NICARAGUAAugust 4, 2020
Document exposes new US plot to overthrow Nicaraguas elected socialist
govt
A disturbing new document outlines plans for a US regime-change scheme
against Nicaraguas elected leftist government, overseen by USAID, to bring
about a market economy and a purge of Sandinistas.
By Ben Norton
A newly released document exposes a US government operation to overthrow the
democratically elected socialist government in Nicaragua.
The plot is administered by the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), a regime-change vehicle that uses the pretense of
humanitarian aid to advance Washingtons aggressive foreign-policy
interests.
The document (PDF) details the creation of a new task order called
Responsive Assistance in Nicaragua (RAIN) and its plan for Nicaraguas
transition to democracy a euphemism for removing the leftist Sandinista
Front for National Liberation (known commonly by the Spanish acronym FSLN)
from power.
In the pages, the US government agency uses hardline neoconservative
rhetoric, referring to Nicaraguas elected government as the Ortega
regime, and making it clear that Washington wants to install a neoliberal
administration that will privatize the economy, impose neoliberal reforms,
and purge all institutions of any trace of the leftist Sandinista movement.
The USAID regime-change scheme states openly that one of its top mission
goals is for Nicaragua to transition to a rules-based market economy
based on the protection of private property rights.
The document concludes by calling for the future US-installed regime in
Nicaragua to rebuild institutions and reestablish the military and
police; to dismantle parallel institutions that support the Sandinista
Front; and to persecute FSLN leaders through transitional justice measures
in other words, a thorough purge of the Sandinista movement to prevent it
from ever returning to power.
In case it was not explicit enough that Washingtons goal was regime change,
the 14-page USAID document employed the word transition 102 times,
including nine times on the first page alone.
USAID declared its intention to assist in what could be an orderly
transition or a sudden transition without elections, which is clear code
for a coup. At the same time, it acknowledged that Nicaraguas right-wing
opposition is divided and has little chance of winning the upcoming 2021
national election.
USAID Nicaragua transition coup
USAID oversees another far-right coup attempt in Latin America
Ever since the Sandinista Front returned to power in Nicaragua through
democratic elections in 2006, Washington has been hellbent on trying to
topple it.
In 2018, the Donald Trump administration supported a violent coup attempt in
Nicaragua, in which far-right gangs took over neighborhoods and paralyzed
the country with bloody barricades known as tranques. The US-backed
insurgents unleashed a reign of terror, killing and injuring hundreds of
Sandinista activists and state security forces; marking the homes of leftist
activists, ransacking and burning some down; and torturing and threatening
supporters of the elected government.
When the 2018 putsch attempt failed, the US government resorted to a raft of
aggressive tactics to bring down Nicaraguas leadership. In the past two
years, the Trump administration has imposed several rounds of suffocating
sanctions on the small Central American nation, often with bipartisan
support in Congress, not a word of opposition from the Democratic Party, and
cheers from the billionaire-funded human rights industry.
The US Agency for International Development was instrumental in the Donald
Trump administrations violent US coup attempts against Venezuelas elected
government in 2019, working directly with the Department of Defense. USAID
has poured hundreds of millions of dollars funding the US regime-change
efforts against the leftist Chavista government, and has bankrolled the
Trump-backed coup regime of Juan Guaidó.
USAID has always functioned as a CIA cutout and soft-power arm for
Washington. But under the Trump administration, it has kicked its coup
efforts in Latin America into hyper drive.
In April 2020, USAID was taken over by de facto director John Barsa, a
hardline Republican businessman, Trump ally, and son of anti-communist Cuban
immigrants. In coordination with Secretary of State and former CIA Director
Mike Pompeo, Barsa has turned USAID into a blunt weapon of regime change,
openly financing putsch efforts against the socialist governments of Cuba,
Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
US govts Democracy International posts job listing for USAID coup liaison
in Nicaragua
The Grayzone contacted USAID to ask confirmation that the document detailing
its plans for a political transition in Nicaragua was authentic. The
agency did not respond.
We were able, however, to gather evidence demonstrating the documents
legitimacy. The pages spelling out the regime-change plot employ precisely
the same language and phrases as a job listing that was posted in late July
by another US government-funded organization, Democracy International. In
fact, the USAID document appears to be a more detailed job description for
this post.
Democracy International stated in its listing on LinkedIn that it was
seeking a Nicaraguan national in the capital of Managua to work as a Senior
Level Technical Expert Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance to provide
technical and programmatic support for USAID/Nicaraguas Responsive
Assistance in Nicaragua (RAIN) Task Order.
Directly echoing the USAID document, the Democracy International job listing
said that the purpose of the Task Order is to provide rapid, responsive,
and relevant analytical and technical assistance that bridge
USAID/Nicaraguas efforts to create the conditions for, and support, a
peaceful transition to democracy in Nicaragua.'
This employee would help develop a Transition Response Plan a
regime-change scheme. (The brief job listing uses the term transition 10
times.)
LinkedIn Democracy International Nicaragua USAID coup
During the Cold War, coup coordination jobs like these would have been
covert positions arranged with the CIA. In the freewheeling 21st century,
however, this dirty regime-change work is carried out in the open, and
advertised publicly on LinkedIn.
In case it wasnt clear what this organizations relationship was to USAID,
it stated clearly on the post: Democracy International, Inc. (DI) provides
technical assistance, analytical services and project implementation for
democracy, human rights, governance and conflict mitigation programs
worldwide for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the
U.S. State Department and other development partners.
The job listing explicitly noted that the employee would work with the US
government to provide technical advice and country knowledge to GON
(government of Nicaragua) ministries, USG (US government), and other
stakeholders.
Clearly, Democracy International is searching for a local point person to
help carry out Washingtons regime-change efforts on the ground. The USAID
document spelled out in detail the specific destabilization strategy that
this liaison would follow.
The Grayzone called the Democracy International office with a request for
comment on the LinkedIn job listing, the RAIN program, and the USAID
document. A secretary would not let us speak with a specific member of the
international team, simply saying, We will inform the relevant people that
we have received a call and I can give them their name and number and they
will call you.
The secretary asked if The Grayzone had a specific question to respond to.
We said, Local Nicaraguan media outlets have criticized USAIDs RAIN
program, which is described in the Democracy International job posting, and
characterized it as what appears to be an attempt at orchestrating a coup in
the country. Can you respond to that characterization and do you think it is
fair or unfair? The Democracy International secretary replied, Wow thats
so interesting. I will definitely let them know that you called.
USAIDs regime-change plot to transition Nicaragua to a market economy
USAIDs Responsive Assistance in Nicaragua (RAIN) plan makes it clear that
it is just a short term bridge to bring about regime change in the
country, adding, It is USAIDs intent to follow RAIN with longer-term
programs, which will be determined as the crisis evolves.
The regime-change plot outlined a Mission Goal 2 in which Nicaragua
provides basis for future economic growth and increased trade through
transition to a rules-based market economy based on transparent and
accountable regulatory institutions, fiscal and monetary stability, respect
for the rule-of-law and protection of private property rights.
A supplementary mission objective emphasized USAIDs desire for a new
neoliberal regime in Nicaragua that works with the private sector to
rebuild institutionality and an efficient and fair administrative
bureaucracy in other words, mass privatization.
(Among the supposed crimes committed by the Nicaraguan regime, USAID lists
confiscation of properties.)
USAID Nicaragua coup market economy private property
The USAID document outlined further US priorities for Nicaragua following a
successful regime-change operation.
USAIDs Mission Goal 3 would be Security reform and rebuilding
institutions to reestablish independent and professional security forces.
This is clearly a call for purging the police and military of Sandinista
loyalists and bring in US trainers to establish a neocolonial-style security
force, much like General Keith Dayton did in the occupied West Bank after
Palestinian resistance was extinguished following the Second Intifada.
The new government must act quickly to dismantle parallel institutions,
USAID adds. This is an indirect hint that Washington seeks to destroy the
Sandinista Front, the Sandinista Youth, and other grassroots institutions
that work with but are independent of the current socialist government. At
its most severe, such a proposal could amount to an Augusto Pinochet-style
purge of the left in Nicaragua.
Additionally, it will need to implement transitional justice measures, the
USAID document added. This language, which has also been used in the proxy
war on Syria, suggests the new neoliberal Nicaraguan government would be
compelled to prosecute Sandinista Front officials, echoing the strategy the
US-backed right-wing regimes in Bolivia and Ecuador have used to criminalize
the left-wing parties that previously ruled those countries, hunt down
former leftist leaders, and throw opposition officials in prison on dubious
charges.
Another important part of the RAIN job would include recruiting native coup
coordinators to help carry out the regime-change plot. USAID described this
responsibility as follows: Identification of potential Nicaraguan partners
for rapid impact Grants Under Task Order to promote transition-related
activities.
The initiative allotted $540,000 in grants to entice Nicaraguan opposition
groups into assisting the regime-change effort. (In the second-poorest
country in the Western hemisphere, where the minimum wage is between $200
and $300 per month, half a million dollars is no petty sum.)
These funds would compliment the millions of dollars that USAID and the NED
provide to right-wing Nicaraguan organizations every year.
The USAID document insisted that Nicaraguas immediate future remains
highly uncertain. Yet it acknowledged that the right-wing opposition is
divided and unpopular, admitting that its leadership has not coalesced
around a party or candidate.
Taking into account the weakness of the opposition heading into the 2021
national elections, the USAID plan outlines three scenarios for the
overthrow of the socialist government and a transition to a US-friendly
neoliberal regime.
The first is an Orderly Transition scenario, a far-fetched situation in
which an unpopular US-backed opposition group somehow manages to win the
election.
The second potential regime-change scenario is described as a Sudden,
Unanticipated Transition, in which one or more political crises, such as a
snap or failed election, a presidential resignation, a major health crisis,
a major natural disaster, or internal conflicts, lead to sudden regime
crisis and transition either to an interim government or a new government.
This is the coup option, and USAID makes it clear that it would be more than
happy with such a situation, and wants its RAIN liaison to prepare for it.
The third is a Delayed Transition scenario, in which the Sandinista
government remains in power. In this case, USAID says that RAIN would help
it destabilize the government in other ways and lead to future regime
change.
USAID Nicaragua sudden transition without elections coup
But USAID didnt want readers to get the wrong impression. It stressed in
the document that its coup would be gender sensitive in compliance and
based on gender-informed analytical work. (Although the women who make up
the bulk of the Sandinista base would have to be excluded from Washingtons
woke political transition).
The USAID document balanced its liberal language on gender with
neoconservative rhetoric claiming, Malign foreign influences, principally
Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia, will continue to attempt to strengthen the
corrupt autocratic Ortega regime.
What if Nicaragua did that in the United States?
The existence of the USAID regime-change document was first reported on July
31 on the popular Nicaraguan radio and video show Sin Fronteras, hosted by
William Grigsby Vado.
Grigsby, a prominent leftist media personality with a large following at the
base of the Sandinista Front, condemned the US plot. It is nauseating, the
document; bearing to read it is difficult, he said in outrage. You have to
have a strong liver to bear it. It pained me a lot.
What right does the US government have to contract a firm to subvert public
order in any country? Grigsby fumed. It is a shameless intervention.
Before they did it with the military; in this case they are doing it by
subverting public order and funding political opposition activities. That is
unacceptable!
What if Nicaragua did that in the United States, if for example Daniel
Ortega said, Hey, were going to help the protesters in Portland? he
added. But they reserve to themselves the right to act against the
democratic institutionality of a country.
Grigsby concluded by condemning yankee imperialism and slamming Nicaraguan
opposition figures who are participating in this regime-change scheme.
You all can do one of two things, he thundered at the opposition. Follow
the rules of democracy, accept your defeat, and participate in the political
game. Or you can simply remain as treasonists, hitmen, and traitors.
The USAID document shows Washington pushing the latter option, and driving
the country into a deepened conflict.