Dismissing the Truth
In 2018 Amnesty International produced two reports on Nicaragua, accusing the Nicaraguan government of ‘a strategy of indiscriminate repression’. The context was violent protests which broke out in April last year and ended last July. The Nicaraguan government was accused by AI of using ‘arbitrary detention’ and ‘excessive, disproportionate and unnecessary force’ in dealing with […]
The Plot to Control the World
‘Make America Great Again’: Trump’s slogan seems both to yearn for a time when the United States had more influence, and to call for its pre-eminence to be restored. In its own way, it asserts that the US is – or should be – different. In fact it was only Trump’s predecessor, Obama, who was […]
Why Didn’t Carl David Goette-Luciak Report on the Torture He Witnessed?
by Nan McCurdy There has been a great deal of inaccurate and biased reporting about Nicaragua written in support of regime change and presenting a false narrative of what occurred in the Nicaraguan uprising. The article below is about a self-trained reporter, Carl David Goette-Luciak, who was the source of consistently biased reporting which had […]
The Guardian continues its shameless misinformation campaign against Nicaragua and its people
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 […]
Misinformation on Nicaragua: It was a coup, not a massacre
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 […]
Nicaragua’s failed coup
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 […]
Opposition behind the violence in Nicaragua
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 […]
Anatomy of a massacre
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 […]
A letter to The Guardian
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 […]
Why are the police not able to control the violence in Nicaragua?
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 […]
John Perry lives in Masaya, Nicaragua where he works on