Alberto Corona, Prensa Latina, August 30th 2018
https://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?o=rn&id=206359&SEO=nicaragua-intento-de-golpe-made-in-u.s.a.
Managua (PL). The failed coup attempt in Nicaragua makes it possible to see, through documents and testimony, who financed it, who promoted it and who served as the pawns in a wave of violence that caused at least 198 deaths in just over three months.
From April 18th until the end of July this year, the country was submerged in a crisis without precedent in recent decades, with a very high level of cruelty and terror on the part of the groups promoting the attempted coup, acting on a well structured program planned by organizations in the United States.
Documents and evidence made accessible to Prensa Latina show how those organizations nurtured certain “civil society” groups to undermine the bases of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation government, making the events look like a popular insurrection.
A complete report of the operational plan for the 2013 tax year of the USAID funded Community Action for Reading and Security program sets out its main objectives. It makes very clear that work with Nicaragua youth aged between 18 and 35 years old is regarded as a key element for Washington’s interests, for which budget lines of thousands of dollars each are assigned, in the first place, to turn those youth into agents of “change” via training programs.
Focused on these new generations in the medium and long term, those programs were to foment a society more in tune with the interests of the White House, with the participation of American and Nicaraguan universities like the Graduate School of Political Management(GSPM), the George Washington University and The American University, University of the Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast and the Institute for the Development of Democracy.
The report in question notes that “this program will be implemented nationally and is part of the long term aims of the United States government in Nicaragua with the objective of supporting civil society and training new political leaders so as to lay down the bases of a sustainable, democratic government”.
On the other hand, the CARS project centered its attention on the creation of public-private companies so as to evaluate the potential for increasing the participation and investment of the private sector in community actions and increase their impact on society, thus displacing the role of the State.
Likewise, youth were again the focus of attention from Washington in another program, also financed and monitored by USAID, for the period October 1st 2015 to February 30th 2017.
In this case, the national elections of 2016 were considered as a key moment for work with this age range and other non-traditional groups with the aim, again, of fomenting “change” in Nicaraguan society contrary to the policies of the FSLN but in line with the expansionist interests of the United States.
Along with that, the work expanded beyond the electoral cycle towards non-traditional youth groups, marginalized populations, people with disability, ethnic minorities and women, among other segments of society with a view to laying the foundations for the kind of change sought by the United States, namely a return to the neoliberal policies of Nicaragua’s previous governments.
At the same time, Roberta S. Jacobson, joint Sub Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, in a note dated June 15th 2015 addressed to then Secretary of State John Kerry, makes clear how the issue of Nicaragua under the leadership of the FSLN is of importance for Washington’s interests.
That document contains an analysis of Nicaragua’s social, political and economic situation and does not hesitate to describe the Sandinista government as an “authoritarian regime”, while also trying to identify fault lines and weaknesses in the country’s society.
Even so, Jacobson recognized that the traditional opposition parties had difficulty uniting and thus foresaw that they would continue to fail to connect with the majority of people in Nicaragua.
Thus, one of the specific objectives proposed was the depoliticization of Nicaragua, of its armed forces and police service and the creation of more space for civil society groups better aligned with United States interests. While none of this strategy is new in the operation of US foreign policy, especially against those countries and governments not aligned with its aims, in Nicaragua the solidity of the FSLN presented a big obstacle to overcome.
It was a matter of waiting for the right moment to unleash the whole machinery of lies and manipulation in unison, including social networks, national and international news media under the disguise of a supposed social explosion led by “university students” who had already been trained, funded and made ready for the chosen moment.
Hence, during the attempted coup, both USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) advised and funded the organizations called the April 19th Movement, the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy and the Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policy (IEEPP) .
All these, as well as other organizations shared the common objective of overthrowing President Daniel Ortega and delegitimizing the influence and historic record of the FSLN as a real factor for change in Nicaraguan society, a strategy actively supported by various news media inside and outside the country.
USAID and the NED have thus been the most active in seeking to counteract and eliminate a socialist government in Nicaragua by means of the typical destabilization agenda implemented in other countries, but with new elements such as the use of bogus patriotism to incite the masses.
That is why it is not surprising that FSLN symbols were often used by the groups promoting the attempted coup as a means to legitimize their violent criminal actions.
But now the reports, diplomatic notes and documents are coming to light containing the strategies and million dollar USAID and NED budget lines for achieving their objectives in Nicaragua by creating the makings of the now failed coup d’etat, one which the Nicaraguan people are unlikely to forget.
* Prensa Latina’s chief reporter in Nicaragua.