Mískito Independence in Nicaragua

Yet another indigenous group has declared their independence from their national government, this time in Nicaragua. A coalition of 360 Mískito communities on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua has seemingly organized themselves, created a plan to govern the region, and has apparently formed a small army as an arm of defense of the new nation, to be called La Mosquitia. From an article posted on SchNEWS: 

"Met with barely a mention from the world press, a stony silence from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and scorn from local government, the indigenous Council of Elders annulled all land contracts with the Nicaraguan government pending renegotiation, cancelled government elections, called for businesses to begin paying tax to them instead of the government authorities and gave the police and military six months to organise an orderly and peaceful withdrawal. Not only have the new ‘government’ already begun work on a currency, a flag and a national anthem they are also backed by the ‘Indigenous Army of Moskitia’, comprised of up to four hundred conflict veterans."

Perhaps not surprisingly, there has been virtually no press coverage of this event in the mainstream media, and only a handful of smaller outlets have posted on it. NicaNet, a Nicaraguan-based organization for global justice reported the appointment of a Mískito ambassador to the U.S., the Rev. Wycliff Diego Blandon. According to Blandon: 

“There is tremendous unrest; the communities are awakening little by little and now it will not be possible to stop them. What they want is liberty; they want independence."

Promised autonomy by the national government in 1987, the Mískito coalition has finally decided that the unfulfilled pledge will likely never be honored, and have thus moved to an outright declaration of independence and statehood. This move comes on the heals of a similar declaration by the Lakota in the U.S., the election of an indigenous president in Bolivia, and the very active Zapatista movement and "the Other Campaign" in Mexico. It appears as if the Americas are finally seeing the reassertion of indigenous peoples after what could arguably described as over 500 years of oppression. See the links below for various articles on the Mískito declaration, and check back with us for updates as we find them. 

Read the SchNEWS article here >>>

Find the NicaNet piece here >>>

Read the NicaTimes article here >>>