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For the people of Nicaragua, there must be a sense of deja vu, coupled with a deep feeling of foreboding, as they again come under the harsh spotlight of a Republican American Administration

And again, it is acting against the left-wing Sandinista party and its candidate, Daniel Ortega.

This time, America's involvement involves making clear its preferences by having its ambassador denounce Ortega as "anti-democratic", a "candidate from the past" and a "tiger who hasn't changed his stripes".

There is also the veiled threat that the US may not co-operate with a government headed by the Sandinistas. One senior US official wrote in a Nicaraguan newspaper last year that should Ortega be elected, "Nicaragua would sink like a stone".

Some experts say the Americans' behaviour in Nicaragua continues a pattern in a region where the US has for decades sought to undermine governments it opposes - through peaceful means or otherwise - to secure one it believes it can do business with.

"The latest thing is that US ambassadors in places such as Bolivia, El Salvador and Costa Rica all walk in and say, 'The US has made it clear it supports free and fair elections, but if a non-US-friendly candidate wins we will cut off US aid'. They are quite open about it."

He added: "That is why [Cuban leader] Fidel Castro is so popular in Latin America, because he is defiant. That is why Hugo Chavez is so popular in Latin America, because he gives the finger to Washington. He makes obscene gestures literally and metaphorically."

"One of the Ortega billboards in Nicaragua was spray-painted 'We don't want another war'. What it was saying was that if you vote for Ortega you are voting for a possible war with the US."

The US intervention in Central and Latin American often involves giving money to favoured parties.

Much of this money is channelled through the National Endowment for Democracy, which gets US$80 million a year from the US Congress. It dispenses the cash to groups around the world "to strengthen democracy".

Critics say it routinely meddles in other countries' affairs, supporting groups that believe in free enterprise, minimal government intervention in the economy and opposition to socialism.

It gives grants either directly or through four core "grantees".

One of these, the International Republican Institute (IRI) was involved in helping organise opponents of Haiti's former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected leader, who was forced from office in 2004.

Bill Berkowitz of the non-profit group Working for Change wrote: "The NED ... provides money, technical support, supplies, training programmes, media know-how, public relations assistance and state-of-the-art equipment to select political groups, civic organisations, labour unions, dissident movements, student groups, book publishers, newspapers, and other media.

"Its aim is to destabilise progressive movements, particularly those with a socialist or democratic socialist bent."

The study in which Professor Kampwirth participated found the US had spent US$10 million in Nicaragua on financing political education and civil society groups.

Ivania Vega Rueda, a programme officer for the IRI in Nicaragua, told the report's authors that the IRI had been active in helping organise marches against the Sandinistas and another political party, the Constitutional Liberal Party.

The IRI had "created" the Movement for Nicaragua, which she said organised marches against the two parties.

But Thomas Shannon, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, defended US actions.

"We see ourselves as pushing the democratic process," he said. "It's about creating political systems that are open, transparent and inclusive."

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And some people still think there exists such a thing as demockracy with these imperialists out to put a McDonald's on every corner. They steamrolled Haiti, Mexico and god knows who else in their quest for Manifest Destiny.

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The US ambassador to Nicaragua has issued a vigorous warning to this small Central American country's electors against supporting Daniel Ortega, the veteran leftwing Sandinista leader and the frontrunner in November's presidential election.

In a frank interview with the FT, Paul Trivelli said Mr Ortega was "undemocratic" and would roll back much of the advances made in recent years. And, underlining the concern felt in Washington about the regional influence of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, the ambassador said he had no doubt that Venezuela was playing an important role in the election.

[snip]

The US has had a long and – in many cases – unfortunate history in Nicaragua. During the 1980s it earned international criticism for its illegal funding of the so-called Contra war against Mr Ortega's democratically elected administration.

But Mr Trivelli insisted the US was simply trying to "bring back that balance a bit" in a political landscape in which the Sandinista party had helped "hijack" Nicaragua's democratic institutions.

"If the electoral machinery worked well and if the political landscape were level, the US ambassador, any other country, would sit on the sidelines and say, 'may the best man win'. In a country like Nicaragua that is obviously not the case."

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"If the electoral machinery worked well and if the political landscape were level, the US ambassador, any other country, would sit on the sidelines and say, 'may the best man win'. In a country like Nicaragua that is obviously not the case."

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When Daniel Ortega had absolute and total control of the national army of Nicaragua, when he might have reasonably claimed that the election had been wrecked by American military pressure on Nicaragua, he chose to step down when he was defeated.

He could have forced the point, and stayed on, but with diminished legitimacy.

So, if he wins this time, he deserves all of our support.

For those who can read Spanish, here is the Sandinista website:

election platform

The rhetoric is leftish, but there are some very specific admissions.

For example, they say that they will insure that there will be: UNEMPLOYMENT ZERO!, ILLITERACY ZERO! HUNGER ZERO!

There is also interesting discussion of how the international market DESTROYS THE FAMILY, because wage earners have to leave the country to make a living. "How many children are denied the embraces of their mothers and fathers because these are forced to leave to provide sustenance to their loved ones?"

here's what they say about private property, though:

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nuestro compromiso es total con el respeto a la propiedad privada, pequeña, mediana y grande: ni confiscaciones, ni expropiaciones, ni ocupaciones, permitirá el Gobierno de Reconciliación y Unidad Nacional...!

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"Our commitment to the respect of private property is total, whether it be small, medium, or large scale property ownership: the Government of National Unity and Reconciliation will permit neither confiscation, nor expropriation, nor occupations (of land)."

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Originally posted by jrootham:
What is a better indicator of a commitment to democracy than quietly relinquishing power when you lose an election?

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"If we had met five years ago, you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me ... I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests. So how could I possibly agree with people like Noam Chomsky and Ben Bagdikian, who were claiming the system didn't work, that it was steered by powerful special interests and corporations, and existed to protect the power elite? And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I'd enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job ... The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress." -- Gary Webb, investigative news journalist and author of a San Jose Mercury News article, Dark Alliance, a controversial news story about U.S.-sponsored drug trafficking from Managua to L.A. to fund the CIA's dirty war waged against a nation of poor people in Nicaragua

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[ 16 September 2006: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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MANAGUA - (AP) -- Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega has maintained his lead heading into Nicaragua's Nov. 5 presidential election, followed closely by U.S.-backed candidate Eduardo Montealegre, according to a poll that was published Friday.

The survey, conducted by M&R Consultores and published in La Prensa daily newspaper, shows Ortega with 30.9 percent of the vote, compared with 26.4 percent for Montealegre.

The poll was conducted Sept. 15-21 with 4,204 voters nationwide and had a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points.

The United States has openly opposed Ortega's candidacy and that of an ally of former President Arnoldo Alemán.

[snip]

U.S. officials have publicly supported Montealegre and Sandinista dissident Edmundo Jarquín -- most recently during a visit last weekend by U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, a Republican from Indiana who chairs the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

During his visit, Burton reiterated the U.S. government's position that Nicaragua's relations with the U.S. could be threatened if Ortega were to regain the presidency in November.

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Link.

[ 02 October 2006: Message edited by: sgm ]