By Luciano García Mejía (*)
I. The Memory the Sandinista Left Refuses to Confront
For those of us who lived through—or inherited—the wounds of the 1980s, watching the Sandinista left in exile speak today about democracy and human rights is deeply contradictory. Whether you accept it or not, you embody the political legacy of a dark decade that left lasting scars on thousands of Nicaraguan families.
Most troubling is that few among you have issued a clear acknowledgment of the abuses committed during that period: the censorship of the press, forced exile, property confiscations, compulsory military service that sent thousands of young people to their deaths, religious persecution, the Red Christmas military campaign, the La Penca bombing, or the extrajudicial executions documented by international organizations.
The Sandinista left has chosen to behave as though its past does not exist.
But it does.
And its weight remains.
II. The Automatic Defense of Sergio Ramírez
When thousands of Nicaraguans called on former Sandinista vice-president Sergio Ramírez (recipient of the Cervantes Award, the highest award given to a writer in the Spanish language, and now a member of the Real Academia de la Lengua Española) to acknowledge his role in history—not his literary achievements, but his political responsibility—the Sandinista left in exile responded with an almost unquestioning defense. Some even issued a public statement of support bearing numerous signatures, reinforcing the perception of political solidarity rather than critical reflection.
They defended him as though questioning his record were an act of sacrilege. As though demanding historical truth amounted to a personal attack. As though a nation’s memory could simply be erased because it is uncomfortable.
That instinctive, tribal response made one thing unmistakably clear: you are unwilling to revisit the past because doing so would require accepting responsibility.
Without accountability, there is no ethical foundation.
Without ethics, there is no moral authority.
And without moral authority, claims to defend democracy ring hollow.
III. I Believe in Democratic Left-Wing Participation—But Not in the Sandinista Left
I believe that a democratic left has a legitimate place within a democratic political system. I believe in a left that respects democratic rules, acknowledges its mistakes, learns from them, and evolves.
I support the participation of left-wing parties in democratic processes. I do not, however, embrace leftist ideology itself, which I believe has too often failed to match its rhetoric with its actions and has produced policies that deepen poverty rather than alleviate it.
But the Sandinista left in my country is not democratic—not while it continues to conceal what happened during the 1980s. Not while it continues to shield those who held power and were never held accountable. Not while it seeks to rewrite history in order to present itself solely as a victim.
Those who erase history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who deny the past carry it like a shadow.
Those unwilling to ask forgiveness are not prepared to build a different future.
For all these reasons—and without resentment—I cannot and will not form political alliances with the Sandinista left.
Not while its leaders remain marked by a history they refuse to acknowledge.
Not while they invoke democracy without performing the most basic democratic act: confronting themselves in the mirror of truth.
The only point on which I recognize common ground is in their efforts to help end the current Sandinista dictatorship and restore the rule of law.
IV. I Recognize Your Suffering—But Not Your Silence
I know full well that many of you—the Sandinistas now living in exile—have been treated as enemies by today’s Sandinista government. I know you have endured exile, confiscation, imprisonment, banishment, and even the loss of loved ones.
I know that you are now experiencing firsthand what many of us lived through in the 1980s.
And I say this sincerely: no one deserves such suffering.
No one deserves persecution for holding different political views.
No one deserves to lose their home, their country, or their freedom.
But here lies the contradiction you have yet to confront:
Today you are living what we once lived.
Yet you still refuse to acknowledge what others endured under the government you helped sustain.
That is the moral knot you have refused to untangle.
That is the bridge you have never chosen to cross.
That is the silence that continues to follow you.
V. Nicaragua Deserves a New Left—Honest and Unhaunted by the Ghosts of the Past
Nicaragua deserves a left willing to say:
«Yes, we made mistakes. Yes, abuses occurred. Yes, people suffered. And yes, we owe them an apology.»
A left built not on silence but on memory.
A left led not by the figures of the past but by new generations free from historical burdens.
A left unafraid of the truth because it understands that truth is the only path toward genuine reconciliation.
Nicaragua does not need a perfect left.
It needs an honest one.
And that honesty begins with you: the Sandinista left in exile, which has yet to find the courage to acknowledge what it did, what it allowed, and what it chose to remain silent about.
As long as you continue denying the past, protecting those who held power, and speaking about democracy without practicing self-criticism, you do not represent a viable future for Nicaragua.
You represent a past that many of us refuse to relive.
VI. A Real Risk for Nicaragua’s Future
Your actions also reveal what I consider a genuine risk for Nicaragua’s future.
I have watched members of the Sandinista exile attempt to advance ideological agendas disconnected from Nicaragua’s culture—imported causes that bear little relation to our national identity or to the genuine needs of our people.
What concerns me most is this: they are skilled political operators. They possess resources. They know how to purchase loyalties. They know how to exploit the needs of ordinary people, presenting themselves as saviors while operating according to the same logic of power they once condemned.
I do not want my country to emerge from one dictatorship only to fall under another form of ideological imposition.
I do not want the poverty of our people to become a political instrument.
I do not want history to repeat itself under the guise of modernity.
Nicaragua deserves a future free from manipulation, hidden agendas, and ideologies that fail to respect our national identity.
(*) The author is an engineer, former president of Hagamos Democracia, a member of the Center-Right Bloc, the Monte Verde Democratic Coalition, and a conservative member of the Citizens for Freedom (CxL) movement in exile.
