This video from the USA says about itself:
21 May 2013
NBC and ABC news reports on the 1987 Iran-Contra scandal. The Reagan administration was guilty of selling military weapons to Iran … and then using the profits, without congressional oversight, to fund rebel fighters [supporters of the overthrown dictator Somoza, a CIA ally] in Nicaragua.
By James Tweedie in Britain:
‘Our backyard’ mentality set to return to US policy
Friday 19th May 2017
JAMES TWEEDIE speaks to Ricardo Carioni, the first secretary at the Nicaraguan embassy in London, about the grave social, economic and political consequences sanctions by the US government will visit on his country
THE US Congress has revived a bid to stifle Nicaragua’s economic growth and social progress by blocking loans from international development banks.
The Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act (Nica) was introduced into the US Congress last September — as the US was preoccupied with the election contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Its sponsors were Republican Florida congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
infamous for her links to the Scientology ‘church’
and senator Marco Rubio — another Florida Republican who lost out in last year’s presidential nominations.
Both are prominent Cuban-American advocates for the hostile US policy towards Havana — still under economic blockade.
While Nica passed a vote of the House of Representatives, outgoing president Barack Obama failed to sign off on its progress to the Senate and the legislation fell by the wayside.
Then at the beginning of April the legislation resurfaced, this time with the added support of Democratic congressman Albio Sires and some 10 other Democrats and 15 Republicans.
Without making any specific allegations — that could be refuted — Nica strongly implies that the Nicaraguan government is corrupt, undemocratic and abuses citizens’ human rights, that elections are not free or fair, that the judiciary and the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) are not independent, that there is no rule of law and that the there is no freedom of association or of the press.
The “investment conditionality” part of the NICA Act is its instruction to the US government to use its veto power at the World Bank and its 30 per cent shareholding in the Inter-American Development Bank to block loans to Nicaragua.
With Nicaragua’s foreign borrowing totalling £192 million in 2016 — for a population of just over six million — such sanctions would have serious consequences.
I asked Ricardo Carioni, the first secretary and deputy head of mission at the Nicaraguan embassy in London, about the wording of the Act.
He points out that Nicaraguan judicial appointments are approved by parliament, as was the extension of the mandate of the president of the CSE, Roberto Rivas, who was appointed by President Daniel Ortega’s predecessor Enrique Bolanos of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party.
There have been no formal corruption charges laid against any government minister. No organisations are banned and six electoral coalitions took part in the last general election in 2016 in which Ortega won by a 72 per cent landslide.
The two main newspapers, La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario, are both critical of the government — although unlike in much of Latin America this is balanced out by several pro-FSLN TV and radio stations.
Learning the lessons of the ’80s, the Sandinistas have integrated their socialist ideas with the values the Catholic church.
Nicaragua is the safest country to live in in Central America and the third-safest in all Latin America — but that could change if Nica goes through, Carioni warns.
Cutting off investment capital would threaten investment in infrastructure, energy, clean water, education, health, poverty alleviation and sexual equality.
Carioni warns it could seriously destabilise the country and sabotage the war on drugs — in which, he says, Nicaragua acts as a barrier between the narcotics-growing regions of South America and the organised crime syndicates of Mexico.
Some sources of investment would remain if the Act is passed. The Central American Bank for Economic Integration currently provides about a third of Nicaragua’s credit and the country has bilateral trade agreements with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. But the shortfall would be hard to make up.
Only the most fringe elements of the Nicaraguan opposition support Nica, Carioni points out.
But the legislation could be the first new move under the Trump administration against anti-imperialist governments in the region — and a vote-winner in the electoral swing state of Florida.
The Washington-based Organisation of American States (OAS), which late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro famously called “The US Ministry of Colonies,” expressed “concern” at the Bill’s reactivation on April 5.
Even OAS secretary-general Luis Almagro, who has led the regional offensive against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro — to whom Ortega is a staunch ally — tweeted the same day that it was “not a constructive contribution to work.”
Anti-imperialist alternative regional bloc Alba condemned the “perverse intention of placing an economic blockade on the people and government of Nicaragua, attacking the right of this brother country to welfare, security, work and peace.”
And on May 8 the general secretaries of British, Irish and international trade unions including Public Services International, Siptu, GMB, Unison, NUT, RMT and BFAWU said: “This legislation is a violation of international law and the UN Charter and reflects a pattern of historic interventionist policies in Nicaragua and Latin America by the United States.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also taken an interest in Nica.
Defense Secretary James Mattis announced at a press briefing on Friday that President Donald Trump had approved a new Pentagon plan that would escalate the war for US domination of the Middle East and North Africa: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Tuesday 23rd May 2017
posted by Morning Star in World
BRITISH trade unionists and solidarity campaigners have united in opposition to US moves to cut off international finance to Nicaragua.
Eight national and local British organisations and 128 individuals signed a statement, the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign (NSC) said yesterday.
They include Public Services International, the TUC, Unison, GMB, RMT, NUT, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. The Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act (Nica Act) was presented to the US Senate on April 27.
It implies, without evidence, that the popular Sandinista government is undemocratic and oppressive.
Introducing the act, Republican Senator Ted Cruz stated: “Nicaragua and all freedom-loving people in Central America depend on the US for leadership.”
The NSC said cutting off credit from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank would jeopardise investment in education, social programmes, electrification, roads and other infrastructure initiatives.
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-c53c-Campaigners-voice-their-opposition-to-US-bid-to-cut-off-finance-to-Nicaragua#.WSPlQtykIdU
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Wednesday 28th
posted by Morning Star in Features
Why is the most powerful nation on Earth blocking trade and investment in one of the poorest? TIM YOUNG explains
THE United States, the world’s most powerful country with the largest economy and military budget, feels easily threatened. On its legislative books is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) which authorises the president to declare the existence of an “unusual and extraordinary threat … to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States” that originates “in whole or substantial part outside the United States.”
Under its provisions, the US president can block trade and investment and freeze assets to deal with the threat.
It is this executive power that the US is once again using against one of the poorest countries in the Americas: Nicaragua.
It was previously subjected to US sanctions under the IEEPA between 1985 and 1990 when the Sandinista government fought to preserve its social and economic reforms against the US’s destabilisation campaign involving a trade embargo and the covertly funded “contra” war of terror.
Three decades later, the US is intervening again in the affairs of Nicaragua, where Daniel Ortega is serving his third term as president.
The Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act (Nica) is a rehash of legislation approved by the House of Representatives in September 2016 but unable to get Senate approval and presidential sign-off before the November 2016 presidential elections.
The legislation states that the US will oppose loans to Nicaragua unless it promotes democracy, strengthens the rule of law, and respects freedom of expression to the satisfaction of the US State Department.
The Act enables the US, which effectively has veto powers within international lending institutions, to block all loans to Nicaragua from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.
These loans, currently running at $250 million annually, are being invested in education, social programmes, electrification, roads and other infrastructure initiatives.
The reintroduction of the legislation undermines an Organisation of American States (OAS) memorandum of understanding signed with the Nicaraguan government on a joint three-year plan to “strengthen the country’s institutions,” including the monitoring of the municipal elections to be held later this year.
NICA has met with unanimous condemnation in Nicaragua by the government, trade unions, the National Assembly, the private sector and all political parties.
This attack on Nicaragua is worrying — particularly since “NICA could sail through Congress due to sheer ignorance on the part of the representatives and senators about what its effects would be,” according to Chuck Kaufman of the US-based Alliance for Global Justice.
It is of special concern given that it is part of a continuing pattern of US intervention in the region, exemplified most clearly by the its relentless campaign against Venezuela.
Since Hugo Chavez was elected president in 1998 and led the Bolivarian revolution to tackle deep-seated problems including poverty, illiteracy and income inequality, the US has consistently sought regime change through a range of interventionist methods, from sanctions and funding opposition groups through to coups.
In 2002, Washington supported an attempted coup, both before and immediately after its execution.
Its failure did not stop another major coup plot with US involvement in 2006, when Venezuelan authorities said they found evidence the US embassy in Caracas had been secretly collecting military information.
Coups, of course, need a well-organised internal opposition.
Another aspect of US intervention has been the channelling of over $100m between 2002 and 2014 to opposition groups through the National Endowment for Democracy and the US Agency for International Development.
The US has also applied economic sanctions against Venezuela, hitting state oil company PDVSA in 2011 and state arms manufacturer CAVIM in 2013.
Sanctions against specific Venezuelan officials were authorised in 2014 by the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act signed by former US president Barack Obama in December 2014.
The Act was promoted as a response to alleged human rights violations committed during the “Salida” (ousting) violent protests in Venezuela of 2014, fomented by the right-wing opposition to prompt a coup to oust the elected, constitutional president.
In March 2015, Obama issued an executive order imposing another round of sanctions, describing Venezuela as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the US.
This sparked widespread condemnation in the region, pressurising the Obama administration eventually into admitting Venezuela doesn’t pose a threat.
This has not, however, deterred the US from stepping up the use of another tool in its destabilisation kit.
Its latest move to intervene in Venezuela, the May 2017 Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance and Defense of Democratic Governance Act, not only seeks to pump $10m to Venezuela as part of a “humanitarian assistance” package but also looks to provide funding for efforts to undermine Nicolas Maduro’s government.
The cash is for “democracy promotion” — $500,000 for work with the OAS to observe elections and $9.5m for work directly or through NGOs on human rights, supporting independent media and open internet access and combating corruption.
The Act aims to support the move by OAS secretary general Luis Almagro to invoke the Democratic Charter against Venezuela to force it, in Almagro’s words, to “return to a democratic path.”
The Act instructs the US secretary of state to use its permanent mission to the OAS to “take additional steps” to help Almagro in his quest.
Almagro’s move was denounced by Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research in Washington DC, as “a public relations stunt to support the Venezuelan opposition’s current efforts at regime change in Venezuela,” and indeed OAS member states rejected the move.
However, Venezuela is acutely aware of the danger of renewed interventionism, and therefore announced in April 2017 that it would withdraw from the OAS because of Almagro’s continued attacks against it.
Whether the motivation is the lure of Venezuela’s massive oil reserves or Nicaragua’s renewed “threat of a good example” through sustained progressive reforms, Donald Trump’s US has both countries in its interventionist sights.
On Tuesday July 4 Tariq Ali will be joined by former Labour MP Colin Burgon, National Union of Teachers former general secretary Christine Blower and others from 6.30pm at ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London, SE1 1DR for an emergency solidarity event against Donald Trump’s sanctions on Venezuela and Nicaragua. Tickets and information at http://bit.ly/tariqontrump.
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-3c95-Nicaragua-is-once-again-in-sights-for-US-intervention#.WVPgPVFpwdU
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Friday 28th July 2017
posted by James Tweedie in World
THE US Congress opened debates yesterday on punishing left-wing Nicaragua with a block on development loans for up to five years.
House of Representatives foreign affairs committee chair Ed Royce scheduled debate on a new draft of the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act (Nica) from Florida Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Mr Royce led the charge in Tuesday’s Congress vote for new sanctions on Russia — over election meddling claims — that will force European countries to buy expensive US gas.
Nica could block 70 per cent of funding for infrastructure and social programmes in the Central American nation.
The text of the Bill trots off US State Department claims that democracy, the rule of law and freedom of association and expression are under threat in Nicaragua since the re-election of Sandinista President Daniel Ortega in 2007.
It directs the president, State Department and Treasury to instruct its directors on the boards of international finance institutions to block any loans to Nicaragua until it complies with US demands — or for five years after the act is passed.
While the list of development banks includes those in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the most crucial are the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Despite US claims to be defending Mr Ortega’s opponents, almost all opposition parties oppose the Bill which the government says would reverse years of strong economic growth.
Even Washington-based Organisation of American States (OAS) secretary Luis Almagro, who has led attacks on Nicaragua’s ally Venezuela, said Nica was “not a constructive contribution to work.”
Earlier this week US ambassador to Nicaragua Laura Dogu said she believed Congress would pass Nica as Managua “does not have many friends in Washington for the support it gives to Venezuela.”
She said the Ortega government had been “speaking even stronger than Venezuela itself in favour of Venezuela.
“It is normal for a country to do it for itself, but not for another to do so.”
Ms Ros-Lehtinen first introduced Nica last September, ahead of Mr Ortega’s landslide election victory that November.
It passed a vote of Congress but outgoing president Barack Obama did not sign off on its progress to the Senate before leaving office.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-6684-US-Congress-mulls-punishing-Nicaragua-for-staying-left#.WXt9wFFpwdU
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Saturday 29th July 2017
posted by James Tweedie in World
NICARAGUA reasserted its claim to historical reparations totalling £13 billion from Washington on Thursday after the US approved a Bill to stifle development there.
The House foreign affairs committee approved the amended Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act (NICA), drafted by Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democrat Albio Sires.
The Bill seeks to use the US veto power over international finance institutions to block development loans to Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista-led Reconciliation and National Unity government.
Ms Lehtinen claimed Mr Ortega’s election was fraudulent and demanded changes to the electoral system.
And in cold war-style rhetoric, she indicated the true motives lay beyond Nicaragua’s borders.
“Let us not forget that Ortega invited Russians into Nicaragua, has let them set up operations there to undermine US national security interests,” she said.
“It is Ortega who has been leading the charge at the Organisation of American States to undermine our efforts to hold the Venezuelan regime accountable.”
Mr Ortega’s government responded swiftly, condemning NICA as “the continuation of the historical United States policy of imperial interference in Nicaragua.”
The statement said Nicaragua had launched legal proceedings to recover the unpaid reparations awarded by the International Court of Justice at The Hague in 1986.
The compensation was for US backing of Contra death squads against the Sandinista government and direct action, including the 1983 CIA bombing of the country’s only oil pipeline.
“The Nicaraguan state will demand the right of our country to be recognised today, with resources that will be used to promote peace, democracy and development,” it said.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-18f2-Nicaragua-calls-for-imperialist-US-to-pay-up#.WXxQDVFpwdU
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