Imposition of candidates for mayors causes ill-will within the grassroots of the FSLN
By DIVERGENTES, Sept 25, 2022
The fact of “handpicking” the mayor´s slate for the coming uncontested municipal elections has unleashed complaints and criticisms within the Sandinista militancy. DIVERGENTES confirmed with sources from the party itself that in several municipalities they are rejecting the imposition ordered by the dictatorship. “There are complaints from inside, but the order was to put in those who were most obedient,” explained followers, fearful due to what happened in Jalapa, where 21 militants remain in jail for protesting.
The imposition of Janina Noguera and José Tapia as the slate for the mayorship on the part of the Sandinista Front in Masaya generated dissatisfaction and displeasure within the membership of this municipality. In the “City of Flowers” the grassroots do not fully support the municipal candidates designated by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo because “they do not represent the people”, explains Gonzalo, a historic Sandinista who agreed to speak with DIVERGENTES under the condition of anonymity.
Noguera took over control of the municipality of Masaya after the death of the mayor Orlando Noguera in 2020. Her role as mayor, according to Gonzalo, has been deficient because she has not resolved the problems that her predecessor left: scarcity of potable water, sewage system and flooding. “Up until a few days ago she ordered the stoplights to be fixed which had not functioned for a year,” he stated.
The designation of Noguera as the candidate for mayor was ratified on September 22nd by the Sandinista Front, despite the complaints of the membership. That day the list of candidates for mayor, vice mayor and council people was also updated for the other 152 municipalities of Nicaragua for their participation in elections without competition, called by the Supreme Electoral Council for the coming November 6th.
Even though the slate of Noguera and Tapia was not to the liking of Sandinista council members and militants, it was accepted by the dictatorship because it had the support of Orlando Palacios Navarrete, retired Colonel, and the Political Secretary of the Sandinista Front in Masaya. “The owner of local power and the trust of Ortega-Murillo,” said Gonzalo. Palacios Navarrete for years has been a fan of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. Until 2014 the former soldier was the spokesperson for the Army and was separated from party structures, until 2018 when he played a preponderant role in the repression against the barricades in Masaya organizing paramilitaries.
“Tapia ignored the suggestions for slates that the Sandinista membership presented,” stated an official from the Municipal Government of Masaya, who stated that the political secretary of the Sandinista Front backed the continuity of Noguera and the mayor because they are those most loyal to the party.
Those who dared to question the slate were sidelined within the party membership. Some council members, according to Gonzalo, moved from being candidates to alternates in the list that the Sandinista Front presented on September 22nd. DIVERGENTES called three council persons who were displaced, but on hearing our question they hung up the phone.
“There was a power sweep but no one said anything. They only left the obedient ones, because the old ones, those who have been waiting for some time for their “opportunity”, got tired and critical. The party did not like this,” said the source in the municipal government. “And this is repeated in other municipalities. They are protesting for being in the place of the other person [alternative instead of candidate], but some stay quiet,” he added.
A week after presenting the first list of candidates for mayor, vice mayor and council members, the Sandinista Front updated their data and instead of reelecting 55% of the slates in the municipal governments under their power, they finally ordered that 49% would repeat. There were changes, but the dictatorship did not explain the reasons for them.
Similar cases: Jalapa, La Paz and Somoto
Protestors in Jalapa over the handpicked candidates
The dissatisfaction over the “handpicking” of candidates in Masaya is not an isolated incident within the Sandinista Front. DIVERGENTES confirmed that in other municipalities the membership also is not happy with the imposition of slates. Some have decided to keep quiet and “support” the “anointed ones”, other raised their voices and were jailed.
In La Paz, a municipality in the Carazo province, three Sandinista councilmembers said to DIVERGENTES that they are upset with the continuity of the mayor Karla Licinia Delgado Chávez and the vice mayor Juan Francisco López González because “they are stealing” and “are not doing anything for the people.” Nevertheless, in the face of the order that arrived from El Carmen, they did not criticize publicly. The same in the municipality of Nandaime, Granada, where the former baseball player, Róger Acevedo, is running again in the face of the dissatisfaction over the corruption associated with his management.
“We were promoting other figures within the party but they did not take into account the suggestions,” said one of the councilmembers who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals and of being removed from the list of candidates for the elections without competition this coming November.
In Jalapa, Nueva Segovia, 21 Sandinista members led by the former mayor Humberto Alejandro Pérez Largaespada, protested over the imposition of Eddy Enrique Gutiérrez Zavala, current secretary of the Municipal Council, as candidate for mayor for that municipality.
On September 15th some 40 Sandinista militants went to the party building in Jalapa to demand that Gutiérrez be removed from the list of candidates for mayor. The protest was recorded by the townspeople who shared the videos through their social networks. In the afternoon the Police arrested Largaespada and 20 people who supported the complaint of the former mayor All were transferred to the cells in the Judicial Support Office better known as “El Chipote.”
“It is true. There is internal dissatisfaction, but the order was to put in the most obedient ones,” agreed another source connected to the central leadership of the Sandinista Front, who argued that the confirmation of the candidates for mayor, vice mayor and council people was based on the loyalty that each one had during the repression that the Ortega-Murillo regime had led since April 2018.
In Somoto, Madriz, the same situation is happening. The militants are not happy with the reelection of Dania Sugey Martínez Mondragón and Marcio Ariel Rivas Núñez, but they decided to stay quiet out of the fear of losing their posts within the municipal government or the party itself. One of the Sandinistas who talked with DIVERGENTES pointed out that the leadership of the Front prefers “the old known than the new to be known,” in other words, there is no other person in whom to trust.
From the suicide of the mayor to the imposition of his son
In Diriamba, a municipality located 44 kilometers to the south of Managua, they still do not believe that the mayor Fernando Baltodano committed suicide. The Mayor had the support of the leadership of the Sandinista Front and his continuity was ensured for a new period in 2022.
Baltodano was a mayor who stood out for his loyalty to the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. During the protests against the Sandinista regime in 2018, he was responsible for coordinating the Clean Up Operation along with the National Police.
“But he killed himself and they imposed his son. This provoked criticism in the grassroots,” says a source connected to the municipal government. Prior to the publication of the first list of the FSLN, the rumor in Diriamba was that the post of candidate for mayor was going to be taken by his son, Harold Baltodano Cruz. The “rumor” was not to the liking of the militancy. They refused to believe that a person who had never stood out in the party would obtain such an “reward”.
But Baltodano Cruz was not only confirmed in the first list. He was also ratified in the second and definitive one, causing ill-will within the militancy that promoted the candidacy of Mayling Figueroa, the current interim mayor after the death of the mayor.
“First they were frightened. Then they got upset because the party did not listen to the grassroots but rewarded the son of the mayor. Many people believe that it was a move so that he would support the story of suicide that no one here in Diriamba believes,” said the source connected to the municipal government.
In Diriamba, contrary to what happened in Jalapa, there were no protests. The militancy obeyed orders “from above” without much discussion. The grassroots, despite their complaint and proposal of another candidate, kept quiet and now accompany Baltodano Cruz in all the activities of the municipal government.
Even though the rejection of the Sandinista slates in the municipalities is notable, this does not mean that within the Sandinista grassroots an implosion is happening. The fact that the militants are unhappy with the imposition, does not mean that they condemn the corruption of the central Government and the sole party regime that the Ortega dictatorship is trying to install in Nicaragua.
The complaint, said a political scientist consulted for this article, is for taking the place of the other person. “The Sandinista militants who are against the imposition of candidates are enclosed up in a bubble. If they were able to bring about a change, which is impossible because the Government treats them as tokens, they would be happy despite the fact that the entire system is bad,” explained the political scientist, who asked for anonymity for his safety.
Gonzalo, the historical militant of Masaya who expressed his dissatisfaction at the beginning of this article, even though it is difficult for him to accept, agrees with what was said by the sociologist. “In part it is true,” he stated in a muted tone of voice.