In a bold and consequential decision with rippling geopolitical implications, Nicaragua recognized the “One-China Principle” and resumed diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for the first time since the beginning of the neoliberal period in 1990. This was announced December 9, 2021 shortly after a meeting of the China-CELAC Forum in which CELAC’s 32 Latin American member states agreed to adopt a China-CELAC Joint Action Plan for Cooperation. The strengthening of Chinese ties with Western Hemisphere partners in a forum without US presence comes as a red flag for US hegemony and control over its own “backyard,” which, since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, has been firmly fenced off from other “external” global actors seeking influence in the region.
Continue readingIran Official Proposes Formation Of Countries’ Union Against Sanctions
All, with consolidation, should stand against the US sanctions and plots, Rezaei said in a meeting with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, according to the IRNA Saturday report.
In his remarks, Rezaei said that the Iranian nation and government pay special respect to Nicaragua’s resistance against excessive demands.
He went on to stress that the resistant countries should make further efforts to expand their relations and friendship because the bullying powers, particularly the United States, are after preventing nations’ development and cooperation.
Further, he noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran has stood by Nicaragua and is ready to strengthen ties with it.
For his part, the Nicaraguan president thanked Rezaei for attending his swearing-in ceremony and appreciated the strong spirit of the Islamic Republic against the enemies’ pressures.
Continue readingNicaragua In The Multipolar World
The United States and the European Union announced new sanctions on the day that Daniel Ortega was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua. The move was not surprising, given that the United States congress passed the RENACER Act one week before elections which were held on November 7.
The people of Nicaragua have acted in defiance of the United States ever since the 1979 revolution. First, Ronald Reagan used reactionary forces, the Contras, as proxies in an attempt to destroy the new government. The Reagan administration mined Nicaragua’s harbors and fomented a war which cost an estimated 30,000 lives. The United States still owes Nicaragua $17 billion in compensation for the damage it created decades ago.
Continue readingNicaragua Slams US And EU Sanctions
Nicaragua has hit out at a new raft of sanctions imposed on the country just hours before President Daniel Ortega’s inauguration on Monday.
The measures targeting a number of Nicaraguan officials were announced as Mr Ortega was sworn in for a fourth consecutive term of office in a ceremony in the capital Managua attended by dignitaries and guests from across the world.
Sanctions were imposed by the European Union and the United States, which denounced the November 7 elections won convincingly by Mr Ortega and his Sandinista National Liberation Front as “a sham.”
They have presented no concrete evidence to back their assertions, however, and hundreds of international observers described the elections as free, fair and transparent.
Continue readingIt Is Not Nicaragua That Is ‘Isolated’
This January 10 was the inauguration of Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, the leader of the socialist Sandinista Front. Western corporate media outlets are pushing a ridiculous narrative that Nicaragua is “isolated” from the so-called “international community” — by which they mean “the imperialists in the United States and European Union.”
The Economist, the coup-supporting mouthpiece of British billionaires and Western intelligence agencies, published an article that epitomizes this propaganda narrative, claiming the Nicaraguan “president is leading the country into increasing isolation.”
The piece — anonymous, like most of The Economist’s articles — happily chirped that “Dozens of countries refused to recognise the result of elections in November.”
Continue readingThe President Who Can’t Resist Defying The US Is At It Again
Since 1987, I have been coming to Nicaragua to show solidarity for its upstart band of merry men and women known as the Sandinistas. They, of course, led the unlikely successful revolution against the US-backed dictatorship of the Somoza family – a regime installed in 1934 and backed to the bitter end until finally overthrown in 1979.
Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans were killed by Anastasio Somoza as he attempted to cling to power by gunning down his own people and bombing towns by air. And still the Sandinistas triumphed, led by Ortega.
The US, which has been intervening in Nicaragua for more than a century, never accepted the Sandinista revolution and its leader. It has never abandoned the idea of the Monroe Doctrine announced in 1823 – a statement which declared the US claims sole dominion over the Western hemisphere…
Continue readingChuck Kaufman: A Pillar Of Solidarity
Chuck Kaufman, presente! A great comrade and friend to the peoples and just causes of Latin America and the Caribbean has passed on the torch. Chuck Kaufman died on Tuesday, December 28th, and is being remembered for the tremendous impact he made during his decades of anti-imperialist work, organizing to change US-Latin American foreign policy.
Chuck was known for his leadership among North American solidarity organizing with Latin American grassroots movements. It all began when he joined the staff of the Nicaragua Network in 1987, which in 1998 became the Alliance for Global Justice, for which he served as National Co-Coordinator until the time of his passing.
Continue readingNicaragua: Chronicle Of A Slandered Election
On November 7, Nicaragua held elections in which current president Daniel Ortega received 75% support and, as a result, begins a new term of office in January. Not surprisingly, the US government described the election as a “sham.” Of more concern is that many on the left seem to agree. William Robinson’s NACLA article, Nicaragua: Chronicle of an Election Foretold, is a scathing critique, repeated in an interview with The Real News.
In this article, we will show that Robinson’s claims are based on falsehoods and elite bias. He appears to be out of touch with the reality faced by most Nicaraguans. Prior to the elections, several people were accused of treason because of involvement in US attempts to overthrow Nicaragua’s elected government.
Continue readingThe US Is At A Loss In Central America
In November 2008, while ambassador to Nicaragua, death-squad manager nonpareil John Negroponte’s long time torture and terror campaign sidekick, Robert Callahan, remarked to a reporter in Managua, “US foreign policy toward Latin America has not changed in 50 years and is unlikely to do so under President Obama”. Just months later, the June 2009 coup in Honduras against President Manuel Zelaya proved him to be right. In fact, the veteran US war crimes insider’s comment explained unwittingly why US and allied foreign policy lurches from one mass murdering catastrophe to another.
Callahan and Negroponte, himself a veteran of the Phoenix Program in Vietnam, were the enforcers in Honduras of the US war against Nicaragua in the 1980s.
Continue readingChina And Nicaragua To Collaborate On New Multipolar World
China and Nicaragua have resumed diplomatic relations in what Nicaragua’s Presidential Advisor Laureano Ortega Murillo called “a historic date.”
The Government of the Republic of Nicaragua announced it had broken diplomatic relations with Taiwan, ceasing to have any contact or official relationship, in a statement by Foreign Minister Denis Moncada before Nicaraguan diplomats and press, on Thursday and effective immediately. Kawsachun News attended the meeting virtually. Foreign Minister Moncada stated: “The Government of the Republic of Nicaragua declares that it recognizes that in the world there is only one single China. The People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government that represents all of China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory.”
Continue readingNicaragua’s Evidence-Based Democracy Threatens US Oppression
Despite Washington’s best effort to derail Nicaragua’s electoral process through hybrid warfare, strong voter turnout resulted in a decisive victory by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), and the reelection of President Daniel Ortega with 75.92% of the votes cast. Nicaragua’s non-partisan, independent Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) reported on Monday, November 8th that 65.23% of 4.4 million eligible voters (16 years and older) participated in Sunday’s election. Supporters attribute the FSLN’s success to its ability to ensure peace and achieve socioeconomic & political objectives that strengthen the wellbeing of the people of Nicaragua.
This markedly contrasts the widespread neglect and corruption endemic under Nicaragua’s U.S. supported neoliberal period from 1990-2007.
Continue readingThe Cuban Guaidó Wannabe
Cuban opponent of the system, Yunior García Aguilera, has announced a “strategic alliance” of opposition forces in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. This “alliance” of activists “confronting the same dictatorship” could help “change the reality in Cuba”, he declared in a report published by the Europa Press news agency on Saturday. After meeting with representatives of Spain’s fascist Vox party and the post-Franco Popular Party (PP), the co-founder of the “Archipelago” platform, who landed in Madrid on November 18, also met late last week with right-wing opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who fled Venezuelan justice to Spain a year ago.
The connection with López, responsible for numerous deaths at roadblocks, the so-called guarimbas, in Venezuela in 2014, would allow “to better understand the play” that García “wanted to stage in Cuba,” the Cuban portal Cubadebate commented on Sunday.
Continue readingSandinistas Won A Landslide Victory Because They Uplifted The Poor
As predicted by multiple polls, the Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega, won a resounding victory on the November 7th elections in Nicaragua. The elections were a referendum on the path that the Sandinista government has taken the country, which is grounded on large investments in social programs that have benefited people, especially the most disadvantaged, in every nook and cranny of the national territory.
Support for the reelection of the Sandinista government was astounding. Of the entire patron electoral (eligible voters), about 65% came out to vote and, of those, about 75.9% voted for the FLSN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) alliance ticket.
The victory of Sandinistas generated expected attacks, which seek to delegitimize the newly elected government in Nicaragua.
Continue readingNicaragua: We’re Resisting A ‘Pandemic Of Neo-Colonialism’
This is Ben Norton with The Grayzone. I am in Nicaragua’s Foreign Ministry, and I just sat down for an interview with Foreign Minister Denis Moncada.
We talked about Nicaragua’s historic decision to leave the Organization of American States, and other regional issues here in Latin America.
And we discussed how Nicaragua is part of a movement of countries around the world that are trying to create a new political and economic architecture, resisting US unilateralism and sanctions.
Good morning, Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, thank you for the interview.
On November 19, you announced that Nicaragua is leaving the OAS. Can you explain why Nicaragua made this historic decision?
Continue readingNicaragua Explains Why It’s Leaving The OAS
Nicaraguan Diplomat Michael Campbell Hooker Tells The Grayzone’s Ben Norton Why They Are Leaving The Organization Of American States (OAS), Which He Says Is A “Failed,” “Coup-Plotting” Organization Dominated By Washington. Campbell Also Responds To US Attempts To Discredit Nicaragua’s November Elections, And Explains The Importance Of Autonomy For Indigenous And Afro-Descendant Communities On The Caribbean Coast.
Continue reading