NACLA marks the 47th Anniversary of the Revolution by interviewing one of its traitors
By John Perry, from Masaya, Nicaragua
NACLA (the North American Congress on Latin America) has just published an article by journalist Linda Farthing, largely based on an interview with ex-Sandinista and now right-wing political activist, Dora María Téllez. NSC member John Perry has written to NACLA's editor to point out the articles major omissions and offering to write a response to it. He said:
"As a past contributor to NACLA and resident of Nicaragua, I was very disappointed that - for her article on July 17 - Linda Farthing interviewed Dora María Téllez without challenging her on her role in the violent coup attempt here in 2018. She might have given a very different portrait of Téllez had she examined her background more carefully.
"Five years after the coup attempt I interviewed a local resident of Masaya, where I live, who was vociferous about the role played by Téllez. She was regularly seen by him - and I have corroborated this with several others - walking freely in Masaya as an opposition leader when the vast majority of residents lived in fear of the violent roadblocks that she had helped set up and which put the city under siege. She was seen on more than one occasion distributing money, food, drugs and other supplies to those manning the roadblocks, many of whom were local delinquents and even - in some cases - members of notorious gangs brought in from El Salvador.
"'Randall', whom I interviewed, was subjected to a feigned execution at a roadblock and - weeks later - his home was invaded by armed opposition thugs who searched for him and fired shots into the roof of the house, in front of his family, when they failed to find him. I have been told by several people that Téllez was one of those who shipped firearms into Masaya during the coup attempt. Five police officers were killed in Masaya by opposition forces, one of whom (an unarmed officer called Gabriel Vado) was kidnapped and tortured for 24 hours before being burned to death at a roadblock.
"In the interview with Farthing, Téllez portrays herself as a rebel, yet she supported right-wing candidates in elections after the Sandinistas returned to power in 2007. She even praised the 2019 coup in Bolivia and (as Wikileaks revealed) actively collaborated with the US embassy's plans to end Sandinista rule in the run up to 2018. Both she and her partner Ana Margarita Vigil, who also has a lengthy history of collaboration with the US, were charged with inciting foreign interference in Nicaragua's 2021 elections.
"The sad irony of your article is that it was published (intentionally?) on July 17, the day when Masaya was liberated from the violent roadblocks that had kept the population captive since early May that year. From where we live, I had to cross 15 of these roadblocks (on foot, vehicles were prohibited unless driven by opposition members) to reach central Masaya. My wife, a Sandinista, received several death threats, including from an armed group at one of these roadblocks.
"Unfortunately none of this was alluded to in Linda Farthing's article, which therefore gave a very distorted account of recent Nicaraguan history and the role played by Dora María Téllez."
