By Douglas Wright
Nicaragua is in crisis once again. While it is not a story you see on page one or at your favorite internet news site, the facts are grim.
On May 30, Mother’s Day in Nicaragua, citizens protested against the anti-democratic actions of the government. The protests were peaceful. However, as evening fell on the event, several masked gunmen opened fire on the crowd, killing 16.
On July 14, gunmen fired into a church where about 100 student protesters, journalists, and priests had sought refuge. The shooting killed two of those seeking shelter. Estimates indicate over 350 citizens who have protested against the government have been killed by security forces since April.
The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, is the Marxist leader of the Sandinistas from the 1980s when Ronald Reagan almost faced impeachment because he tried to support anti-Sandinista contra rebels. Folks like John Kerry, Bernie Sanders, and New York mayor Bill de Blasio have been supporters of Daniel Ortega in the past. Daniel Ortega and his former Sandinista friends have suspended term limit provisions of the Nicaraguan constitution allowing him to serve a third term in office.
International church leaders have tried to stop the killings but have been ignored. Cuba provides support for Mr. Ortega as does Russia. Recent news indicates Nicaragua has purchased fifty Russian T-72 tanks. The tanks will cost the impoverished country $80 million dollars, more than the entire defense budget for Nicaragua in 2015. The T-72 tank was designed in the 1970s. It has light armor and is no match for the up-to-date weapons of the United States. While neighboring Costa Rica is worried about their security, the tanks will probably be used to intimidate protestors and to shore up power at home.
Meanwhile, in New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won a democratic primary for the 14th congressional district. She is an activist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America. From its constitution the Democratic Socialists of America believe in the popular control of resources and production, economic planning, and the “equitable” distribution of wealth and power.
These sound like lofty goals. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a telegenic 28-year-old woman who appears to be the perfect Joan of Arc for the Socialistic left.
Young people in the United States do not learn about socialism in school. History teaches with lessons from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russia) that socialism leads to despotism. Socialism takes liberty and self-determination away from people and does not give them the security that it promises.
In the United States socialism is not entering through revolution in the streets but quietly as leaders and activists on the left use the cover of ignorance to chip away at the liberties guaranteed to us in our constitution.
Socialism is leading to blood and Russian tanks in the streets of Nicaragua but American leftists will never criticize murder in places like Nicaragua. They will never admit Ronald Reagan was right.
Background:
–At least 100 killed in Nicaragua as political violence intensifies [1]
–U.S. slaps new sanctions on Nicaragua over violence, corruption [2]
–Security Alert: U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua [3]
Douglas Wright was a 2018 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia’s 6th Congressional District. He lives and works in Rockingham County.