Fabian Medina published a biography of Daniel Ortega in Spanish, and has been an editorial writer of La Prensa for some years. On Thursdays he shares general reflections on the situation in the country.
In fine print: The Truth will land you in jail.
By Fabian Medina, La Prensa, August 26, 2021
The Truth
388 years ago the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei was subjected to a trail on the truth. He stated that the Earth and the rest of the planets revolved around the Sun, and the church, the Holy Inquisition considered as an undeniable truth that the Sun and the rest of the planets revolved around the Earth. Galileo was condemned for disagreeing with the “truth.”
Lies
During my appointment at the Prosecutor´s office, the attorney who interviewed me read a phrase from one of my columns, which went more or less like this: “Cristiana Chamorro is not being tried for money laundering but because she can defeat Daniel Ortega in any elections with minimal guarantees.” “You are committing a crime here,” she said, upset. “Perhaps you do not recognize the proof that we have? Are you an expert in money laundering to be able to say that?” “No, no I am not,” I said to her. “It is my opinion, and it is based on two facts: one, that up to now you have not presented any proof that shows that the money that came to the Foundation was illegal; and two, that her arrest happened precisely after she revealed her intention to be a candidate.”
Inquistion
If this discussion was in a gathering of friends or an academic debate, well the differences of opinion between the prosecutor and myself on the topic would have no greater consequences. The problem is that the Prosecutor says she is willing to take to jail anyone who tells lies, and for them the definition of a lie is as simple as what the Holy Inquisition had in the times of Galileo: a lie is anything that contradicts what they consider the truth. There is no reasoning nor possibility of refuting them. They are the owners of the truth. The truth is what they say. Period.
Trials
The matter would not be so serious if this country was one where institutions operated independently, and processes were followed as the law indicates. The Prosecutor would take her disagreement to the courts and a judge, presumably impartial, would determine whether my opinion was a crime or not. The problem is that nothing functions like that here. The Prosecutor is just a thread in a fabric that far from seeking justice, or the truth itself, follows slogans. And whatever is said above, no matter how crazy it might be, will be the truth for her, for the Police, for judges, for the jailers and for their base of sympathizers.
Backwards
The issue is that, for some time now, much more in recent months, the truth, far from making us free as the Bible says, is taking Nicaraguans to jail or into exile. The great majority of the political prisoners are in jail basically for contradicting the official discourse of the regime. This has to do with a twisted interpretation of the truth in that newspeak that, like in the novel 1984 of George Orwell, has everything backwards: scarcity is abundance, lies are truth and hate is love.
Crimes
The truth in Nicaragua, from the point of view of the regime, is that there was an attempted coup here, that the opposition are coup supporters, terrorists and murderers, that the bishops are “children of the devil”, that the multitudinous marches of 2018 never existed because in reality they were just a “handful”, that they have not withheld any paper from La Prensa, that a meteorite fell here in 2014 and that no one can doubt that Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo were elected to govern forever because the people want them to, and they are the people. Contradict that or wanting to demonstrate the opposite with scientific instruments is a crime, just as it was in the trial against Galileo in April 1633.
Burned at the stake
No one is the owner of the truth. The truth is a very slippery category. In the times of Galileo, the immense majority of people, even those most scholarly, were convinced that Galileo was mistaken. That the truth was what the Church was saying. Later it was demonstrated that they were the mistaken ones, and the one accused of lying was telling the truth. That is why it ends up being so dangerous, as it is being demonstrated, that we are in the same situation as if nearly 400 years had not gone by. That those who have the weapons, the Prosecutor´s office, the courts, the burnings at the stake, believe themselves to be the owners of the truth and condemn to jail – because being burned at the stake would now be too much –whoever contradicts them.