It
might seem cavalier for an academically credentialed anthropologist
to assert political influence on the population he is supposed to be
studying; however, Goette-Luciak’s activities fit within a long
tradition.
by
Max Blumenthal
Part
3 - Misinformation in the service of the opposition
On
September 7, Goette-Luciak published an article in the Guardian
claiming that the country had been brought to a virtual halt by a
general strike by the anti-government Civic Alliance umbrella group.
His co-author was Caroline Houck, a staff correspondent for the
website Defense One, which leverages ad revenue from the arms
industry to “provide news, analysis and ideas for national
security leaders and stakeholders.”
The
Nicaraguan-born activist Camilo Mejia highlighted several pieces of
misinformation contained in the article. Contrary to the claim that
the Civic Alliance interrupted the country’s economy with its
general strike, Managuan marketplaces were bustling that day and
commerce proceeded as usual. As Mejia noted, the opposition had only
managed to close the high-end businesses that supported its
regime-change agenda.
Goette-Luciak
and Houck published extensive quotes from Ana Margarita Vijil,
falsely describing her as “national director of the outlawed
Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS).” In fact, the marginal
MRS had not been “outlawed;” its candidates had garnered a
pitiful 1.3 percent of the popular vote in the last election, which
is below the legal threshold to qualify to run as a political party.
The
authors then quoted Vijil claiming that, “[w]ith 200 political
prisoners and [new] murders every day, this strike is just one more
sign that nothing is normal here in Nicaragua.” What
Goette-Luciak and his co-author failed to mention was that those
recent murders have consisted largely of Sandinista supporters. The
recent murder victims include Lenin Mendiola, an FSLN militant and
son of two revered Sandinista historical figures, Benigna Mendiola
and Bernardino Díaz Ochoa.
But the
most striking omission by Goette-Luciak was of his relationship with
his source and her party, which has enjoyed direct support from the
U.S. government.
Vijil is
the former president of the MRS, or the Sandinista Renewal Movement.
She has served as a fellow of the Central American Leadership
Initiative at the Aspen Institute, a hub of neoliberal thought funded
by the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, among others.
Just
before the coup erupted in April, Vijil was in Washington for a “high
level executive meeting,” according to Yaser Morazan, an MRS
activist whose “Agente de Cambio” initiative and social-media
training have been sponsored by USAID — an arm of the U.S. State
Department — and the U.S.-funded Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos
y Políticas Públicas (IEEPP). Three weeks before the coup, Morazan
posted a selfie outside IEEPP’s office promising a series of
“surprises” and pledging his secrecy about them.
For his
part, Goette-Luciak has been connected with the MRS most directly
through Azucena Castillo, a prominent party activist whom he lists as
his employer at Radio Ciudadana.
Goette-Luciak
did not respond to an emailed request for an interview.
Source,
links:
Comments
Post a Comment