Yorlis Luna, August 24th 2021
Visiting León Viejo reminds me of the cruel and painful conquest that bathed our continent in blood, plundering the strength of the bodies, minds and the very land of our ancestors, that limitless humiliation and robbery disguised with the Gospel.
After all was sheer looting, with the only interest being gold and slaves, as shown by the ruins of that city, where the size of the smelting house far exceeded the size of its temples. In the smelting house the gold was melted down and the breasts, backs and faces of the slaves were marked with a branding iron. Thus, with Sword and Cross as Eduardo Galeano said "They came. They had the Bible and we had the Land. And they told us: 'Close your eyes and pray'. And when we opened our eyes, they had the Land and we had the Bible."
At that time we women were the most prized commodity because we provided the children, our bodies were the greatest wealth of the conquerors: the slaves. The encomienda system guaranteed that the conquistadors would steal the land and natural resources. They felt like owners, cultured and superior people when in fact they were only thieves full of greed and hatred.
Their privileges were their surnames bought from the Spanish Crown with gold coins bathed in blood. The only hope for our ancestors was to flee, to escape from the encomiendas, to escape from slavery.
To resist by creating other worlds, to resist by hiding knowledge, keeping it in the subsoil of our culture. Times seem to be changing, but in reality they are not, we still live in a colonial world, where the global North feels superior, they still believe that we, the indigenous, Afro-descendants, Caribbean, mestizos, women, peasants, workers, know nothing and that they have to guide us, that they know how to run the State... What a joke! That is why it bothers and offends them to the core that a small country like Nicaragua has organized its people so as to build their own destiny.
But you also hear some Cathoic priests here and there, manipulating reality, just like when they used to read the Bible in Latin to our ancestors, telling them that they had no soul, or when he blessed the US Marines to go and kill Sandino and his army. And we also see some middle class pseudo-journalists with zero historical conscience, who are ashamed to have been born here, who despise their roots in spite of their facial features, those who, as Gabriela Mistral once said, by despising their roots despise themselves. That is why they look to the North, to their White Masters, extolling their relations with their bosses and the crumbs they are given. They feel superior to everyone else and that's why they have no shame repeating falsehoods so as stories to continue manipulating the truth. History repeats itself, much the same lies get repeated over and over again.
However, in spite of the permanent neocolonial offensive against Nicaragua. In the streets and towns the Sandinista faithful continue to attend church and then go to the activities organized by the Sandinista Front, much to the chagrin of the ecclesiastical elite. Women continue taking the lead in all sectors of the economy, setting an example to the world. People enjoy new hospitals in times of Covid-19. The most distant and dusty towns are now served by roads and well ordered highways. The parks are full of families and children shouting joyfully. Nicaragua continues to get more beautiful every day with infrastructure, direct public investment for the welfare of the people. Everything we need for a daily life full of joy, where everyone is respected.
Here the people themselves manage their government and the State institutions for the good of the People. Here People and Government are not antagonistic subjects, their names are Sanchez, Martinez, Gonzalez, Perez, Hernandez, they are Government and People at the same time. And although it may hurt many to know this, by its sweat and sacrifices Nicaragua continues reinventing varieties of contemporary resistance so as to rise above the pain and ashes of a colonial and neocolonial world.