The six phases of state repression against the civic uprising
2019 Agosto Nicaragua
Ever since the civic insurrection kicked off in April 2018, the government of Daniel Ortega has responded to the massive peaceful protests with repressive...
Overhaul the existing Police or create a new one?
2019 Junio Nicaragua
Two years ago no one could have even imagined that Nicaragua would be shaken by the most severe political crisis of its recent history—an unarmed civic...
What happened in the Police under Aminta Granera’s command?
2018 Noviembre Nicaragua
The departure of First Commissioner Aminta Granera as chief of the National Police wasn’t a dignified event, quite the contrary. After almost 13 years...
The Nicaraguan Army: Spectator or accomplice?
2018 Noviembre Nicaragua
From the moment on April 22, five days into the unprecedented peaceful civic rebellion, that the Ortega-Murillo government withdrew its controversial...
A brief history of our chameleon Army
2017 Septiembre Nicaragua
The Nicaraguan Army, the youngest military body in the hemisphere, celebrates its founding every yearon September 2 even though it isn’t the date the...
Stripped of its own nature, the Police is a satellite of the regime
2017 Abril Nicaragua
Since 2007 the refrain “Nicaragua, the safest country in Central America” has been promoted both nationally and internationally. Police Director General...
Armed to the teeth:Nicaragua’s remilitarization
2016 Octubre Nicaragua
In April of this year, the Russian media confirmed that Nicaragua is obtaining lethal materiel via bilateral agreements with Russia. The April 25 Spanish...
Armed and politically motivated: A repeating tragedy
2016 Agosto Nicaragua
Since 1990, the inability, insensitivity and lack of political will of Nicaragua’s successive governments to acknowledge and deal withthe civil war’s...
The politicizing of the institutions is the greatest risk to our security
2014 Septiembre Nicaragua
It goes without saying that we must condemn the shooting at the convoys of buses taking people back to northern municipalities after celebrating the...
The Army is the final piece in Ortega’s political Project
2014 Enero Nicaragua
The changes to the Military Code were pushed through with an urgency very similar to what we saw with the constitutional reforms. After extremely limited...
“The reforms favor the long-term absolute power of a person or party”
2013 Diciembre Nicaragua
Honorable members of the National Assembly Special Constitutional Committee to study, consult and issue its findings on constitutional aspects of the...
Was it genocide or wasn’t it?
2013 Mayo Guatemala
Was genocide committed in Guatemala or not? There’s the possibility of an ideological trap in equating Guatemalan genocide with Nazi genocide and concluding...
Decriminalizing drugs: Pandora’s Box or the path to peace?
2012 Abril Guatemala
It was inevitable that the proposal of Guatemala’s new President, retired General Otto Pérez Molina, to discuss the possible decriminalization and even...
All governments have used the police for their own interests
2011 Junio Nicaragua
First of all, we have to look at the historical role played by the police force we founded when we brought downthe Somocista dictatorship, analyzing...
Societal Validation for Drug Trafficking Is Growing
2010 Diciembre Nicaragua
Aphenomenon has appeared on the Caribbean Coast, in Managua and different areas on the Pacific Coast that we consider extremely dangerous: societal legitimization...
We Were a Small but Efficient Brigade And the Haitians Grew Fond of Us
2010 Marzo Nicaragua
We flew from Managua to Jamaica and from there to Haiti. When we landed in Jamaica, General Perezcassar called us together and asked us to work with...
Chilling Similarities Between Ortega and the Somozas
2010 Enero Nicaragua
In the old days, all armies in Nicaragua bore the seal of the caudillo or party that formed them. That explains why our history is saturated with civil...
Narco-Business: A “New War”
2009 Marzo Guatemala
When setting out to analyze Álvaro Colom’s first year in government, one must keep the global crisis in mind. It’s already playing a role that the government...
Beware the President’s Inner Soldier
2007 Julio El Salvador
During his Soldiers’ Day speech on May 7, President Elías Antonio Saca warned representatives from the three branches of the country’s armed forces of...
Crime and Corruption in the Guatemalan Police
2007 Marzo Guatemala
The February 19 murder in Guatemala of three Salvadoran representatives to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN)—Eduardo D’Aubuisson, William Pichinte...
The New National Police Chief Faces Colossal Challenges
2006 Agosto Nicaragua
The suspense ended on July 18. Aminta Granera was named general director of the National Police for the next five years, the second woman to hold that...
Do We Have the Police We Deserve?
2006 Mayo Nicaragua
Two bloody events have again called Nicaragua’s National Police into question. The inadequate training of police agents and officers, which has focused...
Institutions under Siege
2006 Marzo Guatemala
The political institutions underpinning the democratic system established in Guatemala two decades ago, when the military regime ended, are under siege....
Why Do So Many Civilians Have Firearms?
2005 Diciembre Centroamérica
An argument over custody of their children may have driven a man so crazy that he shot his wife to death in Ciudad Delgado. H.E., a 26-year-old woman,...
Hawks, Missiles, Pressure, Reasons and Resistance
2005 Abril Nicaragua
In March, the US government stepped up its pressure on the Nicaraguan Army to destroy all of its shoulderheld surface-to-air missiles, which are the...
Sorry, Uncle Powell, The Sams Are Ours
2003 Noviembre Nicaragua
According to Carlos Gardel’s song, “20 years are nothing.” But despite the considerable efforts the Nicaraguan Army has made to win at least the empathy,...
The National Police under Attack: The Clues Behind the Crisis
2003 Agosto Nicaragua
The National Police, née Sandinista Police, a once in corruptible and proud institution born of the guerrilla force that took power 24 years ago,...
The Religious Question and the Myth of the Army
2002 Diciembre Guatemala
On July 20, 1954, Archbishop Rosell believed he could still proudly say to those who had overthrown Jacobo Arbenz and put an end to the 1944 revolution...
FUAC: Milestones on the Road
2001 Julio Nicaragua
1982After taking part in the struggle against Somoza, Edmundo Eugenio Olivas Córdoba, who was born in Quilalí, Nicaragua, became a column leader...
The Brief, Necessary and Stormy History of the FUAC
2001 Julio Nicaragua
In The March of Folly, From Troy to Vietnam, one of her most famous books, US historian Barbara W. Tuchman describes various well-known events...
The Old Man and the Tigers
1999 Agosto Honduras
The official response to the reports was that “there has been no attempted coup. The President has been in control of the situation at all times. Changes...
How the US Trained Latin America's Military: The Smoking Gun
1997 Octubre Estados Unidos
Part of that training took place at the US Army School of the Americas (SOA), set up by the US Army in Panama in 1946 and transferred to Fort Bennington,...
Armed Forces As Peacemaker?
1996 Septiembre Centroamérica
Some years ago, Central America's armed forces, located at the epicenter of unquestionable power, were major protagonists of wars triggered by arrogance,...
The Armed Conflict in Estelí
1993 Septiembre Nicaragua
The events visited upon Estelí in late July are a tragic new milestone in Nicaragua's current crisis of violence. The description and assessment contained...
Controversy Swirls Around Armed Forces
1993 Enero El Salvador
The issue of purging the Salvadoran armed forces has taken center stage for many Salvadorans. President Cristiani's non compliance with the recommendations...
Nicaragua: Ten Years of Independent Foreign Policy
1991 Enero Nicaragua
Though the current Nicaraguan government is allied with the United States, it cannot, after 10 years of a nationalist and anti-imperialist revolution...
Nicaragua’s Foreign Policy: Ten Years of Principles and Practice
1989 Agosto Nicaragua
An interview with Alejandro Bendaña, a member of Nicaragua's diplomatic team since the revolutionary triumph, serving first as interim representative...
Building a Housing Policy from the Ground Up
1988 Junio Nicaragua
A quick tour around Managua, Nicaragua's capital city of nearly a million residents, takes one through working class neighborhoods that still bear signs...