On 19 July, tens of thousands gathered in the centre of the Nicaraguan capital Managua to celebrate the 44th anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista revolution. Roger McKenzie, International Editor of the Morning Star was there. See his account here.
His latest piece – ‘Now is not the time to abandon the Sandinistas’ – penned on his return, can be found here.
See also Alliance for Global Justice report back on the 44th anniversary celebrations – link here
Forthcoming event, 5 September 2023, 6pm BST, London – Nicaragua: Truth Versus Lies
We are delighted that John Perry and Abigail Espinoza Muñoz from Nicaragua will both be in the UK and speaking in person at the event. Roger McKenzie, International Editor of the Morning Star will also be speaking about his recent visit to Nicaragua. The event is primarily an in-person event, but remote access via zoom will also be possible. For further information and to register see here
Health Care
Nicaragua has a family and community-based model of health care with emphasis on prevention. It relies on a network of 60,647 lay health care workers and volunteers who go door-to-door doing health care, education, mosquito eradication, vaccinations and census taking. In Nicaragua so many people suffered so much during the neoliberal years that society became scarred. Sometimes it still seems too good to be true – clean, modern hospitals with trained medical professionals for free? Thanks to the Sandinista government’s political will to prioritize the poor and its Herculean efforts to modernize and expand its system, the best health care in the country is now free. Read more in this article by Becca Renk – link here
Sanctions
Britain and the U.S. impose economic sanctions on dozens of governments they don’t like, write Erik Mar and John Perry. Some people in Nicaragua are being targeted on the basis of little or no evidence. Read more here.
At the same time, US Senator Tim Kaine has joined Senator Marco Rubio to propose a new round of sanctions and psychological operations against Nicaragua until regime change is achieved. Rick Kohn has written an article illustrating how new sanctions could impoverish and destabilise Nicaragua – read it here
2018 Attempted Coup
On the fifth anniversary of the 2018 coup attempt in Nicaragua, conflicting accounts of the violence and killings still persist. The mainstream media has characterized the opposition protests as generally peaceful and cases of opposition violence as counter violence against brutal repression of dissent by the government. John Perryhas written a series of articles that call into question this one-sided narrative, and his appeal to empiricalevidence and lived experience have broadened the parameters of debate. In a recent article, John Perry revisits the case of the murder of police officer Faber López Vivas, a case that highlights the need forimpartial investigation of the events of 2018. See link here
Poverty Reduction
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Oxford University Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) presented the “2023 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)” Report on July 13. The report states that with an MPI of 0.074 registered between 2002 and 2012, Nicaragua is one of nineteencountries that halved their global MPI value during one period and one of three in Latin America and the Caribbeanthat was able to reduce in half the unsatisfied needs of its citizens in short periods. The MPI is an international monitoring tool that measures acute multidimensional poverty, to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goal oferadicating poverty in all its forms everywhere.
Speakers
We are always pleased to provide speakers for regional/branch meetings, so if you would like someone to come along to one of your meetings, please email Louise on nscag@nicaraguasc.org.uk
And finally…. there’s still time to take part in our Summer Raffle which will be drawn on 25thAugust. You can buy tickets online – see here
Wishing you well over the summer months… we’ll stay in touch to update you on developments in Nicaragua.
In solidarity
Louise
Louise Richards, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action Group www.nscag.org Twitter: @NSCAG_UK