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"We do not want a civil war," says Silvio Prado, a former activist of the Sandinista National Front for Liberation (FSLN), historically led by Daniel Ortega, a Nicaraguan political scientist and sociologist. This expert, who works as an badociate researcher at the Institute of Strategic Studies and Public Policy of Nicaragua, spoke to La Tercera about the two months of protests against Ortega that left 285 dead
What are you waiting for? you from this social explosion in Nicaragua?
This is a question that everyone poses except Nicaragua and the government. It's an accumulation of 11 years of denial of rights and freedoms that has erupted. From a period of liberal governments where social mobilization has not been repressed as openly and with such harshness, a very strong contrast has been created. For a while, it was said that Nicaraguans had fallen into political apathy. The Ortega government, in addition, whenever the population went out to demonstrate, organized against demonstrations and it gave results for eight years. There was a forest fire in the south of the country, the government's inaction provoked the first demonstrations. Immediately after, the government, by adopting a decree to reform the social security system, generated the protests. A demonstration of pensioners with students on April 18 was severely repressed. That was the triggering factor. But that was not just the fact of this factor, but it was like the match that ignited a plain that was dry, prepared for fire.
Do you consider that the insurrection of the city of Masaya has a symbolic character, since was the bastion of Sandinismo in the revolution?
Monimbó and Masaya have a symbolic character because of the role they played in the insurrection against Somoza. When we saw the nica Monimbó got up and built the first barricades, we said "here something is going on". Because we always said: "When Monimbó wakes up, the whole country gets up". If there is something of the revolution, it is on the side of the population. But that could have been another manifestation in the country, but for the regime's reaction. The government's response was the essence that helped to increase the fire.
You were a Sandinista activist.
Yes, from 78 to 92. I was at the Front because I had a libertarian speech, because we were not a party that worshiped the personality. And when the Front became the opposite of what I thought, I had nothing to do there. When I saw that it was a party where there was no political debate, because at that time Ortega eliminated all the internal institutions of the party.
Do you think that there are similarities with what happened with Somoza in the 1970s? of the population, the rejection of totalitarian domination. An important similarity is that youth has become a risk factor. The dictatorship sees in every young person a danger, and they are the main objective of the repression. But there are also big differences. It is the first time that there is such a transversal social protest in my country. There is no political party, it is multi-sectoral. There is everything, businessmen, farmers, students, middle clbad, everything. It was not there during the Sandinista revolution. This is a factor that the Ortega government has not yet figured out, and that 's one of its major mistakes because it' s not a matter of beheading the movement because it 's not a factor. there are no heads.
Is there frustration among the ancient Sandinistas? a kind of frustration to fall into something like this after the fall of Somoza. It's still fighting, starting over. When we already thought that Nicaragua had left this dark period of dictatorship, and even thought that Ortega would not be able to fall into another dictatorship. For those of us struggling to see our country free from dictatorship, it is a very big frustration. Those of us who were part of the Front called this Ortega regime, because it had nothing to do with historical Sandinism, Sandino's ideals and what we are fighting against the dictatorship of Somoza.
Do you hope that the dialogue will be an exit to the crisis?
Yes. It is the hope of those who do not want a civil war, of which we do not want any more dead or bereavement. I am hopeful that the dialogue table will force the tyrant to accept the conditions for the refoundation of the state. What they want is that everything becomes "normal" again, before April 18th. This will never happen.
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