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September 10, 2018
Sandinista Nicaraguans march for Peace and Justice for their dead, wounded, and disappeared. Managua, September 8, 2018.
This article is by Camilo Mejia, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience because he refused duty in the US army in Iraq, who is also son of the famous Nicaraguan singer Carlos Mejia Godoy.
In its September 7 article, the once progressive Guardian reports that Nicaragua was brought to a standstill by a general strike called by the Civic Alliance, one of the main opposition coalitions behind the attempted soft coup, citing how banks and upscale shopping malls in Managua are all closed in support of the strike. What The Guardian fails to mention is that those upscale businesses only represent a small portion within the Nicaraguan sector, which is mostly driven by micro, small, and mid-size businesses that are part of the country’s popular market economy, which in turn employs about 90 percent of the country’s workers. In truth, commerce was business as usual throughout Nicaragua, as these images show.
Continue reading “The Guardian continues its shameless misinformation campaign against Nicaragua and its people”
Category: Latin America | Tags: Nicaragua, US intervention, Nicaragua crisis |
August 15, 2018
There is so much misinformation on the left about recent events in Nicaragua that it is a pity that Mary Ellsberg’s article for Pulse has added to it. She says that recent articles often ‘paint a picture of the crisis in Nicaragua that is dangerously misleading’. Unfortunately, her own article is subject to just that criticism. It looks at the situation entirely from the perspective of those opposing Daniel Ortega’s government. It is an incomplete depiction of what is happening, ignores many facts that have come to light and has been outdated by recent events. This is a brief response to her main points from someone who lives in Nicaragua and has observed the situation directly.
Continue reading “Misinformation on Nicaragua: It was a coup, not a massacre”
Category: Latin America | Tags: Nicaragua, US intervention, Masaya, Nicaragua crisis |
August 9, 2018
For three months Daniel Ortega and his government in Nicaragua were under intense pressure to resign – from protesters and opposition groups, from local media and from right-wing politicians in the US. But while the international pressure continues, in mid-July it became clear that, for the time being at least, the opposition no longer has sufficient local support to achieve its goal. Despite persistent images of near-collapse painted by the international press, the country appears to be returning to something close to normality. How did a protest that seemed so strong when it began, lose momentum so quickly?
Continue reading “Nicaragua’s failed coup”
Category: Latin America | Tags: Nicaragua, US intervention, Nicaragua crisis |
August 4, 2018
Leaving the European Union is supposed to free us from red tape. Depending whether Brexit is hard or soft, it could give Britain more freedom to set its own rules. Will this be of any benefit to the housing sector? Let’s look at some of the possible changes.
EU procurement rules are one example. Ending them could eventually create more freedom, but in the short term the public sector will still need to comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Future trade agreements are also likely to come with new procurement rules, covering issues such as openness, fairness, transparency and non-discrimination. So the changes might not be very great. But if the UK did get more freedom, reforms might for example allow tenders to be restricted to British firms. As CIH already advises, contracts can and should anyway take into account the ‘social value’ that can be obtained: this shouldn’t change.
Continue reading “Will housing receive a ‘red tape bonus’ from Brexit?”
Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: migration policy, housing investment, housing associations |
July 27, 2018
A masked man holds a homemade mortar during protests against the government of Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega. Photo: Marvin Recinos/AFP/Getty Images
Following the Guardian’s rejection of a longer letter with multiple signatories on this issue, they accepted this shorter one.
Your report says Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s president, is facing a “nationwide revolt” by “peaceful” protesters (Ortega decries ‘terrible lies’ over protest deaths in rare interview, 25 July). I live in the city of Masaya, which was under opposition control for three months, with the streets blocked by hundreds of barricades. Here, briefly, is what happened.
Continue reading “Opposition behind the violence in Nicaragua”
Category: Latin America | Tags: Nicaragua, Masaya, Nicaragua crisis |
July 26, 2018
Low Hill, Wolverhampton
Before parliament went off for its summer holidays, the housing minister Kit Malthouse said he was ‘at a loss’ to understand why councils don’t use their full borrowing capacity to build new homes. Always willing to help out a new minister, I’ll offer a quick guide to why this apparently lamentable situation has come about.
Continue reading “Why councils don’t use their borrowing capacity”
Category: Housing | Tags: council housing, borrowing rules, housing finance, housing investment |
July 26, 2018
Events in Morrito, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua, July 12 2018
A national newspaper once called it a hidden treasure. The small fishing town of Morrito, on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, could hardly be a quieter place. But on July 12 it was the scene of a brutal attack that cost the lives of five of its inhabitants.
Beginning in mid-April, Nicaragua has been experiencing violent conflicts between opponents of President Daniel Ortega and government supporters. While both sides have held numerous peaceful demonstrations, both sides have also been the subject of attacks. There are conflicting accounts of how many have died so far, ranging from around 100 to well over 300. As well as the violence, a propaganda war is taking place, in the local press, in the international press and – especially – in social media. Events in Morrito provide a case study of the distorted messages and downright lies that are now flourishing.
Continue reading “Anatomy of a massacre”
Category: Latin America | Tags: Nicaragua, Nicaragua crisis |
July 24, 2018
During the three months of political crisis in Nicaragua, The Guardian has produced some twenty reports, including a number from Managua and two from Masaya, a city that for several weeks was effectively under opposition control. Unfortunately, its coverage has been seriously unbalanced. A group of us based in Nicaragua, the US and the UK decided to compile an international protest letter to send to The Guardian’s editor. The letter (below) was signed by a number of activists but also by some well-known journalists such as Max Blumenthal, Greg Grandin, Abby Martin and Patricia Villegas (of Telesur) and others. The only reply was a brief response from the international news editor, which said that he was “firmly of the view that the Guardian’s coverage has been accurate and fair.”
Continue reading “A letter to The Guardian”
Category: Latin America | Tags: Nicaragua, US intervention, Masaya, Nicaragua crisis |
June 28, 2018
The role of the police in Nicaragua’s current crisis is a key one. From the opposition standpoint, they are the source of most if not all the violence. Yet in practice, ever since the national dialogue began in response to the demonstrations and deaths in mid-April, the police have been operating under severe constraints. Here are some examples.
Continue reading “Why are the police not able to control the violence in Nicaragua?”
Category: Latin America | Tags: Nicaragua crisis |
June 25, 2018
A masked protester shoots off a homemade mortar in the Monimbó neighborhood of Masaya, June 2, 2018. (AP Photo / Esteban Felix)
If there’s no negotiated peace with a return to order, the conflict could spin out of control, bringing the chronic violence and insecurity of the country’s northern neighbours.
In a video clip, a young boy stands at a makeshift barricade across a road. He holds a toy gun to the head of his friend. Off camera, an adult asks, “What are you going to do?” “We’ll kill him and leave him naked,” replies the boy. The adults laugh. This scene from Nicaragua, filmed at one of the hundreds of towns paralyzed by street protests, epitomizes the violence that has taken hold since April 18. Before that date, local media proudly quoted figures showing that Nicaragua had become the safest country in Central America. But the two months since then have seen more than 170 violent deaths, thousands injured, and scores of public buildings burned down or ransacked.
Continue reading “After 2 Months of Unrest, Nicaragua Is at a Fateful Crossroads”
Category: Latin America | Tags: Nicaragua, US intervention, Masaya, Nicaragua crisis |
John Perry lives in Masaya, Nicaragua where he works on