2018: U.S.-Led Failed Coup Attempt

In April 2018, protests began that were ostensibly against proposed reforms to the social security system. It quickly became obvious, however, that the protests were an attempt to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. Armed opposition groups set up hundreds of roadblocks which paralyzed the country and became epicenters of violence. The roadblocks lasted for nearly three months, some 270 people were killed, and many more injured. While opposition sources blamed the government for nearly all deaths, a careful study by the Nicaraguan Truth, Justice and Peace Commission showed otherwise. Journalists’ investigations have shown that the U.S. government was funding the violence through US Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI) – all “soft arms” of the CIA.

Although the U.S. was funding the attempted ousting of Nicaragua’s democratically elected Sandinista government, the Catholic Church hierarchy in Nicaragua was instigating it. You can read first-hand accounts of priests initiating violence, including in neighborhoods of Ciudad Sandino, here. While the Bishop’s conference was supposedly “mediating” a national dialogue, its own priests were calling for violence. At these “roadblocks of death,” as they came to be known, Sandinista supporters were identified, beaten, raped, tortured and murdered – with priests watching and sometimes participating in the violence.

Although hundreds were arrested and convicted of violent crimes in 2018, opposition demanded the release of what they called “political prisoners.” In the interests of peace and reconciliation, the Nicaraguan government declared a general amnesty and freed everyone who had been charged in conjunction the attempted coup, including known murderers, on the condition that they not reoffend.

RAIN: a CIA regime change plan

A USAID regime change document was leaked to independent Nicaraguan journalist, William Grigsby in July of 2020 from the U.S. embassy. RAIN, or Responsive Assistance in Nicaragua is a contract to oversee what it refers to as a “transition” – a word used more than thirty times in the document. Much of the recent U.S. destabilization activity has likely been under this plan, including the actions taken by criminals who were arrested in the lead-up to general elections in 2021.

2023: Convicted Criminals Deported to the U.S.

In February 9, 2023, 222 convicted criminals traveled to Washington by agreement with the U.S. government, in a plane provided by the U.S. These 222 received U.S. monies directly or indirectly, through nonprofits or businesses, to manage U.S. aggressions against the State of Nicaragua. Many of them conspired with the U.S. embassy in Managua. Most of them were involved in the 2018 US-directed coup attempt that left 270 people dead. They were planning further actions in the run-up to Nicaragua’s 2021 elections when they were arrested.

Nicaragua gave an amnesty in June 2019 to hundreds of those found guilty of crimes, with the caveat that no further crimes be committed. But after the coup attempt, these 222 continued to direct destabilization actions, or they financed and managed actions with money from U.S. taxpayers. They have been deprived of Nicaraguan citizenship because of their traitorous crimes. Deprivation of citizenship exists in most national legal systems including the U.S. and UK.

U.S. Financing Terrorism, NGOs & “Human Rights”

Where did the U.S. money come from and what was it used for? Money from agencies funded by the US government was used in three main ways:  To finance media terrorism; To create so-called NGOs or nonprofits which, for example, trained young people to overthrow their own government; To create or sustain so-called “human rights” organizations (for more on this, see the page on Human Rights). Funds were directed through agencies like USAID, the NED and others.

USAID alone provided US$315,009,297 from 2014 to 2021; the biggest years, of course, were 2017 and 2018 with a total of US$100 million to nonprofits and “human rights” organizations.

Since 2007, when the Sandinistas returned to the presidency, the U.S. helped create and fund media not just to disinform Nicaraguans but to fool U.S. citizens. This funding helped create a subversive front of Nicaragua-based newspapers, television stations, radio stations, websites, news agencies, and social media pages, whose sole purpose was and is to attack the Sandinista government, while pretending to be “independent.”  The U.S. corporate media reprinted the false propaganda narrative created by this media front in Nicaragua. Thus, the news that most people in the US get about Nicaragua is effectively created and paid for by Washington.

A complementary use of U.S. funding was to set up NGOs and “think tanks,” which provided incomes for opposition figures, promoted their views and “research,” and enabled creation of training schemes aimed at young Nicaraguans. Kenneth Wollack, now chairman of the state-funded National Endowment for Democracy, bragged to the US Congress on June 14, 2018, that these U.S.-funded bodies had trained 8,000 young Nicaraguans to take part in the uprising.

Nicaragua and International Law

Nicaragua wins ICJ case against U.S.

On June 27, 1986, the World Court condemned the United States for illegal war and aggression against Nicaragua and ordered the US to compensate Nicaragua for damages, estimated to run to US$17 billion dollars, what today would be more than US$55 billion.

On the anniversary of that ruling in 2023, President Daniel Ortega demanded that the US fulfill its obligation: “On June 27, 1986, the International Court of Justice condemned the US and directed it to compensate Nicaragua for all damages caused as a consequence of military activities against Nicaragua. In a situation of armed aggression such as that carried out by the US, no amount of reparations – neither economic nor moral – could compensate for the devastation of the country, the loss of human lives and the physical and psychological wounds of the Nicaraguan people. The Court decided that the United States had a legal obligation to make economic reparations to Nicaragua for all the damages caused.”

The President continued, “The compensation due to Nicaragua remains unpaid… Instead of receiving compensation as is morally and legally due, Nicaragua continues to be the object of a new form of aggression, which consists of sanctions and an attempted coup d’état.”

Strategies for Development Despite Sanctions

In 2018, the same year of the coup attempt, the US passed a first round of sanctions called the Nica Act. Then, under President Joe Biden, more sanctions were passed called “RENACER.” Currently, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) have introduced a new bill to reauthorize and amend the previous sanctions making them even harsher.

All of these sanctions are illegal coercive measures and the US applies them not because Nicaragua has done something wrong, but exactly because Nicaragua is using the riches it produces for the social welfare of its people and not acting as a US colony. Sanctions have the biggest effect on the poor and vulnerable.

Nicaragua is developing new relationships of respect with many other countries: in particular, China, Russia and Iran. Russia has helped Nicaragua develop vaccine production such as the influenza vaccine now produced locally. Cooperation with China began in December 2021 when Nicaragua recognized that there is only one China. Nicaragua and China have signed a free trade agreement which entered into effect in January 2024. China has donated more than 500 buses to Nicaragua.

Nicaragua Defending Palestine

Nicaragua is an example to the world how to defend human rights without resorting to the destruction of war or sanctions. Nicaragua doesn’t just talk about the international rule of law, it makes use of the structures that exist for the purpose of holding countries accountable for their actions. Nicaragua not only won its case against U.S. in the ICJ in 1986 and has used the World Court more recently to resolve maritime border disputes with Colombia. It is also the first country to join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice in support of holding the government of Israel to account for its violations of the Genocide Convention in Gaza. On March 1, 2024, Nicaragua filed suit against Germany in the ICJ for sponsoring genocide in Gaza.