From Hero to Dictator, The Future of Nicaragua

From Hero to Dictator, The Future of Nicaragua

By: Erreh Svaia

Caprine Dispersion

As in most revolutions, we can mention the French, the Russian, the Mexican and the Cuban, to give some examples, those leaders who promised freedom and who fought against the authoritarian dictator, end up becoming worse creatures than those against those who fought, Robespierre, Stalin, Calles and Castro became worse characters than those who overthrew, instilling an autocracy and a greater terror to the people to whom they supposedly gave their freedom, and to whom they promised a better world, in Nicaragua, one of the survivors of the period called the Cold War, a time of tension between the two powers of those times, the now defunct USSR and the USA, Daniel Ortega fought against the Somoza dictatorship, in the midst of a fierce conflict between the bloc related to the Soviet Union and the sphere of influence of Western capitalism, after the triumph of the guerrillas, Nicaragua moved towards an apparent era of democracy in which free elections were held, changes of powers, even Ortega was once in power as another official, but times changed in Nicaragua, the wave of the then new "Socialism of the 21st Century" stirred Central America and Ortega He aligned himself with the so-called "Castro Boys", a collection of picturesque figures politically and ideologically led by Fidel Castro (Lula, the workers' union leader, Hugo Chávez, the charismatic populist, Evo, the indigenist, Rafael Correa, the economist, Fernando Lugo, the liberation theologian, the Kirchners, a Peronist couple, José Mújica, the rehabilitated guerrilla fighter), who made his area of ​​influence grow and created a master plan for the survival of Cuba after losing the support of the USSR, Venezuela, the country with larger reserves oil and Brazil, the largest economy in South America, became anchors for the Castro project disseminated through a mechanism such as the or from Sao Paulo or ALBA, Ortega would become one more of the "Castro Boys", and like Fidel Castro, a survivor of the Cold War, like the "Castro Boys", Ortega managed to reinvent and change their guerrillas affinity and directing them to populism and using populist politics as their new weapon to seize power, this time definitively, decimating emerging institutions and nascent just democracy in Nicaragua, supported a corporatist pact that Ortega was imposed along with a block of entrepreneurs and allied to the power of the Nicaraguan church in the style of authoritarian and hegemonic PRI prior to the 90s.

But the Sandinista revolution, often retained by the propaganda and Nicaraguan indoctrination apparatus gradually weakened, and new generations began to demand a change, the perception of youth regarding Ortega has mutated from being a "hero", to become a dictator, the social system that was responsible for maintaining various sectors of society, as in many other cases began to crack and break, preventive measures by the government, such as raising taxes and reducing as customers braces clientelism began to cause trouble between employers and civilians, street protests were swift, harsh military repression either, as in the well "Socialist XXI Century" Venezuela, mismanagement of politics and conflict, ended the debate of ideas becoming a popular rebellion, and a bloody civil war, the power exercised by Ortega, once backed by a Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez has lost force, as well as the weakening in general the XXI Century Socialism in the region, the initial set point to go against the changes to the tax system and cuts to the social security system, has become a battle to cast out Ortega and his eccentric wife (vice president, at the height of nepotism in the purest Peronist style) government marches over 100,000 people have been made in the streets of Managua, the capital, led by students, abandoned by a docile policy Ortega finally for Nicaraguan youth opposition, Ortega has become comparable to Somoza dictators both increasingly isolated from its allies, employers (who has broken with the state), the church (which has been aligned civil protest), and syndicalism (which have been abandoned by the youth), dismissively legitimacy to the state, today only refugees in the military arm under him and the tight control exerted on the media that continue to block much of the information abroad, minimizing the bloody events that occur on the streets where more than 300 dead, more and more international pressure befalls the Ortega are calculated, while the economy continues to deteriorate rapidly and security in the streets evaporates, while the state is entrenched and launches the army against the people, Nicaragua seems to be the last surviving bastion of the original "Castro Boys" difficult pacific reconciliation process while Ortega and his wife remain in power, although with little support, things do not look very promising in the panorama of Ortega and what appear to be the last throes of the "Socialism of the XXI Century", although later chapters like Nicolas Maduro and the hyper crisis in Venezuela, or the recent triumph of Andres Lopez in Mexico, they seem unwilling to close the book definitively.