Portside

Movements, Parties, Strategies, and the Nicaragua Debate

The current crisis is not simply the story of a brave opposition and a brutal Ortega. It is a long-simmering conflict among different groups that has been carefully manipulated to put Nicaragua firmly and securely back under U.S. hegemony.

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As discontent with the Ortega presidency spreads across Nicaragua, a small student movement has grown to include a diverse array of oppositional movements and private sector actors, each with their own political agenda.

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An open letter to Amnesty International, by former Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience Camilo E. Mejia, on the violence gripping his native Nicaragua. Through this letter I express my unequivocal condemnation of Amnesty International.

The Nicaraguan government’s brutal response to protests over social security cuts has produced a nationwide grassroots mobilization against President Daniel Ortega. The Ortega-Murillo regime faces a crisis of legitimacy, which could open the door to the forces of both democracy and reaction.

The pattern is similar to events in Libya, Syria and Venezuela, where extreme right-wing political minorities conspired with foreign elites to overthrow the national status quo.

Giant infrastructure projects like the proposed Nicaraguan Interoceanic Grand Canal threaten some of the most culturally diverse and ecologically rich regions of Latin America. Due to its enormous scale and the unprecedented power it grants to foreign capital, the proposed canal poses a serious threat not only to the environment but also to the indigenous Rama-Kriol peoples, who are mobilizing against all odds to protect their communities, land, water, and forests.