Michael Brendan Dougherty writes for National Review Online about an interesting development in Latin America. A one-time favorite of America’s political left is showing his true colors.
For those who know, rigged elections do happen in the Americas. They’ve been happening for years in Nicaragua, ever since the Sandinistas brought Daniel Ortega to power in the 1980s.
Many young people will have forgotten that there was massive enthusiasm for the Sandinistas across the international left. Five years ago, Quillette ran a wonderful piece about the support for Sandinistas found across the American left. It’s amazing how many leftists of the 1980s who went for the Sandinistas have stayed with us: Bernie Sanders, Bill de Blasio.
The poor in Nicaragua are in a wretched condition. Ortega effectively made himself president for life when he exceeded the country’s constitutional limits on his office. This week, he finally announced plans for the abolition of elections. He explained in a public rant that this was necessary to stop “the traitors.”
Nicaragua has been particularly awful for the Catholic Church — which is a bit ironic given how many left-wing European priests moved there to join the revolution. Foreign priests have mostly been cast out. Religious houses are seized by the government. Some priests report that their homilies must be inspected by police before they are delivered to congregations.
For the most part, the left-wing hive mind has long forgotten that Ortega exists. He is too embarrassing to remember. A few leftists do remember, but they try to make apologies and argue that somehow Ortega has betrayed his revolution. If so, why has he ended up like Castro and so many other failed left-wing revolutionaries? Maybe someone will be brave enough to treat us to the old ditty excuses about capitalist encirclement. Ortega was always this. And the right always understood it.
