Nicaragua in need as CIA moves in.

We need your help right now!

Women in Action and their children are going hungry.  Current political unrest* in Nicaragua is having a detrimental effect on the economy–causing rising food and gas prices, temporary closings of stores and factories, and stoppages of construction projects.  Members of WIA families have already lost their factory and construction jobs.  

We trust that the Nicaraguan people will find a peaceful resolution to the current crisis.  In the meantime, however, those who are affected most are people like WIA, who live day to day. Most WIA members work informally, selling items at traffic lights, at local markets or around neighborhoods.  At the moment, they are lucky to sell enough to prepare one meal a day, much less make their monthly payment to the WIA micro lending bank.  Public schools have been closed during the unrest, which means that children are not able to eat the “snacks” provided at school (cereal, rice/beans, etc).  So children are going hungry!

And, with WIA members not able to cover their monthly payments, the WIA micro lending bank is now undercapitalized and at risk.  The success of the bank over the years has literally meant the difference between poverty and economic self sufficiency for WIA members.

The political unrest has also resulted in the cancellation** of 3 service learning trips that planned to visit Compas de Nicaragua this summer.  Service trip groups not only support our work with labor and material aid donations, but revenue from the trips account for over 60% of our budget.  The cancellations will break the cash flow needed to cover our program costs as we go through the low donation months of summer and fall.

We will have to cut some of our programs going forward, unless we can find another way to cover operating costs.  We need your financial help now!

To make things worse, the rainy season has just begun.  The service trip cancellations mean that we will not be able to construct  the 4 homes we were planning to build with these visiting volunteer groups for the 4 WIA member most in need of a new roof during the rainy season.

We need to raise $5,000 for the micro lending bank and $2,000 to construct the 4 WIA houses.  In addition, we are hoping to raise $2,500 for an emergency fund to be available for any WIA family in crisis, and $10,000 to offset the loss of income from the trip cancellations to help cover operating costs and our weekly programs such as soy food and health workshops.

Please help Compas and Women in Action survive this time of unrest.  Please consider making a donation to Compas de Nicaragua.  

Thank you in advance for your generous support!

Michael Boudreau
Executive Director
Compas de Nicaragua
www.compas1.org

*On April 16th, the Nicaragua government announced reforms to the Social Security System that sparked demonstrations that became violent, with 47 now dead.  After five days of violence, the President rescinded the order, but protests continued.  The government and the opposition agreed to begin a national dialogue.  After 3 sessions, there was no consensus reached and therefore, the dialogue has been temporarily suspended.  Three member committees for both the government and opposition have been formed to try and reach an agreement.

**The State Department has issued a level 3 travel advisory for Nicaragua.  It is important to point out that tourist and volunteers have not and have never been targets of violence.

Donate to Compas de Nicaragua and help sustain our projects!

Many things can change for the better in Nicaragua, but it must be the work of the Nicaraguans themselves and not the United States, writes Achim Rödner.

Many wonder if the United States is involved in the student protests of the past month in Nicaragua which attempted to destabilize the country. Western media writes nothing about the issue, while at the same time similar scenarios have played out in Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, Honduras, Bolivia and other countries in which the left has made progress. At this moment, three Nicaraguan students are touring Europe and Sweden in search of support for their campaign. At least one of the students represents an organization funded and created by the United States.

The student protests in Nicaragua are described in the Western media as legitimate protests by young Nicaraguans who have spontaneously united to fight the supposed dictatorship. Surely there are many young people who have joined the fight with these ideas. Surely many people here in Sweden have joined and support that struggle. But there is much that indicates that these are not just spontaneous protests. There are many indications that organizations led by the United States waited for the right moment to create chaos, and exacerbate the contradictions to destabilize the democratically elected government of Nicaragua.

Changing Society

One of the three students on tour in Sweden right now is Jessica Cisneros, active in issues of integration and youth participation in political processes. She is a member of the Movimiento Civico de Juventudes (MCJ). That organization is financed, created by and an integral part of the National Democratic Institute. The NDI is an organization that works to change society in other countries. The president of the NDI is Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state. The general secretary of the MCJ, Davis Jose Nicaragua Lopez, founder of the organization, is also the coordinator of the NDI in Nicaragua and active in a series of similar organizations in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Excerpt from the NDI website: “The Civic Youth Movement (MCJ) has been part of an NDI project that began in 2015 with the aim of expanding youth leadership and political commitment by providing hands-on training in organizational techniques. Several of the group members are graduates of the Leadership and Political Conduct Certification (CLPM) program that the NDI has supported in conjunction with Nicaraguan universities and civil society organizations.”

Yerling Aguilera is from the Polytechnic University (UPOLI) of Managua and has specialized in research on the revolution and the feminist movement. She has also been an employee and consultant for IEEPP in Nicaragua, which works to strengthen the capacity of political, state and social actors for a better informed public through creative and innovative services. IEEPP has received support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) of US$224,162 between 2014 and 2017.

Madelaine Caracas participates in the national dialogue currently taking place in Nicaragua. She is also active in the feminist and environmental movement.

From 2015 on, the United States expanded its support to Nicaragua, especially through support for leadership courses and money for young people in universities, schools, NGOs and political parties. Organizations that work with feminist movements and women, human rights and the environment have been prioritized.

This from the NDI website: “To ensure that the next generation of leaders will be equipped to govern in a democratic and transparent manner, since 2010 the NDI has partnered with Nicaraguan universities and civic organizations to lead a youth leadership program that has helped prepare more than 2,000 youth leaders, current and future, throughout the country. The NDI has also contributed to Nicaragua’s efforts to increase women’s political participation and initiatives to reduce discrimination against LGBT people, as well as shared best practices for monitoring electoral processes.” Is foreign interference in democracy and elections good for Nicaragua, but unacceptable for the United States and Sweden?

Foreign Interference

It is also interesting to compare what happens in Nicaragua with what happens in other countries. The NDI also works in Venezuela, also with subversive tasks. The activity of the United States and the NDI in Latin America should be compared with the debate on the interference of powers in the electoral systems of the United States, Sweden or Europe. For example, would those countries accept that Russia form and support organizations that train political leaders in Sweden or the United States?

This is how the NDI describes its activities in Venezuela on its website: “The NDI began working in Venezuela in the mid-1990s in response to requests to exchange international experiences on comparative approaches to democratic governance. After closing its offices in Venezuela in 2011, the NDI has continued – based on requests – offering material resources to democratic processes, including international approaches on electoral transparency, monitoring of political processes and civic and political organization, and the Institute promotes dialogue among Venezuelans and their civic and political peers and politicians at an international level on topics of mutual interest. ”

Organizations from the United States work towards the development of democracy and foreign interference in Nicaragua. According to its website, the Instituto Democratico Nacional (NDI) has 2,000 young leaders in Nicaragua. The National Foundation for Democracy (NED) is another organization that, according to its own version of events, since the 1990s has been dedicated to doing the work that the CIA used to do in secret. It promotes the destabilization of other countries. The NED works with a number of other organizations, media, websites and NGOs in Nicaragua. Officially, its support for Nicaragua amounted to US$4.2 million between 2014 and 2017.

USAID officially works with medical and disaster relief, but the NDI and the NED support a number of organizations that work with issues concerning women, children, the environment and human rights. On their website, they write that they want to “Promote democracy by training young and emerging leaders and giving them technical help so that they strengthen civil participation and improve local leadership.” They do not say whose democracy they want to strengthen: whether it is the vision of democracy in the United States and the CIA, or the people of Nicaragua.

Previously, USAID worked in Bolivia but it was expelled in 2013 for carrying out destabilizing activities. In the same raid, a Danish organization was also expelled. That does not mean the organization necessarily engaged in illegal activities, but that it did work with an organization that received money from the United States. USAID also works in Venezuela, and also says there is work to strengthen “civil society.” Its budget in Venezuela in 2015 was US$4.25 million. Its partners in Venezuela are, among others, Freedom House and the NDI.

Creating Change

Who will create change in Nicaragua? And will it be violently or through elections? USAID, NDI and NED have extensive activities in Nicaragua, with thousands of activists trained to “change society,” and hundreds of NGOs, universities and political parties that receive money and material for these organizations. The United States participates in this process and its interests are to destabilize the democratically elected Sandinista government.

Believing that the United States is not involved in the riots in Nicaragua is naive. The situation in Nicaragua is serious and a dialogue for peace is necessary. Those responsible for the violence, the criminal fires, the riots, the destruction and the looting must answer for them, both on the side of the demonstrators, as well as on the critical elements, the political groups of young people and the responsible politicians. If, as the student leaders say, Daniel Ortega has ordered the police to shoot to kill, go ahead and have the president tried. And if there has been foreign interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua, those responsible for it have responded, both from activists in Nicaragua and from politicians in the United States. Many things can change for the better in Nicaragua, but it must be the work of the Nicaraguans themselves and not the money and agenda of the United States determining the changes.

This article was originally published by “teleSur” –

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The item below was posted in our comment section and has relevance to this article

By hmmm…. commented on Venezuela Defeats US in Election, Now Must Build Independent Economy

Take a look at what happened in Managua, Nicaragua, yesterday. The US is still fooling around with CIA pushed revolution attempt.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day so the opposition against Daniel Ortega had a march to ‘remember the mothers who lost their children during the protests. Guess what happened? Somewhere around 17 were shot and killed by unknown snipers in 2 or three different cities, Managua, maybe Leon, and another place. The hospitals are giving injured free medical care and one of the bullets found inside one of the victims was a (supposedly) a bullet from a Russian sniper rifle.

I’m sure the organizers of this black op make sure no evidence leads back to them.

I understand the Modus Operandi, but I can’t help but see how effective these evil people are. Now the two main sides of the citizenry are fighting one another not realizing they are manipulated but third party of outside actors.

Peace and love, everyone. Do not fight each other because what we think we are fighting for may just be an illusion, and the reality may be completely different than what we think it is.

Nicaragua, please do not destroy yourself, it is not too late. There are legitimate criticisms of the current government, but who would you rather have, Saddam or Qadaffi before the complete destruction of the State, or after the removal of these leaders and the resulting societal meltdown and dead littering the streets?

Tourists are gone and goods and cannot reach the outlying towns through roadblocks put up by the opposition.

Go home, go back to work, and let your children go to school. Hate no longer and love one another.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.

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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49539.htm