44 PM CDT
To: "M. K. Brussel" <mkb3 at icloud.com<mailto:mkb3 at icloud.com>>
Reply-To: Afgj at Afgj.org<mailto:Afgj at Afgj.org>
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August 8, 2018
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NicaNotes <http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=P4vTzdSm0tfsCIVCDJPBP0JwgcvFN%2B%2BL> is a blog for Nicaragua activists and those interested in Nicaragua, published by the Nicaragua Network<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=aYHVO1tm1HYxh2Oj3hoqpkJwgcvFN%2B%2BL>, a project of the Alliance for Global Justice<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=EDfiUb0tTJrElXkI3kt06UJwgcvFN%2B%2BL>. It provides news and analysis from the context of Nicaragua Network’s long history of struggle in solidarity with the Sandinista Revolution.
Chomsky on Regime Change in Nicaragua<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/03/chomsky-on-regime-change-in-nicaragua/&sa=D&ust=1533836463693000>
by ROGER HARRIS<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.counterpunch.org/author/roger-harris/&sa=D&ust=1533836463694000>
Reprinted from CounterPunch https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/03/chomsky-on-regime-change-in-nicaragua/<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/03/chomsky-on-regime-change-in-nicaragua/&sa=D&ust=1533836463694000>
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Photo by hobvias sudoneighm | CC BY 2.0
With patented angst, Noam Chomsky opined<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/27/chomsky_criticizes_autocratic_nicaraguan_government_urges&sa=D&ust=1533836463695000> on President Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua to an agreeing Amy Goodman: “But there’s been a lot of corruption, a lot of repression. It’s autocratic, undoubtedly.”
Earlier in their DemocracyNow! interview, the main talking points were established via a video clip of a dissident former official from Ortega’s Sandinista Party: Ortega’s “entire government has been, in essence, neoliberal. Then it becomes authoritarian, repressive.”
Left out of this view is why the US has targeted Nicaragua for regime change. One would think that a neoliberal regime, especially if it were authoritarian and repressive, would be just the ticket to curry favor with Washington.
In Chomsky’s own words, Nicaragua poses a threat of a good example<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://chomsky.info/unclesam01/&sa=D&ust=1533836463696000> to the US empire
Since Ortega’s return election victory in 2006, Nicaragua had achieved the following, according to NSCAG<https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.nscag.org./resources/July%2520statement%2520and%2520briefing.pdf&sa=D&ust=1533836463696000>, despite being the second poorest country in the hemisphere:
+ Second highest economic growth rates and most stable economy in Central America.
+ Only country in the region producing 90% of the food it consumes.
+ Poverty and extreme poverty halved; country with the greatest reduction of extreme poverty.
+ Reaching the UN Millennium Development Goal of cutting malnutrition by half.
+ Free basic healthcare and education.
+ Illiteracy virtually eliminated, down from 36% in 2006.
+ Average economic growth of 5.2% for the past 5 years (IMF and the World Bank).
+ Safest country in Central America (UN Development Program) with one of the lowest crime rates in Latin America.
+ Highest level of gender equality in the Americas (World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2017).
+ Did not contribute to the migrant exodus to the US, unlike neighboring Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
+ Unlike its neighbors, kept out the drug cartels and pioneered community policing.
Nicaragua targeted by the US for regime change
Before April 18, Nicaragua was among the most peaceful and stable countries in the region. The otherwise inexplicable violence that has suddenly engulfed Nicaragua should be understood in the context of it being targeted by the US for regime change.
Nicaragua has provoked the ire of the US for the good things its done, not the bad.
Besides being a “threat” of a good example, Nicaragua is in the anti-imperialist ALBA<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://albainfo.org/what-is-the-alba/&sa=D&ust=1533836463698000> alliance with Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and others. The attack on Nicaragua is part of a larger strategy by the US to tear apart regional alliances of resistance to the Empire, though that is not the whole story.
Nicaragua regularly votes against the US in international forums such as challenging retrograde US policies on climate change. An inter-ocean canal through Nicaragua is being considered, which would contend with the Panama Canal. Russia and China invest in Nicaragua, competing with US capital.
The NICA Act, passed by the US House of Representatives and now before the Senate, would initiate economic warfare designed to attack living conditions in Nicaragua through economic sanctions, as well as intensify US intelligence intervention. The ultimate purpose is to depose the democratically-elected Ortega government.
Meanwhile, USAID announced<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/jul-20-2018-usaid-administrator-mark-green-remarks-meeting-diaspora-groups&sa=D&ust=1533836463699000> an additional $1.5 million “to support freedom and democracy in Nicaragua” through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to overthrow the democratically elected government and “make this truly a hemisphere of freedom.” That is, freedom for the US empire.
Holding Nicaragua to a higher standard than our own government
Although Chomsky echoes the talking points of the USAID administrator Mark Green about “Ortega’s brutal regime<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/jul-20-2018-usaid-administrator-mark-green-remarks-meeting-diaspora-groups&sa=D&ust=1533836463700000>,” he can’t quite bring himself to accept responsibility for regime change. Chomsky despairs<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/27/chomsky_criticizes_autocratic_nicaraguan_government_urges&sa=D&ust=1533836463700000>, “it’s hard to see a simple way out at this point. It’s a very unfortunate situation.”
Chomsky is concerned about corruption, repression, and autocracy in Nicaragua, urging the democratically elected president to step down and run for re-election. Need it be mentioned that Chomsky chastised leftists<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/noam-chomsky-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-a7438526.html&sa=D&ust=1533836463701000> who did not “absolutely<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/noam-chomsky-supports-hillary-clinton-218192&sa=D&ust=1533836463701000>” support Hillary Clinton? It is from this moral ground that the professor looks down on Nicaragua.
These charges of corruption and such are addressed<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://afgj.org/the-case-against-daniel-ortega&sa=D&ust=1533836463701000>by long-time solidarity activist Chuck Kaufman:
+ The World Bank, IMF, and EU countries have certified Nicaragua for its effective use of international loans and grants; funds were spent for the purposes they were given, not siphoned off into corruption.
+ Kaufman asks, “why a police force that in 39 years had not repressed the Nicaraguan people would suddenly go berserk,” while videos clearly show the violence of the more militant opposition.
+ Ortega won in 2006 with a 38% plurality, in 2011 with 63%, and 72.5% in 2016. The Organization of American States officially accompanied and certified the vote. Kaufman notes, “Dictators don’t win fair elections by growing margins.”
Alternatives to Ortega would be worse
Those who call for Ortega’s removal need to accept responsibility for what comes after. Here the lesson of Libya is instructive, where the replacement of, in Chomsky’s words<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://chomsky.info/20110330/&sa=D&ust=1533836463702000>, the “brutal tyrant” and “cruel dictator” Qaddafi has resulted in a far worse<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.globalresearch.ca/libya-from-africas-richest-state-under-gaddafi-to-failed-state-after-nato-intervention/5408740&sa=D&ust=1533836463702000>situation for the Libyan people.
Any replacement of Ortega would be more, not less, neoliberal, oppressive, and authoritarian. When the Nicaraguan people, held hostage to the US-backed Contra war, first voted Ortega out of office in 1990, the incoming US-backed Violeta Chamorro government brought neoliberal structural adjustment and a moribund economy.
The dissident Sandinistas who splintered off from the official party after the party’s election defeat and formed the MRS (Sandinista Renovation Movement) are not a progressive alternative. They are now comfortably ensconced in US-funded<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://quixote.org/manufacturing-dissent-the-n-e-d-opposition-media-and-the-political-crisis-in-nicaragua/&sa=D&ust=1533836463703000>NGOs, regularly making junkets to Washington to pay homage to the likes of Representative Iliana Ros-Lehtinenand Senator Marco Rubio to lobby in favor of the NICA Act. Nor do they represent a popular force, garnering less than 2% in national elections.
When the MRS left the Sandinista party, they took with them almost all those who were better educated, came from more privileged backgrounds, and who spoke English. These formerly left dissidents, now turned to the right<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://afgj.org/nicanotes-the-mrs-is-not-left-or-democratic&sa=D&ust=1533836463703000>in their hatred of Ortega, have many ties with North American activists, which explains some of the confusion today over Nicaragua.
The world, not just Ortega, has changed since the 1980s when the Soviet Union and its allies served as a counter-vailing force to US bullying. What was possible then is not the same in today’s more constrained international arena.
Class war turned upside down
Kevin Zeese<https://www.google.com/url?q=http://resumen-english.org/2018/07/lessons-learned-from-the-failed-violent-coup-in-nicaragua-and-next-steps/&sa=D&ust=1533836463704000>of Popular Resistance aptly characterized the offensive against the democratically elected government of Nicaragua as “a class war turned upside down.” Nicaragua was the most progressive country in Central America with no close rival. Yet some North American left intellectuals are preoccupied with Nicaragua’s shortcomings while not clearly recognizing that it is being attacked by a domestic rightwing in league with the US government.
Noam Chomsky is a leading world left intellectual and should be acclaimed for his contributions. His incisive warning about the US nuclear policy<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/06/hiroshima-day-nuclear-weapons-cold-war-usa-bomb&sa=D&ust=1533836463705000>is just one essential example. Nevertheless, he is also indicative of a tendency in the North American left to accept a bit too readily the talking points of imperialist propaganda, regarding the present-day Sandinistas.
There is a disconnect between Chomsky’s urging Nicaraguans to replace Ortega with new elections and his longtime and forceful advocacy against US imperialist depredations of countries like Nicaragua. Such elections in Nicaragua would not only be unconstitutional but would further destabilize a profoundly destabilized situation. Given the unpopularity and disunity of the opposition and the unity and organizational strength of the Sandinistas, Ortega would likely win.
Most important, the key role of Northern American solidarity activists is to end US interference in Nicaragua so that the Nicaraguans can solve their own problems.
The rightwing violence since April in Nicaragua should be understood as a coup attempt. A significant portion of the Nicaraguan people have rallied around their elected government<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/27/homage-to-nicaragua/&sa=D&ust=1533836463705000> as seen in the massive demonstrations commemorating the Sandinista revolution on July 19.
For now, the rightwing tranques (blockades) have been dismantled and citizens can again freely circulate without being shaken down and threatened. In the aftermath, though, Nicaragua has suffered unacceptable human deaths, massive public property damage, and a wounded economy with the debilitating NICA Act threatening to pass the US Senate.
Briefs
By Nan McCurdy
Walk for Peace with Justice and Non-Intervention in Managua
Thousands of people walked Saturday in Managua and in other municipalities demanding justice for those killed by the terrorists at the roadblocks. They also demanded non-intervention in Nicaragua with the reminder that Nicaragua is a sovereign nation. They marched for peace and in defense of the national health system and included a kind of parade of burned/destroyed government vehicles. Well over a hundred government vehicles were attacked, destroyed and burned over the last months including over fifty ambulances. Health centers and hospitals were also affected. See pictures of Managua, Carazo, Jalapa, San Juan de Rio Coco, Boaco and more: http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/general/247556/caminata-por-paz-y-la-no-injerencia-extranjera/<https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/general/247556/caminata-por-paz-y-la-no-injerencia-extranjera/&sa=D&ust=1533836463707000> (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 4)
https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/ver/titulo:79921-pobladores-de-el-rosario-carazo-exigen-castigo-por-victimas-del-terrorismo<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/ver/titulo:79921-pobladores-de-el-rosario-carazo-exigen-castigo-por-victimas-del-terrorismo&sa=D&ust=1533836463707000> (El Digital 19, Aug. 5)
https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/ver/titulo:79920-jalapa-en-caminata-por-la-justicia-y-reparacion-a-las-victimas-del-golpe-terrorista<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/ver/titulo:79920-jalapa-en-caminata-por-la-justicia-y-reparacion-a-las-victimas-del-golpe-terrorista&sa=D&ust=1533836463708000> (El Digital 19, Aug. 5)
https://www.tn8.tv/departamentos/454791-caravana-justicia-paz-san-juan-rio-coco-madriz/<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tn8.tv/departamentos/454791-caravana-justicia-paz-san-juan-rio-coco-madriz/&sa=D&ust=1533836463708000> (TN 8, Aug. 5)
https://www.tn8.tv/departamentos/454767-boaco-vuelve-pedir-justicia-victimas-asesinadas-terroristas/ <https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tn8.tv/departamentos/454767-boaco-vuelve-pedir-justicia-victimas-asesinadas-terroristas/%2520%2520&sa=D&ust=1533836463708000> (TN8, Aug. 4)
Rebuilding infrastructure in tourism sector
The President of the Nicaragua Institute of Municipal Development (INIFOM), Guiomar Irías, announced that it is advancing in the rebuilding of infrastructure destroyed by terrorist groups. "A 90% progress has been achieved in the repair of infrastructure and reactivation of small businesses in Granada, Masaya and Rivas Departments, which is a major tourism route in Nicaragua," the INIFOM President said. (Nicaragua News, Aug. 2)
Nicaragua calls the Organization of American States Interventionist
Nicaragua strongly rejected a new and fifth attempt by the Permanent Council of the OAS to create a commission of a number of countries called a “Working Group” whose mission would be to support the national dialogue and contribute to the “search for peaceful and sustainable solutions.” Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said, “This is on top of three OAS groups that are already in Nicaragua – the IACHR, MESENI and the GIEI (International Group of Independent Experts).” The duration of the new group is not specified nor are its procedures. “This would set a precedent to apply to other nations, Moncada added.” There were 20 votes in favor out of 34 nations. The resolution was led by the US and its allies and Moncada called it illegitimate, saying, “Its intention continues to be of an interventionist character.” (Informe Pastran, Aug. 2)
The Coup was Defeated: Moncada on the OAS
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada accused the Organization of American States of becoming a colony administrator for the US in favor of foreign intervention in the affairs of certain Latin American countries. He also blamed the US for supporting and financing local groups that attempted a coup d’état against a legally elected government, when Nicaragua has recovered peace, order, security and has ended the roadblocks put up by the opposition. “The coup has been defeated and this has blocked the imperial intentions of the US.” He then protested, “But now comes blackmail and pressure by the US to damage the Nicaraguan economy promoting economic blockades of Nicaragua in the multilateral financial institutions.” (Informe Pastran Aug. 2)
President Ortega says Nicaragua will not invite the new “OAS Working Group”
“They have plenty of problems in their own nations, to want to come interfere in our situation.” “The OAS has been a historic instrument created by the US to control the entire region and to accompaniment the US when it invades Latin American countries.” (Informe Pastran, Aug. 6)
Government went to Vatican as part of Efforts to Restart the Dialogue
Foreign Minister Denis Moncada says the Dialogue is stuck due to the actions of some members of the Catholic Bishops Conference who have openly favored the opposition. He added, “We need mediation by the Bishops who do not show partiality. And that’s why we went to the Vatican. We should find the best way to define a new dialogue and avoid foreign intervention. The great media machine, certain human rights groups and certain international institutions have created the image of a repressive government. In the lists of those who have died, they include people who have died in traffic accidents, from heart attacks, from operations – this is a very irresponsible behavior which does not help to resolve a complex situation. Every death is important and we are investigating the deaths through the Commission for Truth.” He added, “In the last visit with the United Nations we felt that we were heard.” Moncada met with the UN Secretary General in New York three weeks ago. “The UN has promised to accompany us in the new attempt at a Dialogue,” he said. (Informe Pastran, Aug. 6)
Strong condemnation of terrorist attack in Venezuela
Vice President Rosario Murillo said the Nicaraguan government firmly condemns the terrorist attack against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last Saturday in Caracas. "We are outraged, with our hearts filled with revolutionary solidarity, we strongly reject and condemn the criminal attack perpetrated by the same terrorists who wanted to destroy our country and now have tried to take the life of President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela," Vice President Murillo said. (Nicaragua News, Aug. 6)
Venezuelan Foreign Minister: Investigations point to the United States and Columbia
Jorge Arreaza, Foreign Minister of Venezuela, stated that the attempt on the life of President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, is part of the ongoing coup attempt against the government. President Maduro also accused the Venezuelan far-right and the Columbian far-right, working with Columbian President Juan Manuel Santos, whose term ends this week. President Maduro said the material authors of the attack against his life are being processed. President Maduro called on Donald Trump to be ready to combat terrorist groups that try to kill presidents in completely peaceful nations like Venezuela. “I’m alive thanks to the people and the Venezuelan Armed Forces”. Saturday afternoon during his speech for the eighty-first anniversary of the Bolivarian National Guard, a group of drones exploded near the President. Seven military were wounded. (19 Digital, Aug 5)
Youth Murdered by Opposition Received as Hero by Sandinistas
Twenty-year-old Dariel Steven Gutierrez Rios was shot in the head in an ambush in La Trinidad, Estelí, while participating in an FSLN caravan that was trying to travel to Managua to be part of a Sandinista Peace Gathering and a salute to Mothers on May 30th. At the moment of the attack at an opposition roadblock in La Trinidad the terrorists killed Jairo Antonio Osorio of Jalapa, and wounded twenty-one others including Gutierrez. His struggle for life lasted two months and he died July 31. The Department of Madriz paid homage to Gutierrez and his family with a caravan of hundreds of Sandinistas. http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/general/247369/sandinistas-reciben-restos-de-joven-asesinado-en-esteli/<https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/general/247369/sandinistas-reciben-restos-de-joven-asesinado-en-esteli/&sa=D&ust=1533836463712000> (Radio La Primerisima, Radio Ya, Aug. 1)
https://nuevaya.com.ni/fallece-joven-segoviano-victima-del-terrorismo-golpista-contra-familias-sandinistas/<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://nuevaya.com.ni/fallece-joven-segoviano-victima-del-terrorismo-golpista-contra-familias-sandinistas/&sa=D&ust=1533836463713000> (Nueva Ya, Jul. 31)
Police Captain César Martín Blandón Urrutia, Murdered in Department of Carazo
The 45-year-old Captain was shot Sunday August 5 at approximately 8pm in the community of “Triangulo del Oro”, municipality of Jinotepe (There was a great deal of opposition violence in this area). Captain Blandon worked in Matagalpa and had gone to Masaya for the weekend to see family. When he was killed, he was looking to buy a motorcycle. Along with his life the delinquents took his pistol, his money, his civilian jacket and his shoes. Investigations are ongoing. (Police Press Report, Aug 6)
Another Wounded Sandinista Dies as a result of Coup Violence
On August 3, Luis Enrique Montano died. He was severely wounded July 14 in Somoto by an opposition delinquent on a motorcycle. Montano was transferred by other Sandinistas from Montano’s village of Cacauli to Somoto. (Informe Pastran, Aug. 3)
Government Visits Survivors of Violence around the County – Portobanco was Tortured.
In Boaco, government officials visited Jose Antonio Portobanco who was tortured by the opposition delinquents in April and amazingly came out alive. Crying he said “I feel so grateful for the support of my work companions. I’m still not well enough to work but hope to recuperate soon. It’s terrible how the terrorists robbed my freedom and the happiness that I once enjoyed. I ask for justice – they need to pay for their crimes.” The officials also visited 29-year-old Yefrin Rafael Sevilla Saravia who is recuperating from a gunshot wound. He was shot while he and others were rescuing a group of women being violated by coup-terrorists at the roadblocks. “What happened to me was a terrorist act. They have to pay in some way for what they did.” The survivors, with tears in their eyes, shared what had happened and thanked God for giving them their lives again. They asked for justice for those who were killed. https://www.tn8.tv/departamentos/454729-autoridades-boaco-visitan-victimas-terrorismo-golpista/<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tn8.tv/departamentos/454729-autoridades-boaco-visitan-victimas-terrorismo-golpista/&sa=D&ust=1533836463715000> (Channel 8, Aug. 3)
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