DISINFO: The media campaign against Nicaragua may be preparation for a military intervention
SUMMARY
The current media campaign against the government of Nicaragua may want to justify a military intervention against the country. It is very likely that the US aims to justify an escalation in its actions against the country. Generally, when the US is going to carry out aggressive actions, it prepares its public opinion and that of the countries subordinate to its policies through infamies to justify its aggression and wars. This US pressure on Nicaragua is due to its geostrategic position, because it has the possibility of creating an interoceanic pass alternative to the Panama Canal, and an ideal location to host US military bases.
RESPONSE
The claim is baseless. A part of a larger pro-Kremlin narrative suggesting imperialistic motives of the US. The supposed “media campaign” denounced by the Nicaraguan government is nothing but the reporting and international denunciation of the repressive wave that Nicaraguan authorities carried out against the opposition in June and July 2021, including the arrest of at least six potential presidential candidates and a wider crackdown on the press that included a criminal investigation against 13 Nicaraguan outlets. The allegation was launched by Nicaraguan authorities and amplified by pro-Kremlin disinformation after these events attracted worldwide condemnation and media attention. In this case, the accusation is extended to fictional preparation for a military intervention against the country, of which there is not even the slightest evidence or hint. The alleged possibility to create an alternative to the Panama Canal is a reference to the Chinese-funded Nicaragua Canal, one of Ortega’s star projects, but this has been deemed as unrealistic after its main funder ran into financial troubles.
The actions of the Nicaraguan government have been widely considered by international observers, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or the Committee to Protect Journalists, as an authoritarian ploy to neutralise dissidence and consolidate president Daniel Ortega’s grip over the country, which can be considered as part of a years-long repression strategy against the opposition.
On 10 June 2021, the EU High Representative stated:
“The EU firmly condemns the actions of the Nicaraguan authorities against opposition parties, media, journalists and other media workers, human rights defenders and civil society, including the systematic detention and arrest of potential presidential candidates and opposition leaders. The political use of the judicial system, the exclusion of candidates from the elections and the arbitrary delisting of opposition parties are contrary to basic democratic principles and constitute a serious violation of the rights of the Nicaraguan people under the Nicaraguan Constitution and under International Law”.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that a UN human rights report on Venezuela aims to de-legitimise the upcoming legislative elections, that violent pro-Maduro thugs are Western media propaganda, that a Twitter campaign against Evo Morales may be run by the CIA, that the West refused to call the coup attempt in Venezuela ‘a coup’, or that an alleged US dirty war in Facebook against Venezuela, Bolivia and Mexico is a new Condor Plan.