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Nicaragua warns of attempts to break international support for Sandinista government

PRESIDENT of the National Assembly of Nicaragua Gustavo Porras Cortes has warned that foreign intervention has been escalating ahead of November’s elections.

In a televised address on Telesur he said that the central American nation has been “defending itself against US aggression for over a century,” adding that the new administration of President Joe Biden “has made it a goal to attack our legitimate government.”

Mr Porras said attacks on Nicaragua were being carried out via sanctions in a bid to strangle the country’s economy — and through the funding of so-called NGOs and opposition media organisations.

“They have directly or through their respective NGOs received millions of dollars in US taxpayer money through USAid, NED (National Endowment for Democracy), IRI and other agencies, aimed at overthrowing the elected government of President Daniel Ortega,” he explained.

The Sandinista government has also reported that efforts are being made to undermine international solidarity, which are having some impact and disorientating the traditional base of support in the labour and progressive movement.

Central to this is a campaign to free former leading Sandinista Dora Maria Tellez, who was detained last week.

Ms Tellez participated in the armed struggle that overthrew the US-backed Somoza dictatorship and formerly served as health minister in the Sandinista government, but left to join the opposition Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) — now rebranded as Unamos.

MRS was founded in 1995 by disgruntled former Sandinistas who were unable to win power within the party. 

The party has claimed that it faced an electoral ban from the Nicaraguan authorities, however it had actually failed to secure more than 1.3 per cent of the popular vote, which is not enough to qualify it to run.

The party has previously received funding from the International Republican Institute — a funding arm of the US Republicans — and leading figures visited the United States to lobby for the NICA act, which placed harsh sanctions and financial restrictions on Nicaragua.

Ms Tellez has been accused of advising the US embassy, in the Nicaraguan capital Managua, on tactics to undermine the Sandinista government.

Nicaragua has pledged its commitment to “free, fair and transparent elections” in November with international observers.

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