The opposition has targeted public universities. Silke Perez told us how criminal elements kept her out of UNAN for 2 months. “The teachers begged them not to take over our school.” Before they were flushed out, the armed gangs burned UNAN’s childcare center and more. 
Silke Perez has been targeted with violent incitement on Facebook supporting the Sandinistas. “A month ago, I couldn’t have worn this t shirt in the street.” That’s Carlos Fonseca, Sandinista co founder, on her shirt. He was killed by Somoza’s national guard.
Very exuberant crowd out in Managua today to show support for the Sandinista govt and condemn the opposition’s failed US-backed coup attempt. Other regions could not come due to fear of opposition attacks on caravans. Crowd might have been 750k+ but still very large.
“Mentira!” New Sandinista hip hop anthem skewering the opposition’s social media manipulation and misinformation campaign. I will post some eye opening examples in the coming days.
That’s funny, from Managua today it looked like a major show of support for Sandinismo amid a failed coup by a flailing and frustrated opposition with no clear leadership or agenda beyond destabilization.
The day after the OAS voted to condemn Ortega, a sign at today’s rally dismissing it as a tool of Washington. Speakers lashed out at Mike Pence and “Narco Rubio” all day. Following a US backed soft coup, Sandinista anti-imperial rhetoric is sharper than in the past few years.
An aerial view of yesterday’s rally in Managua, Nicaragua commemorating the 39th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution. The crowd would have been larger but supporters from other regions were told to stay put for fear of having caravans attacked by opposition.
Tried to visit the Managua offices of IEEPP, a main channel for US National Endowment for Democracy/USAID money to the opposition. It was closed bc its director, Felix Maradiaga, who was at the heart of the violent unrest, was back in Washington to ask USAID for more money.
After months of chaos, bloodshed and economic damage, this year’s regime change operation in Nicaragua failed. But it looks like USAID is laying the groundwork for another round. $1.5 million for “democracy and human rights programs” announced today. laprensa.com.ni/2018/07/20/pol…
Western media paints Nicaragua’s opposition as basically peaceful, democratic victims of unprovoked repression. I visited UNAN today, a public university in Managua they occupied & ransacked. They burned this campus childcare center before they were driven out by police on 7/13.
UNAN student Melvin Lopez said the childcare center was the base of operations for armed elements supplementing student presence at the gates, where they gave media interviews. We found homemade grenades nearby, a shield, supplies trucked in by political parties like MRS.
Photos taken by armed opposition elements at UNAN of themselves burning the childcare center & the weapons cache police found.
Yahosca Juarez, a UNAN student, lamented losing the entire school year due to the coup. “This is a class war,” she said, noting many opposition students came from affluent private school UCA, while UNAN serves the poor from around the country who have no WiFi to study at home.
Inside the UNAN institute for public health, which served the local community w/birth control, OBGYN & physical therapy services. Opposition students and armed elements ransacked it from top to bottom, destroyed computers, and set up sniper towers on the third floor.
Armed opposition occupiers of the UNAN public health building gave themselves code names like “420” to organize room assignments and guard duty. Returning students we interviewed today described finding bloody clothes on the top floor, claiming torture was carried out there.
Physical therapy center at UNAN, ransacked.
When Nicaragua’s police finally decided to flush UNAN’s occupiers out, the Washington Post sent a reporter to embed inside. He didn’t note any of the damage done to the school and community, no photos of weapons. But it was all in front of his eyes. washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/…
UPOLI was the first public university Nicaragua’s opposition occupied, back in April. Leonel Morales was the student leader who welcomed the demonstrators in. When they suddenly demanded regime change days later and welcomed armed elements on campus, he denounced them publicly.
I visited Leonel Morales today. He is in the hospital in Managua going through a string of surgeries. An armed opposition affiliated gang kidnapped him at his gf’s house, tortured him, slashed and shot him, and left him for dead in a drainage ditch. He miraculously survived.
Last week, I met Leonel’s friend, Veronica Guttierez. She joined protests at UPOLI, then publicly broke ranks over calls for regime change & armed presence. Now she lives under 24/7 police guard. She & her family have been doxxed and she’s been targeted with constant incitement.
What I’ve reported so far is only the tip of the iceberg. And as usual, US and EU media displays a curious lack of interest in the destructive propensity of a US-backed opposition hellbent on regime change. Its coverage of Nicaragua’s crisis has been nothing short of a cover-up.
