{"id":216769,"date":"2022-07-18T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=216769"},"modified":"2022-07-16T10:19:20","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T09:19:20","slug":"bogus-report-on-nicaragua-by-60-minutes-exposed-as-propaganda-from-cia-linked-national-endowment-for-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/07\/bogus-report-on-nicaragua-by-60-minutes-exposed-as-propaganda-from-cia-linked-national-endowment-for-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Bogus Report on Nicaragua by \u201c60 Minutes\u201d Exposed as Propaganda from CIA-linked National Endowment for Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

15 Jul 2022 – <\/em>Below is an open letter to 60 Minutes written by Susan Lagos, a Spanish and ESL teacher who has lived in Ciudad Dario, Matagalpa, Nicaragua for 18 years. The letter was originally posted by <\/em>The Alliance for Global Justice<\/a>. \u2014<\/em>Editors<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

[Source: havanatimes.org]<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cA 60 Minutes team [should] actually come to\u00a0Nicaragua to interview the people that live here whose lives have improved amazingly since 2007 with free universal education and health care.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dear 60 Minutes:<\/p>\n

I was appalled to see your program on Nicaragua of June 19, 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I have enjoyed many other 60 Minutes programs, but this one was totally one-sided and false.\u00a0I have lived in Nicaragua since 2004, and traveled here many times in the 1980\u2019s and 1990\u2019s.\u00a0So I have lived among people with a totally different reality than those you interviewed.<\/p>\n

The two women you interviewed are the wives of Juan Sebasti\u00e1n Chamorro and Felix Maradiaga, from among the\u00a0wealthy, closely connected with the U.S. government, who studied in U.S. universities and who speak English.\u00a0Berta Valle, wife of Maradiaga, happens to be from the family down the block from me in Ciudad Dario, Matagalpa, Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

\"Ministerio
Berta Valle and Victoria Cardenas, the wives of Juan Sebastian Chamorro and Felix Maradiaga are wealthy and connected to the U.S. government\u2014not a representative sample ofi Nicaraguans. [Source: nicaraguainvestiga.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Chamorro and Maradiaga non-profits (IEEPP and FUNIDES respectively) were funded by the\u00a0National Endowment for Democracy<\/a>\u00a0(NED), founded to do overtly what the CIA has done covertly and also by\u00a0other U.S. organizations<\/a>\u00a0like the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. foundations, and similar European organizations.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Juan
Juan Sebasti\u00e1n Chamorro [Source: wikipedia.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Felix
Felix Maradiaga [Source: genevasummit.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

The USAID has given more than half a billion dollars to Nicaraguan nonprofits like these since the Sandinistas regained the presidency in 2007. The USAID also organized and funded a destabilization plan known as RAIN (Responsive Action in Nicaragua) for the pre and post November 2021 election periods which is likely still functioning.<\/p>\n

In August 2021 the Public Prosecutor\u2019s office accused Maradiaga and Chamorro of being part of a major group conspiring with the U.S. against Nicaragua continually since 2009 and headed by Manuel Orozco Ram\u00edrez. Orozco is an associate of Creative Associates International (CAI), a global agency funded by USAID to \u201cengineer political transitions\u201d with over US$2 billion in U.S. government contracts\u00a0as reported by Mintpress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\"10+
Manuel Orozco Ram\u00edrez [Source: linkedin.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

According to the Prosecutor\u2019s Office<\/a>, Orozco was in charge of triangulating resources from international organizations to Nicaraguan pro-coup foundations, among them IEEPP, Fundaci\u00f3n Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, FUNIDES, CINCO and Movimiento Puente por Nicaragua. In turn, these organizations channeled resources to armed groups, and to gangs of communication assassins (call centers of people paid to spread lies that would favor the destabilization of Nicaragua), coordinated to overthrow the constitutional government of Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

\"Fundaci\u00f3n
Violetta Chamorro speaks before foundation. [Source: radio-corporacion.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Orozco formed a criminal group with the accused Jos\u00e9 Pallais Arana, Felix Maradiaga Bland\u00f3n, Jos\u00e9 Ad\u00e1n Aguerri Chamorro, Juan Sebasti\u00e1n Chamorro Garc\u00eda, Arturo Cruz Sequeira, Violeta Granera Padilla, Tamara D\u00e1vila Rivas and others under investigation, who received money to manage U.S. aggression against the State of Nicaragua. Likewise, they incited foreign interference in the country\u2019s internal affairs, the destabilization of the country with foreign financing and actions to discredit the legitimately elected Government of Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

The nonprofits funded by the U.S. also include pro-U.S. media that the United States not only funds but helped to found; these are used to attempt to destabilize Nicaragua with constant disinformation and lies then picked up by the U.S. corporate media.<\/p>\n

Maradiaga and Chamorro\u2019s nonprofits were involved in channeling funds for the 2018 U.S.-directed coup attempt against Nicaragua. This was a very violent three-month long attempt to get the democratically elected Sandinista government out of power\u2014many people were kidnapped, tortured and killed by U.S.-paid thugs, people\u2019s homes and government buildings were burned. People in Nicaragua are still terribly traumatized by the level of violence that took place.<\/p>\n

The reason these men were arrested in 2021 is because they\u00a0committed treason and fraud and laundered money to try to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. That is a crime in any country. It is a lie that they were pre-candidates for the November 2021 election.\u00a0They represented no party and had no followers or platform, so could not register to run.<\/p>\n

No one here would\u00a0vote for them, because they were part of the attempted coup in April-July 2018, which not only tried\u00a0to remove President Ortega, but attempted to ruin the economy by setting up road blocks everywhere that\u00a0prohibited travel to school, work, hospitals, anywhere\u2014to get past, you had to \u201cpay\u201d; Many people were captured, kidnapped, torturing, robbed and killed at these roadblocks. There is a video of Maradiaga with gun-toting thugs at a university in Nicaragua, the Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica (UPOLI), taken over in April 2018 and used as one of the headquarters for those carrying out the coup attempt.<\/p>\n

\"A
Maradiaga at the UPOLI with thugs involved in the April 2018 coup violence. [Source: afgi.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. government has, since the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, tried to control all of Latin America, but\u00a0especially Nicaragua: William Walker in the 1850\u2019s, the U.S. Marines who occupied and ran Nicaragua, including most elections between 1909 and 1933, the U.S. backed Somoza dictatorship from 1936-79, the Contra War (Nicaraguans call it Reagan\u2019s war) of the 1980\u2019s, and the neo-liberal governments in favor of the wealthy and U.S. interests from 1990 to 2007.<\/p>\n

\"\"
U.S. Marines who occupied Niaragua in 1932. They are holding the flag of captured nationalist Augusto C\u00e9sar Sandino. [Source: wikipedia.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then\u00a0we had the attempted coup, previously planned according to\u00a0Gene Sharp\u2019s theories<\/a>\u00a0and carried out by his disciples, U.S. agents, including Felix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastian Chamorro.<\/p>\n

Chamorro, nephew of U.S.-backed president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990 \u2013 1997), was chosen by the U.S. to head the Millennium Challenge Corporation under President Bola\u00f1os where he was known for giving contracts to his friends.<\/p>\n

The correction of this travesty of reporting from 60 Minutes requires a 60 Minutes team to actually come to\u00a0Nicaragua to interview the people that live here whose lives have improved amazingly since 2007 with free universal education and health care; 99.2% of homes have electricity; about 90% have running water; the best roads in the region; housing programs; more than half a million people have received a registered title to their land. The primary goal of the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity is the elimination of poverty.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo of new hospitals built recently from Nicaragua Sandino.[Source: facebook.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your team needs to see with your own eyes the truth and reality here, that this government of Daniel Ortega was elected by over 75% of voters in a legal election, with six other parties participating and nearly 300,000 people involved in making sure the election was free and fair. Why? Because the population sees that he cares about the future of the country and the well-being of its citizens.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Daniel Ortega and his supporters celebrating Ortega\u2019s 2011 election victory. [Source: stringfixer.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I bet U.S. citizens would prefer a government that uses their taxes for housing, health care and education, instead of starting conflicts all over the globe, spending more than half of the national budget on weapons and war, for the benefit of corporations that make weapons.<\/p>\n

Please let me know what you plan to do to rectify your very lopsided and false report on Nicaragua. I can be reached at swlagos@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Susan Lagos worked as a Spanish and ESL teacher for 30 years. She has lived in Ciudad Dario, Matagalpa, Nicaragua, for 18 years and lived in other Latin American nations for 16 years. Susan can be reached at swlagos@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original – covertactionmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was appalled to see your program on Nicaragua of June 19, 2022. The correction of this travesty of reporting requires 60 Minutes to actually come to\u00a0Nicaragua to interview the people whose lives have improved since 2007 with free universal education and health care; 99.2% of homes have electricity; about 90% have running water; the best roads in the region; housing programs; more than half a million people have received a registered title to their land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":216771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[2532,867,2642,2093,2738,1138,1748,1126,1050,1678,378,541,1308,2571,1112,70,1365],"class_list":["post-216769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-60-minutes","tag-anglo-america","tag-anti-imperialism","tag-central-america","tag-daniel-ortega","tag-fake-news","tag-fake-report","tag-hegemony","tag-imperialism","tag-investigative-journalism","tag-journalism","tag-latin-america-caribbean","tag-nicaragua","tag-official-lies-and-narratives","tag-telecommunication","tag-usa","tag-war-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}