29 June 2007

Time machine

Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega seems set on accomplishing what scientists for centuries have failed to manage. Apparently he wants to invent the time machine – and he seems pretty keen on the project.
As most will recall, Ortega used to be president in Nicaragua back in the 1980’s when the civil war ripped the country apart. That was when the ‘imperialists’ in Washington fought against ‘socialists’ in Nicaragua. When the Berlin Wall still made it easy to figure out who were the bad guys and who were the good guys. Since then, things have become less evident, and globalization has reduced borders to lines on a piece of paper.
But no so in the presidential house in Managua. Or should I say, in Daniel Ortega’s house in Managua? Well, doesn’t really matter, because it is all the same. The president now rules from the headquarters of the governing party’s – which by the way is located on the premises of his private mansion. Who mentioned separation of state and party, let alone private property?
Anyway, Ortega seems set on this time machine issue. His language hasn’t changed a bit since the 1980’s, he still wants to fight the ‘imperialists’ in Washington, this time not with the help of the Soviet Union, but with help from his friends in exotic places like Venezuela, Iran, Libya and Cuba. Obviously this has pissed off the entire opposition and most of the population as well. So much for fulfilling his main message from the November 06 elections; peace and reconciliation. Seems he forgot to mention that the reconciliation was with odd buddies from around the world.
The language is thus the same. But what really worries me and a whole lot of other people, is that physically Ortega also seems set on turning back time. A couple of weeks ago he ordered the demolition of the fountain built by the liberal, former president Arnoldo Alemán. The fountain had been built on the Revolutionary Square in the heart of the old part of Managua. Not too pretty though and it was most definitely a bad move to place the fountain on the historic square where the popular revolution in 1979 celebrated the end of the Somoza dictatorship. Every year since then the Sandinistas have celebrated July 19th on the square, but with the construction of the fountain in 1999 that became impossible.
But as somebody said on national tv, you just don’t correct one mistake by making another. Unless you are Ortega it seems, because even though he doesn’t officially have the power to decide what should be on Managua’s squares, he ordered the demolition, answered no questions and sent in the trucks with fresh asphalt to bring back the revolutionary square to its old, parking lot look.
So now the time has been turned back, we are ready to celebrate the upcoming July 19th revolutionary day. I just wonder if we are to start celebrating from scratch again – ie. 1979 – or if the year is in fact 2007?

Published by Christian Korsgaard

04 June 2007

Jonrón

Nicaragua is baseball territory. All of it, even the countryside with the dusty roads, horsemen wearing the compulsory baseball caps, wandering dogs and cows – and a few overloaded trucks. Add to that quite a lot of coffee, a few cabbage fields, lots of potatoes – and the local baseball field. That more or less describes the Estelí countryside. And the field was where I ended up with some friends last week, and where I realized why Nicaragua has so much to offer.
I just love the fact that in this country, I can walk onto the local baseball field, sit down on the grass next to the local boys and watch the game. No fuss, no comments, just a few smiles and surprised looks. It is not everyday that a bunch of cheles watch the local match, but what the h… - in Nicaragua everything is possible, even this, people seem to say to themselves. So they leave us alone and answer our strange questions on the game with patience. The field is too short, so they have had to adapt the global baseball rules to local conditions. If the ball hits one side of the roof of the school building, the striker is allowed to run two bases. But if it hits the other side of the roof, it is a homerun. Or jonrón as Nicaraguans call it.
And so it strikes me that this country has so much to offer. Hospitality and friendlyless can open so many doors and maybe allow a major homerun.

Published by Christian Korsgaard

Doña Corina

Last weekend I went to the Northern part of Nicaragua with my family and a couple of friends. Two days out where the only light is brought to you by solar cells on the roof, where water is scarce and where the loo is a brick construction with a hole in the ground and a door that cannot close. But at least you get rid of the bad odours pretty fast.
Tourism is only in its early childhood here. Comfort is not yet a big issue, the beds are hard, the shower non-existent, the menu card has yet to be invented. But who cares when human warmth is so dense that you can practically reach out and touch it? Doña Corina, our host, is a living example of what I am talking about. A loveable, kind person who gladly shares her humble home with a couple of expatriate families, thus making a living for herself and contributing to intercultural understanding. And she is not ashamed of the evident poverty. ‘This is my home; this is what I have to offer. Take it as it is or feel free to leave’, seems to be the general idea here at Posada la Soñada.
Obviously, few turn away from that kind of human honesty. We didn’t either.

Published by Christian Korsgaard

Human kindness as an asset

Whenever the United Nations Development Programme publishes it human development index, Nicaragua inevitably ends up as number hundred-and-something. No matter the personal efforts and sacrifices of the individual Nicaraguan, the policies carried out by inept politicians, combined with an unjust, international trade system, confines this small, Central American country to third-class human development. People are poor, uneducated, lack health, housing, access to clean water, and spend far too many resources on military, corruption and old debt. But at least they are fairly happy. Welcome to Paradise, but please take care – the snake is still around.
But Nicaraguans are a fascinating species. In spite of the hardships, war, corrupt politicians (sorry I keep bringing it up, but they are indeed plentiful…) and an eventual hurricane or an earthquake, they still manage to put up a happy face, treat you nicely and make you feel at home. If the human development index included the aspect of human kindness as an asset, Nicaragua would most definitely be placed somewhat higher on the list.

Published by Christian Korsgaard