A lie that went half way round the world

by Rick Sterling

There is a saying that “A lie can travel half way round the world while truth puts its shoes on.”  A timely example is the recent report that Nicaragua’s President Ortega said they will not hold elections in future.

In just 48 hours the false claim has been broadcast by The Guardian, New York Times, AP, Democracy Now, Costa Rica’s TicoTimes, Lebanon’s Daily Beirut, etc etc.. The misinformation is already on Wikipedia.

Let’s look at the facts. The false report stems from the speech by President Daniel Ortega last Sunday July 19.  This is an important date in Nicaragua because it is when the FSLN “Sandinistas” toppled the Somoza dictatorship and established their independence in 1979.  Many thousands of Nicaraguans gathered to celebrate. The impressive gathering can be viewed here. In his speech, beginning at 1:25:00, President Daniel Ortega reviewed the history of Nicaragua, the occupation of the country by US Marines and the subsequent Somoza dictatorship and dynasty. He recalled all the blood that was shed fighting against the US troops. He recalled how, in 1934,  Augusto Cesar Sandino agreed to negotiate because he wanted peace. Instead of peace, Sandino was tricked and then murdered, beginning 45 years of US promoted dictatorship. Ortega reviewed the formation of the Frente Sandinista and their popular victory in 1979.

Ortega did not talk about the Sandinista struggle with the US funded and CIA managed Contras during the 1980’s. He did not talk about the election they lost in 1990, their turning over power to neoliberals who privatized education and healthcare and mismanaged the country for the next 17 years.  Ortega did not talk about how the FSLN and allies regained power by winning the national elections beginning in 2006.

Ortega briefly talked about the coup attempt in Spring 2018 when protests and roadblocks caused a national crisis. Many police were killed among a total of about 350 fatalities. With western media blaming Nicaragua’s authorities for the violence, Ortega ordered police and the army to stay in their barracks so the population could plainly see who was  causing the violence, disrupting travel and the economy. The protests and roadblocks were soon ended by popular demand.

Ortega talked about the recent violence and aggression perpetrated by the United States against Venezuela and Cuba. He denounced the US government as “monsters”.

Addressing the current situation in Nicaragua, Ortega said, “We have to keep working to continue developing activities that benefit the impoverished, housing for the impoverished, land for peasant families, free schools. Here from the triumph, and from the triumph we had after the coup attempt, here we had already decreed by law that education was free, that it could not be charged for, neither Primary, nor Secondary, nor University education. And we are building more schools, with all the latest technologies.

“But there they are, keeping a low profile, wanting to win elections so to make money via the public school system. But they can forget about that, there will be no elections like that again here, no more elections via which they can try cheating their way to government so as to cheat their way to taking power.

“And we are going to work with the National Assembly and with the corresponding organizations on the laws because we have to make laws that put up a wall, a barrier to the coup mongers, to the quislings, so that no matter how much money the Yankees give them, they will not prevail. They will not prevail!  They won’t be able to!” (bold emphasis added)

Following that, Ortega thanked the international diplomats and representatives at the event and emphasized the need for peace and avoiding provocations.

Western media has taken a few words out of context and spread the sensational lie that “President Daniel Ortega has declared his nation will no longer hold elections.”

If Nicaragua was truly going to “abolish” elections, as reported by the New York Times, obviously there would be no need to change election laws. But this illogic is ignored in the rush to promote the sensational but false claim.

The Trump State Department has already used the fake news to issue a threat to Nicaragua. The statement is brief but ominous: “The United States calls on the international community to join forces to demonstrate to the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship that it cannot expect to maintain business as usual with other nations when it is thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere.”

The US is preparing for more aggression against Nicaragua with the lie about “abolishing elections” as the pretext. This is the “Trump corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine in practice.

________

Rick Sterling is a TFA board member and independent journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He can be contacted at rsterling1@gmail.com