After the tenth anniversary of the death of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the authorities of the Nicaraguan educational system issued a single order: to offer workshops on the life of the late president for a week, several teachers assured the Voice of America.
The workshops would conclude with the creation of murals in public schools in Nicaragua, something that is considered by professionals as part of a process of indoctrination that would have been taking place for some time, after the return to power of President Daniel Ortega in 2007.
Luis, a high school student who prefers not to divulge more details of his identity, assured the voice of america that the week that marked the tenth anniversary of Chávez’s death, in history classes emphasis was placed on the Venezuelan leader as a person who supposedly reduced poverty in the country, but also as an “anti-American” person.
“Basically it is the same government rhetoric that they conveyed to us,” said the Nicaraguan student.
On the website of the Ministry of Education there is also a section dedicated to Chávez and documentaries stand out, among them some produced in Nicaragua.
The academic Ernesto Medina emphasizes that “Hugo Chávez is one more chapter in this degeneration of education that is taking place in Nicaragua” which, in his opinion, seeks to “convert the educational system into the ideological base of the regime.”
And he adds that the State seeks to “indoctrinate young people through the educational system, which is fulfilling this role of inventing a story to suit the dictators of Nicaragua, indoctrinating young people so that they do not think, so that they do not investigate, so that they do not ask yourself questions about the reality that surrounds you.”
The Nicaraguan government did not respond to a request for comment from the VOA about.
“Indoctrination Is Big”
Elementary school teacher Gabriel Putoy, exiled in Costa Rica after the 2018 protests in Nicaragua, argued that indoctrination is punished or applauded in public schools.
For example, students earn points for participating in marches exalting figures like Chávez or Ortega himself, while those who refuse face consequences for their grades.
Putoy recalls that, when he was a teacher, they were forced to exalt the former president’s support for Nicaragua throughout February and part of March, which is the month in which Chávez died.
“It had to be said that thanks to Chávez and his Bolivarian revolution, the quality of life of teachers had improved and that many of the supplies that teachers were given to teach their classes were thanks to the generosity of the government,” he recalls.
According to journalistic reports and data from the Central Bank of Nicaragua, Venezuelan cooperation funds totaled at least 4,950.4 million dollars since 2007, and these resources were administered outside the law of the national budget.
“The indoctrination that there is for children is great, it is total. They are abusing the children and if the parents do not intervene it will be something regrettable, ”she assured the VOA another teacher who has worked in the Nicaraguan educational system for more than 45 years and asked to remain anonymous.
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and instagram
