Daniel Ortega- “Blatantly Rigged Election”

Source: The New York Times

As we have clarified before, Nicaragua is a country of “democracy.”  When the people of Nicaragua want a new president, they only have one choice every single time.  The nominee will always be Daniel Ortega.  

In the late ‘70s there were 2 men running for president: Daniel Ortega and journalist Pedro Joaguin Chamorro.  Pedro was more conservative than Ortega, rumors were he would win the election over Ortega. During this time Ortega and his team would “freeze the minority vote” as in pay-off the people that counted to votes to have the low-incomes peoples vote not count.

On January 10th Pedro Joaguain Chamorro was assassinated by hitmen of the Somoza regime (people who worked for Ortega.) Since he was assassinated Ortega had the automatic win as president.

Ortega will always be president of Nicaragua until he dies, and when he does it will get passed on to a young man that is associated in his Somoza regime.

Nicaragua politics are far from the United States, if we do not like our president we will vote to get him/her impeached.  In Nicaragua the people do not have that option, if you are running against Ortega, that person running will get killed off or paid off so Ortega will always win.  

Even now, the people of Nicaraguas government will always be on Ortegas side, the people call their government “bloodsuckers.” The result in a new president elect, will only be resembled as a ritual of one-party rule.

Serena Taveggia

Ortega's Fate

Daniel Ortega. Full name: José Daniel Ortega Saavedra. Before Ortega took office Nicaragua was led and governed by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). The FSLN is a member of the Nicaraguan revolutionary organization that controlled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1989 (Dictionary.com).  Even though Ortega is now the president of Nicaragua he considers himself a Sandinista.“As a Sandinista leader, Ortega helped destroy a corrupt dynastic system. Now he is emulating it, turning into the kind of pro-business autocrat he spent years of his life fighting.  What this means is what he was trying to rebuild Nicaragua as, he is slowly destroying it.  

Ortega has also been forcing alliances with some of Nicaragua’s former enemies.  These new allies will be present however long Ortega is in power.  

During his time as President he has taken away people’s farm and land and would give it to the people that are higher class.

In the last year the Ortega government has begun promoting the idea of building an inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua to compete with the one that traverses Panama. There has been a lot of controversy over this because it could or could not open trade opportunities that could help or hurt the country.

Even though Ortega is a bad guy and president the Nicaraguans Constitution states there is no reelection processes, so there is no way he could be impeached.  


Serena Taveggia

Source: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/4/daniel-ortega-is-a-sandinista-in-name-only.html

Discrimination 'In'carceration

Nicaragua has continued to face many conflicts with the rise of street gangs in the country and also organized crime that may come from them.  Although, Nicaragua and the United States had a treaty dating back to 1905, because of new technology, street gangs were allowed to flourish in organized crime which could be an increasing problem in the United States in the near future. Alternatively the United States has a hand in creating this problem because the U.S. is incarcerating Latin Americans from places like Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in some of their states' prison. State prisons like in Huntsville, Pelican Bay, and San Quentin, are located around where there is a larger population of street gangs due to the increased Latin population. 

San Quentin State Prison

These Latin gangs are segregated in the most obvious ways–by race–and race permeates every aspect of prison life. Gangs like MS13 and 18^th Street gangs enforce discipline best when every inmate is, if not a formal or “made” gang member, at least affiliated with a gang.  Each inmate, at least in California prisons, must affiliate with a gang of his race and be subject to its discipline. This makes the recruiting process easier for the larger gangs like the MS13 and the 18^th Street in state prisons. 

As some Latin Americans get released from prison or possible deportation to their native country these criminal groups have alliances in these countries and are provided with a variety of services and intelligence that includes weapons and drug trafficking. Thus, organized crimes make it possible to have corruption within the judicial system giving criminal gangs or groups influence on and over the country. This also gives gangs a platform to control the canals making it easier to import weapons and drugs to other countries. 

Although, the Latin American governments do not facilitate or encourage these actions it still continues to be a problem in these countries.   

Jimmie Jackson

http://www.insightcrime.org/nicaragua-organized-crime-news/nicaragua

http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/rise-in-violence-attributed-to-organized-crime-in-north-nicaragua.

http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2015/vol1/239000.htmf

http://www.amren.com/features/2014/12/the-racial-order-of-prisons/

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/how-gangs-took-over-prisons/379330/

Election or Appointment?

President Ortega and his running mate, 
Rosario Murillo, also his wife

It looks as if the current Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, will be ‘winning’ his third consecutive term as chief executive with his running mate, Rosario Murillo, his wife, on November 6th. Don't be too alarmed though, 70% of the nicaraguan people are apparently in favor of Ortega’s reign for a third term! Under the order of President Ortega, the economy has improved, poverty decreased, and social programs have been implemented. So what’s not to like?

Considering, the Sandinista government was formed as a response to the revolution against a former dynasty reign, let us define a ‘dynasty’ according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Dynasty - A family of rulers who rule over a country for a long period of time.

Since Ortega’s running mate is now his wife, is that not a family? Has he not been in office for three terms, two being consecutive? Sounds like a dynasty to the dictionary!

In fact, Ortega has been recently expelling members of the congress and court systems and replacing them with fellow loyalists. Is there even a chance for an opposing candidate to take the office? Possibly, however, extreme measures such as nuclear war would be one of the few alternatives to a re-election of Ortega.

So far Ortega has been sound with his intent with the country addressing problems that matter the most to the people. This alone would gain any kind of popular support from the country and the fact that Ortega is vouching to resolve those specific issues with plans, makes him the general choice.

Between Ortega’s popularity and staggering statistics for decreasing poverty and crime rate, he is the only choice for the upcoming presidential elections.

Here's to another term for Daniel Ortega.

Austin Phillips

Cites:

http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21709363-daniel-ortega-could-win-fair-election-he-fighting-dirty-fourth-time-unlucky

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/More-Than-70-of-Nicaraguans-Support-Ortegas-Re-Election--20161021-0009.html

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dynasty

http://www.ticotimes.net/2015/07/20/nicaraguan-opposition-has-little-chance-of-defeating-ortega

'Cap' Gangs

One of the social injustices that we as citizen of the United States witness is crime, street gangs and the violence that are attached to it. As Los Angles, New York, Detroit to Chicago being the murder capitals of the world Americans of the United States grasp with this reality more so than any other country. But, you can see that street gangs and violence go hand to hand anywhere in the world. Take a look at Nicaragua after breaking free from the Sandinista regime in the end of the 90’s. Nicaragua was considered to be somewhat peaceful. However, the country’s conflicts have not come to an end; street gangs and violence remains an overwhelming reality for the citizens.

Latin American Gang Members

Since peace was declared the streets have become scenes of war, a battleground for common criminals and youth street gangs. With Mexican street gangs migrating into Nicaragua like the 18th street gang and MS-13, there is no end with these povertous groups taking command of urban neighborhoods causing mayhem throughout these neighborhoods.

Thus, Nicaragua has seen a rise in homicide in the country, 29 percent of all reported homicides in the region were committed by youths aged between 10 and 19 years old, and a further 34 percent by youths aged 20 to 29 years old. Youth gangs potentially constitute an ideal lens through which to explore the dynamics and ramifications of the new political economy of violence throughout Nicaragua. These some conflicts are in our home front where streets gangs are taking and terrorizing our inter-city. Therefore, murder rate have risen in major metropolitan city.

Is poverty the problem? Has privatization caused young gang violence? In fact, the main reasons youth become involved in gangs stems to social and economic struggles that they endure. Does this mean that if  poverty in Nicaragua was caused by the privatization ideology of the new order after the revolution, that capitalism is the root cause of gang violence? 

Jimmie Jackson

http://www.citylab.com/politics/2013/01/gun-violence-us-cities-compared-deadliest-nations-world/4412/

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34112.pdf

https://www.ojjdp.gov/jjbulletin/9808/why.html

To Dictatorship!

Dictionary.com

Dictator - "A ruler who is not effectively restricted by a constitution, laws, recognized opposition, etc."

Merriam-Webster

Dictator - "A person who rules a country with total authority and often in a cruel or brutal way"

Vocabulary.com

Dictator - "A ruler who is unconstrained by law"

Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega
radiobestmusic

As one of the poorest countries in Latin America, Nicaragua has had its fair share of political nightmares in the last forty years. How bad could it really be? Well, according to the New York Times in 1984, Pope John Paul II denounced the Nicaraguan governmental action that expelled ten missionaries from the country. Not to mention the Marxist-Sandinista revolution that ultimately sought out the destruction of any remaining economy left in Nicaragua. To summarize it, the revolution spurred anti-leftist thinking within the Nicaraguan government because of the horrors that ensued within the authoritative regime. However, to what extent will Nicaragua stay more moderate than before?

Regardless, you can’t judge a country strictly based on its ideologies and government structure. The United States has its fundamental flaws that would be hard to address without revolution, but all people do not agree with the same ideologies. Therefore, it creates conflict. In this case, revolution.

Instead of analyzing what the Sandinista did wrong in Nicaragua, let us look to the future of Nicaragua and propose another potential revolution. In the The Nica Times, Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega, is significantly close to achieving complete authoritative control over the entire government sectors. More control is apparently key to democracy in Nicaragua after they fought decades for more independence in individual appeal to governmental actions. In fact, Ortega is running for another term in the November elections in Nicaragua with his wife as his running mate according to NBC News on August 3rd. To top that, recently in the Nicaraguan government, Ortega has entirely taken over the parliament to assert some form of authoritative stature over the country.


None of this was possible of course without the help of privatization of industries. After the revolution, Nicaragua turned to restructure their economy with a more capitalist approach. However, this did not become a suitable form of leisure for the populace of the country. According to the Journal of Commerce, pg 2b, after the privatization of industries, many people protested the results caused by this capitalist mentality such as unemployment. Ortega compromised on this and stated that privatization leads to "more unemployment and fewer rights to health, food and housing".

So it seems as if the reason the revolution came forth, was the exact same layout that Ortega is setting up in the government currently. More authoritative rule with less opposition and power of a republic or democracy was what the revolution was fought over and ultimately succeeded in doing so, and not, the abuse of the system in Nicaragua is about to repeat itself one step at a time.

Hey Nicaragua, do you want another dictator? Because that is how you get a dictator.

Austin Phillips

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/12/world/pope-denounces-sandinista-action.html

http://www.ticotimes.net/2010/10/29/martinelli-ortega-draw-similar-criticisms

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nicaragua-s-daniel-ortega-picks-wife-running-mate-pledges-joint-n622201

http://radiobestmusic.net/daniel-ortega-con-todo-el-poder-en-nicaragua/