foreign policy, after a history of meddling from the americans, president daniel ortega nicaragua stands his ground as the united states takes aim at their gold industry. we'll get you all the details straight ahead. all right, let's get into the the me the former us national security advisor under donald trump, john bolton, called at the troika of tyranny, referring to cuba, venezuela and nicaragua. now for most of the 20th century, the u. s. has had frosty relations with cuba does say the least in the 21st century, the u. s. and a few of its allies anointed one why doe, as their chosen president for venezuela, a move some 80 percent of the world rejected. and now the u. s. has its sites set

on nicaragua, again under the bite in administration. so what do these 3 latin american countries have in common while they're all run by left us government who resist us influence and exploitation by the west? so to talk more about me cuz i was in the crosshairs, we'll bring in a man who's had 1st hand experience with its president. is dan co valid? he is an author and professor of international human rights at the university of pittsburgh school of law. his newest book is called nicaragua, a history of intervention and resistance. dan, thanks for joining us. first i'd like to address the us state department framing of nicaragua. if you go to their website to see their remarks on the country, they describe it as having descended into this sort of disturb, be a nightmare run by an authoritarian bonnie and clyde. in this case,

daniel ortega and his 1st lady rosario, mario also serving as in the capacity of vice president. how fair is the state department depiction and how might you characterize the nicaraguan leaders? i would say that characterization characterization of the state department is incredibly unfair. and i find it very rich and very hypocritical, and b, u. s. supported a brutal dictatorship shall somoza. and his 2 sons from 934-9979. i must, you know, remind people, if they don't know that the 3rd somoza killed, 50000 nicaraguans in the last year of his reign between 197979 fully supported by the united states. and by the way, those numbers are staggering. giving at the time nicaragua had about 2 and

a half 1000000 people in my characterization now is that nicaragua has a popular leader. and daniel ortega, who lead was one of the key leaders of the sandinista revolution. again, a dictatorship backed by the us, right. his popularity numbers are huge. the last poll i saw showed him it about 70 percent of brew the 2nd most popular president in the americans. second only to the president of el salvador. meanwhile, very much more popular amongst his people than the president of the united states show by a who's no hovering around 30 or 40 percent. so i think this characterization, the state department is incredibly unfair. by the way,

i've been in nicaragua 3 times this year. and i travelled throughout nicaragua and a bus seen a lot of it. i've been going to nicaragua since 1987. and i've seen the incredible development since i and it's nothing like it used to be. i mean, there are kids living in rags any more. there are these beggars on the street, you see it's a very prosperous country compared to what he used to be. and i got to tell you it's a lot more prosperous in many ways than i see on the streets of pittsburgh, pennsylvania. we're where we have, you know, 10 cities with those people and huge crime rate. so no, this, this is not a fair characterization. so part of the state department's page on nicaragua

points to a crippled economy. they address, you are sanctions on the country, but neglect to link the 2 things. now the binding administration has at sites set on nicaragua, gold industry, and stripping up to $500.00 government workers and their u. s. these as how much of this move has to do with their security cooperation with russia? does the state department merely, you know, trying to punish state economically, who won't jump when the us says so? yeah. well, 1st of all, let you say yes, the sanctions are going to hurt nicaragua, up till now the sanctions. and there's been about 3 different sanctions regimes against nicaragua in the last 4 years. but nicaragua, whether those, well, i think there are g m, t has been about 5 percent every year since that time, i think this year it's going to be 5 to 70 percent. so 1st of all,

their economies involved at the moment. at the same time, what i understand is that these sanctions on the gold war hurt nicaragua very badly . and as usual, the sanctions are going to hurt individual cor, nicaraguans the most. and that is the sad part of it. ah, nicaragua is done so much for its people, particularly the poor, giving them free education, free housing. i'm building free. how free housing for the poor for free medical care building since 2007 when daniel ortega had been reelected for the 1st time, they've built 26 hospitals in the country, paved and built new roads throughout the country. so the government is doing

a lot for its people. but these sanctions, especially in this new round sanctions, is going to hurt the average nicaragua, greatly. and that's what is intended to do. let me be clear. the sanctions are not targeted dirt. the nicaraguan government, they're targeting, heard nick there. i will be with the hope that the nicaragua people will rise up against their right. and that's what the sanctions are always targeted to do. and i find a complete the despicable but that's, that's the reality. now for nick, i was part, according to the u. s. c. b p. the border protection. they say they've had more than $164000.00 nicaraguan migrants at the southern border this year. that is up 3 times from 2021. what is driving these people out of their home country?

yeah, well 1st of all, let me say, and i've just written a book on the rock by the way, that as a recently, very recently, nicaragua was not been sending very migrants. the border that when they talk about the migrant to central america by and large, they will not from nick. what is it the countries doing very well. i do think that this new way of immigration is being spurred by the sanctions which are starting to take you know, have an impact on that society, on the economy and slowly, you know, taking away jobs from the nicaraguan people. so i think that that's a big part of it. and also people also realize in there's a lot of detail that talks about this. but in 2018, there was a very violent insurrection against the government that

the us supported with millions of dollars. it was very violent about 200 or so people were killed during that violence. many public buildings were destroyed. ah, many police more killed during that time is a very difficult time in nicaragua. it did hurt economy, particularly for the annual year. 2018. um and i think that led to this increase in migration, but again, a lot of that was spurred on by the united states, which, you know, was pretty open ended support for these vinyl insurrection, as in 2018. so the point is, up to very recently the u. s. was bidding that wall under a so salvador, in watermarks and environments us. nicaragua was not, but then the us supported

a violent who attempted to a 1018. then, you know, initiated at least 3 rounds of sanctions, economic sanctions against the country. and yeah, so that has hurt the country and led to this increase in migration. could we call that some sort of a blow back? well, in a sense, yeah, in the truth is all this migration from central america is blowback. right? i mean, let's, let's face it, the you are supported. right when dictatorships and how, salvador that killed 75000 people. in guatemala, they kill 200000 people. in honduras they killed thousands of people and yeah, the fruit that, that, that was born by that is this huge migrations. the u. s. has destroyed these

societies in these countries. nicaragua has been one country as a weather that storm because frankly, the good governance of the saturdays is but you know, the us is doing everything you can to undermine that. it can be in that side. yes. that will lead to more migration. so yeah, i think it's fair to say all this is the product back. all right, dan cove, alec, we've got a lot more to unpack. so stay with us. coming up next. the u. s. isn't the only superpower with its sites set on nicaragua? find out why this central american country is abandoning taiwan. and now backing china, we'll discuss it when we return said type the m. o will be right back with ah

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with will ban in the european union. the kremlin. yup. machine. the state on russia to date and split our t sport neck, even our video agency, roughly all band to on youtube and send with me what happens when you make digital gains with actual physical sport? something like digital filters. yes. because on is preparing to host the 1st ever gains of the future, a cyber contest with a physical dimension. one of the innovators, eager to soluble is on the verge of redefining sports and gaming. he tells us

what's behind this synergy and if it's the future the me welcome back to v m. o. i am manila chan author and professor dan co. valerie was kind enough to stay with us span. thanks for sticking around. all right, let's go back to the summer of 2022 biden hosted what has been described now my words described as a botched summit of the americas. he deliberately left off the invite list, cuba, nicaragua, and bennett, swell up by not inviting those leaders to a summit that is supposedly aimed at open dialogue among countries in the western hemisphere. widen was then snubbed by a number of other latin leaders, most notably mexico's on dress. manuel lopez open door now and lo made it

a point to say that if these guys weren't invited that he was just flat out, not going to come. the uninvited countries are led by leftist leaders. we just saw lula win back his seat as president in brazil. another left us am lo is a left us as well, but he made the list. i'm curious to know why, and if this is somehow abide and pushed back against the left, this swing in latin america, how might he respond to brazil's return leader? well, i great concerns about brazil right now. i mean there are some in march that ballston aero may be planning a military and he was very player. he did not rule out the possibility loss. and there have been some truckers blocking roads and whatnot. which by the way, looks like chilly in 1973. when salvador allende was overthrown without the

united states. yeah, i do fear the u. s. is going to react very, very negatively towards lulu being elected. i mean, really with new little acted as the president of brazil, which is one of the biggest economies in the hemisphere. ah, we almost have a clean sweep blad mirror, right. having progressive left wing, we're left leading a president. so the u. s. is going to react to that at the same time, i think the shows in many ways that the u. s. is become powerless in preventing that. and i hope that's true. um, but yeah, i mean, this is assign the latin america is really as, as a group rejecting the united states intervention, rejecting the monroe doctrine of 18. 23. ah, which gives me

a lot of hope. i mean, probably years. i get more oh battle adam, latin american, any, any other region in the world? but yes, the u. s. is going to try unsure, to overturn some of these governments. but, you know, here's the problem. the u. s. as a can, is a, you know, as, as strong as it is a, it just can't control every country on the globe, right. it tries to, but it can't, it out. and once there's a critical mass with countries saying, bhaskar, you know, no more. i think the us, you know, just can't do it. yeah. they're focused on new crane right now, sending billions of dollars to ukraine to fight russia. by the way, i am in moscow, russia out. um, you know, and in the breach, i think latin america is rising. so you know, i have great hopes, but yeah,

we have to be vigilant for sure. and nicaragua has recently re established diplomatic ties with china. it's a, it's a pivot from their previous diplomatic ties with ty, one, why? and what does this do to the balance of power in the western hemisphere? yes, so let me explain a little bit about that. first of all. so under somoza from 1934, 219. well really, i mean it well the to the 940304949. let's put that out from 949 to 979. so most are recognized. right. and not the people's republic of china. after the sandinista had the revolution in 1979, they recognized the people's republic of china because they were allowed to start up. but after the sandinista were voted out of office to 9090,

the new government then recognized taiwan again and withdrew recognition from the people's republic of china. and in that interim period from 1990 to 2007. when daniel ortega of the san and he's become president again i taiwan did help nicaragua, a lot economically built all these factories and then the keela door zones. i. and so when the sandinista came back to power in 2007, they were very reluctant to just tell taiwan, hey though, what, right? because they were employ hundreds of thousands of able so for years they were, you know, of continuing to recognize taiwan, even as they were at the united nations voting with the people's republic of china on pretty much every vote. right. and then as 2000 and

deb, i think 21 came 202021. daniel ortega became very concerned with how one, how taiwan was acting was feeling like they were really collaborating with the us to antagonize the people's republic of china, which he didn't like. but also he was feeling that, you know, his attempts to have to talk with us. we're coming to nothing, you know, with the 2018 to attempt with all the sanctions. so with all this, he finally decide, okay, forget, you know, our hardest people's republic. we've been playing bo, the taiwanese because they're given us jobs, but we don't like with taiwanese or doing the u. s. is now against us again.

ah, so we're just going to recognize people's republic. that's what app. and so, ah, now they're getting development now from the people's republic. and of course are now getting closer to russia. you know, again, danny, our tag and the president was reluctant to do those things. he wanted to get along with the u. s. he always. but the u. s. has constantly, you know, every time he puts his hand out, they slap it down. so finally said, ok, you know, fine, we'll go with china. we'll go with russia and forget to tie winnings, you know? and i think what, he, in fact, what he did, he kept, i would ease out of their embassy and gave it to the people's republic sir, area. and what do you make of the deepening ties between nicaragua and russia in recent years? i mean, this really began to develop back in 2008, but has since gotten to the place where nicaragua is actually allowing from

military cooperation between the 2 countries. this is obviously gonna cause some major red flags and concerns for the u. s. y, a russia, nicaragua relationship. what will turn it back to the future now? right, i mean, 1st of all, again, let's go over some history after the sandinista is over through the us back dictator. armistice here, somoza in 1979. and they didn't align with cuba, but they, you know, fidel castro told any ortega said, you know, you be slow in aligning with so even because one, the us will go after you for that. and to, you know, you want your independence, not just from the us, but from the soviet union. so, you know, go very gently with the so, but then the us is early is 1981. so 2 years out that sam,

mrs. power began supporting these counter terrorist events, nicaragua, so what happened naturally nicaragua returned to the soviets, right. right. the russians at that time was so union and got a lot of support from so union from east germany, from other easter bar countries. and then of course, the sandinista road voted out of power 1990 and the soviet union collapsed to 991. so that pretty much ended that close bond came to be between nicaragua and soviet union in russia. but then now again, daniel ortega is elected again 2006, takes governance in 2007. and again, he tries again to play ball with the you us, why you us is close to him, wants to trade with them culturally nicaragua,

closer to the u. s. than russia, no one in, in nicaragua speaks english. many people there's, i'm sorry, none of them speak russian, many of them do speak english. ah, culturally they like the us, they play baseball, nicaragua, they don't like soccer's march, right. their main sport baseball which they adopted from the us, right? so they were half interplay ball the last, but in the end, the u. s. would not play ball with the sandinista government. so they been forced, again, as they were after 979 to line with russia. so they've gone back to their old ally, ah, to get support in, in the face of continued opposition from the us. so, i mean the lesson is that, that the u. s. and by the way, he mentioned noam chomsky we can mention him again. would all you say?

and he said, disturbing the old cold war with the soviet union, but it still app today. he said, what, what the u. s. would, would do is force the country to align with the soviet union, you know, through violence and economic threats and then blame them for wanting with the. so you'd write that that would be a pretext then for war belligerence. and that's exactly what we're seeing today, right? the us boys, the country, like nicaragua, freezes him out economically and then forces them to align with china to align with russia and then blamed them for doing. and that's what is happening. president ortega is now being described as something of a fire brand in the west after his 2022 u. n. g. a appearance where he ripped into fellow latin american liter president

gabrielle boric of chili, calling him an american lap dog. how board is self described as a left wing politician. so why the mudslinging there? well, brock is not bad. progression is the truth. in fact, he's been very repressive against his own indigenous population. even when he was elected, a lot of left is from july we're saying he's not that progress. and i think that or take a saw that too. but also let me just say something i don't see or take as a buyer, right? i've actually met ortega a few times and i've been in his presence a number of times list new speeches. the truth is, he's not much of a fired brand. he ease the truth is he's a pretty shy softspoken burden. ah.

he feels more comfortable in the presence of, you know, working people in peasants and he does with intellectuals even though he's illegitimate, intellectual. and so i and the fact is most of the support comes from workers as right. so, but he's not, you know, i've also heard fidel castro street in person. i've heard you chavez speak in person, and he doesn't have that kind of bombastic way about him. but they do, you know, he speaks in a very calm tone. kind of almost like an educator talks very store to lead cetera. so i really kind of block it that idea that he's a fire, bring it on. i think he should have a nice guy used to shoot that. so human rights attorney, professor and author danco valid, thank you so much for sharing this very candid insight with us. all right,

that's going to do it for this weeks episode of modus operandi the show that dig deep into foreign policy. i'm your host manila chan. thank you for tuning in. we'll see you again next week to figure out the ammo ah ah. in the 1950s, the u. s. used former nazis against the soviet union in the 21st century. they engineered kuta, the fish, the former soviet republic, into our confrontation with moscow will certainly of the united states and the u. k . and the rest of the western world had not engaged in conflict with the ukraine

and with the soviet union and a successor of the russian federation. we will not have the horrible situation we have today. i think that if the american stopped, we would be at peace and the role would be a lot better place and the economy, the world or function considerably better than is doing now be what happens with digital games with actual physical sport. something like digital. yeah, there's yes, because on is preparing to host the 1st ever gains of the future a cyber context with a physical dimension. one of the innovators, eager to study at all, is on the verge of redefining sports and gaming. he tells us what's behind this

synergy and if it's the future ah ah, this says grades are made by the american made high marks rocket. it landed right in the yard of the musical college, right in the center of the city of the next. more civilians are killed in the ukrainian shilling of rushes don't get what public. we report from the scene of one of the lakes with a jing sends a clear message to washington court and get the well to long just to bomb on china's phase, the u. s. should we consider a policy of om in, ukraine warning that the weapons could end up on the black market. and new usa inflation reduction act, reportedly direct us to.