Nicaragua: “We Are Not Anyone’s Colony”

Nicaragua’s Sandinista government is calling out blatant U.S. interference as the country prepares to hold its presidential election in six months.

President Daniel Ortega used the opportunity of the 126th anniversary of the birth of national revolutionary hero General Augusto Sandino to rail against U.S. intervention in the country, stating, “The Yankee Ambassador is all over the place selling their candidates as if he were Nicaraguan. He’s not Nicaraguan… Don’t get involved here Ambassador Yankee. Don’t meddle here like you have been up until now.”

Following the official state ceremony, Nicaragua’s Vice President, Rosario Murillo, warned against foreign intervention in her country’s affairs, stating firmly, “We are not anyone’s colony.”

“We have said many times and we repeat it, we are not anyone’s colony. To those who believe they have the right to dominate us, submit us, interfere, the right to direct us, why? We tell you, we do not admit external power… enough already! Nicaragua is blessed and always free. We tell you as friends, as brothers in the Great Universal Fraternity, our processes, our land, our struggles are sovereign.”

The declarations come as the country heads into presidential elections in November of this year, with the threat of U.S. intervention if the ruling Sandinista Front (FSLN) are re-elected. 

Polls suggest a likely FSLN victory, as the divided right-wing opposition faces a government with firm grassroots support. A national M & R Consultores poll conducted in March of this year, found that 6 in 10 Nicaraguans support the government, while 2 out of 10 respondents support the opposition, and 2 out of 10 said neither.

In response, the opposition has claimed that a loss on their part would signal the existence of ‘electoral fraud’, a narrative which has been amplified by the United States and the OAS which hope to implement regime change in the country in order to install a regime that is more pliant to U.S. interests in the region.

The U.S. is preparing economic sanctions in an attempt to generate hunger as a weapon against the elected government as previous regime change efforts have been unsuccessful.

The Reinforcing Nicaragua’s Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER) Act, introduced in March, would require the U.S. government to increase sanctions on Managua.

The Senate bill’s sponsor, Democratic Party Senator Bob Menendez, says the legislation will expand oversight of international financial institutions’ lending to Nicaragua and will add Nicaragua to the list of Central American countries subject to corruption-related visa restrictions. The legislation would require “classified reporting on corruption perpetrated by President Ortega’s government and family, as well as Russian government activities in Nicaragua.”

Democratic Party Congressman Albio Sires has since introduced a companion bill to the House of Representatives.

Read more on the RENACER Act here.