Blogia
Kristin in Nicaragua

whose streets, pt.2

clearly today the streets belonged to the FSLN and supporters of the ortega administration. throngs of thousands crowded into the "plaza de las victorias" in downtown managua, and kept arriving well into the afternoon, past the scheduled noon end, by which time most opposition protests (which included maybe 1,000 blue-and-white-wearing supporters of the PLN and esp. of eduardo montealegre - ok, just so you get an idea of why he’s _not_ a good alternative to ortega, his party is called "Todos Con Eduardo"!!! and that’s just the beginning of its problems...) had come to a close. to the credit of the local police, by 5pm today there had been little violence, only the constant arms-firing-into-the-air of the FSLN multitude. i stayed far away from the masses in my little corner of managua on carretera sur, but at about 3pm the highway was filled with buses rented by the FSLN to bring supporters into the city from surrounding departments - so the big yellow school buses that would normally be filled with commuters or families visiting the beach or relatives on a saturday were converted into mobile caravans of ortega sympathizers, the FSLN’s red and black flags covering their roofs and windows and their drivers honking support all the way down the road. the administration had set up a huge stage downtown - in front of the crowds hovered a large poster with ortega’s familiar face (it’s plastered on political signs all over the city) and the words CRISTIANA, SOCIALISTA, SOLIDARIA next to it. the organization of the orteguistas, and their ability to mobilize what were probably tens of thousands of supporters, is impressive. however, i’m still not impressed by what appears to be the corrupt, civil liberties-threatening, egoist tendencies of ortega, who i’m not convinced is either christian, or socialist, or really acting in solidarity with the masses of nicaraguans who showed their support for him today. i’m a progressive, pacifist critic, trying hard to understand all that is going on around me here...

1 comentario

Rebekah -

This reminds me so much of my time in Argentina. The campo vs. the pro Kirchner government. The government paid people to attend protests but the people supporting the campo were the wealthy ones of the country, so of course they wouldn't need money for transport. So complicated to find clarity...and a position.