Discover the threads of the plot against Nicaragua.

247, with Granma, by Francisco Arias Fernández - In 2016, or perhaps earlier, threats of war against Nicaragua were once again heard from Miami, at a time when the streets of that nation's cities were a regional example of security, peace, and prosperity, where a very hardworking and peaceful people proudly displayed the socioeconomic progress of the last years of the Sandinista government, which had achieved national harmony after the worst war experiments of the United States in Central America.

Without any justification, and when the news from Nicaragua in the world was the mega-project of a large interoceanic canal, fundamental to the country's economy and global navigation, the congressmen between Miami and Washington, who thrive on the war against Cuba and Venezuela, endeavored to create all kinds of obstacles to reverse the prosperity and calm of the homeland of Augusto César Sandino.

Cuban-origin congressmen in the House of Representatives, first, and then in the Senate, introduced a bill in 2016 to prevent international financial loans from entering Nicaragua, hinder foreign investment, and curb the significant socioeconomic development that the country was experiencing. This imperial punishment, born from the worst of the anti-Cuban gusanera (counter-revolutionary group), where, according to various sources, it began to be plotted in 2015, resorted to the worn-out pretext of the supposed lack of democracy; it justified itself as a "remedy" to "guarantee electoral transparency and combat corruption." The result of this dirty maneuver was the "Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act of 2017" (Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act of 2017, NICA Act).

Ileana Ros, Albio Sires, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, among others—the most retrograde and depraved elements of Congress, from Miami, Texas, and New Jersey—have once again bet on reinventing the Contras and bringing down the Sandinista government, which has more than once demonstrated convincingly at the polls that it has the support of the vast majority of the people.

As a subversive project, its threads extend far beyond the Capitol, with legislators and mobsters knocking on the doors of the coup machine made in the USA, outlining guidelines for the media campaign, and commissioning actions from agencies and organizations specializing in dirty war and "soft" coups, which work together and on behalf of the intelligence community in general and the CIA in particular.

In this specific case, international media outlets documented the participation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), as well as their branches or subsidiaries, which had been working meticulously, since Daniel Ortega's election itself, to reinvent the "new leadership," selectively attaching themselves to or infiltrating key sectors of the economy, youth, students, medium and small business owners, environmental groups, feminists, among others, to undermine the Sandinismo's support base.

It is very revealing that on April 16th of this year, following the same script as the anti-Cuban congressmen, the USAID administrator, Mark Green, announced that his government will continue to support the "free, safe and genuine" participation of Nicaraguan civil society, after stating that "the United States is watching with concern the closing of democratic spaces in Nicaragua, the systematic violations of human rights and the spread of government corruption...".

In March, Congresswomen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Albio Sires sent a letter to Administrator Green, urging the U.S. government to reverse its proposed "zero aid" decision to Nicaragua through USAID for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. However, they urged him to "avoid supporting private sector members linked to corruption, money laundering, and the Daniel Ortega regime."

In late 2008, media outlets reported that USAID had disbursed at least one million dollars in Nicaragua that year to NGOs, radio stations, and political organizations such as the Center for Communication Research (CINCO) to "influence" municipal elections.

At that time, it was denounced that this funding, disguised as "small donations" that supposedly should not exceed $25, was part of a large-scale plan that the US was financing and that, since that date, internal agents of the Nicaraguan right wing had been executing to overthrow the government of President Daniel Ortega.

The media strategy at the time, designed to confront the Sandinista government through the media, was executed through two funding channels: one directed by USAID and the organization Casal & Asociados (C&A), and the other, supplemented by the so-called Common Fund, from the Europeans, which were used to launch campaigns and mobilizations to destabilize the government.

Previously, in 2008, Nicaraguan media outlets had identified at least 14 subversive USAID projects underway throughout the country, with varying degrees of coverage and headlines, all of which had benefited from the aforementioned funding.

Another significant piece of the American machinery is the National Democratic Institute (NDI), an instrument for "change," another CIA arm responsible for the much-mentioned "empowerment" of so-called "agents for change" (political and systemic) in countries where governments are not to Washington's liking.

A Swedish journalist, referring on June 4th to the European tour undertaken by three Nicaraguan students to gather support for the plot against the Sandinista government, stated that at least one of the young women represented an organization funded and created by the United States.

It was stated that Jessica Cisneros, active in issues of integration and youth participation in political processes, is a member of the Civic Youth Movement.

Another of the "agents" who were spreading hatred towards Sandinismo and supporting the coup is Yerling Aguilera, from the Polytechnic University (Upoli) of Managua and a specialist in investigations on the revolution and the feminist movement, who – according to the Swedish journalist – was also an employee and consultant at the Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policies (Ieepp) in Nicaragua, an organization that works to "strengthen the capacity of political, state and social actors for a better-informed public through creative and innovative services." Ieepp received support from the National Foundation for Democracy (NED), amounting to $224.162 between 2014 and 2017.

Between 2014 and 2017, NED disbursed approximately $4,2 million in Nicaragua.

USAID, NDI, and NED have extensive activity in Nicaragua, with thousands of activists trained to "change society," hundreds of NGOs, universities, and political parties that receive money and materials for the plot, which they conceived not through traditional political organizations, but through stealthy or phantom ones, to give the impression of "spontaneous explosions" of discontent or condemnation, and to disguise the true hegemonic interests of the North.

Although they increased their activity after Daniel Ortega's electoral victory in 2006, from 2015 until now (coinciding with the origins of the NICA Act) US agencies have expanded their financial and other support to their "agents for change" in Nicaragua, especially through leadership courses and money for young people in universities, schools, NGOs and political parties.

To politically, diplomatically, and through the media, support the coup plotters, Washington ordered the demonization of Daniel Ortega and his government. This endeavor involves not only the White House, its agencies, allies, satellites, and mercenaries, but also the major information monopolies and global fabricators of lies, magnifying internal events against the government and blaming the authorities for all kinds of human rights violations, completely omitting the crimes and destruction committed by those empowered by USAID, NDI, NED, and the CIA, who thwarted dialogue and calls for peace. As in the case of Venezuela, Donald Trump and his advisors, hawks of a thousand invasions, do not believe in dialogue or agreements, and continue to bet on war on all fronts.

Nicaragua has returned to the epicenter of the US warmongering machine, at the hands of anti-Cuban congressmen, other mafiosos, and veteran hawks. Washington is trying to replicate its strategy at the cost of more deaths and destruction on the streets of Nicaragua.

Learn about USAID's subversive projects in Nicaragua.

Citizen participation in the electoral process

- Fostering a culture of transparency among Nicaraguan youth.

- Empowering young communication students to produce stories that promote self-efficacy.

Multimedia for democratic governance

Strengthening the civic rights of women and young people in the Masaya region.

Legal Framework for Citizen Action for journalists.

Active participation of Nicaraguan citizens in their right to vote.

Get to know the tentacles of NDI.

- Since 2010, it has partnered with Nicaraguan universities and civil organizations to conduct a youth leadership program that has helped prepare more than two thousand "youth leaders." It has also worked to increase the political influence of women, LGBT people, and electoral processes.

The Civic Youth Movement (MCJ) is an organization funded, created, and a constituent part of the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

Several members of the group are graduates of the Certification in Leadership and Political Conduct (CLPM) program.

Translation by José Reinaldo Carvalho for Resistance