Contributed report, Tortilla con Sal, December 21st 2018
TcS editorial note - This account is from a US solidarity activist who has done community work for over twenty years in Nicaragua. She has had to contribute this account anonymously so as to protect her family from the very real threat of harrassment and intimidation at the hands of aggressive opposition activists in her barrio. We think this is an important text to show how completely false opposition claims of widespread government repression really are.
Miguel is a very outgoing young man, who speaks pretty good English and was very well liked by those who met him during a recent US solidarity tour and by those who have visited Nicaragua on delegations through the community organization in which we both participated at that time. Right now, he is also contacting schools, churches, and people he met on the solidarity tour and apparently is visiting schools in teh US to speak about Nicaragua. Anyone who reads his articles or who has been in contact with him since he arrived in the U.S. is getting only the opposition coup promoters' side of the story.
To make matters more complicated, none of us among Miguel's former friends and colleagues who support the Nicaraguan government have spoken with Miguel since we returned to Nicaragua from the solidarity tour, three years ago now. Miguel and others from that year’s group were seen on camera stealing from a store where my stepfather works. My stepfather was shown the videos and then he contacted me about it. Most of my family had already left the barrio, so in the end nothing came of it. However, it was an awful situation. We discussed it with the group concerned and we asked that they hand over anything that they might have taken. At any rate, Miguel must have told his mom a different story and she now blames us for what happened and for taking his things away. Miguel stopped talking to us.
Miguel’s family, who live right across the street from Margarita, one of our pro-government colleagues in our barrio, are a well-known Liberal Party family. His aunt and her husband, who also live in the house, are particularly well known Liberal activists, and they also sell marijuana from the house - quite openly. The aunt was seen offering C$200 for anyone to wear a Sandinista Youth T-shirt and to participate in the looting of the local supermarket. The day of the looting, Miguel and Juan, a friend of his, were on the street corner next to Miguel’s house. Margarita and others were on the other side of the street when they saw people running by or passing in motorcycle taxis with all kinds of stolen goods from the supermarket. Margarita and others, and also Miguel and Juan began yelling “thieves” and “sin verguenzas”, etc. However, moments later a motor taxi pulled up in front of Miguel’s house with his Aunt and uncle and filled to the brim with stolen goods. Margarita and the others started yelling at them, too, but of course Miguel and Juan stopped and walked away.
At another point, Margarita and others received a random WhatsApp message about a supposed Sandinista Youth march. On the day and time the march was supposed to take place, Miguel’s uncle and two other men walk out of Miguel’s house with Sandinista Youth T-shirts on and get on to motorcycles and drive away.
Miguel and Juan both participated in marches and both spread hateful and violence-inciting Facebook posts and fake news. They were constantly posting, apparently without any fear at all of the “repressive” government. Although in the article, Miguel talks about how he couldn’t leave his house and was afraid because he knew the Sandinistas wanted to kill him! Which, of course is total nonsense.
In the barrio (and we also know in many other places) the houses of known Sandinistas were marked. One of the most active Sandinista activists in the barrio had her home shot at by opposition members in a drive by shooting. One person was hit in the leg, but luckily no one else was injured. A well-known Liberal activist who owns an internet café, and who was also very actively sharing and spreading antigovernment social media posts, and who even shared a video of himself and others knocking over a “Tree of Life” street monument, was taken into custody by the police. He was subsequently released, unharmed.
However, during the time he was in custody, the Catholic Church in the barrio organized a campaign to call for his safe return to his family. “They took him away alive and we want him returned alive!” was the slogan. However, much to the surprise of the Sandinista activist whose home was shot up by AK-47’s, the church did not say a word about the opposition shooting at her house or support her family at all. She and other Sandinistas complained to no avail and since have left the Church.
Margarita also confirms that some of the main organizers at the Upoli were very active youth members or choir members of the barrio's Church. While I don’t think Juan and Miguel were involved actively with the Upoli, they were very active members of the Church, with Juan giving classes to children every week. They also both studied at the Universidad de Valle. And, well before April, I noticed that both of them were sharing antipolice posts, accusing the police of pulling people over for no reason, or searching vehicles or using too much force.
Also, they both were putting up posts, such as, “I don’t know, but I just don’t like Bachi”. (Bachi is another derogatory nickname for President Ortega). Needless to say, they were also active on social media during the Indo Maiz fire. Looking back on it, I wonder if they both were part of the NED funded youth workshops by Nica NGO’s.
With Miguel, Juan, pro-opposition acquaintances in the US, and the main stream media lies, it has become a total nightmare to even try and think about refuting everything. It's impossible to work out where to begin.