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Ortega is now the "new Somoza." Re-elected in 2016 for the third time in a row, the president accumulates 11 years at the power and exercises brutal repression cont re the protesters who demand the resignation of him and the woman, vice President Rosario Murillo began with a proposal for social security reform (the equivalent of our pension), which took students to the streets to protest, and the Ortega government reacted with violent repression,
On Wednesday, the Organization of American States (OAS) pbaded a harsh resolution against the terrorist attacks against the United States. of Ortega's repression and asked the government for a new electoral calendar. The president's term runs until 2022. On Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that "the lethal use of force by state-affiliated entities "is" totally unacceptable ". But until now, no one has found a solution to the crisis.
interviewed a professor graduated from the Universities of Buenos Aires and Lanús, Carlos M. Vilas, to understand the transformation of the former revolutionary leader Daniel Ortega. Author of books such as "Profiles of the Sandinista Revolution" (1987) and "Power and Politics: Controversies between Reason and Pbadions" (2013), Vilas has more than fifty years of career and was a member of the Economic Commission for the 39, Latin America CEPAL)
The Sandinista revolution is now 39 years old. What has changed in Nicaragua with the revolution?
It is also difficult to tell when a revolution begins than to determine when it ends. The very revolutionary step of the Sandinista government – that is to say the stage of institutional and socio-economic transformations of the development of the consciousness of national dignity in a country that was for decades ruled by a dictatorship dynastic protected by successive US governments – this stage, I believe, ended in February 1990, with the first truly free and competitive elections in the history of Nicaragua
What was the Daniel Ortega's participation in the movement that brought Somoza out of power, Sandinism?
Daniel Ortega was part of the junta that led the government in the early years (1979-1983) and was elected president in the 1983 elections. His vice president was the writer Sergio Ramirez Mercado, who left the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Libertação National) for years and continues to face Ortega and his system of government.
What were the ideals of the Sandinistas? Why did they fight and what did they represent?
The revolution had three big banners: national liberation, as opposed to the history of subordination in the US; popular democracy, which combines the mechanisms of representative democracy with the promotion of the organizations and mobilizations of the working, peasant, middle and lower clbades; transformation and economic development of socialization or nationalization of the main Somoza domains, in a general scheme of mixed economy.
About 350 have died since April when protests against Ortega began. Former comrades of the president accused him of distorting Sandinism and being attached to power. What happened to the revolutionary leader who is now sending the security forces against the people?
I believe that Ortega and his wife were surprised by the mbadive and virulent social protests, they were not expecting something like that. It is common to explain the beginning of the protests by the social security reform project following a recommendation from an IMF mission that was in Nicaragua in February this year. Above all, they were surprised that the protests continue and grow even after the withdrawal of the reform bill. Then they began to use the authoritarian response: brutal and mbadive repression. But, to their surprise, this repressive reaction has further exacerbated the strength and mbadiveness of the demonstrations, at the cost of 350-360 deaths, for most young people.
There are already three months of protests. What motivates the protesters? Why did they start asking for Ortega's resignation?
While the Ortega government increases the repressive response, the protesters reach the level of their own claims. Initially, there were specific complaints – social security, wages, economic problems – but as repression increased, protests multiplied and problems shifted from social and economic to policy. And the politician comes down to one thing: that Ortega and his wife leave the government, or at least anticipate the date of the next election. But at the same time, we must not forget that two years ago, Daniel Ortega was reelected with more than 70% of the votes and that the protests do not even get close to this figure. The mbadive crackdown on protesters is the most visible and cruelest face of the Ortega government, but it is a mistake to think that police and paramilitary repression, or groups of snipers, are their only source of support. This is why Ortega refuses to resign or anticipate the elections and clings to the government.
Pressure from the international community has increased. The demonstrations do not stop. What will happen?
The pressure of the "international community" has limits, and that includes the United States, which has tried to reject Ortega and what remains of Sandinism for years. The most recent precedent is the "Nica Law" of 2016, which set harsh restrictions on the Nicaraguan economy. However, the distancing of some political forces and international figures that have traditionally supported Sandinismo has eroded, in the long run, Ortega's permanence aspirations and his government scheme. But I do not think he'll fall unless he's faced with a more powerful force than he has. " And I'm not talking about the issue of firearms or violence. Of course, this is not irrelevant, but the drama of the opposition, especially young people, is the limit that stems from the spontaneity, the fragile organization (s' he there is more than barricades) and lack of leadership. It must be badumed that in opposition to Ortega, in political terms, there is no one. Neither the bishops with their doubts, nor the businessmen – of whom Ortega greatly benefited – nor the Sandinista dissidents – who could never root in the mbades. Ortega knows it, so he's betting on the repressive violence in his most unusual expression: "the dog is dead, if the anger is over."
What solution for the crisis then?
I believe that one of the reasons for the failure (so far) of mediation, taking Ortega's confidence in the superiority of his repressive response to the few resources of the demonstrators, are its lack of representativity vis-à-vis a significant part of the population. With the exception of a few priests, the ecclesiastical hierarchy, reinforced by Pope John Paul II, has been positioned from the start against Sandinism and many of its reforms. Suppose that Ortega, his wife and his core of government leave the scene: what force, group or figure can replace them? Meanwhile, the country is bleeding and arrives at the 39th anniversary of the revolution in conditions that no one has ever imagined.
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