The celebration, on July 16, of the 44th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Estelí, a prelude to the popular insurrection of 1979 against the Somoza dynasty, revealed the internal division of the Sandinista Front: some have declared themselves “True Sandinistas”.», other “Orteguistas” and another good part «chayistas».
Also in the city of Somoto, head of the department of Madriz, many long-standing FSLN militants reject what they call «orteguistas»and those of the Sandinista Youth on July 19, designated as “Chayistas». The latter are controlled by Rosario Murillo, who co-governs the country with Daniel Ortega.
During the celebrations for the liberation of Estelí and the triumph of the Sandinista Popular Revolution, on July 19, one could see little participation in the caravans of State vehicles, including the ambulances of the so-called White Cross, owned by the confiscated Nicaraguan Red Cross.
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Government supporters who work in government companies traveled in them, some forced to participate, and those who were brought from rural communities and neighborhoods in Estel and Somoteños. While a good part of those old guerrillas from the 70s stayed in their homes.
Internal struggle between “the historical and those of now”
Former guerrillas from Estelí, who fought to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship, admit that there are currently divisions within the red and black party.
«There are those who are faithful to compañera Rosario Murillo, out of convenience, and others (faithful) to Daniel Ortega, because the commander’s merits are recognized, while the majority who cost us the Sandinista struggle remain faithful to the statutes of our political organization, FSLN», declared José Alfredo Martínez Rocha, from Estel, who used the pseudonym “Santos” during the insurrection. He is now 59 years old, and lives in exile in Spain.
Martínez Rocha added that the internal division of Sandinism was sharpened by the paramilitary groups that call themselves the Council of Defenders of the Homeland, Codepat, organized to confront the roadblocks that arose from the anti-government protests of April 2018, and which left some 355 protesters dead and hundreds injured.
The ex-guerrilla said that many Sandinistas did not agree with the formation of these criminal forces and the groups of violent clashes of young people. «In Estelí, many young people who died in the protests of April 2018 were the sons of real Sandinista militants who fought in the guerrilla against Somoza’s guard. We express our disagreement with the brutality with which the protesters were attacked. Bayardo Arce himself admitted that Commander Ortega was wrong,” added another former combatant from the Estelian municipality of Condega, who asked not to be identified.
This person, who lost a son in the city of Estelí, during the popular uprising against the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship, said that it was necessary to remember what happened to “Chino Enoc”, Marlon Gerardo Sáenz Cruz, who was arrested and now exiled for questioning the way the FSLN is run.
For another who calls himself a “true Sandinista” and who lives in the city of Somoto, the celebrations of July 19 ceased to be a historical commemoration of the Nicaraguan people. «If you see few people go to the celebrations, because the vast majority of the people are fed up with the same speech, with the tantrums of (La Chayo) Murillo and with all the abuses of the true Sandinista militants. There those who walk are freeloaders and opportunists », he confessed.
They blame Murillo “for discarding”
Another source recalled that it was the same Rosario Murillo who ordered the disposal of those who were attacked by the roadblocks. «Those who were paramilitaries were old ex-police and Army (Nicaragua) agents and groups of historical ex-combatants who were offered 7,000 córdobas a month and even promised to help them with homes and work and then they threw them in the trash like human remains.»recriminates.
There are also those who think that those who are faithful to the presidential couple are those state officials who “live very well and take advantage” of the disorder that exists in the party, while others are forced to pay allegiance to them, as happens to state employees.
By: United Voices.
