Ortega vs. NGOs

Over the weekend, two NGOs were raided based on charges of money laundering. They are The Center of Media Investigations, known as Cinco, and the Autonomous Movement for Women. This was well covered in the TV news including footage of police loading five computers from Cinco into a truck and Carlos Fernando Chamorro (son of Violeta and Pedro Joaquin) stating that this is political on the part of President Ortega. An AP article in English appears in The International Herald Tribune. This is from the article:

Her son accused the Ortega government of trying to intimidate opponents. He said the investigation against Cinco intends to "fabricate political crimes, and this type of proceedings only occur during dictatorships."

Ortega has insisted that his government fully respects press freedoms. The government claims that Chamorro is illegally channeling money from foreign governments to civil organizations not legally allowed to receive such funds.

After posting this, I expect some people to say "see, I told you so" and I know of others that have told me that they know these illegal contributions are happening. Rather than turning this into a discussion like Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, I would like to see if we can confine the discussion to what people might actually know.

Historically, we know that U.S. government money was used to fight against the Nicaraguan government in the 1980s and that besides Contra funding we can trace other "aid" going to government opposition including La Prensa. For those that say "that was a long time ago" we can look at what the U.S. government has done recently in Bolivia. As well as "aid" to the opponents of the Bolivian government, we have the case of an embassy official asking Peace Corps volunteers to act as spies.

Additionally, the fact that Eduardo Montealegre is running for Mayor of Managua invites re-examination of the funding of his presidential campaign. While I know of no direct U.S. government involvement, it was a bit strange that he was having fundraising dinners in the Washington D.C. suburbs.

Ok, there you go. Tell us what you know and, well, try to be civil. I think we all would like to know the "facts behind the rumors" here and none of us want to see spewing of anti-whoever B.S.