Crisis within Sandinism? “The party is experiencing turmoil”
In Divergentes, April 12, 2022
The recent desertions within the FSLN, added to the discontent of the historical former guerrillas over the order to set them aside, has led some militants to think that they are experiencing a “crisis caused by Rosario Murillo.” The question is how serious it might be in cracking the omnipotent control of the presidential couple who, for now, enjoy the support of the armed forces. Nevertheless, the symptoms are there: the economic crisis is generating discontent among Sandinistas. “Everything is vertical”, while they complain about interrogations and police harassment.
“Nobody trusts anyone”, says a Sandinista sympathizer from District 4 in Managua. She said it on leaving a meeting that the members of the Citizen Power Councils (CPC) held one Saturday in April, the structure of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) in neighborhoods, on the sidewalk of her home while talking about the upcoming health campaigns, COVID 19 vaccinations, and the provision of food packets to their militants. After the meeting the woman remained talking to another neighbor about “how they are killing political prisoners in El Chipote [jail]”.
The Sandinista sympathizer says that she supports the party because every month they give her food packets and other bonuses that “no other government is going to give me.” Nevertheless, she decided to speak briefly with DIVERGENTES because she does not agree with the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, the caudillos of the FSLN, in keeping political prisoners in jail. “They can have them in jail if they want, but not killing them, letting them rot,” she says.
The words of this Sandinista militant represent a bit of the discontent that is experienced in recent weeks within the party. The recent resignations of the former ambassador of the Nicaragua to the Organization of American States (OAS), Arturo McFields, and of the international lawyer of the regime, Paul Reichler, as well as the order to disactivate historical Sandinism, suggests discomfort within the party in power. An internal crisis, but the question is how severe it may be in cracking the omnipotent control of the presidential couple that, for now, enjoys the determined support of the armed forces. Nevertheless, the symptoms are there.
Sources within the party say that the leaders of the CPC record the meetings and are more watchful over the publications that Sandinista do on social media. Historic Sandinistas have denounced harassment on the part of paramilitaries and police after criticizing the orders of the regime; and public officials are not allowed to leave Nicaragua, they take away their passports and even have arrested them and investigate them in police stations.
State workers warn that the economic crisis of the country, where the cost of the basic basket of goods is nearly 17,000 córdobas (US$479), is creating more pressure within the Sandinista grassroots themselves about which little is said. “We do not know where this is going to end up,” said a worker in the Ministry of Health (MINSA). “But we see that the government does not have a proposal to get out of the economic crisis,” he added.
According to this worker in the health sector, the problem is that this type of discontent cannot be expressed within the party because they become the object of reprisals. “We cannot complain, and we can only obey orders without comment,” he added.
The crack is becoming more and more public. This Sunday April 10th the Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Estelí, Rolando Álvarez, said that “there are thousands of Sandinistas,” among them state workers, police and soldiers, who approach him to talk because “they know what the truth is.”
The harassment of historic Sandinistas
Five police surrounded the home of the Sandinista militant Sandra Martínez on Saturday April 2nd, after she complained in social networks about the order to deactivate historic Sandinism, issued by the regime and signed by the retired Colonel Leopoldo Rivas, the national coordinator for Historic Sandinism. The order was publicized on March 28th and she wrote a critical piece on Facebook the next day. “Right now in my home I have five police who are watching my home, I do not know why. In the morning the (police) chief of the sector came to ask me some things and I told him that he should go and get information from the political secretary,” said Martínez.
Among the points of the order was the prohibition to” continue organizing and operating intelligence and counterintelligence networks of any nature.” In the document it is admitted that historic Sandinistas were incorporated in the Electoral Victory Units (UVEs) for the elections where Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo were re-elected without competition in November 2021. The UVEs carried out espionage work in the neighborhoods, and in the newsletter it is admitted that they were ordered “to collect enemy information and transmit it to the Police and the Army.”
Historic Sandinistas were activated with the protests of 2018. One of their functions was to swell the ranks of the paramilitaries in order to carry out “operation cleanup”, an armed action to silence the demonstrations with bullets. The deaths of some 355 people were reported and a delegation of experts sent by the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) determined that the regime committed crimes against humanity.
The Sandinista militant Marlon Sáenz, known as el “Chino Enoc” in social networks, said that the order to “disavow historic Sandinism” is from Rosario Murillo, because she was the one who put Leopoldo Rivas in charge. El “Chino Enoc” thinks that Murillo cannot make those decisions in the party because “no one has elected her.” For this Sandinista militant, Murillo usurps functions in the party.
In recent weeks El “Chino Enoc” has provided interviews to some communications media that, according to him, have put his life in danger. “Chayism (followers of Rosario Murillo) have now become criminal, because they are ordering an attempt on my life, and are sending me a drug trafficker, a known hitman, that is criminal, against their own fellow party members and now I call on people to reject Rosario Murillo,” he said in a video.
For some militants consulted, the strategy is to disavow historic Sandinism so that Murillo might achieve control without any counterweights within the party. Part of Sandinism, among them the oldest militants, support the party out of respect for Daniel Ortega since his years as a guerrilla fighter, but not Rosario Murillo, who they say exercises more power in the decisions in the country. “In the face of a power vacuum of Ortega, Murillo will now have greater control within the party,” says this Sandinista source. “But I do not believe that she will be able to quiet the discontent,” he says. Nevertheless, the vice president has emerged as a determining figure. “They do not respect her, but they fear her”, said another Sandinista source close to the presidential offices.
Interrogation of Sandinistas
The daily newspaper Confidencial published that the former Sandinista deputy, Gerardo Miranda, was jailed for seven days in El Chipote. According to that media, Miranda was freed this past April 4th. The reason for the arrest had been a meeting that he called in Rivas with members of “historic Sandinism” over the order on the part of Rosario Murillo to dissolve the movement.
In addition to being a deputy, Miranda was the mayor of San Juan del Sur, a position where he was accused of acts of corruption. Miranda was also a retired colonel of Lenín Cerna, former secretary of the FSLN and who was removed over differences with Murillo.
In addition to Miranda, it was known that the Sandinista Magistrate Ileana Pérez was arrested by the Police and interrogated in “El Chipote” in mid February, over a supposed act of corruption in the property registry of Rivas. In both cases the police authorities did not explain the reasons for the arrests, nor did they file charges against the party militants.
A State worker confided in DIVERGENTES that “right now what is perceived is turmoil” within the FSLN and “you cannot say much because there is too much pressure and a lot of distrust.” The Sandinista militant said that “decisions are too vertical, from one day to another, and there is no choice, you implement them.”
Sandinistas under country arrest
Since before this crisis in the FSLN, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo imposed country arrest on some Sandinista militants. According to what DIVERGENTES learned, the immigration authorities in the International Airport of Managua have prevented government insiders from leaving Nicaragua because it has been decided that “they are not going to allow anyone who might have official information to leave the territory.”
This restrictive order of the regime on leaving is carried out by the Ministry of Immigration and Foreign Nationals, and coordinated with the Ministry of the Interior. In the case of Nicaraguans who travel by air, the employees of immigration request the airline passenger lists 24 hours in advance. This allows them to investigate the people who want to leave the country.
Departure by land is also monitored by immigration officials. Up to some months ago, only those who were on the list were detained and returned to their city of origin. In many cases their passports were taken away. Also, some board members of business chambers (who are not talking out of fear) have had a de facto migratory restriction imposed on them.
The decision was made after several allies of the Sandinista Front or State functionaries left the country without being critical, and later appeared in the United States requesting asylum. The alerts have increased in recent weeks, based on the denouncement made by the very ambassador of the regime in the OAS, Arturo McFields, and the international adviser, Paul Reichler.