The Political Rally: Chavez and Ortega
Returning from Cosigüina, my friends took an hour or two to get showered and changed before we all met up to attend the political rally that night. At sunset we wandered down to León´s parque central where a large crowd had gathered. They were anticipating the arrival of El Presidente, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and his ally Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
It took a while for the two leaders to arrive, and while we waited I wandered through the center of town with my friends. We were talking a lot about our weekend hiking the volcano while we searched out delicious street food. The street food continues to be one of my favorite parts of Nicaragua, and I ate two spoonfuls of gallo pinto and a fritter of rice and chicken. I washed that down with some plastic bags of cold water. Then we got slices of watermelon and pineapple. The meal cost 11 cordobas while the water is 1 cordoba a bag. That´s well under a dollar. This to me is one of the biggest differences with America. If you go out to a concert, street fair, or similarly themed event in the States, it is prohibitively expensive to buy food and drinks on the street. Here it´s so easy and cheap. I just love living here.
Four of us were sitting on a park bench when suddenly a siren heralded the arrival of the heads of state. I´d never seen a president live before, so this was exciting. A large crowd had gathered in front of the cathedral, and the two men popped out of their jeep, and began climbing the steps. The crowd, a mix of bodyguards, aides, photographers, ecstatic supporters, excited young locals, and voyeuristic tourists, swarmed around the pair and into the church. Naturally, we followed: it was like being sucked in by the undertoe of the ocean.
Inside, the scene was madness. This is the largest cathedral in Central America, but people were running and shouting and shoving like it was a playground. Some people were climbing on top of religious objects and statues or hurdling pews: desperate for a view. I´ve never seen such a thing. We lost my friend Janine at that point, constantly searching for a better view, but I managed to stay with Allie and Adam throughout the night. With my height, at slightly under six feet, I have a natural advantage over most of the local population. Towering above them, I easily saw the pair as they laid a wreath on the tomb of Nicaragua´s patron poet, Ruben Dario: Chavez was there in a red shirt, his neck thick like a bull, waving to the crowd. And there was Daniel by his side, a Commandante Sandinista turned President, black hair combed over a balding head, slighter than his friend but with a kinder face.
The two made their way out of the church, pausing once again to greet the crowd on the steps. There were thousands of people there. (See this article for an AP photo of the two men leaving the cathedral.)The scene struck me as incredibly unsafe, as any assassin could easily have attacked the controversial pair with a gun or a bomb. This is particularly strange to me because Chavez routinely accuses the U.S. of plotting to kill him. It´s the type of thing that could never happen in the States. The church and stairs should have been cleared before their arrival. At several points, we were no more than five feet from them. And then as I stood on the side of the road, they drove by in their jeep, Daniel driving and Chavez in the passenger seat, both waving pleasantly through open windows.
The convoy moved, and the whole crowd ran, to Barrio Sutiava, at the other end of León, for a political rally. It was a 15 minute walk for us, and above 9:30 PM by the time we arrived. The great square was filled with people--probably more than 25,000 or so if I had to guess. Another grand cathedral loomed in the back, with the stage set up opposite it. Fireworks burst in the air. Red and black Sandinista flags waved. Posters with slogans against the U.S. and imperialism hung prominently. Behind the stage itself were three giant portraits of Simon Bolivar, Ruben Dario, and Augusto Sandino. This is the standard backdrop for a Sandinista rally.
Daniel´s wife Rosario finished up her remarks introducing Chavez; political cartoonists here like to joke that she actually holds el poder. Then Chavez came up to speak. He´s a fiery orator, and spoke for more than an hour: it was good practice for my Spanish. A week after I arrived in Nicaragua, in January, Daniel Ortega was inaugurated as president, and Chavez attended the celebration and made a speech. This was pretty much the same speech, so I could really test how much Spanish I´ve learned. I didn´t understand everything, but I did get a good bit of it. And whatever I didn´t understand Allie and Adam could help me with.
Chavez gave his usual diatribe against U.S. imperialism. He asserted that Latin Americans must unite against this evil, and constantly mentioned the cooperation between Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Argentina, and of course Cuba. He directly challenged Bush on several fronts; indeed this trip was arranged to counter Bush´s own tour of Latin America. He called him a ¨political cadaver¨and noted sarcastically that only now did he suddenly seem to care about poor people in Latin America. He gave a long discourse on American abuses of power in the region, much of which of course was accurate, and lectured the people on various revolutionaries and resistance movements, positioning himself as the inheritor of that legacy. He also affirmed his belief in God for this Catholic audience and asserted that Jesus was in fact the first socialist.
There wasn´t much new from his speech -- he even redeclared war on America -- but it was still entertaining to listen to. He shouts out his stock lines ¨¡patria, socialismo, o muerte!¨ with gusto and the people cheer excitedly. Yet watching the crowd I got the sense that this discourse, although fiery, didn´t really hit with the core of the people. It´s my theory that Nicaraguans voted for the Sandinistas for most internal reasons--because they were fed with the corruption and the poor schools and health care. So to me this long diatribe about international abuses, it doesn´t really speak to the everyday experiences of the people. Ortega has only been in power for a few months, and when he was elected it was not with a majority of support but only a plurality. Twenty years ago, when the Sandanistas were last in power, the country made significant gains in health care, education, and literacy under his leadership. I think that if his administration is to be successful here again, and I´m hoping for the country´s sake that it will, it will be because he´s able to show the people progress in these areas.
The speeches include one big surprise. Chavez and Ortega signed an agreement to build an oil refinery in the department of León, and this news was greeted with much enthusiasm. The unit will cost $250 million dollars, but when it is complete it will be able to process thousands of barrels of oil a day, providing the country with a guranteed cheap source of energy. That´s going to be a big deal here. This is all part of Chavez´s plan to counter U.S. influence in Latin America. He stated that Nicaragua (and other left-leaning countries) will no longer need to accept money from the I.M.F. He´s also starting a satellite TV station, called TeleSur, which will present the news from a leftist Latin American viewpoint. For this reason, it was interesting to be at the rally watching this moment--a specific counter to American power, and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
It took a while for the two leaders to arrive, and while we waited I wandered through the center of town with my friends. We were talking a lot about our weekend hiking the volcano while we searched out delicious street food. The street food continues to be one of my favorite parts of Nicaragua, and I ate two spoonfuls of gallo pinto and a fritter of rice and chicken. I washed that down with some plastic bags of cold water. Then we got slices of watermelon and pineapple. The meal cost 11 cordobas while the water is 1 cordoba a bag. That´s well under a dollar. This to me is one of the biggest differences with America. If you go out to a concert, street fair, or similarly themed event in the States, it is prohibitively expensive to buy food and drinks on the street. Here it´s so easy and cheap. I just love living here.
Four of us were sitting on a park bench when suddenly a siren heralded the arrival of the heads of state. I´d never seen a president live before, so this was exciting. A large crowd had gathered in front of the cathedral, and the two men popped out of their jeep, and began climbing the steps. The crowd, a mix of bodyguards, aides, photographers, ecstatic supporters, excited young locals, and voyeuristic tourists, swarmed around the pair and into the church. Naturally, we followed: it was like being sucked in by the undertoe of the ocean.
Inside, the scene was madness. This is the largest cathedral in Central America, but people were running and shouting and shoving like it was a playground. Some people were climbing on top of religious objects and statues or hurdling pews: desperate for a view. I´ve never seen such a thing. We lost my friend Janine at that point, constantly searching for a better view, but I managed to stay with Allie and Adam throughout the night. With my height, at slightly under six feet, I have a natural advantage over most of the local population. Towering above them, I easily saw the pair as they laid a wreath on the tomb of Nicaragua´s patron poet, Ruben Dario: Chavez was there in a red shirt, his neck thick like a bull, waving to the crowd. And there was Daniel by his side, a Commandante Sandinista turned President, black hair combed over a balding head, slighter than his friend but with a kinder face.
The two made their way out of the church, pausing once again to greet the crowd on the steps. There were thousands of people there. (See this article for an AP photo of the two men leaving the cathedral.)The scene struck me as incredibly unsafe, as any assassin could easily have attacked the controversial pair with a gun or a bomb. This is particularly strange to me because Chavez routinely accuses the U.S. of plotting to kill him. It´s the type of thing that could never happen in the States. The church and stairs should have been cleared before their arrival. At several points, we were no more than five feet from them. And then as I stood on the side of the road, they drove by in their jeep, Daniel driving and Chavez in the passenger seat, both waving pleasantly through open windows.
The convoy moved, and the whole crowd ran, to Barrio Sutiava, at the other end of León, for a political rally. It was a 15 minute walk for us, and above 9:30 PM by the time we arrived. The great square was filled with people--probably more than 25,000 or so if I had to guess. Another grand cathedral loomed in the back, with the stage set up opposite it. Fireworks burst in the air. Red and black Sandinista flags waved. Posters with slogans against the U.S. and imperialism hung prominently. Behind the stage itself were three giant portraits of Simon Bolivar, Ruben Dario, and Augusto Sandino. This is the standard backdrop for a Sandinista rally.
Daniel´s wife Rosario finished up her remarks introducing Chavez; political cartoonists here like to joke that she actually holds el poder. Then Chavez came up to speak. He´s a fiery orator, and spoke for more than an hour: it was good practice for my Spanish. A week after I arrived in Nicaragua, in January, Daniel Ortega was inaugurated as president, and Chavez attended the celebration and made a speech. This was pretty much the same speech, so I could really test how much Spanish I´ve learned. I didn´t understand everything, but I did get a good bit of it. And whatever I didn´t understand Allie and Adam could help me with.
Chavez gave his usual diatribe against U.S. imperialism. He asserted that Latin Americans must unite against this evil, and constantly mentioned the cooperation between Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Argentina, and of course Cuba. He directly challenged Bush on several fronts; indeed this trip was arranged to counter Bush´s own tour of Latin America. He called him a ¨political cadaver¨and noted sarcastically that only now did he suddenly seem to care about poor people in Latin America. He gave a long discourse on American abuses of power in the region, much of which of course was accurate, and lectured the people on various revolutionaries and resistance movements, positioning himself as the inheritor of that legacy. He also affirmed his belief in God for this Catholic audience and asserted that Jesus was in fact the first socialist.
There wasn´t much new from his speech -- he even redeclared war on America -- but it was still entertaining to listen to. He shouts out his stock lines ¨¡patria, socialismo, o muerte!¨ with gusto and the people cheer excitedly. Yet watching the crowd I got the sense that this discourse, although fiery, didn´t really hit with the core of the people. It´s my theory that Nicaraguans voted for the Sandinistas for most internal reasons--because they were fed with the corruption and the poor schools and health care. So to me this long diatribe about international abuses, it doesn´t really speak to the everyday experiences of the people. Ortega has only been in power for a few months, and when he was elected it was not with a majority of support but only a plurality. Twenty years ago, when the Sandanistas were last in power, the country made significant gains in health care, education, and literacy under his leadership. I think that if his administration is to be successful here again, and I´m hoping for the country´s sake that it will, it will be because he´s able to show the people progress in these areas.
The speeches include one big surprise. Chavez and Ortega signed an agreement to build an oil refinery in the department of León, and this news was greeted with much enthusiasm. The unit will cost $250 million dollars, but when it is complete it will be able to process thousands of barrels of oil a day, providing the country with a guranteed cheap source of energy. That´s going to be a big deal here. This is all part of Chavez´s plan to counter U.S. influence in Latin America. He stated that Nicaragua (and other left-leaning countries) will no longer need to accept money from the I.M.F. He´s also starting a satellite TV station, called TeleSur, which will present the news from a leftist Latin American viewpoint. For this reason, it was interesting to be at the rally watching this moment--a specific counter to American power, and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
posted by Hayden @ 1:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home