Spin from Cuba on Nicaragua’s Elections

Erasmo Calzadilla  

In November, general “elections” will be held in Nicaragua, that small Central American nation so close to Cuba’s heart.

Etched in my subconscious are those revolutionary ballads that were heard here like broken records as a result of the victory of Sandinistas over the tyrant Somoza.  When in some years from now I become senile, I’ll be singing an old ditty incomprehensible for the younger generations:

Comandante Carlos, Carlos Fonseca / Great leader and vanquisher over death / The darling of our red-and-black homeland / All of Nicaragua announces to you: “We are present!”  

Many people in Cuba and around the world believed that the future was being determined in Nicaragua, and they helped as best they could.  This was also done by Cuba’s leadership, which from that time on has maintained a close relationship with Daniel Ortega.

I remember the uproar that was produced here when at the end of the ‘80s it was found out that Ortega would “allow” elections.  “Communists” around me were alarmed and disapproving of this measure:  “It’s an error!  Imperialism can’t be given even an inch like this!”

But the elections occurred and people punished the party that over 10 years had made its leaders into near Gods and unleashed a corruption which later showed itself to be limitless.  Likewise, they proved unable to bring peace or prosperity (due partially to the US blockade and the Contra War financed by Reagan and the US Congress).

Time passed, and as it did the FSLN continued its struggle, politicking, until finally in 2006 it won the presidency – though by then little or nothing remained of its inclination to the left or of its commitment to social struggle in support of the workers and the neediest.

The fact that it had abandoned its old ideology was no secret.  But if anyone still has doubts, I believe these will be removed with the knowledge that:   

­- The Ortega family, formerly lower income, today is one of the richest families in the country.  Its children administer (own?) several radio and television stations.

­- Much land was redistributed, true, but between the hierarchy and clients of the party.

­ – The Sandinista National Liberation Front, installed in power for the second time, has promoted privatization and neoliberal restructuring.

­-  The Sandinista leaders, though painting themselves as anti-imperialist tough guys, maintained in vigor a free trade agreement with the US.

­- The “royal” family dismantled the class conscious social activism of workers and transformed it into populist clientelism in their service.

– Women’s rights continue being trampled (the FSLN supported and maintains the penalization of “therapeutic” abortion when the woman’s life is at risk, nor have advances been made in granting real autonomy to the indigenous communities on the Atlantic coast.

­- Since 1999, Ortega and his circle have maintained a pact with the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), especially with its leader, the known embezzler of the treasury Arnoldo Aleman.  Again in power, not only did they release him from prison, where he was serving a 20 sentence, they “fought” for his amnesty and returned all of his assets and his confiscated properties.  Through the pact, the “Danielists” and the “Alemanists” divided up public positions/offices and have made (il)legal changes necessary to guarantee that only they will continue in power.

–  They tramped the country’s constitution (drafted by the Sandinistas in ‘87) to support a new family dynasty.

Pretty, isn’t it?  

If you’re a person who’s attentive to what’s happening in the world, none of this should seem new to you.  But if all of your life you’ve believed the Granma newspaper (and others of that type), then you must think I’m a liar.  Granma has never mentioned a comma about those “deviations” by the FSLN.  The truth is that today it goes around justifying the fraudulent dealings of the Ortega campaign.

I wonder why the official paper of communists maintains support for a leader who abandoned his march to the left a long time ago and right now is a brake against the advance of any progressive initiative in the homeland of Sandino.

Could it be that it prefers the proximity of demonstrably corrupt politicians to other left and/or anti-liberal movements, like those of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) or the Izquierda Democratica Sandinista (democratic left) platform?

Even if the “friendship” with Ortega is no more than a strategy to maintain a certain anti-imperialist strength in the region (something doubtful given the free trade agreements that he maintains with the United States), nothing justifies keeping the people of Cuba politically misinformed and ignorant, unless the idea is to keep us docile and treat us like children.

But if the official press has reasons to lie or hide information about the issue, bloggers don’t.

Less than seven weeks remain before the “elections” in Nicaragua, but I’m not anxious to learn the outcome.

Nota: Some analysts think that the Cuban government has started distancing itself from the FSLN, and proof of this was the celebration of the anniversary of the Sandinista revolution this past July: Granma published nothing (though I’ve not been able to confirm this).  Nevertheless, Granma has published several articles about the coming elections, justifying all of the plots and intrigues that Ortega and the FSLN have been hatching in order to be reelected.  Compared to the ‘80s, yes, there is a certain distancing, but with Nicaragua having joined ALBA I believe the “friendship” has been reborn.