Ortega´s dilemma or how not to bite his tongue while talking against Somoza
By Fabián Medina in La Prensa, July 22, 2021
History
It is getting harder and harder for Daniel Ortega to maintain the narrative of the revolution against Somoza, because he directly contradicts that narrative. That is why the rallies are more and more empty of content and the historical references are more vague and incoherent. He prefers to talk about William Walker, Benjamín Zeledón or Sandino, instead of his former comrades in arms, or the reasons for which war was waged against the dictator. In other words, the conflict with these people is the fact that Ortega now identifies more with Somoza and less with those who overthrew him, including, notice the paradox, he himself.
Rigoberto López Pérez
Just imagine for now how he can celebrate with all its implications the action of Rigoberto López Pérez on September 21, 1956. What is he going to say to those young people who show up in an orderly and disciplined way to listen to him? That Somoza García was a dictator, that he was thinking of getting himself re-elected and that a young poet killed him for that, with that wanting to begin the end of the dictatorship? How can he do so without biting his tongue?
Political prisoners
To talk about the political prisoners of Somoza for Ortega is like a donkey talking about ears. To give you an idea: in the assault on the home of Chema Castillo, the Sandinista Front asked for the liberation of 14 political prisoners, and two for different reasons were left in jail – René Nuñez and Leopoldo Rivas – for a total of 16 political prisoners in December 1974. Four years later they assaulted the National Palace and demanded the liberation of the political prisoners that the dictatorship had at that time: 60 in total. Now, in a low moment, Ortega has 186 political prisoners in jails and two years ago the figure was higher than 600.
Dates
The historical dates for the war against Somoza have now turned into a problem for Ortega. A hard drink to swallow. How can July 19th be celebrated, the entrance of the guerrilla columns into Managua, when he has three of its biggest actors in jail? After July 19th comes August 22nd, when a commando unit took the National Palace. That date also was celebrated with a lot of pomp, but in recent years has become less so. How to celebrate this action if those who led it now are their enemies and are kept in jail for much more political reasons that Somoza had to keep in jail those who they freed?
Deaths
Resorting to the dead will always remain. Given the lack of his own deeds to exalt, and given that his old comrades in arms now are opposed to him, Ortega resorts to the dead. The faithful departed. They will not betray him. So, Leonel Rugama, Rigoberto López Pérez, Julio Buitrago, Carlos Fonseca and so many others from the Sandinista book of saints are in Ortega´s narrative, in other words, supporting without being able to negate everything against which they fought: presidential re-election, the establishment of a dynastic family, the installation of a dictatorship and jailing political prisoners.
Contradictions
Everything becomes contradictory. If the barricades of that time were glorious to such an extent that even the official daily newspaper of Sandinism was named after them, why now are they “roadblocks of death”? If protests now are “coups”, what were the armed actions of that time? Why before was it applauded when the OAS or the United States condemned Somoza and asked for an end to the repression, and now they call that “interference” or “imperial intervention”? Emiliano Chamorro is a stalwart traitor for selling the rights to an interoceanic canal through Nicaragua, but Ortega wants to be seen as a revolutionary for having done the same. Explain this to me!
Solutions
The way things are going, only two options are left to Daniel Ortega to overcome the historical contradictions within which he is living: one, that of Kim Il-Sung, rewrite history from zero, erasing all previous names and dates and placing himself and his family magically in the epicenter of all events; or two, what any psychiatrist would recommend: accept your own reality, and this would involve reclaiming Somoza and repudiating those who overthrew him, including the Daniel Ortega of that time, because in reclaiming Somoza from the past he would reclaim Daniel Ortega of the present, without the need to bite his tongue when he talks about history.