Word: sandinista
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...government - which recently trumpeted the creation of "revolutionary defense committees" that opponents call Cuban-style organs for spying on citizens - control over even private media content. In Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega wants to require all private media to employ only reporters affiliated with the journalism guild controlled by his Sandinista Party. Anyone else caught practicing the profession in Nicaragua would be considered illegal and subject to criminal punishment. (Read about Obama's challenges in Latin America...
Speaking of a changing world, in the book you describe some long-lost food practices that are making comebacks. When we traveled to Nicaragua, a local chef knew we were coming. He had heard about this cheese Nicaraguans used to make, which died with the Sandinista movement 30 years ago. It's a fresh cheese they hung in the jungle, and it would become infested with maggots, and then they would eat it - it was an increased protein source. So this chef did the same thing, and we show up and cut into it, and there's maggots crawling...
...make that point even clearer, each tree is now topped with an illuminated "30" to mark the 30th anniversary of the victory of The Sandinista National Liberation Front over the repressive U.S.-backed Somoza dynasty. Nicaragua's continual Christmas theme is also appropriate because President Ortega governs Nicaragua a bit like Santa Claus. Not because he is jolly or has a tummy like a bowl full of jelly (Ortega is very serious and has kept in remarkably good shape for a 63-year-old), but because the Sandinista boss uses gifts to keep people in line, and always double checks...
...some, it's a bit too much. Gonzalo Carrion, of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, is a bit of a Grinch when it comes to the Christmas trees. He says the thousands of light bulbs burning brightly each night are an offense to the thousands of impoverished Nicaraguans - Sandinistas included - who can't afford to light their own homes. "There is a lack of ethics in all this," he said. "The Christmas trees don't project the image of a humble party of the poor." The continual Christmas celebration is also symptomatic of a country "full of poets...
Critics claim the Sandinistas' continued faux holiday cheer - whether it be waving flags around the Christmas trees in traffic circles, or throwing rocks at the opposition - epitomizes the ruling party's intolerance and fear. Sandinistas, however, claim it's democracy in action. "In Paris, if you get a million people in the streets it's called French democracy; but here if we put 10,000 Sandinistas in the streets it's viewed as violence or aggression," lamented presidential advisor Orlando Nunez.The Sandinistas insist the trees - and everything else they do - is a celebration of a historic moment in time...