The Human Miseries of Ortega

In his most recent speech, Daniel Ortega ranted against his interlocutors of the Civic Alliance, at the so-called “negotiating table.” He called them “human miseries.” A clear indicative of his eagerness for “peace and reconciliation.”

But Ortega said more. And, although it is detestable to listen to him and make references to his words, there is no other way, because we are forced to confront his speeches and his arguments.

Ortega returned with the old story of the “vende patrias” (traitors). The same character who, with the fable of the interoceanic canal, mortgaged the country for one hundred years to an obscure Chinese speculator, is the same one who dares to use the expression of “vende patria.”

The same character who perpetrated the vilest act of selling-out in Nicaragua’s history, not even comparable to the Chamorro-Bryan Treaty (1914), is the same one who appears washing his hands, like any Pilate. But, there is more. The treasonous concession, converted into law and raised to constitutional rank by Ortega and his entourage, remains in force, despite the fact that the chimera [of the canal] has vanished. It is still valid as a platform for transferring capital.

But Ortega had no qualms about desecrating Sandino’s memory once again. If we are talking about Sandino, let us listen to what he said about the Chamorro Bryan Treaty:

“We have been robbed of our rights to the canal…theoretically we were paid three million dollars. Nicaragua, or rather, the bandits who controlled the government at that time…received a few thousand pesos, which, distributed among all Nicaraguan citizens, would not have been enough to buy a soda cookie and a sardine for each one. Through that contract signed by four traitors, we lost our right over the canal. The discussions about this sale took place inside a spurious congress, behind closed doors, that was guarded by soldiers…”

It seems as if Sandino wrote exactly about the outrage done by Ortega, because it describes with precision what happened in 2013: four traitors and “a spurious Congress, behind closed doors, that were guarded by soldiers…”

Ortega also lashed out, with his usual falsehoods, with the issue of sanctions. And, said:

“I have not heard anything from them, nor of those who agree with them in the different fields, economic, mercantile or spiritual. I have not heard a single word of condemnation of the sanctions that have been applied to Nicaragua.”

And, on account of what? Which are these sanctions that are being applied to Nicaragua? What do the sanctions imposed on the hierarchy of the regime have to do with national sovereignty?

They have nothing to do with it.

Everyone knows that the sanctions have been applied, until today, to individuals and to BanCorp, the private bank of Ortega. No sanctions have been applied to Nicaragua. The problem is that Ortega, like every dictator with messianic pretensions, considers himself the incarnation of the homeland in his mental deviations.

That confusion is identical to that of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. In his memoir “Nicaragua Betrayed,” Somoza, referring to the Carter Administration, writes: “My homeland, my people and I were betrayed…neither I nor any other person in the world who loves freedom can understand the reasons why Nicaragua was betrayed.”

For the tyrant Somoza, as for the tyrant Ortega, they are the homeland. They are Nicaragua.

In the same book, Somoza recounts the moment before climbing into the helicopter that would take him to the airport to leave Nicaragua forever: “As I looked at the lights of Managua for the last time, tears ran down my cheeks…It was not that at that moment I was feeling sorry for myself…I felt deeply all the good work we had done in Nicaragua and that had vanished like smoke…”

No sense of responsibility. No guilty conscience about the country he was leaving destroyed. The tyrant who shed tears, was insensitive to the rivers of blood that flooded Nicaragua. It is the same now. Ortega affirms that Nicaragua lived its best of times, with more than 40% in poverty condition, according to FIDEG; more than 60% of the labor force in unemployment or underemployment, according to INIDE; almost 80% of the labor force in the informal sector, according to BCN (Nicaragua’s Central Bank); and social security broke.

The first victims of the sanctions are the poor, he proclaimed.

What do the poor have to do with Roberto Rivas [former president of the Electoral Council], a depraved example of corruption and impunity?

What do the poor have to do with BanCorp—a bank of the rich—where the ruling clique hid a wealth of 2.5 billion dollars, in one of the poorest countries in Latin America?

A wealth that, by the way, grew by more than 230 million dollars in 2018. The power tycoons increased their fortune in full crisis, while large, small and medium size businessmen went through and continue to go through extremely hard times. And the families go to sleep and wake up with the affliction and uncertainty of whether they can bring food to their home.

The Nicaraguan people did not participate in the decision to mortgage the country for a century. Because the people are not traitors. The ones that sell their country are the traitors, of yesterday and today, the ones to whom Sandino referred to.

The Nicaraguan people are not the victims of any sanctions because they are not corrupt or share interests with any economic tycoon.

He who is internationally accused of committing crimes against humanity speaks of human miseries. Human miseries are those that are condemned to the garbage dump of history.