Make Them Hear You

 [Español abajo]

Our son Coury’s spring recital included operatic and classical vocal numbers, followed by some musical theater songs. And then he introduced his last set by commenting that the songs in the first two sets were written by people with wealth and power.  His last set was composed of the people’s music and he sang Latin American revolutionary pieces.  His encore was “Make Them Hear You” from Ragtime and tears rolled down my face.

Michael Coury Murdock

As I listened to his rich deep voice, I thought, "I don’t know how you make Them hear you.". Powerful music makes you think.

Justice fighters through the ages struggle with this concept.  Sometimes they pick up arms like many who sang those revolutionary pieces Coury sang.  Sometimes they pick up pens and write poems, books, speeches, and songs pouring out their passion for justice and freedom like Victor Jara or León Gieco.

 

Sometimes justice fighters are lucky to have a charisma that transcends time like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., that can motivate people to march, get beaten up and thrown in jail, and keep on.

photo: Casa Benjamin Linder mural of Gandhi

But for me… little old me… I am at a loss.

With our choices, we tried to teach our children the passion for  justice and they sometimes amaze us with their kindness, bravery, and insight.  With our work and lives we tried to teach the CDCA's volunteers the love of justice… but who knows?  Some we are close to and know their concerns for the world; but most, I think, they just went on with their lives.

Try as I might, I do not know how to make Them hear me.

With no volunteers around to try to teach, I write.  I attempt to explain about trying to stand with the poor in Nicaragua… and the vast majority of the poor side with the current Nicaraguan government… and yet, even people who know us accuse us of supporting a “dictator.” 

The world's habitat and creatures of beauty created by the Divine are dying.  The government here prioritizes responding to climate change while SCOTUS strips the EPA of its power, and yet I cannot make others see that if you side with the Divine then you must side with those protecting the creation of the Divine… as Nicaragua does.

But I can't make Them hear me.

THEY are spewing lies, insanity, hatred, and yes, fascism.  Their voices are so loud and so prevalent because THEY have the power and wealth   WE need to lift all our voices. We have to make them hear us. We HAVE to… and I honestly have no idea how.

-Kathleen 

Please join us and also share on your social media.

Donate here to the ongoing work of the CDCA with the poor in Nicaragua:

https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jhc-cdca 

[English above] 

El recital de primavera de nuestro hijo Coury incluyó números vocales de ópera y clásicos, algunas canciones de teatro musical y presentó su último set comentando que las canciones de los dos primeros sets fueron escritas por gente con riqueza y poder.  Su último set estaba compuesto por música del pueblo y cantó piezas revolucionarias latinoamericanas.  Su bis fue "Make Them Hear You", de Ragtime, y se me saltaron las lágrimas.

Mientras escuchaba su rica y profunda voz, pensé: "No sé cómo hacer que te escuchen". La música poderosa te hace pensar.

Los defensores de la justicia a través de los tiempos luchan con este concepto.  A veces cogen las armas, como muchos de los que cantaron esas piezas revolucionarias que cantaba Coury.  A veces toman el lápiz y escriben poemas, libros, discursos y canciones derramando su pasión por la justicia y la libertad como Víctor Jara o León Gieco.

 

foto: argentina.gob.ar - León Gieco

A veces los luchadores por la justicia tienen la suerte de tener un carisma que trasciende el tiempo como Gandhi y Martin Luther King, Jr. que puede motivar a la gente a marchar, a recibir golpes y a ir a la cárcel, y a seguir adelante.

foto: mural en la Casa Benjamin Linder

Pero para mí... la pequeña y vieja yo...no tengo idea.

Con nuestras decisiones, intentamos enseñar a nuestros hijos la pasión por la justicia y a veces nos sorprenden con su bondad, su valentía y su perspicacia.  Con nuestro trabajo y nuestras vidas intentamos enseñar a los voluntarios del CDCA, el amor por la justicia... pero ¿quién sabe?  A algunos los tenemos cerca y conocemos sus preocupaciones por el mundo; pero la mayoría, creo, simplemente siguieron con sus vidas.

Por mucho que lo intente, no sé cómo hacer que me escuchen.

Al no haber voluntarios para tratar de enseñar, escribo.  Intento explicar cómo tratar de estar al lado de los pobres en Nicaragua y la inmensa mayoría de los pobres están del lado del actual gobierno nicaragüense... y sin embargo, hay personas - y personas que nos conocen - que nos acusan de apoyar a un “dictador''. 

El hábitat del mundo y las criaturas de belleza creadas por el Divino están muriendo.  El gobierno de aquí prioriza responder al cambio climático mientras el Corte Supremo de los Estados Unidos despoja a la Agencia de Protección Ambiental de su poder y sin embargo no puedo hacer ver a los demás que si te pones del lado del Divino entonces debes ponerte del lado de los que protegen la creación de la Divinidad...como se hace en Nicaragua.

Pero no puedo hacer que Ellos me escuchen.

Ellos están vomitando mentiras, locura, odio, y sí, fascismo.  Sus voces son tan fuertes y prevalecen porque ELLOS tienen el poder y la riqueza que NOSOTROS necesitamos para levantar todas nuestras voces. Tenemos que hacer que nos escuchen. TENEMOS que hacerlo... y sinceramente no tengo ni idea de cómo.

-Kathleen 

Assembly of People Into Giving a Sh*t: Can We See the Divine in People Who Look Different to Us?

 FYI: Assembly of People Into Giving a Sh*t (PIGS) is what Mike and I will name our church, if we ever start one.  The name will weed out a whole bunch of people that care more about language than action.

[Español Abajo] 

Six years ago, Mike and I were fortunate to join our dear friends, Nora and Becky, in Italy for the month of May.  Our last few days were spent in Rome. Mike and I slowly went through the Vatican looking at all the glitz and wealth that overflowed.  We walked out to go into St. Peter’s Basilica and there on the right was Michelangelo’s Pieta.

Mary holding her broken boy on her lap.  Mike and I just stood speechless.  People moved around us and talked in hushed tones but for me, I just stared and tears rolled down my cheeks.  The beauty and pain on Mary’s face.  Giving birth to three sons, I could not imagine holding one of them on my lap dead and crucified… the tears fell faster.

Mary and Jesus were sculpted to look caucasian.  It seems that we who are white find it easier to identify with those who look like us.  The Renaissance painters certainly thought so.  All those white Jesuses, white Marys, and white Gods.

On our last Advent banner we have a Haitian woman holding her baby to represent LOVE.

JHC Advent banner - LOVE

Her skin and her child’s skin are dark as the night…and when on that first Purisima we were told we needed to put up an altar because the community would be expecting it.  We put up our Love banner because she was the only “Madonna” we had here in Nicaragua.  Whether they objected because she was holding a baby or had dark skin… no one would admit, but our Mary was declared “not suitable.” (We still used the banner.)

Because we have such a bias in our art, it makes it hard for others of different skin tones, different facial structure and different hair to identify with the Divine, but more importantly - we who are white fail to see the Divine in people who look “different” to us.

If Mary were depicted all over the United States as our Mary is on our banner, do you think we could whip Haitians from horseback without thought or feeling, people just trying to come to a safe place?

If Jesus crucified were depicted everywhere for hundreds of years as a black man, do you think slavery in the South and lynchings would have happened? Or that Europeans would have carved Africa up like a jigsaw puzzle to make themselves rich?

If Jesus were painted and sculpted as a semite…as a Jew…do you think Nazi Germany would have felt so free to exterminate 6 million Jews?

When we identify with others…when we see the Divine in others…then we can understand that they love as deeply as we do.  That they want the best for their families as deeply as we do. That they want their world to be peaceful as deeply as we do.

Would a sculpture of a poor Mexican mother holding her dead son’s body on her lap after being murdered by a cartel bring us to tears?

That Mexican mother is Mary all over again, and her son is a son of God as well.  Would we cry?  Would I cry?

For God so loved the WORLD…

Not the white people…not even just the humans…but the WORLD.

Can we do less?

- Kathleen 

Please join us and also share on your social media.

Donate here to the ongoing work of the CDCA with the poor in Nicaragua:

https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jhc-cdca 

Michelangelo's pieta - Shutterstock licensed image

PSI: Asamblea de Personas A Quienes Les Importe Un Carajo (PIGS) es lo que Mike y yo llamaremos a nuestra iglesia, si es que alguna vez fundemos una. El nombre eliminará a un montón de personas que se preocupan más por el lenguaje que por la acción.

[English above] 

Hace seis años, Mike y yo tuvimos la suerte de unirnos a nuestros queridos amigos, Nora y Becky, en Italia durante el mes de mayo. Nuestros últimos días los pasamos en Roma. Mike y yo pasamos lentamente por el Vaticano mirando todo el brillo y la riqueza que se desbordaba. Salimos para entrar en la Basílica de San Pedro y allí, a la derecha, estaba la Piedad de Miguel Ángel.

María sostiene a su niño muerto en su regazo. Mike y yo nos quedamos sin palabras. La gente se movía a nuestro alrededor y hablaba en voz baja, pero yo solo miraba fijamente y mis lágrimas rodaban por las mejillas. La belleza y el dolor en el rostro de María. Al dar a luz a tres hijos, no podía imaginarme sosteniendo a uno de ellos en mi regazo muerto y crucificado… las lágrimas cayeron más rápido.

María y Jesús fueron esculpidos para parecer caucásicos. Parece que a los blancos nos resulta más fácil identificarnos con quienes se parecen a nosotros. Los pintores del Renacimiento ciertamente pensaban que sí. Todos esos Jesús blancos, Marías blancas y Dioses blancos.

En nuestro último banderín de Adviento hay una mujer haitiana sosteniendo a su bebé para representar el AMOR.

Su piel y la piel de su hijo son oscuras como la noche ... y cuando en esa primera Purísima nos dijeron que teníamos que levantar un altar porque la comunidad lo estaría esperando. Pusimos nuestra pancarta de Amor porque ella era la única “Madonna” que teníamos. Ya sea que se opusieron porque tenía un bebé en brazos o porque tenía la piel oscura ... nadie lo admitiría, pero nuestra María fue declarada “no apta.” (Todavía usamos el banderín).

Debido a que tenemos tal sesgo en nuestro arte, es difícil para otras personas de diferentes tonos de piel, diferente estructura facial y diferente cabello identificarse con lo Divino, pero lo más importante es que nosotros los blancos no vemos lo Divino en las personas que lucen “diferente” a nosotros.

Si María fuera representada en todo Estados Unidos como nuestra María en nuestro banderín, ¿crees que seríamos capaces de azotar a los haitianos a caballo sin pensar ni sentir, personas que intentaban nada más llegar a un lugar seguro?

Si Jesús crucificado hubiera sido representado en todas partes durante cientos de años como un hombre negro, ¿crees que habrían sucedido la esclavitud en el sur de los EEUU y los linchamientos? ¿O que Europa habría dividido África como un rompecabezas para hacerse ricos?

Si Jesús fuera pintado y esculpido como un semita ... como un judío ... ¿crees que la Alemania nazi se habría sentido tan libre de exterminar a 6 millones de judíos?

Cuando nos identificamos con los demás ... cuando vemos lo Divino en los demás ... entonces podemos entender que ellos aman tan profundamente como nosotros. Que quieren lo mejor para sus familias tan profundamente como nosotros. Que quieren que su mundo sea tan pacífico como nosotros.

¿Nos haría llorar una escultura de una madre mexicana pobre sosteniendo el cuerpo de su hijo muerto en su regazo después de ser asesinado por un cartel?

Esa madre mexicana es María otra vez, y su hijo también es un hijo de Dios. ¿Lloraríamos? ¿Lloraría yo?

Porque tanto amó Dios al mundo…

No la gente blanca ... ni siquiera los seres humanos ... sino el MUNDO.

¿Podemos hacer menos?

- Kathleen

Únase a nosotros y también comparta en sus redes sociales.

Done aquí al trabajo continuo de la CDCA con los pobres en Nicaragua:

https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jhc-cdca 

Under Pressure

[Espanol abajo]

In 2015, every time our son, Coury, would walk into the hospital and look at my vitals, he would say, “I wish I had gotten your blood pressure and not Papaw's”.  I have always had low blood pressure my whole life, until later that same year…

Starting that July and before Thanksgiving, our family had a year from hell...I almost died; my dad did die; then my brother died; I broke my rib in a car accident; and my mother had a stroke.  Now I was home here in Nicaragua and we went to see an immunologist because I now had no spleen…(the me almost dying part).

Before the appointment, I had just found out that Mama was taking a turn for the worse.  We met with this baby who “claimed” to have gone to medical school (OK! Yes! I have become one of THOSE people) who first took my blood pressure.  Then this child who had just been potty trained had the audacity to announce I had high blood pressure.  How dare he! 

Needless to say, my blood pressure numbers never did go back down in his office.  I have since learned that when I get stressed or upset, my blood pressure spikes.

Why am I sharing this with you?

I had some really stressful months in 2015; can you imagine what my blood pressure would be if I lived in Nueva Vida:

• Wondering if we have enough to feed the children tomorrow?

• Wondering if we have enough to buy wood to cook what food we might have to feed the children tomorrow?

• Wondering what will happen to our mother as she grows more and more frail?

• Wondering if the gangs are going to bother my family?

• Wondering if someone is going to get sick in the household maybe with COVID?

My blood pressure would be a million over a million!  It is a miracle that EVERY patient we see in our Nueva Vida Health Clinic does not have hypertension.

In 2018, twenty-five percent of the deaths in Nicaragua were due to cardiovascular disease.  Most cardiovascular disease and strokes are due to hypertension.

Nicaragua has the highest CVD mortality rate in Central America.  Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, has the highest prevalence of hypertension among various other Central‐American capitals with men having higher blood pressures than women.  Women have more awareness of the issue of hypertension.

The Ministry of Health is doing a much better job than past administrations did of identifying and getting medicine to people with hypertension, but with sanctions imposed and an embargo threatened, who knows the levels of suffering that are on the rise? More stress...higher blood pressure….more deaths..

In our clinic we commit to providing care and medicine monthly to 140 plus patients with NCD.  Hypertension is a large percentage. 

We wish we could provide this level of care for all the patients but we do not have the funds.  At least those 140 patients can rest easier at night knowing they will have the medicines they need.

- Kathleen

 

[English above]

En 2015, cada vez que nuestro hijo Coury entraba al hospital y miraba mis signos vitales, decía: "Ojalá hubiera heredado tu presión arterial y no la de Papaw.” Siempre he tenido la presión arterial baja toda mi vida, hasta más tarde ese mismo año ...

A partir de ese mes de julio y antes del Día de Acción de Gracias, nuestra familia tuvo un año de pesadilla ... Casi me muero; mi papá murió; luego murió mi hermano; Me rompí una costilla en un accidente de carro; y mi madre sufrió un derrame cerebral. Ahora estaba en casa aquí en Nicaragua y fuimos a ver a un inmunólogo porque ya no tenía bazo…(a raíz del incidente donde casi me muero).

Antes de la cita, acababa de enterarme de que mamá estaba empeorando. Nos reunimos con este doctor bebé que “afirmó” haber ido a la escuela de medicina (¡OK! ¡Sí! Me he convertido en una de ESAS personas) que primero me tomó la presión arterial. Entonces, este niño que acababa de aprender a ir al baño tuvo la audacia de anunciar que tenía la presión arterial alta. ¡Como se atreve!

No hace falta decir que mis cifras de presión arterial nunca volvieron a bajar en su oficina. Desde entonces he aprendido que cuando me estreso o me molesto, mi presión arterial se dispara.

¿Por qué estoy compartiendo esto contigo?

Tuve algunos meses realmente estresantes en 2015, ¿se imaginan cuál sería mi presión arterial si viviera en Nueva Vida?

• ¿Se pregunta si tendremos suficiente para alimentar a los niños mañana?

• ¿Se pregunta si tenemos suficiente para comprar leña para cocinar cualquiera comida que tendremos para alimentar a los niños mañana?

• ¿Se pregunta qué le pasará a nuestra madre a medida que se vuelva cada vez más frágil?

• ¿Me pregunto si las pandillas van a molestar a mi familia?

• ¿Se pregunta si alguien se va a enfermar en el hogar tal vez con COVID?

¡Mi presión arterial sería de un millón sobre un millón! Es un milagro que TODOS los pacientes que vemos en nuestra Clínica Nueva Vida no tengan hipertensión.

En 2018, el veinticinco por ciento de las muertes en Nicaragua se debieron a enfermedades cardiovasculares. La mayoría de las enfermedades cardiovasculares y los accidentes cerebrovasculares se deben a la hipertensión.

Nicaragua tiene la tasa de mortalidad por ECV más alta de Centroamérica. Managua, la capital de Nicaragua, tiene la mayor prevalencia de hipertensión entre varias otras capitales centroamericanas, donde los hombres tienen presión arterial más alta que las mujeres. Las mujeres tienen más conciencia sobre el tema de la hipertensión.

El Ministerio de Salud está haciendo un trabajo mucho mejor que el de las administraciones anteriores en la entrega de medicamentos a las personas con hipertensión, pero con sanciones impuestas y un embargo amenazado, ¿quién sabe los niveles de sufrimiento que están aumentando? Más estrés ... presión arterial más alta ... más muertes ...

En nuestra clínica nos comprometemos a brindar atención y medicamentos mensualmente a más de 140 pacientes con enfermedades crónicas, la hipertensión es un gran porcentaje.

Deseamos poder brindar este nivel de atención a todos los pacientes, pero no tenemos los fondos. Al menos esos 140 pacientes pueden descansar mejor por la noche sabiendo que tendrán los medicamentos que necesitan.

- Kathleen

NOTE: If you are reading this blog using the mobile version, click on "web version" to see the full blog with all the features including "subscribe to blog by email".  

Please join us and also share on your social media.

Donate here to the ongoing work of the CDCA with the poor in Nicaragua:
https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jhc-cdca 

What if it happened like this in the U.S.?

 We have had a good many people to write us and ask us what in the world is going on in Nicaragua as they read all the international reporting. This is our attempt at trying to put the recent arrests in a way that people living in the United States might better understand.  We are finding that if we do comparisons, that other people can maybe get a feeling of what this little nation that we love so much is doing.

First let us explain some before we get to the comparisons between Nicaragua and the U.S.

1.  USAID and other U.S. government entities have sent astronomical sums of money to NGOs in Nicaragua, a poor country of only 6.5 million people. A comparison of the wealth of the two countries makes the figures even more outrageous. Nicaragua’s GDP is around $12 billion, while the GDP of the US is around $21 trillion—that makes the U.S. economy more than 1,750 times larger than Nicaragua’s. We multiplied the figures of money sent to Nicaragua by 1,750 to show what an equivalent sum would mean in the U.S. in the comparisons below.

2.  When we compare populations we have adjusted this way... Nicaragua has 6.5 million people, the U.S. has 331 million. Nicaragua's population is only 1.9% of that of the U.S., so our numbers below have been adjusted proportionately. (Source: https://afgj.org/u-s-cries-foul-because-nicaragua-stops-it-from-buying-this-years-elections)

What if Russia sent $281 billion to U.S. non-governmental organizations?

That is the equivalent - adjusting for the country's GDP - of what has happened in Nicaragua since 2015. USAID has sent $160,586,742 to Nicaraguan NGOs mainly for “independent media” and “democracy and citizenship training for youth.” 

What if Russia put $17.5 billion into Fox News, Breitbart and Infowars?  

That is the equivalent of what has happened in Nicaragua since 2009. USAID has spent at least $10 million on opposition media outlets for "media strengthening programs." Many of these outlets are extremely well-funded fringe operations with no more journalistic integrity than Alex Jones.

What if, instead of just one day, the January 6^th attack on the Capitol, had stretched to months of daily violent protests, and the insurrectionists had set up road blocks effectively paralyzing the country, leading to the loss of 6.2 million jobs? What if we later found out the insurrectionists had been funded by China?

In 2018 Nicaragua went through a similar scenario when opposition protests turned violent, then armed groups set up roadblocks throughout the country that became epicenters of violence, including torture and murder. The roadblocks crippled the economy and caused the loss of 130,000 jobs, which was catastrophic for Nicaragua. The opposition and its media apparatus blamed the government for the violence but police and Sandinistas were targeted and attacked, and now investigations are showing who was funding this violence in Nicaragua – the U.S. government.

What if the Q-Anon Shaman were let out on a general amnesty for all those involved in the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, then he declared he wanted to be President of the United States and travelled to China to openly lobby its government to put economic sanctions on the U.S. and was arrested for treason on his return? Would the headlines read "Biden Regime Arrests Presidential Candidate?"

This is essentially what is happening in Nicaragua. On June 8, Felix Maradiaga was charged with violating the laws against treason and arrested. “Maradiaga, a Harvard-educated Aspen Fellow who is a long-time recipient of NED funds through his own NGO, became notorious during the 2018 coup attempt as one of the masterminds of the violence. He benefited from the amnesty granted by the government in 2019 to all those involved in crimes related to the 2018 violence, and since then he has been traveling to the U.S. and international organizations, openly advocating for sanctions to be imposed on his country.” (Source: Rita Jill Clark-Gollub)

What if the Trump Foundation had received $12.3 billion from Russia?* What if, when asked how that money had been spent, Eric Trump refused to provide an accounting of the funds, announced the closure of the Foundation, transferred remaining Foundation funds into his personal bank account, declared he wanted to be President of the United States and when charged with money laundering, he disputed that by saying the Trump Foundation had already been audited by Russia and they found no malfeasance? 

This is what has happened in Nicaragua.  Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of former President Violeta Chamorro and Director of the Chamorro Foundation, has been charged with money laundering and placed under house arrest after refusing to account for the at least $7 million the Foundation received from U.S. government bodies in recent years which was allegedly channeled to opposition media outlets. Chamorro has been accused of transferring funds from the Foundation account into her personal bank account. She disputed the charges against her with this statement, “The US State Department rejected the charges of money laundering against the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation based on audits they conducted that did not find evidence of money laundering or diversion of funds.”

But what is the current situation really like for average Nicaraguans? Let's keep the comparisons going for better understanding.

 What if free health care were a right for every U.S. citizen? It is for every Nicaraguan, from general care, chronic and specialized care, medicines, exams, kidney dialysis and cancer treatment.

What if only 23,170 people in the U.S. had died from COVID? That's 7 per 100,000 people, the number that have died in Nicaragua, according to a new study by U.S.-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation that calculates COVID deaths adjusting for "excess" deaths. 

What if every U.S. citizen had the right to a free education from preschool all the way through college and graduate school? Every Nicaraguan has that right.

What if every U.S. worker was given one month’s paid vacation, 13 paid holidays, an extra month's pay each year, and pregnant women were mandated two months of paid maternity leave? Every Nicaraguan worker has these rights.

What if 50% of all candidates for public office in the U.S. were women? Nicaraguan law requires it. In fact, Nicaragua ranks 5th overall in the world for gender equality, 1st in women heading government ministries, 3rd in the world for political participation of women, and first out of 153 countries for educational attainment and health and survival. (Source: World Economic Forum and UN Women)

What if the U.S. deeded all lands west of the Rockies to First Nations? In recent years the Nicaraguan government has titled a full one-third of its territory to 300 Indigenous communities to be communally owned and managed.

What if 80% of the US population received a government subsidy to cover 45% of their electrical bill? 80% of Nicaraguans do.

What if 84% of the electricity the U.S. produced were renewable? 84% of Nicaragua's energy production is renewable.

What if 26.5 million U.S. citizens were given title to houses or land? In Nicaragua half a million people have been titled land or homes since 2007, either new to them or family land that had lacked legal title.

What if police forces in the U.S. were demilitarized and trained in a community policing model? Nicaragua's largely unarmed police force works with young people to promote a culture of peace which includes home visits to at-risk youth, community counseling sessions, organizing and running sports programs, teaching vocational classes, technical training, GED programs and even financing start-up businesses together with at risk youth.

These phenomenal improvements to quality of life are the reasons that Nicaraguans support the government – a recent poll showed that 77% of the population believe the Sandinista government is working for the good of the general population of Nicaragua. But the U. S. government is committed to overthrowing the will of the people – as we know from a leaked U.S. State Department paper (RAIN), which laid out how the U. S. government would fund NGOs and opposition leaders to overthrow, how they would use gangs to disrupt the peace and safety of the citizenry, and how they would declare the election a fraud, among other distasteful actions.

The last 150 years of Nicaraguan history is filled with examples of the U. S. interfering in Nicaragua's affairs.  It continues. 

We do not believe that the U. S. government would stand by and do nothing if it were Russia or China doing the same thing to them. Do you?

  – Kathleen Murdock &
Becca Mohally Renk
Jubilee House Community

NOTE: If you are reading this blog using the mobile version, click on "web version" to see the full blog with all the features including "subscribe to blog by email".  

Please join us and also share on your social media.

Donate here to the ongoing work of the CDCA with the poor in Nicaragua:

https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jhc-cdca 

What if it happened like this in the U.S.?

We have had a good many people to write us and ask us what in the world is going on in Nicaragua as they read all the international reporting. This is our attempt at trying to put the recent arrests in a way that people living in the United States might better understand.  We are finding that if we do comparisons, that other people can maybe get a feeling of what this little nation that we love so much is doing.

First let us explain some before we get to the comparisons between Nicaragua and the U.S.

1.  USAID and other U.S. government entities have sent astronomical sums of money to NGOs in Nicaragua, a poor country of only 6.5 million people. A comparison of the wealth of the two countries makes the figures even more outrageous. Nicaragua’s GDP is around $12 billion, while the GDP of the US is around $21 trillion—that makes the U.S. economy more than 1,750 times larger than Nicaragua’s. We multiplied the figures of money sent to Nicaragua by 1,750 to show what an equivalent sum would mean in the U.S. in the comparisons below.

2.  When we compare populations we have adjusted this way... Nicaragua has 6.5 million people, the U.S. has 331 million. Nicaragua's population is only 1.9% of that of the U.S., so our numbers below have been adjusted proportionately. (Source: https://afgj.org/u-s-cries-foul-because-nicaragua-stops-it-from-buying-this-years-elections)

What if Russia sent $281 billion to U.S. non-governmental organizations?

That is the equivalent - adjusting for the country's GDP - of what has happened in Nicaragua since 2015. USAID has sent $160,586,742 to Nicaraguan NGOs mainly for “independent media” and “democracy and citizenship training for youth.” 

What if Russia put $17.5 billion into Fox News, Breitbart and Infowars?  

That is the equivalent of what has happened in Nicaragua since 2009. USAID has spent at least $10 million on opposition media outlets for "media strengthening programs." Many of these outlets are extremely well-funded fringe operations with no more journalistic integrity than Alex Jones.

What if, instead of just one day, the January 6^th attack on the Capitol, had stretched to months of daily violent protests, and the insurrectionists had set up road blocks effectively paralyzing the country, leading to the loss of 6.2 million jobs? What if we later found out the insurrectionists had been funded by China?

In 2018 Nicaragua went through a similar scenario when opposition protests turned violent, then armed groups set up roadblocks throughout the country that became epicenters of violence, including torture and murder. The roadblocks crippled the economy and caused the loss of 130,000 jobs, which was catastrophic for Nicaragua. The opposition and its media apparatus blamed the government for the violence but police and Sandinistas were targeted and attacked, and now investigations are showing who was funding this violence in Nicaragua – the U.S. government.

What if the Q-Anon Shaman were let out on a general amnesty for all those involved in the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, then he declared he wanted to be President of the United States and travelled to China to openly lobby its government to put economic sanctions on the U.S. and was arrested for treason on his return? Would the headlines read "Biden Regime Arrests Presidential Candidate?"

This is essentially what is happening in Nicaragua. On June 8, Felix Maradiaga was charged with violating the laws against treason and arrested. “Maradiaga, a Harvard-educated Aspen Fellow who is a long-time recipient of NED funds through his own NGO, became notorious during the 2018 coup attempt as one of the masterminds of the violence. He benefited from the amnesty granted by the government in 2019 to all those involved in crimes related to the 2018 violence, and since then he has been traveling to the U.S. and international organizations, openly advocating for sanctions to be imposed on his country.” (Source: Rita Jill Clark-Gollub)

What if the Trump Foundation had received $12.3 billion from Russia?* What if, when asked how that money had been spent, Eric Trump refused to provide an accounting of the funds, announced the closure of the Foundation, transferred remaining Foundation funds into his personal bank account, declared he wanted to be President of the United States and when charged with money laundering, he disputed that by saying the Trump Foundation had already been audited by Russia and they found no malfeasance? 

This is what has happened in Nicaragua.  Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of former President Violeta Chamorro and Director of the Chamorro Foundation, has been charged with money laundering and placed under house arrest after refusing to account for the at least $7 million the Foundation received from U.S. government bodies in recent years which was allegedly channeled to opposition media outlets. Chamorro has been accused of transferring funds from the Foundation account into her personal bank account. She disputed the charges against her with this statement, “The US State Department rejected the charges of money laundering against the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation based on audits they conducted that did not find evidence of money laundering or diversion of funds.”

But what is the current situation really like for average Nicaraguans? Let's keep the comparisons going for better understanding.

 What if free health care were a right for every U.S. citizen? It is for every Nicaraguan, from general care, chronic and specialized care, medicines, exams, kidney dialysis and cancer treatment.

What if only 23,170 people in the U.S. had died from COVID? That's 7 per 100,000 people, the number that have died in Nicaragua, according to a new study by U.S.-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation that calculates COVID deaths adjusting for "excess" deaths. 

What if every U.S. citizen had the right to a free education from preschool all the way through college and graduate school? Every Nicaraguan has that right.

What if every U.S. worker was given one month’s paid vacation, 13 paid holidays, an extra month's pay each year, and pregnant women were mandated two months of paid maternity leave? Every Nicaraguan worker has these rights.

What if 50% of all candidates for public office in the U.S. were women? Nicaraguan law requires it. In fact, Nicaragua ranks 5th overall in the world for gender equality, 1st in women heading government ministries, 3rd in the world for political participation of women, and first out of 153 countries for educational attainment and health and survival. (Source: World Economic Forum and UN Women)

What if the U.S. deeded all lands west of the Rockies to First Nations? In recent years the Nicaraguan government has titled a full one-third of its territory to 300 Indigenous communities to be communally owned and managed.

What if 80% of the US population received a government subsidy to cover 45% of their electrical bill? 80% of Nicaraguans do.

What if 84% of the electricity the U.S. produced were renewable? 84% of Nicaragua's energy production is renewable.

What if 26.5 million U.S. citizens were given title to houses or land? In Nicaragua half a million people have been titled land or homes since 2007, either new to them or family land that had lacked legal title.

What if police forces in the U.S. were demilitarized and trained in a community policing model? Nicaragua's largely unarmed police force works with young people to promote a culture of peace which includes home visits to at-risk youth, community counseling sessions, organizing and running sports programs, teaching vocational classes, technical training, GED programs and even financing start-up businesses together with at risk youth.

These phenomenal improvements to quality of life are the reasons that Nicaraguans support the government – a recent poll showed that 77% of the population believe the Sandinista government is working for the good of the general population of Nicaragua. But the U. S. government is committed to overthrowing the will of the people – as we know from a leaked U.S. State Department paper (RAIN), which laid out how the U. S. government would fund NGOs and opposition leaders to overthrow, how they would use gangs to disrupt the peace and safety of the citizenry, and how they would declare the election a fraud, among other distasteful actions.

The last 150 years of Nicaraguan history is filled with examples of the U. S. interfering in Nicaragua's affairs.  It continues. 

We do not believe that the U. S. government would stand by and do nothing if it were Russia or China doing the same thing to them. Do you?

 – Kathleen Murdock &
Becca Mohally Renk
Jubilee House Community

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