Is it true that 50% of Nicaraguans want to leave their country owing to a climate of repression and economic decline, supposedly resulting from socialist policies? This was the allegation in a report published by AmericasBarometer, a research agency based at Vanderbilt University, which failed to note that its previous forecast, that 30% of Nicaraguans…
Three previous articles described the attempted coup in Nicaragua in 2018, and how public support grew initially but then waned. This final article, covering the period from mid-July to the present day, shows how the coup was defeated and what happened in the aftermath. By July 2018, three months of violence – over 200 deaths…
On the fifth anniversary of the 2018 coup attempt in Nicaragua, conflicting accounts of the violence and killings still persist. The mainstream media has characterized the opposition protests as generally peaceful and cases of opposition violence as counter violence against brutal repression of dissent by the government. John Perry has written a series of articles…
Two previous articles described the build up to the attempted coup in Nicaragua and how the media were crucial in convincing the public to support it. This article, covering the period from May 30 onwards, shows how the initial support peaked, then collapsed. After more than a month of conflict, most Nicaraguans hoped that a…
Matagalpa, a commercial city in the mountainous north of Nicaragua, suffered many destructive attacks during the attempted coup in 2018. One of the worst occurred on June 25, when opposition vandals robbed and later set fire to the municipal depot, or plantel, where the vehicles and equipment are kept that maintain the city. The destruction…
Five years after the violent coup attempt in Nicaragua, the country is celebrating its recovery – peace has returned, the economy is growing, the Sandinista government re-elected in 2021 is investing strongly in public services. But it’s important to remember what happened in 2018 and the enormous, deliberate damage that was done to the country….
An interview with Randall, a “historic fighter” from Nicaragua’s revolution against the Somoza dictatorship, about the attempted coup in 2018 and how the violence affected his neighbourhood. During the attempted coup in Nicaragua in 2018, Masaya was one of the cities most affected by the violence and by the widespread use of roadblocks to control…
Five years ago, Nicaragua was subject to a violent insurrection that lasted from April through July, 2018. In the second of four articles, we look at how initial support for the coup relied on widespread use of social media. The “groundwork for insurrection” in Nicaragua was laid down months and years before the coup attempt…
The latest book by labor and human rights attorney, Daniel Kovalik, Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention and Resistance (2023, Clarity Press, 292 pages), is a worthy addition to the author’s collection of works on countries targeted by US imperialism, such as Venezuela, Russia, and Iran. While giving readers a thoughtful and much fuller picture…
Five years ago, Nicaragua was subject to a violent attempted coup that lasted from April through July, 2018. In the first of four articles, Dan Kovalik and John Perry look at how it was planned and how it started. In the first few months of 2018, Nicaragua hardly appeared to be a strong candidate for…