by Margaret Flowers, published on Popular Resistance/Clearing the Fog, July 11, 2023
On July 19, Nicaraguans will celebrate the 44th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. This month also marks the fifth anniversary of the defeat of the US-backed coup attempt against President Daniel Ortega. Clearing the FOG speaks with solidarity activist and journalist John Perry, who is based in Masaya, about the state of the revolution today and what happened in 2018. Perry has been writing a series of articles about the role of the US and Catholic Church in the violent road blockades, attacks on Sandinista supporters, police and bystanders, and the destruction of public infrastructure. He also exposed the failures of major human rights organizations to report accurately on crimes committed by the opposition.
John Perry is a COHA Senior Research Fellow and writer living in Masaya, Nicaragua. He has been involved in Nicaraguan solidarity work since the 1980s. He is part of a collective of authors supporting historical memory to facilitate healing and reconciliation for the Nicaraguan people.