Mule Bites Man?
I've been trying to make sense of Nicaraguan politics as it currently exists and intend to write on the topic soon, but I just had to pass along this deliciously wicked political cartoon from El Alacran (The Scorpion), the weekly satire section of El Nuevo Diario, one of Nicaragua's two main daily newspapers. The cover, entitled "Buscando al caballo ganador..." (Looking for a winning horse...) transforms a Norman Rockwell painting to place the face of former U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Oliver Garza (currently serving as an interim ambassador, special charge d'affaire, and knee capper) on the image an East Coast traveling salesman riding a mule out in the southwest desert.
The "PLC" mule with its "Arnoldismo" blinders (stand-in for the corrupt Partido Liberal Constitucionalista of Arnoldo Alemán) sags under the weight of Garza. As Garza reads "Política Pinolera for Dummies" (Nicaraguan Politics for Dummies), he exclaims (roughly) "I'm late, I can't move at this pace" while the PLC mule thinks "Pinche güey!" (more or less, "Fucking idiot!"). (That Garza is a Mexican-American from San Antonio makes the mule's epithet that much sharper.) It's a hilarious composition suggesting, on the one hand, the inept and bullish ugliness of American intervention in Nicaraguan politics and the obstinant refusal of the PLC to abandon Alemán, on the other.
Garza's special assignment in Nicaragua is primarily to prevent Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas from winning the next presidential elections (2006), but secondarily to try to push Alemán out of Nicaraguan politics and get the right-wing Liberals to put forward the kind of modern global businessman's face that the U.S. wants to see in Latin American presidencies. The State Department has already tried to strong-arm the PLC by revoking the U.S. visas of members most strongly associated with Aleman and a recent visit by the U.S. Department of Justice appears to be investigating corruption that might allow the U.S. to financially pressure Alemán and/or his PLC supporters. (The Nicaraguan constitution does not allow extradition.) The PLC, however, has stood behind Alemán and it isn't clear what more Garza can do.
Particularly fascinating in all these machinations, was the recent response of the current president of the PLC, Jorge Castillo Quant to Garza's plea to purge Alemán from the party. In an article in La Prensa (20 Aug. 2005), Castillo Quant noted, "We explained to [Garza] that we believe in caudillismo, that we can't forget that Alemán has been the leader (of the PLC), just as Daniel Ortega has been the leader of the Frente Sandinista." Castillo Quant's frank claim of caudillismo (the politics of strongmen or caudillos) is stunning, for while perhaps true, it is so outside the mainstream of the U.S. discourse of democracy as to be a slap in Garza's face. Maybe Garza does need "Nicaraguan Politics for Dummies."
Castillo Quant left the door open, however, with the statement that "As a Liberal, [I believe] there has to be a solution [to the political crisis], but unfortunately no other Alemán has emerged." Said another way, if Garza wants to get rid of Alemán, he'll have to find a new strongman. When I first read these words, I couldn't help but think of the (probably apocryphal) statement by FDR (or Truman) that Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, "may be a bastard, but he's our bastard." It is as if Castillo Quant is saying what so many on the left have long known (and what cold warriors like George Kennan would have freely admitted): that the U.S. in not particularly interested in democracy, but rather in the perpetuation of U.S. political and economic power. And what better way to do that than have your own personal bastard running the show. In the last year or so, however, Nicaraguan politics has gotten increasingly complicated and contestatory. Garza, with his old-fashioned backroom dealmaking must have seemed like the perfect choice for this mission, but he might just be out of his league.
The "PLC" mule with its "Arnoldismo" blinders (stand-in for the corrupt Partido Liberal Constitucionalista of Arnoldo Alemán) sags under the weight of Garza. As Garza reads "Política Pinolera for Dummies" (Nicaraguan Politics for Dummies), he exclaims (roughly) "I'm late, I can't move at this pace" while the PLC mule thinks "Pinche güey!" (more or less, "Fucking idiot!"). (That Garza is a Mexican-American from San Antonio makes the mule's epithet that much sharper.) It's a hilarious composition suggesting, on the one hand, the inept and bullish ugliness of American intervention in Nicaraguan politics and the obstinant refusal of the PLC to abandon Alemán, on the other.
Garza's special assignment in Nicaragua is primarily to prevent Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas from winning the next presidential elections (2006), but secondarily to try to push Alemán out of Nicaraguan politics and get the right-wing Liberals to put forward the kind of modern global businessman's face that the U.S. wants to see in Latin American presidencies. The State Department has already tried to strong-arm the PLC by revoking the U.S. visas of members most strongly associated with Aleman and a recent visit by the U.S. Department of Justice appears to be investigating corruption that might allow the U.S. to financially pressure Alemán and/or his PLC supporters. (The Nicaraguan constitution does not allow extradition.) The PLC, however, has stood behind Alemán and it isn't clear what more Garza can do.
Particularly fascinating in all these machinations, was the recent response of the current president of the PLC, Jorge Castillo Quant to Garza's plea to purge Alemán from the party. In an article in La Prensa (20 Aug. 2005), Castillo Quant noted, "We explained to [Garza] that we believe in caudillismo, that we can't forget that Alemán has been the leader (of the PLC), just as Daniel Ortega has been the leader of the Frente Sandinista." Castillo Quant's frank claim of caudillismo (the politics of strongmen or caudillos) is stunning, for while perhaps true, it is so outside the mainstream of the U.S. discourse of democracy as to be a slap in Garza's face. Maybe Garza does need "Nicaraguan Politics for Dummies."
Castillo Quant left the door open, however, with the statement that "As a Liberal, [I believe] there has to be a solution [to the political crisis], but unfortunately no other Alemán has emerged." Said another way, if Garza wants to get rid of Alemán, he'll have to find a new strongman. When I first read these words, I couldn't help but think of the (probably apocryphal) statement by FDR (or Truman) that Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, "may be a bastard, but he's our bastard." It is as if Castillo Quant is saying what so many on the left have long known (and what cold warriors like George Kennan would have freely admitted): that the U.S. in not particularly interested in democracy, but rather in the perpetuation of U.S. political and economic power. And what better way to do that than have your own personal bastard running the show. In the last year or so, however, Nicaraguan politics has gotten increasingly complicated and contestatory. Garza, with his old-fashioned backroom dealmaking must have seemed like the perfect choice for this mission, but he might just be out of his league.
posted by Justin at 4:57 PM
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