Viva la Revolucion!!

The first indication I had that today was going to be an exciting day was waking up to the sound of the fireworks at 5 am.  They began exploding even before the rooster started crowing at 5:30 am! July 19^th is National Liberation Day in Nicaragua, which celebrates the Sandinistas’ overthrow of the dictator Samoza.  Nicaraguan history is complicated, and while most Nicaraguans seem to embrace the revolution, not all embrace Daniel Ortega.  We had plans to go to Managua for the celebration at la Plaza de la Fe.  It was scheduled for 4 pm, and is normally less than an hour away.  Apparently, everyone from the different villages and towns go to Managua for this celebration in caravans. However, things did not work out quite as planned.  We drove to the town of la Concha and took our place in line in the school van.  We also had a truck full of students going.  It took us over an hour to get organized and begin the journey.  It was really exciting with everyone waving flags, dressed in red and black and pink, and la musica blaring.  Fifteen minutes outside of town, there was a protest.  Thirty or so Nicaraguans had missed their bus into Managua, so they were blocking the road to prevent anyone else from going.  We think they were trying to make others take them there in their vans.  After waiting about 20 minutes, our driver, Bergman, drove around the road block via a little passing side road.  The protestors yelled at us, banged on the van as we passed, and tore away our Sandinista flag that was hanging out the window.  It was a bit scary for a few minutes, but we drove on.  We were then able to catch up to our truck, which had just missed getting stuck behind the protest.  The experience at the plaza was incredible.  It was estimated that maybe 150,000 people were there.  There was much flag waving, patriotic song singing (Daniel Ortega has one just for him to the tune of “Stand by Me”), drinking, jostling to get a better view and just upbeat, excited, enthusiastic Nicaraguans celebrating.  It was just serendipitous that I happened to be here for one of the biggest holidays for Nicaragua, and I have to say it was exciting though somewhat tense.  It seemed to be more of a political rally for Ortega, though, and he really was the focus of the celebration.  Some of the criticism of Ortega stems from his making this about his campaign rather than the revolucion.  He has a tendency to take the glory for himself, at the expense of recognizing those who actually led la revolucion. In addition, the news in the paper today was that the Nicaraguan Bishop criticized Ortega and his wife, as his wife proclaimed at the rally that Ortega was the ‘pastor of the people’.  The bishop called it blasphemous, which is a very strong statement to make about Ortega.  It is mucho interestante to be here during this moment.