December 21, 2008 -- This is an appeal in defence of Nicaraguan sovereignty, in opposition to an imperialist destablisation campaign to undermine, and possibly topple, the Sandinista government. The pretext, phoney as usual, is the claim that the municipal elections in November were rigged.

But the real aim of this phoney campaign is to blackmail and intimidate the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) government to back down -- and override the will of the majority as expressed in the election and as recognised by the Supreme Electoral Council that includes both FSLN and opposition party supporters. The heavy armament of the campaign is the blocking and withdrawal of important international aid, especially on the part of the USA and some European countries.

The letter below will be presented at the official celebration of the anniversary of the inauguration of the current president on Janaury 10, 2009.

To give your support to this letter, send an email to carta@tortillaconsal.com

In defence of Nicaragua

Most of Latin America is in the process of irreversible change.

Its peoples have elected governments that have taken the path of independence, dignity and sovereignty to shake off foreign tutelage that has submerged the region for centuries in misery and repression by force of arms.

In November 2006, the Nicaraguan people elected the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) to direct its destiny and from January 2007 the new government has taken up again the process of self-determination begun on July 19th 1979 which had been abandoned for 17 years by three neoliberal, capitalist, anti-democratic, anti-nationalist governments.

Nicaragua has recovered its national dignity with a government independent of the imperial powers, one which again places the most impoverished at the centre of its development policies.

As part of this process, Nicaragua has joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) and with the generous support of many peoples and governments, especially Cuba and Venezuela, the Sandinista government has set up various programs by means of which the Nicaraguan people have recovered a great deal of their social and economic rights, broadening the possibilities for socialist, democratic national progress.

But just as happened during the 1980s, when the United States launched its war of aggression against the Nicaraguan people and the Sandinista Popular Revolution, today Nicaragua has to face a ruthless campaign of lies and blackmail promoted from Washington and various European capitals, using the methods of information counter-insurgency, within a low intensity war, with the objective of blocking Nicaragua's independent development under the leadership of the government of President Daniel Ortega.

This campaign has surged in recent months with the objective of discrediting the unquestionable and categorical electoral victory of the FSLN in the municipal elections of November 9 last, when Nicaraguans validated with their votes their support for the country's new direction.

This campaign has reached the extreme of suspending development aid to the Nicaraguan people. It is unacceptable that the governments of developed countries should use as a political weapon for imperialist domination the money their own peoples assign to the most impoverished countries.

For all of these reasons, we free women and men who believe Another World is Possible, declare:

1. Our unconditional support for the right of the Nicaraguan people to self-determination and national sovereignty, without foreign interference of any kind.

2. Our support for the independent, sovereign, popular course taken by the FSLN government, led by President Daniel Ortega.

3. Our delight at the Sandinista victory in 105 out of 146 municipal authorities in this year's municipal elections.

We reject and condemn:

1. Foreign interference in Nicaragua's internal affairs.

2.  The policy of blackmail used by the governments of the United States and the European Union.

3. The campaign of lies promoted by the international (dis)information corporations and multinationals.

We encourage:

1. All the world's peoples, especially in North America and Europe, to renew their links of friendship with Nicaragua, pressuring their respective governments to increase the sums destined to eradicate poverty in Nicaragua and to oblige them to desist from interfering in the internal affairs of the Nicaraguan people.

2. Social communicators, especially in alternative communications media, to break the silence on the situation in Nicaragua and to actively inform in a truthful, independent way on what is really happening in Nicaragua and the Central American region.

3. The progressive and independent governments of Latin America and the world to show their unrestricted solidarity with the Nicaraguan people and its legitimate, democratically elected government.

December 2008

Blanca Segovia Sandino,

Marbely Castillo C.,

Walter Castillo Sandino,

William Grigsby Vado,

Toni Solo,

Karla Jacobs,

Dick Emanuelsson, Tegucigalpa, reporter in Latin America,

Lidia Camacho, Uruguay, resident in Sweden,

Manuel Talens, Spain, writer,

Oscar Ernesto Castillo

Felipe Stuart C.