In Nicaragua and Venezuela, Washington’s strategy may change but the objective of regime change remains the same

The same country (the United States, in case anyone has doubts) that objects to Russian interference in its presidential elections, is money laundering in order to bypass Nicaraguan legislation requiring NGOs to report all funds that they receive from abroad. Similar legislation is on the books in the U.S., but the Washington establishment opposed its enactment by Managua and also by Venezuela since it was first considered in 2006 and until it was enacted five years later. Now the National Endowment for Democracy and its affiliates are getting around the law in Nicaragua by handing recipients the money in cash in the US embassy in Managua and using the Fundación Arias in neighboring Costa Rica as a conduit. 

The objective is to unseat the Sandinistas by any means possible. Both in Venezuela in 2019-2020 and Nicaragua since April 2018, the use of violence to topple the Chavista and Sandinista governments hasn’t worked. After declaring elections to be fraudulent in Venezuela and supporting electoral abstention, the U.S. “democracy promotion” team may be edging toward participation and replacing Guaidó with former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles as “Our Man in Caracas.” Capriles, who refused to oppose Juan Guaidó’s self-proclamation as president in January 2019 is now branding himself a moderate. A similar strategy may be followed for the November general elections in Nicaragua. A far cry from the use of violence, but foreign intervention is foreign intervention and should be opposed in all forms. The financing of political actors by NED and USAID is a violation of national sovereignty, the very same term used by Democrats to denounce alleged Russian interference in U.S. elections.