Quick Thoughts: Geopolitical Context Matters

The Mosquito people -- who are utilized as proxy forces (a.k.a. Contras) by the United States in its destabilization and imperial subjugation efforts against Nicaragua and its Sandinista government -- only make up 4% of the population. As for the general population: almost the entire Nicaraguan [non-Mosquito] population is Indigenous, including Daniel Ortega himself and many of the Sandinista government officials -- who were dark-skinned and also had the popular support of the vast majority of Nicaraguans. This is quite the contrary to the lies and falsehoods put forth by Russell Means and Ward Churchill, who were rightly criticized by many AIM activists for their support of the Contras. Means and Churchill, both high-profile figures in the West and who were especially popular within Anarchist circles, as well as with the anti-Communist and anti-Soviet "left", called the Sandinistas "white supremacists" and dishonestly said that they stood against the Sandinistas' “Racist European Marxism,” which was tantamount to libel and slander. Means even went as far as to fight alongside the anti-government Contras, who committed acts of terrorism.

Why is this significant? The Mosquito people -- who are an isolated minority, ultra-conservative and anti-science zealots who chose to cut themselves off from Nicaraguan society, and are extremely hostile towards the general population -- proved to be very useful tools for the CIA in their anti-Sandinista campaign and establishing U.S. colonial domination over Nicaragua. Such reactionary forces are useful tools in the CIA’s anti-communist projects and destabilization campaigns against independent nationalist governments, considering that the groups’ anti-modernity stance is a motivating factor in their efforts to sabotage economic development, which is conducive to ensuring a favourable climate for U.S. capital interests. Western "progressive" circles' romantic idealization of these reactionary forces as, in the words of journalist Caleb Maupin, "mystical people" with "beautiful ancient" traditions -- while demonizing the Sandinistas and turning them into cartoonish villains -- shows an extreme and cynical opportunism, which implies that that the vast majority of Nicaragua's population (again, the vast majority of whom are Indigenous and/or have Indigenous ancestry) should be sacrificed for the sake of upholding the "beautiful mysticism" of an isolated minority.

It should also be noted that Western leftists and Anarchists are incorrectly extrapolating and (mis)applying the circumstances of the indigenous populations in Canada, U.S., and Australia -- who are arguably treated far worse, with many living in Third World-like conditions -- to those of Nicaragua and Venezuela. In Nicaragua and Venezuela, they not only make up the overwhelming majority of the population but are also treated very well in terms of human rights; they are far from being second class citizens and far from being statistically insignificant. And although Nicaragua and Venezuela have a history of Spanish colonization (which they fought against in order to gain independence), they are also not settler-colonial states in the traditional sense as Canada, the United States, Australia, Israel, and apartheid South Africa are. Another key difference is that the indigenous populations of Canada, the United States and Australia make up around 4.9%, 2%, and 3.3% of the population, respectively. Of course, this is not to dismiss the history of genocide, residential schooling, institutionalized racism, and other very real human rights abuses against the indigenous peoples of North America and Australia. However, Nicaragua and Venezuela are not North America or Australia, and Western leftists are guilty of centering and using the West as a template for their analysis of world affairs.

At best, this 'analysis-by-analogy' -- where Western leftists blindly use the social conditions of the West as templates -- is weak as it shows ignorance, a failure to understand geopolitics, and a lack of historical material and class analysis. At worst it is disingenuous and serves U.S. Imperialist interests, essentially making them useful idiots for American Empire.