Today’s the 39 anniversary of the Sandinista revolution. Managua is out to celebrate the apparent defeat of a soft coup that paralyzed #Nicaragua. I’m here to document a side of the story omitted by Western media. A thread follows on some of what I’ve learned. Vid & print later.
Yesterday I visited Radio Ya, private leftist radio station that is top rated in Managua and supplied social services to locals regardless of their politics. It was burned to the ground by the opposition. 22 staffers escaped with their lives.
Staff of @nuevaya work out of a small makeshift office now. Those working the night shift must sleep in to avoid right-wing violence. “We are hunted by hit men,” station director Denis Schwartz told me. Its sports reporters were recently accosted by gunmen on motorcycles.
.@nuevaya’s Schwartz told me he informed the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights about the torching of his station by opposition militants and they ignored him. He said me & my colleagues @danielmkovalik & @ThomasHedgesTRN are the first Western reporters to interview him.
Nicaragua’s armed opposition burned down this cooperative bank, which serves Managua’s poor & working class and is named for Hugo Chavez. The records and accounts of ~100k people are now in jeopardy. A targeted campaign of violence has been waged against the public sector.
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John McCain dedicated his career to palling around with Nazis and jihadists - anyone he could recruit as front line proxies in America’s regime change wars. My obit of the late senator for @Consortiumnews: consortiumnews.com/2018/08/27/the…
If the paeans to McCain's "human decency" seem detached from reality, that’s because they perfectly reflect the elite view of American military interventions as a game of chess, and the millions of dead left in the wake of the West’s unprovoked aggression as mere statistics.
Left this out of my obit but it's worth mentioning: John McCain led the charge for dispatching *US ground troops* to hasten the destruction of Yugoslavia cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/st…
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.
In dialogue with Nicaragua’s Sandinista govt, #SOSNicaragua leaders have demanded Ortega leave or else. As the push for a coup enters a new phase, the US prepares to attack Nicaragua’s economy as it’s done to Venezuela. miamiherald.com/news/nation-wo…
In Western media accounts of Nicaragua's crisis, vital context almost always seems to be missing. Ortega rejected an IMF austerity plan that would have privatized health clinics & raised the retirement age. And he's since rescinded his own proposal. miamiherald.com/news/nation-wo…
In case #SOSNicaragua’s putschist intentions weren’t clear enough...
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Ahead of his US visit, Saudi's Mohammed bin Salman scores a 30 minute commercial for himself and his token social reforms from @60Minutes. Yemen is only briefly mentioned and described merely as a "quagmire."One softball after another from @NorahODonnell: cbsnews.com/news/saudi-cro…
MBS's interviewer, @NorahODonnell, is pals with the Gulf operative who functions as his top advocate in Washington: UAE ambassador Yousef Otaiba. Hard to image Otaiba didn't play a role in coordinating the @60Minutes commercial for MBS. washingtonlife.com/2011/05/02/lif…
The @HarbourGRP is the main PR firm operating on MBS's behalf in Washington. It is run by Richard Mintz, a friend of Otaiba's who also has the UAE account. The @60Minutes puffing of MBS reflects the massive UAE/Saudi investment in Beltway think tanks & PR. theintercept.com/2017/11/05/wha…
There is clear evidence that the US is arming and training the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion in Ukraine, despite congressional efforts to cut off aid. In 2016, a French neo-Nazi was arrested after returning from an Azov camp w/ a massive arsenal & terror plans. therealnews.com/t2/story:20942…
Congress finally cuts off US arms shipments to the Ukrainian neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. A long overdue measure by @RepRoKhanna and a rebuke to the neocons who claimed these Nazis were a figment of the Kremlin's imagination. thehill.com/policy/defense…
For cutting off US arms to literal Nazis in Ukraine, @RepRoKhanna has come under attack by a former Donald Rumsfeld aide who accuses him of being duped by a "classic KGB tactic." You oppose giving heavy weapons to Nazis? You're a Russian bot! thehill.com/opinion/intern…