[NYTr] Nica: Anti-FSLN Propaganda from Xtian Sci Monitor
 
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 17:28:25 -0600 (CST)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[The US psywarriors and propagandists have apparently decided to
crank up their Mighty Wurlitzer and the mainstream press is obligingly
all singing the same tune in unison... about how the December
referendum vote in Venezuela has given the right wing a big boost -- not
only in Venezuela, but elsewhere in the region, like Nicaragua. It's 
possible that Daniel has learned some lessons from his previous
failures to confront the lunatic right-wing US clients in Nicaragua and
their patrons. - NY Transfer]

Christian Science Monitor - Jan 3, 2008
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0103/p07s02-woam.html

Nicaraguan Opposition Resists ChC!vez's Expanding 'Revolution'

By Tim Rogers

Managua, Nicaragua -  Emboldened by the recent defeat of the
constitutional referendum to expand Hugo ChC!vez's "21st-century
socialist revolution" in Venezuela, the opposition in Nicaragua has
started to organize against what it claims is President Daniel Ortega's
similar intentions to consolidate power in this country.

Mr. Ortega, an ally of Venezuela's president, has promised to implement
his own version of "direct democracy," similar to the model of
government in Venezuela and Cuba.

The ex-Marxist leader, whose first Sandinista government battled
US-backed contras in the 1980s, has promised that his government will
deepen the country's democracy by "sharing the powers" of his
presidency with the poor people through the creation of Councils of
Citizen Power (CPCs). Opponents, however, claim that behind the
rhetoric of Ortega's "new revolution in peace" are authoritarian
pretensions similar to those of ChC!vez.

"As Venezuela showed us, unity and organization is the only thing that
can defeat the dictatorship," says Liberal lawmaker and National
Assembly leader Wilfredo Navarro.

Opposition lawmakers, who represent a majority of seats in Nicaragua's
unicameral National Assembly, yet are divided over leadership issues,
came together in December to form a new "bloc against the dictatorship"
- the first coordinated front against Ortega's government since it came
to power last January.

But the opposition bloc's silver bullet may be to reenact a stalled law
that Ortega himself devised two years ago to weaken the administration
of his predecessor, Enrique BolaC1os.

In a series of meetings over Christmas break, oppositionists agreed to
back a reform that they have long opposed to transfer some governmental
authorities from the presidency to the legislature. The reform law,
which will take effect Jan. 20 unless suspended by lawmakers, was
Ortega's original plan to consolidate power in the legislature in the
event that he couldn't regain the presidency.

Not all of Ortega's opposition is from the right. The president faces
growing opposition from many ex-Sandinistas, who fought the US-backed
Somoza dictatorship in the 1970s and say Ortega and his wife, Rosario
Murillo, are heading in a similar direction.

The president claims his government is only working to strengthen
participative democracy. "The political will of President Daniel is to
share the presidency with the people," Ms. Murillo said. "We are
servants of the people, because it's the people who are really in the
presidency. And how does this translate into daily life? Through the
creation of the Councils of Citizen Power."

Critics worry that citizen councils are being created as a parallel
government to undermine local authorities. "There is a distinction
between citizen participation [in government] and the integration of
citizens into the state," said Liberal lawmaker JosC) Paillas, head of
the legislative judicial commission. "The first is modern democracy,
the second is totalitarianism."

In many neighborhoods, the CPCs are already organized under local
Sandinista leadership. "The objective is to solve neighborhood
problems, which in our case include security, road paving, and drainage
issues; our CPC is providing a useful channel to the state and
municipal institutions," says Alistair Thirkettle, a British citizen
and longtime resident of the colonial city of LeC3n, where he joined his
local CPC. "If this all sounds very parochial, that's because it is. I
compare the CPCs here to Parish Councils in England. I remain
optimistic!" 

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