FoLA's Richard Kohn responds to a recent article on Nicaragua by The Nation's Eric Alterman, which reproduces many of the CIA-fed talking points against the Sandinista government often repeated by US mainstream media. Kohn reminds us that, contrasting with its past history as an independent publication which often countered misleading accounts on the Sandinistas, "The Nation is becoming nothing more than mainstream propaganda when it comes to US foreign policy."
Nicaragua: U.S. sanctions will disrupt sustainable beef production and reforestation
In a recent article for COHA (Council on Hemispheric Affairs), FoLA's Richard Kohn (professor of Animal Science at the University of Maryland) refutes claims that Nicaragua is destroying its rain forests and allowing beef ranchers to convert them to pastures in the country’s vast nature reserves. Based on his personal and professional experience, Kohn demonstrates that, contrary to this misleading narrative, the nature reserves in Nicaragua are not being deforested, and the Nicaraguan government has been promoting more sustainable beef production and reforestation. Economic sanctions could jeopardize these efforts.
When writing to our senators gets no response, perhaps we need new senators
For several years, Rick Kohn (University of Maryland professor and FoLA member) has been writing senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen about ending sanctions against Nicaragua, but never received a response. Recently, he also wrote Greenbelt's Mayor Colin Byrd, who's planning to run against Van Hollen in 2022. Byrd not only engaged in conversation, demonstrating familiarity with the issues at hand, but also publicly expressed his opposition to the RENACER Act, a bill (sponsored by Cardin) aimed at further destabilizing Nicaragua.
What’s wrong with the Paris accord? “It’s neocolonialism pure and simple,” says Paul Oquist
Paul Oquist, Nicaragua's delegate to the International Climate talks (who died on Tuesday, April 13th), explains what is wrong with the Paris agreement. He starts with a brief historical lesson on imperialism, to put into context the absurd proposition that the poor countries should bear the burden of solving the climate crisis.
Friends of Latin America 