NicaNotes

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NicaNotes is a blog for Nicaragua activists and those interested in Nicaragua, published by the Nicaragua Network/Alliance for Global Justice. You can read more about the history of the blog on the About page.



Nicanotes: Movie Review: American Made: Reagan’s Drug Running and Drug War Featuring Tom Cruise

By John Kotula According to Rotten Tomatoes, the new Tom Cruise movie, “American Made,” opened in the US on September 27. It opened earlier, playing at the mall in Managua. Never being one to pass up air-conditioning, I went, munched popcorn and thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the Nicaraguan audience that filled the theater. Their laughter was a couple of seconds…

Take Action – Nica Act Could be Voted on Any Day Now- Contact your Representative!

The NICA Act could be scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives at any time. Act NOW to tell your Representative to vote NO! Click Here to Send a Message to Your Representative.   Dear Representative _________________,   I am writing to oppose the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act (NICA) of 2017, H.R. 1918. The result of…

NicaNotes: Act Now: Stop Congress from Passing the NICA Act as a Retirement Gift to Ros- Lehtenin!

By Chuck Kaufman Take Action Against the Nica Act Now! I have been skeptical that the NICA Act will be voted on by Congress considering how crowded the legislative calendar is and how gridlocked the two parties of the one percent are. But recently Rep. Louise Slaughter, a long-time friend of Nicaragua solidarity, told a…

Why is Nicaragua so Much Safer than the Northern Triangle Countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala?

By John Kotula To a large extent, the United States’ policy toward Central America attempts to address the intertwined problems of immigration, drug trafficking, organized criminal gangs, political corruption, and societal violence. Given these priorities, you would think that Nicaragua would be the US’s best friend, since relatively few Nicaraguans emigrate north, Nicaragua’s role in the international movement of…

Nicanotes: Of 9/11, Beethoven, and Mother Earth

By Paul Baker Hernandez “When Americans are in need. Americans pull together and we are one country.” President Trump’s words ‘honoring’ victims of September 11, 2001, and the lashings of Irma and Harvey, have all the tawdry familiarity of last year’s Halloween costume. You have to feel for comfy politicians faced with yet another random…

NicaNotes: The Image of Sandino in Nicaragua

By John Kotula Photos by John Kotula This photo essay, and the ideas that accompany it, is directed mainly to people from the US with an interest in Nicaragua. The premise here is that the image of Augusto César Sandino in Nicaragua is so omnipresent, so beloved, and so central to Nicaraguan’s self-identity that it is impossible…

NSCAG Rebuts Amnesty International Allegations

This piece was originally published on September 1, 2017 by NCSAG We have written a detailed response to Amnesty International’s recent report Nicaragua: Danger: Rights for Sale. A link to an article by AI and the report can be found here The report is largely if not exclusively based on testimony from a minority group of activists opposed…