The Priest and the Poet

Sol’s mother did an interview with Gioconda Belli, Nicaraguan poet, in Bomb Magazine.

Belli is quoted in a recent article by Gumuio Dagon on the occasion of the imprisonment in Nicaragua of Ernesto Cardenal, priest and founder of Solintiname Christian Community:

Gioconda Belli,… emblema de la cultura nicaraguense y Sandinista militante, ha escrito: “Lo que fue una caracteristic unica del FSLN, la direccion colectiva dejo de existir en los 90. Se impuso la actitud vengativa y dura, la misma que esta ahora dandose rienda suelta de una manera tan obcecada que ya no es solo un peligro para los sujetos contra las que se enfila, sino para el pais en su conjunto.” Y concluye: “El Sr, Ordega y su esposa tendran que dares cuenta que estan creando una narrativa de odio y confrontacion muy peligrosa para la estabilida de nuestro pais. En esa narrativa destructive en que estan empeñados, se quedaran solos, aislaran a Nicaragua y dividiran un pais que solo unido puede salir adelante. Harian bien en no olvidar aquel proverbio que dice: Siembra vientos y cosecharas tempestades.”

From the Guardian (UK)
Artists and intellectuals have accused Nicaragua's Sandinista government of betraying its revolutionary heritage by waging a vendetta against a revered poet.

Ernesto Cardenal, an 83-year-old cultural figurehead, faces jail after clashing with President Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader who was once a darling of the left.

More than 60 Latin American writers and cultural luminaries, including many who used to champion the Sandinistas, denounced the move as illegal and another sign that the revolution had curdled.

In a joint letter they said Cardenal, a former culture minister and Catholic priest who helped popularise the movement in the 1980s, was the most recent victim of systematic persecution in the impoverished Central American country.