Personal report from Tisma, Nicaragua, June 2018
Maria in Tisma, 22 June 2018 (a conversation between Ludi Simpson and Maria in Bradford’s twin town Tisma in Nicaragua. It refers to a report in the Nation by John Perry, who lives in Masaya Nicaragua, close to Tisma, and has helped the Tisma Project)
The road from Tisma to Masaya was still totally blocked yesterday. The one from Tisma to Managua going by Tipitapa is also blocked. There is a zona franca by Tipitapa which buses do reach, but they don’t continue to Tisma as they had before. Commerce happens but is difficult. Traffic from Granada going to Managua has found a route via Cuatro Esquinas between Masaya and Tisma, and that route is very busy.
Schools in Tisma are open but teachers and pupils living outside of Tisma town itself don't arrive. Her son who is in his first year of engineering and systems at the university in Masaya, is being sent lessons and exercises by email.
Tisma has been quiet, but is silent and is afraid, callado. Red-black flags have been hidden, Juana (Maria's mum and an active militant since 1979) is the only one who still displays her red-black flag and pins presidential reports on her door. 'We don't want war, it is terrible.'
Maria says 'We want democratisation', and she feels that the government is not providing that by only making demands of the protestors. ‘Democratisation is more than waiting for elections, and then what? We can't go on like this for nine months until the elections.’
Maria no longer believes the news from government channels. She does believe that the majority of deaths, more than 200, have been from police, military, and individuals carrying guns that she believes they must have got from the police or military.
Sandinistas have become targets of young people protesting against the government. But many of the young people protesting are themselves Sandinista. 'Everyone's Sandinista.'
The mayor of Tisma offered 500 pesos to council workers to go to Masaya to fight the protestors (she doesn’t call them the opposition). She thinks no-one went, and certainly not the mayor. She felt it was wrong, and made Tisma and its Sandinistas a target. But there haven't been tranques (road blocks) or trouble in Tisma.
In Maria's opinion, the trigger was the introduction of welfare reforms without consultation by the government on 18th April, with the uncritical rubber-stamping of the National Assembly. The proposals had been discussed five years before and might have been implemented then without this year's reaction, but the April laws were a surprise. Then the repressive response to protests of older people in Leon from police and Juventud Sandinista was shocking and sparked all that followed.
I asked whether those who felt like herself and her mother could raise their concerns within the Frente. She laughed and said that it was impossible. Over the last years the leadership of the Frente at local level had been taken by the right wing. The 'left Sandinistas, the traditional ones' have been pushed out to minor positions. They are asked for support and asked to convince the population, but not given responsibility. She thought there was a list being kept of anyone who criticised the government in any way, and this made it pointless to open your mouth. This is the same story I heard from Maria regarding the choice of municipal mayoral candidates a year ago, when she felt that a survey of members' opinions was ignored, in favour of candidates who were not activists but were careerist and seriously corrupt.
Ludi comments: So, it seems to me that Maria is repeating much of the perspective of what the government calls the opposition. I have no way of telling how much of what I heard is Maria filling in a story that she believes but has little direct way of confirming. But it clearly fits what she does know about the Frente locally. Her dismay at the government nationally and locally is heartfelt, as is her feeling that there is little she and those who feel like her can do at the moment but watch. That is what gives me the most anguish.
It is a rather hopeless picture that Maria paints, but one that chimes with your reports. It seems to me that the current leadership of the Sandinistas is going to find it very difficult to regain the trust of most people. Undoubtedly it's a struggle with more than two political 'sides', and it's hard to see the way out to a future that is good for the poorest. John Perry's comparison in The Nation article with the GDR before the West took over is a good one. There the renovation of the ruling party came far too late.
Ludi Simpson, 23 June 2018