The ruling National Union of Students of Nicaragua (UNEN), the repressive and espionage arm of the dictatorship within the country’s universities, took advantage of the student holidays to install, without a hint of complaint, what they call “new leadership.”
Those elected were appointed in various university campuses of the national secretariat to whom, as a symbol of submission, they were given the red and black scarf of Sandinism at the time of assuming their positions.
Last weekend, in the middle of the university recess, UNEN, the organization that in the past was guardian of the autonomy of the 6% of the university, but which now looks subdued and “castrated”; has remained absolutely silent in the face of the total annulment of autonomy and the manipulation of the budget for higher education.
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The official media did not even give the news coverage that they do with any other news oriented by the government spokesperson, directed by the vice-dictator Rosario Murillo, but in a brief note accompanied by photographs, they report on the “installation of new presidents of UNEN on university campuses.
The dictatorship placed the militants of the Sandinista Youth 19 of July (JS) Francisco Manuel Acuña and Angie Jaleska Wright as its youth political operators in the positions of first and second national secretary of the UNEN, respectively.
Likewise, in the university centers controlled by the Ortega-Murillo regime, they awarded the presidency of the Sandinista student movement to Francisco Enmanuel Ríos, at UNAN-Managua; Dorisell Villarreyna, at UNAN-CUR-Matagalpa; Jeremy Noe Acevedo Arias, at UNAN-CUR-Carazo; Óscar José Selva Ticay, at UNAN-Rubén Darío University Campus; Yomali Elizabeth Quinto, at BICU-Bluefields; Kathia Jennifer Méndez, at BICU-Bilwi.
While Lester Enrique Rodríguez was imposed at the National Agrarian University (UNA); Itzel Nayelyn Benavidez, at the Francisco Luis Espinoza Pineda National University (UNFLEP-Estelí); and Camilo Enrique Lara, at the National University of Engineering (UNI–Simón Bolívar Campus).
UNEN is complicit in repression in universities and the abolition of university autonomy
Years ago, UNEN was characterized as a rebellious student movement, defender of university autonomy and its budget for higher education, established in the Constitution. With Daniel Ortega in power that defense ended.
In 1995, the government of Violeta Barrios tried to interpret the 6% and asked the National Assembly to consider that amount. Immediately, the Sandinista Front, then in opposition, directed its militants in the direction of the UNEN to mobilize university students and gigantic marches took place that paralyzed the capital.
On December 13 of that year, the first major confrontation between the UNEN and the Police took place, where the first three fatalities were claimed for 6%.
In 2002, students once again took over the capital and several departments of the country due to the possibility that the Government of Enrique Bolaños would review the student budget. There were several deaths and dozens of injuries.
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That UNEN belligerence is history. On November 25, the Ortega-Murilo dictatorship promoted the approval of a total reform of the Political Constitution of Nicaragua and in it completely eliminated university autonomy.
Not a single student leader referred to the issue. More recently, on December 18, the Sandinista Executive reformed the General Budget of the Republic for the year ending and took more than 800 million córdobas from the universities. UNEN continued to remain silent. “The student movement has been subdued and castrated,” said a student who requested anonymity on that occasion.
