Some Developments

I came to Nicaragua with a sense of what "development" means: that we, as Americans, are part of the "developed" world. They, as the global poor, represent "underdeveloped," or "developing" people.

There are, of course, innate issues of political inequality that penetrate those ideas. I can't say I haven't stopped to think about them, but my life certainly hasn't changed because there are poor people in the world.

We offer sympathy, and money, to this other "world"..never stopping to think about what that means, or the framework in which we think that's okay.

I'm no expert. But living, working, and making memories here has completely reversed the way I see development.

I understand now, with all honesty, that we, as a country, are underdeveloped.

1. We are underdeveloped until we realize that America is not one country, but thirty-five. Not one language, but thousands.



2. We are underdeveloped until we read. Until we read and read and understand our history of imperialism.



3. We are underdeveloped until we see the fence we built from space.



4. We are underdeveloped until we take responsibility for our actions. Until we say no to the World Bank, and yes to harmony.



5. We are underdeveloped until a smile says we can listen.



If we can't look inwards--if we can't change the way we think about the world--then it's no wonder development is taking so long.

Truth is Sad

In the 10 minutes it takes for me to write this blog entry, at least one child will come up to me and ask for a peso.

We all know what poverty is--see it on TV, read about it in the NY Times, but rarely engage with its intrinsic origins.

The truth is that the United States has had a profound and heinous influence in Nicaragua since the early 20th century.

That canal we now cruise through--in Panama--was originally meant to be here, in Nicaragua. You can see from the map below that Lake Nicaragua would've made the project a lot less expensive than the Panama Canal.



American troops invaded in 1909, and took control until 1933. This is when Sandino, a national hero here (the Ché of Nicaragua) led a revolution to overthrow the military.

The Americans "left," but also put Somoza in power..a puppet dictator meant to protect American interests. He reached an "agreement" with Sandino in 1933, and had him assassinated in 1934.

Somoza, and later his two sons, ruled the country for 45 years. It's unknown how many thousands of innocent citizens he killed, but there are still torture cells under his palace in Managua.

In 1939, FDR said,

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

That same year:

Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch.

After the Sandinistas overthrew the government in 1979, Nicaragua got its first taste of "freedom"..that is, until Ronald Reagan imposed a full trade embargo against the country, and started planting underwater mines in Nicaragua's Corinto harbour.

I can't define freedom, and I don't know when it arrived in Nicaragua.

But if we find it "self-evident" that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,

There has never been a free Nicaragua.

So now this little boy is asking me for a peso. What do I tell him?

The truth is sad.