The lack of unity among the opposition has been a central concern of those promoting change in Nicaragua. The Sandinistas, on the other hand, publicly present a contrast in terms of what on the surface appears to be iron clad unity. This leaked audio provides a picture of possible internal fissures within the Sandinista ranks.
Leaked audio reveals conspiracy, intrigue and uncertainty among those marginalized by Rosario Murillo in the FSLN
By Artículo 66, August 15,2020
[original Spanish][leaked audio]
The recording reveals the expectations that the old Sandinista leaders have about recovering control over the party, even to the point of selling security to those who occupy the Government today.
Intrigues, conspiracy and epithets within the Sandinista Front for National Liberation party (FSLN) are more and more public. There is discontent and dissatisfaction among militants and leaders over the control and leadership of that party institution. Serious allegations and defamatory remarks are emerging among the red and black leadership, above all in those who have been displaced by the iron circle that the Vice president, Rosario Murillo, controls. All the way from sarcastic nicknames to predictions that in the future there will be some who could end up “dressed in orange” in the United States.
Artículo 66 had access to an audio recording of a phone conversation in which two prominent figures, one of them named in the recording as “El Negro”, with language full of epithets and even profanity, do an analysis of the possible scenarios that the Sandinista party could go through in the coming electoral process, the possibilities that it might lose the elections, the radicalization of the dictatorship and the challenges that it has in order to remain in government with the international pressure, the threat of more sanctions on the economic circle of Daniel Ortega, and the popular discontent.
In a conversation of nearly 20 minutes, these two guys talk freely about the absolute control of Rosario Murillo in the party and in the Government, and even what would happen in the face of the absence of “El Duque” or “El Mono”, the nicknames with which they refer, it seems, to Daniel Ortega.
According to the conversation of the two marginalized militants, it would have taken place in the last week of July, between Monday the 27th and Friday July 31st, according to a reference that they make to “the coming Monday is August 3rd”, during the call.
The people who are talking are two Sandinistas figures who have had party as well as governmental leadership responsibilities. One of them, identified in the recording as “El Negro”, according to his voice, is a former provincial political secretary in Managua; ex councilperson, and recently, former diplomat in the Embassy of El Salvador, a responsibility from which he was removed by presidential decree on July 31st. Artículo 66 was not able to confirm whether this leaked conversation was the trigger for the removal of the former diplomat, even though the dates do coincide.
The other person is a former leader of the National Union of Students of Nicaragua (UNEN) and former deputy, currently down and out supposedly for conflicts with the boss of the red and black party, Rosario Murillo.
The radicalization of the regime
The two characters talk about the radicalization of the Sandinista dictatorship in the face of popular discontent over the increase in the cost of basic services, international pressure with the economic sanctions, and the need to preserve power at any cost to stay safe.
Former president of the UNEN: “The fanaticism, that radicalization of the fanaticism, that crap that “whoever doesn´t jump is a Yankee” I think that it has decreased, because the economic situation, money is hard in the streets, has complicated it, that shit about basic services (increased cost), has people crazy.”
“It is true that those guys are going to close up, they are going to win the elections because the opposition are shit, and even if they don´t win them they are going to steal them, and they are going to win them incorrectly, and on winning them that way, getting there in tatters, the United States, the Europeans, and that whole herd of sons of bitches, what they are going to do, Negro, is one day tear out a kidney (with the sanctions), another day tear out a lung, until bleeding him to death, and this is going to last two years, three years at the most.”
The student leader predicts a “difficult” future, and as he added, “it will be more difficult if ´El Mono´ doesn´t continue, and it is not that he doesn´t continue in the presidency, but rather in this earthly life,” he said, predicting the imminent death of Daniel Ortega.
Concerning the radicalization of the dictatorship, the former deputy thinks that “I do not see that there. In addition, the process of getting to `Cubanization´ is going to take 30 years, in the case that they want to impose it, or the circumstances are going to be seen, that there is more scarcity…I do not see the Frente closing markets, even though the gringos close them on them, you and I are clear about that, they are going to be tearing it apart step by step, you and I, son of bitch, we talked about this since last year. How are the elections going to happen? In tatters. If he wins the elections, and wins them clean, maybe they put him in neutral for awhile, and if he wins and wins dirty, first they are going to rip off a leg, the next month or three months later they will rip off the other leg”, says the former UNEN leader.
“What´s going to happen is he is going to arrive without legs!”, El Negro rebuts.
Rosario Murillo took over the FSLN in the style of Mao
El Negro: “One of these days I was reading Mao (Zedong, founder of Communist China), that son of a bitch woman (Rosario Murillo), has copied him exactly, in the part of pushing aside a figure and keeping complete control. That is what Mao did. It is the same process.”
The Negro also warns about the popular discontent and an imminent uprising because of economic scarcity and the lack of freedoms.
“I feel that they will be able to function with that logic for a year (of resisting the pressures of the United States), but the big question is: Will the people put up with the stench of the scarcity?”
And the former student quickly steps in and forcefully predicts, “The people are not going to put up with shit (by which he foresees a rebellion).
FSLN out of government and without the control of Murillo
As the conversation progressed, the two Sandinistas who had been sidelined dedicate several minutes to portend the future of a figure who, along with Murillo, is managing the new structure of Sandinism. “Now then, what would your brother (by the indications they provide later on it can be identified that they are referring to Fidel Moreno) be thinking? Sanctioned, ground up. He has his money, with intelligence, if he takes care of it, he should not have problems for the next 40 years of life he might have left, but if his card gets flipped over, as it seems they are trying to do, and it comes to doing things, what is he going to do?, asks El Negro.
Former president of the UNEN: “Well I see it as even more radical. Imagine that this changes, Negro (that they lose the elections). There are only two paths, the first, look for alliances, now and for the future, because this dimwit leaving power, or from the viewpoint of power, is going to have to be paying for security, is going to have to ally himself with those who administer the Frente at that time. Do you see him administrating it (the FSLN)? I do not know, it is a possibility. If he is administering it, it makes it easier, but I see it difficult that he be the one administering. Uh-huh, a El Negro administering it, a Yasser, another son of a bitch or any other shit, or another dimwit that administers, for example, the case of Managua, to generate protection for him. What is going to happen? That is why I was telling you before, do you see yourself doing deals, appearing (with Moreno)? No. You can´t. The only thing that you can do is watch over his billfold, and that is for paying protection”.
– “It is either this or you go to Russia. Or in the worst of cases, brother, that must be terrible and something I would wish for no one…that they dress him in orange (prisoner in the United States)”, portends the former student leader.
– “What a fuck up”, commiserates El Negro.
-“Because in another government, anyone is a bargaining chip”, the former leader of the UNEN rejoins.
El Negro foresees a strategy that would ensure impunity for those sanctioned, even with the FSLN out of power, “I think that a good measure has to be that they turn these dimwits into deputies.”
-“That could be”, doubts the other, and insists, “Me, what do I think is going to happen?”, and he responds to his own question. “Well, the Frente is not going to turn over the government, and are not going to cede anything to them. That is what I am seeing,” pronounces the former student.
El Negro takes up again the topic of the security of Fidel Moreno in the future, and tries to confirm it, “According to your theory, Fidel Moreno should be looking for us to be his allies and he should pay us?”
Former president of UNEN “That is how it should be!”
El Negro: “Well, it is not a bad idea, to think of it. The issue is who is going to tell him.”
Former president of the UNEN: “He is not going to have allies. You cannot ally with `Los Goyos´(referring to the Sandinistas from the group of Lenin Gregorio Cerna Juárez), if those sons of bitches….(Gustavo) Porras is going to need allies, also because both of them are targeted.”
El Negro: “But those sons of bitches are evil, they are negotiators, in the end they are going to kneel down to the white people (North Americans) and are going to negotiate. Do you see Roberto López (president of social security) doing shit (challenging the United States)?
Former president of the UNEN: “No, they are going to negotiate, if you want. Turn over half of their fortune.”
El Negro: “But besides, with him (Roberto López), they are not going to negotiate with him.”
Former president of the UNEN: “Yes, but right, but do you think that that many sanctioned people are going to fit in a negotiation?”
El Negro: “There are some (of those sanctioned) who are not going to have anything happen to them.”
In the audio the two characters also show a distain for the Police commanders who were sanctioned by the United States, who they mock for their economic conditions, while at the same time they brag about their “four houses”, which they are convinced will ensure them in their old age.
Former president of the UNEN: “But those who are not going to have anything happen to them are (Ramón) Avellan, (Justo) Pastor (Urbina). Imagine Valle Valle[1], if that dimwit barely got his pension. Instead they raised the profile of those poor people.”
El Negro: “I could not remember, with good reason, lately I have watched the woman writing radically, completely. And it is not until now that I am realizing that yes, Yadira, she is bursting at the seams there, the wife of that dimwit, Yadira Muñoz.”
Former president of the UNEN: “But what do they have, son of a bitch” You and I have lost more than they, we get worried that they might take away our four houses, son of a bitch, (which we have) to mortgage them, sell them, and have something for old age (he laughs).”
El Negro: “Crazy, and Aminta (Granera), I wonder if she negotiated?”
Former president of the UNEN: “Don´t doubt it!”
El Negro: “Because that dimwit is untouched, serene.”
The two Sandinistas move from talking about the sanctioned police commanders to the possibility of a negotiation between Ortega and the United States.
“Now, the longer the negotiation goes, I think there `El Duque´(Daniel Ortega) is making a mistake, the longer the negotiation goes, the more difficult it will be for him. And he is betting on the fact that Trump loses, and I think it is a bad bet,” says the former student leader.
El Negro: “I am going to tell you something, whoever wins (in the United States)…”
Former president of the UNEN: —“they are going to grind him up, of that I am very clear.”
El Negro: “They are not going to change their policy”.
Former president of the UNEN: “they are not going to change, they have never done it. The Democrats are worse sons of bitches. At least with the Republicans you know what you are facing…”
El Negro: “I am going to tell you something else, if the Democrats win, and there is an aggressive or more aggressive attitude, that is going to end up hitting hard a sector of Sandinism, who continue as imbeciles thinking that with those dimwits (the Democrats in the US) there is going to be space.”
Former president of the UNEN: “I do not see that possibility that you are talking about, brother. That Minister of yours (seems to refer to the Minister of Foreign Relations of the regime, Denis Moncada Colindres, who at that moment was the boss of El Negro) eats shit, he is not clear
Dictatorship a la carte
In the audio the two old leaders of Sandinism change topics again. From the US elections they move on to talking about a supposed conversation with Laureano Ortega, son of the presidential couple, where the “tenor” had suggested the type of dictatorship that could be imposed on the country.
El Negro: “We were in a conference, where Laureano began to talk shit about the canal, and says to me, `Hey, what happened? I haven´t seen you! What do you prefer, the Cuban or the Venezuelan (dictatorship)?´ I did not say anything, but it left me thinking, `At least by intention, they are betting on one of the two things,´ in reality I do not know, then, whether…”
Former president of the UNEN: “Ah, that (radicalization proposal) is not from him, damn. I don´t rule out that they are betting maybe on that. They are betting on radicalization, because that is the only way that they survive. Let´s see, man, Negro, how do all those sons of bitches survive who got up on the stage on the 19th (he is referring to those who were sanctioned who were with Daniel and Rosario for the anniversary celebration). Just in that model, son of a bitch…and that is why they are more closed, and that is why they are going to squeeze him more.”
El Negro: “I can assure you, fool, that any of those sons of bitches are going to look for where to break the chains.”
Former president of the UNEN: “…But you are clear that that is going to happen once `El Mono´ is no longer here (Daniel Ortega).”
El Negro: “That man (Daniel) is a survivor…”
Former president of the UNEN: “That is right, well, that dimwit (Daniel) is a beast in that, but Negro, you are clear that this is hard…”
El Negro: “You are not kidding, difficult, more these two days that I have not been doing much, I have been thinking about it, you should see what kind of a headache it is, no matter where you look and turn it over, there is no way out.”
Former president of the UNEN: “There is none! Negro, there is none”. There is no way to come out of this unharmed!”
Juan Carlos Ortega, “The little thug” and José Mojica “the disgusting rat”
The two sidelined Sandinistas spare no one in their conversation. After the two police chiefs, Daniel, those who were sanctioned, and Rosario Murillo, they also go against the favorite son of the first lady, and the US sanction that categorized him as an international criminal, a designation that ended up truncating for him the dream of being the successor of the dynasty.
El Negro: “Well, and that son of a bitch kid, he kept quiet. I thought that the thug in him was going to come out.”
Former president of the UNEN: “The thing is that blow [US sanction] is worse, it is the biggest blow. Listen to me, here the opposition is so stupid, I do not understand the opposition, they are imbeciles. But the punch they gave that boy is the hardest. The Other one (José Jorge Mojica, front man for the Ortega-Murillo family), he should be clear about it, some people in the Frente should be clear about it, Mojica, I assure you that if he could commit suicide and go back in time, that disgusting rat, he must be out crying, but he should be cowering.”
El Negro: José (Mojica)?
Former president of the UNEN: “For one simple reason, that shit is drug trafficking [US sanction]… that shit is too dangerous.”
El Negro: “But is it that the translation was done well, or would it be that someone…”
Former president of the UNEN: “For drug trafficking, it is that he is designated under the logic of drug-trafficking,” conclude the two prominent people from old Sandinism.
[1] Commissioner Juan Valle Valle is the target of mockery because, according to the old Sandinista guard, he still lives in Villa Flore, and they describe him as “that poor devil.”