Op-Ed from Willamette University Collegian, November 5th 2008

Thoughts from the ground in Nicaragua

I’m currently living in Nicaragua, studying Revolution, Transformation and Civil Society at the School for International Training. I’ve learned about the legacy of the Popular Revolution against murderous, U.S. backed military dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle (the third in the oppressive Somoza military dynasty) and the subsequent U.S.-funded counter-revolution. We recently took a nine-day trip to El Salvador for a comparative look at a country that endured a brutal 12+ year long civil war between revolutionary guerillas and a bloodthirsty, U.S.-backed regime that ended in a peace treaty rather than a transfer of power.

Both Nicaragua and El Salvador are ravaged by poverty as the second and third poorest countries in the western hemisphere. The last hundred years of both countries has been stained by a holocaust on the poor by military dictatorships and armed forces trained and funded by the United States.

When the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional) came to power in 1979, they brought social services and land reform, which sparked a staggering reduction in poverty and illiteracy. During that period, the rightist dictatorship in El Salvador was killing protestors en masse, including innocent civilians and Catholic priests teaching liberation theology, closely resembling the situation that Nicaragua had experienced under Somoza in the 1970s.

During the 1980s, Ronald Reagan gave training and over $1,500,000 per day (amounting to over $6 billion total), to the military in El Salvador and also trained and funded, both publicly and illicitly, the “contras” (short for contrarevolutionarios) in Nicaragua. Both armies destroyed schools, food stores, and health centers, and used rape and torture as war tactics. Over 75,000 people were killed in El Salvador and over 50,000 people in Nicaragua, adding to the 50,000+ killed by Somoza’s National Guard.

Now, both countries have been kneecapped by U.S./IMF neo-liberal policies of slashed social programs, privatization, and deregulation. Poverty has increased and human rights crises like increased undocumented migration, gang violence, and lack of access to potable water are all rampant.

These policies were advocated for and funded by our government. This is our legacy. This is the country that many of us have grown up in, that has put us through school, that we have been socialized in. And we are seeing this horrible history repeated in Iraq and Afghanistan, this time with U.S. troops. Let us not be silent. Let us inform ourselves. Organize. Resist. Let our collective voices be heard.

A government that uses public funds without the informed consent of the citizenry to kill innocent people and set up puppet governments in accordance with their economic interests (trade and labor in Central America and oil in the Middle East) is fundamentally anti-democratic, no matter what kind of elections are held.

So let’s reclaim democracy and hold our government accountable by demanding that they advocate for human rights, break patterns of U.S. imperialism and predatory corporate capitalism, and help to save our environment. Seek independent information and check out organizations like United for Peace and Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org) for information on issues and what actions you can take to make change. If you’re interested in what you can do to help the people of Nicaragua and El Salvador, check out Witness for Peace (www.witnessforpeace.org) and the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (www.cispes.org). Informing yourselves about current government activities and making your voice heard is an important step in working for justice.