Not-So-Ancient History
We take a delegation of first-time visitors to Nicaragua to Old León, where the Spanish conquistadores built churches and traded indigenous slaves. People “disobedient” to the invaders were punished by literally being thrown to the dogs, dismembered and bled to death by the jaws of Spanish canines. I think of the use of dogs by the US military to intimidate prisoners at places like Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay.
Around this part of León, the people are called Sutiaba. Nicaragua Sugar Estates, Ltd (NSEL) is buying up Sutiaba lands to produce sugar for export, and to make Flor de Caña rum, popular among better-off Nicaraguans and tourists alike. They’re funded in part by a loan from the US-based private-sector branch of the World Bank, while most residents of these Sutiaba lands themselves are not even considered credit-worthy by micro-loan institutions.
I read in the newspaper that four Miskito leaders had come from the Northern Atlantic region of Nicaragua to the capital, and were trying to meet with president Daniel Ortega. The paper said they were threatening to hunger strike until they were able to meet with Ortega in person, to express their grievances for the way the state had handled the cleanup of destructive Hurricane Felix, which hit the Atlantic Coast in the fall. In the same paper, it was reported that a group of Mayagna people had blockaded state efforts to build a road through their land.
The European invasion and conquest of these lands began more than 500 years ago, but it does not feel far away at all. This history is right behind us, wherever we go, breathing down our necks with thick hot air that stinks of oppression and theft.
After leaving Old León, we take the group to the nature reserve at the Isla Juan Venado in Poneloya. There we get a glimpse of the wealth of this land. This region is not naturally poor, rather, its people have been impoverished. Now they follow its wealth by heading North.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
The statement, “This region is not naturally poor, rather, its people have been impoverished. Now they follow its wealth by heading North,” is both simple and profound. The debate about immigrants from the South should always start with this statement. When we manage to stop the siphoning of resources from the poor South to the rich in the North not only will the lives of Nicaraguans improve, but the immigration debate will become moot.