On the contrary, the movement arose spontaneously the day after the government announced cuts to social security benefits and increases in social security taxes. It was immediately met by deadly repression under orders from Murillo. By all accounts, she is the one who really runs the government day-to-day, not Ortega.
A few members have objected to the DSA statement. I wrote an explanation of why the statement is right in an online forum, and wanted to share an edited version here.
Of those who have taken a public stance, the big majority of FSLN leaders and prominent cultural figures that were part of the revolution are staunchly against today’s FSLN. Some fought and lost an internal fight to save the Frente, in the early 90s.
Others broke with him after his stepdaughter Zoilamérica Narváez Murillo accused him of having repeatedly sexually abused her starting in 1978, the year she turned 11. And recently, even Daniel’s own brother, Gen. Humberto Ortega, has begun asking for his ouster after many years of having little public presence.
I am still in touch with friends and comrades in Nicaragua who report virtually no one from the old days is with the Ortega-Murillo regime. Not just the big public figures but the people I knew and hung out there that are still around.
Politically, in the early 90s Ortega headed the most radical left faction in the FSLN, against forces headed by former vice-president Sergio Ramírez and Henry Ruiz, one of the nine Commanders of the Revolution who collectively were the leadership of the FSLN during the revolutionary years.
Once he won full control of the FSLN, he turned sharply to the right, allying with a liberal party. A key moment was his stepdaughter’s accusations, because he needed the support of other parties to avoid being stripped of his parliamentary immunity. And he got it.
After that he divvied up positions on bodies like the supreme court and elections commissions with his friends, obtained the support of the most prominent opponent of the revolution in the 1980s, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, by supporting a law that bans abortion under all circumstances whatsoever, said to be the most restrictive in the world, and other reactionary social policies.
As president he has headed what is essentially a neoliberal regime but one that tries to use ties to Moscow and Beijing to strengthen his hand against American companies and institutions. The regime had favored extractive industries and given to a Chinese company the right to build a trans-oceanic canal to compete with the one in Panama.
But it also has social programs that benefit the poor but tie them firmly to the FSLN, what we call clientelismo (“client-ism”) in Latin America. And a cautious but vaguely leftist foreign policy, as it relies on Venezuelan oil which it receives at on preferential terms.
Student protests started on April 18, after the regime announced higher social security taxes and lower benefits. They were met with gunfire, and the country exploded. The repression was led by his spouse and vice-president Rosario Murillo, who daily preaches a bizarre combination of religious and political propaganda followed by a disorderly list of government events and exhortations. This goes out M-F on an audio-only mid-day TV broadcast. This is the one following the first massacre.
If you need more convincing that it is the people rising up against a repressive, authoritarian regime, and you are intimate with the history and culture of the Latin American left, go look for the songs. Nicaragua has an extraordinary number of trovadores and cantores, and I couldn't find a single one who isn't with the movement, but also found quite a few new ones.
I know there are lots of comrades who were intensely involved with the Sandinista Revolution and it turned out to be one of the most significant experiences of their lives, as it was for me.
But we must not let sentiments or slogans imported from the past blind us. As socialists, we have a duty to tell the truth, no matter how bitter it may be.
--José G. Pérez
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