Abstract
This chapter outlines contemporary threats to democracy in Nicaragua and introduces our analysis of the nation’s growing authoritarianism, plans for the construction of a highly controversial interoceanic canal and aspects of the government’s discursive and communications strategies. It draws on recent work produced under the banner of agnotology and considers attempts to produce public ignorance as dimensions of the Nicaraguan government’s strategy for the evasion of criticism and the consolidation of power. We argue that such strategies must be understood in racialized and colonial terms that highlight historical relationships between Nicaragua’s mestizo elites and its indigenous and Afro-descendant populations. In this context of expanding authoritarianism, many Nicaraguans are engaging in diverse forms of media activism that challenge and disrupt the government’s struggles for hegemony.
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Notes
- 1.
Daniel Ortega’s reelection in 2011 and 2016 violates Article 147 of the Nicaraguan Constitution.
- 2.
Principally, $3,400 million received from Venezuela is not included in the national budget (Univisión Noticias 2015). The dramatic collapse of oil prices and death of Hugo Chávez have stemmed the flow of aid.
- 3.
Since returning to power in 2006, the FSLN has removed 33 elected mayors and vice mayors from power, stripped four National Assembly deputies of their seats and removed six territorial presidents elected by their communities in accordance with autonomy legislation. In all cases, either no reason or only highly suspect ones have been provided (García Peralta 2015; Redacción Central/Trinchera de la Noticia 2015; Villareal and Silva 2016).
- 4.
‘Therapeutic abortion’ refers to procedures arising from rape, incest, or risks associated with childbirth that endanger the life of the mother.
- 5.
According to Transparency International, the country’s ‘score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean)’. (Nicaragua scores 27 on this scale.) Among all Latin America and Caribbean nations, only Haiti and Venezuela achieved poorer scores. Complete results for 2015 are available here: http:/www.transparency.org/cpi2015#results-table (see also Silva 2016).
- 6.
As Circle of Blue’s Keith Schneider (2015) reports, four chapters of the ESIA were submitted to a panel of independent scientists, who characterised its scientific conclusions as ‘indefensible’, ‘implausible’, ‘wrong’ and ‘not realistic’. At present, as the panel report notes, Lake Nicaragua is not deep enough to accommodate large cargo ships and will require extensive dredging to increase its depth to almost 30 metres. The excavation project would also create 1.1 billion metric tonnes of silt that would need to be dumped outside of the dredging channel. It could potentially raise oxygen levels to the point where no fish could survive. It is not even certain, particularly in light of Nicaragua’s growing drought susceptibility, that there is sufficient water supply to accommodate the two monumental locks that the project requires. ERM’s ESIA is available on the HKND website at http://hknd-group.com/portal.php?mod=view&aid=293. The response from the independent panel is available here: http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Nicaragau-FIU-Panel-Summary.13-April-2015-Final.pdf.
- 7.
In January 2015, China and Latin America held their first ever ministerial level meeting, the China-CELAC forum, in Beijing. The meeting aimed to strengthen economic cooperation between the two regions, and was attended by four presidents and 20 foreign ministers. It is worth noting, as MRS deputy Enrique Sáenz (2016) points out, that there was no representation from Nicaragua, nor was the canal project even mentioned.
- 8.
Available at https://www.facebook.com/larry.montenegrobaena?fref=ts&ref=br_tf# (our translation).
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Cupples, J., Glynn, K. (2018). Introduction: Democracy and Authoritarianism in Nicaragua. In: Shifting Nicaraguan Mediascapes. SpringerBriefs in Latin American Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64319-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64319-9_1
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