Commentaries

• Author: Julio Martínez
• Published date: 01 November 2021
• Date: 01 November 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X211038552

Morris / COMMENTARY 23

testing ground for many of the most repressive tactics that the Ortega admin-

istration has deployed against the protest movement. For example, the state’s

redistribution of private property to its political supporters reflects a similar

practice of allowing landless farmers to occupy black and indigenous commu-

nal lands, producing a slow land grab that has displaced thousands of indige-

nous people and resulted in the deaths of dozens of indigenous community

leaders.5 Moreover, black and indigenous activists have long argued that the

FSLN does not rely solely on violent political repression but has instead mas-

tered the art of soft authoritarianism through a complex strategy of co-optation,

patronage, “consensus” governance, and intervention in local politics.6 In

short, the political repression that Nicaragua is currently experiencing has been

the norm for black and indigenous communities on the coast for some time,

and therefore they can offer key insights into what the “new normal” under the

Ortega administration might hold for the country.

Thus far, the opposition—like nationalist movements of the past—has been

unable to meaningfully address the political concerns of black and indigenous

communities. While it might be argued that Ortega’s dominance of the political

system and the likelihood that he will—by hook or by crook—win the 2021

presidential elections make these questions politically insignificant, I would

suggest that they are essential. As black and indigenous activists have argued,

imagining a future beyond the Ortega regime is only half the battle; to be a truly

representative national struggle, this movement must come to terms with the

everyday racism of Nicaraguan politics that, as Simmons points out,7 has been

the “normal” state of affairs for far too long.

Notes

1. https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AMR4392132018ENGLISH.PDF.

2. https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2021/05/19/consejo-supremo-electoral-de-nicaragua-can-

cela-personeria-a-partido-que-serviria-de-vehiculo-a-una-faccion-opositora/.

3. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-52716064; https://www.npr.

org/2021/05/12/996122094/citizens-work-to-expose-covids-real-toll-in-nicaragua-as-leaders-

claim-success.

4. https://forum.lasaweb.org/files/vol49-issue4/Nicaragua-3.pdf.

5. https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2015/12/21/nacionales/1957861-indigenas-viven-reino-

del-terror; https://www.confidencial.com.ni/opinion/2018-evitar-una-crisis-humanitaria-

caribe/.

6. Julie Cupples and Kevin Glynn, Shifting Nicaraguan Mediascapes: Authoritarianism and the

Struggle for Social Justice (Cham: Springer, 2018); Edmundo Jarquín etal. (eds.), El régimen de

Ortega: ¿Una nueva dictadura familiar en el continente? (Managua: PAVSA, 2016).

7. Shakira Simmons, “Grito por Nicaragua, un grito desde la Costa Caribe.” LASA Forum 49

(4): 32–36, 2018.

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X211041129

Julio Martínez

New York, NY

Cruz-Feliciano’s essay aptly describes the political context that brought

Ortega back to power and led to the Nicaraguan social and political upheaval