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Idiot Democrats like Bernie Sanders, John Kerry and Tim Kaine
helped create this despot and dictator that is ruining
Nicaragua.

from https://thehill.com/opinion/international/398657-the-silence-of-the-left-on-nicaragua-is-deafening

On Nicaragua, the silence of the left is deafening
BY KEN BLACKWELL, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 07/24/18 05:30 PM EDT 160THE
VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

On Nicaragua, the silence of the left is deafening

© Getty Images
In recent weeks, Nicaragua has descended into violence and chaos.
Driving that collapse has been the long-held Marxist, dictatorial
instincts and brutal tactics of its president, Daniel Ortega.

He has a long record, and he was also leader of Nicaragua in the 1980s,
famous for his Soviet-backed revolution, his opposition to the United
States and his ability to get leading political and religious voices on
the left to take up his cause — even in the United States.

Vice President Mike Pence and the State Department have recently
denounced Ortega’s tactics, but the American and religious left has been largely silent. Interesting, since Ortega is a monster they helped create.


Throughout the 1980s, support of Nicaragua’s Soviet-aligned Sandinista
regime was the darling of leftist Americans, left-wing American
politicians and those around the world who sought to harmonize
Christianity and Marxism through liberation theology.



Despite the Sandinista’s overt Soviet, Cuban and East German ties,
despite the fact that it imprisoned 10 times more political prisoners
than the regime it overthrew, despite its destructive fiscal policies
that shattered his country’s economy, Ortega’s regime received sympathy
and support from many in the United States, including Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.), New York Mayor Bill De Blasio and former Secretary of
State John Kerry.

Even Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) sought out a prominent Sandinista priest in Nicaragua. The priest was later killed while invading Honduras as part
of a Sandinista invasion force led by a protégé of Che Guevara.

John Kerry flew to Nicaragua with Tom Harkin and returned touting a
peace plan with the Sandinistas that undermined President Reagan’s
foreign policy.

Bernie Sanders toured Nicaragua in the 1980s, offering his support to
the revolution, and sought to bring that revolution home, stating,
“Vermont could set an example to the rest of the nation similar to the
type of example Nicaragua is setting for the rest of Latin America.”

Even after the Sandinistas were voted out, Bill De Blasio kept the flame
alive. According to the New York Times:

“In the cramped Lower Manhattan headquarters of the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, where he volunteered, Mr. de Blasio learned
to cause a stir. He and a ragtag team of peace activists, Democrats,
Marxists and anarchists attempted to bring attention to a Central
American cause that, after the Sandinistas lost power in a 1990
election, was fading from public view. ‘The Nicaraguan struggle is our struggle,’ said a poster designed by the group.”

It wasn’t just Americans who fell for the Sandinista’s Siren song.

Cambridge’s Cold War historian Christopher Andrew wrote about the
leftist love affair with Nicaragua: “the Sandinistas had inspired ‘a renewal of the belief in the possibility of a revolution.'"

Leftist religious leaders flocked to Nicaragua, too. Latin American
journalist Alejandro Bermudez wrote that the Sandinista Revolution “also represented the dream of liberation theologians, for it was their
opportunity to put their theology into action. These theologians really
were in control.”

Today, we forget liberation theology’s Soviet connections and Marxism’s dismal economic and human rights track record in Nicaragua and elsewhere.

Politicians who shilled for the Sandinistas in the 1980s should have
condemned their human rights violations then, and certainly should do so
now. Having manned the ramparts with the Sandinistas in the 1980s, Bill
De Blasio, Bernie Sanders, John Kerry and Tim Kaine cannot maintain
silence on this matter and moral credibility too.

Religious figures — especially those who supported Ortega in the 80’s – should also speak out against his clear violations of human rights.

But the opposition to this Marxist-Christian hybrid has faded from
memory to such an extent that many at the Vatican today support Marxist governments, even while denouncing America’s free-market economy. Some
in today’s Vatican are also seeking to revive liberation theology, which Ortega has long espoused.

The pope has condemned the campaign of violence, but despite a bishop
being wounded and attacks on churches, including one where the Vatican’s nuncio was present, the Vatican declined to file a diplomatic protest.

The killing of protesters, the burning alive of a family inside their
home and his dictatorial clinging to power have deep roots in the
repressive regime he created with the cover of the Soviet-supported
merger of Marxism and Christianity.

Neither the political nor the religious left can be credible if they
refuse to denounce Ortega now.

It’s time for them — and all of us — to learn that Marxist governments generally do produce one equality of outcome: They violate everyone’s
human rights, no matter how much they dress themselves up in faux theology.

Ken Blackwell is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human
Rights Commission. He has served on the Board of the International
Republican Institute and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

TAGS BERNIE SANDERS JOHN KERRY TOM HARKIN MIKE PENCE TIM KAINE POLITICS AMERICAS SANDINISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
DANIEL ORTEGA NICARAGUA
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