'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/