Costa Rica Travel Posts

The Current State of Nicaragua – Part 1

By Patrick Brunelle ⋅ July 28, 2009 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Nicaraua celebrated its 30th anniversary of the revolution led by Ortega. For an outsider looking in, it seemed like quite the celebration. I saw reports of the massive gatherings on the major T.V networks. If I went on that info only, I would have no choice but to believe that Nicaragua was strongly behind its leader.

Its only in speaking with the people of Granada that I realized that the rally held opn Sunday was mostly a political rally, nothing more. The people of Granada are suffering, and Nicaragua as a whole is experiencing 50% poverty rates that have not been seen since the revolution.

It leads one to wonder, why is the country and its leader celebrating a so called revolution if the end result of the revolution did nothing for its people? It is clear that only a select few are benefiting for the current situation in Nicaragua. Strong anti-Americanism was heard in the speech, and much of the countries poor situation blamed on the usual suspects, the Yankee and Brit.

It seems the people of Granada know better that to get excited by the president. In his speech, he claimed he was going to hold a so called referendum to change the constitution to ensure he can remain in power after the 2011 term. In my opinion, I saw a dictator in the making on Sunday, and the people of Nicaragua, minus the party, are terribly afraid.

I always saw poverty in the streets here, but never like I have this last visit. With the current instability in Honduras, it seems Nicaragua’s President is taking advantage of the World’s attention being somewhere to pass his own agenda. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Nicaraguans will not be made to suffer any more than they already have.