Agustín Velloso
Professor (retired) of UNED / Member of the Network of Artists in Solidarity with Nicaragua and the FSLN
For some years now, but more acutely of late, Nicaragua has become the new target to be brought down in the “pimpampum” that a group of Western – read imperialist – countries are playing with Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia on the American continent.
From the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain and other countries, warnings, reproaches and accusations against the Sandinista government are often hurled, it seems, in a coordinated manner. Unfortunately, even sister Latin American countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica are joining in the chorus.
On the other hand, human rights groups are also playing a role. Amnesty International (AI) published on 2 August 2021 that “Daniel Ortega’s continuation as president of Nicaragua would perpetuate impunity for the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law committed under his rule”.
Three questions are unavoidable:
1: What is an international crime? They are crimes against the law of nations, genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes against persons and property protected in the event of armed conflict and piracy.
2: What does it mean that Ortega would perpetuate himself? Well, Nicaraguans would have voted for him again in the use of their right, which AI cannot limit. (DRAE: To make something perpetual or enduring).
3: Everyone knows what the EU and the US are playing at, but what is IA playing at? Not for the first time, it also wanted to limit the right of Palestinians to defend themselves against Israel’s very serious violations of international law (this time real) against them.
The United States and its cronies forget that:
1: “Sandino launched a guerrilla war in the mountains that allowed him to end up on his feet and live to see 5,000 marines leave Nicaragua in January 1933, after six years of fighting.” http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalla_de_Ocotal
2: “In November 1981, the Ronald Reagan administration launched its war against Sandinismo and authorised the CIA $9.5 million to create a counterrevolutionary paramilitary force.” www.ecured.cu/Contra_(Nicaragua)
3: “The Nicaragua v. United States case, brought before the International Court of Justice by the Nicaraguan government, accused the US of violating international law by supporting the armed opposition – the contras – and for undermining the country’s ports.
On 27 June 1986, the Court ruled in favour of Nicaragua: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caso_Nicaragua_contra_Estados_Unidos#La_sentencia
The United States refused to abide by the Court’s decision, arguing that the Court had no jurisdiction over the case: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caso_Nicaragua_contra_Estados_Unidos#La_sentencia
Who can believe a single word of the imperialist countries, their organisations such as the EU, NATO, the World Bank… their members, their representatives, their media, their laws, their promises?
What moral disease afflicts the citizens of the empire that they are incapable of grieving for the death, torture and other suffering of the victims that their governments cause in their name and with their taxes? What are their democracy, their laws, their development cooperation and their power really for? Nothing but murder, exploitation, enslavement and destruction.
Why don’t they take it upon themselves to call to account their own rulers who not only exploit them but also laugh in their faces, instead of mindlessly accepting the consequences of their agents, spies and soldiers going to screw the governments of other countries in the guise of doing good for people they don’t know, don’t understand, haven’t asked for help from and don’t need their condescending and imaginary democratic and ethical superiority?
However, the empire does not count on the resilience of the Nicaraguan people, sufficiently proven by their history of struggle, their moral fortitude and that reason and legality are on their side.
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