Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace (BACP) held our monthly meeting on Monday, December 6.   The meeting took place online via the Zoom website.   (BACP plans to hold our monthly meetings online via Zoom until at least April).   Judi and Richard Schiller, Larry Fisk, Gayle Nielsen, Donna Bowen, and Doug Olson joined the BACP meeting.

Doug provided an update on the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Meeting.   The Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 19 at 7 p.m.   The Meeting will be held online via the Zoom website.

BACP, Lakes Area Move to Amend (LAMTA), Brainerd Lakers United for the Environment (BLUE), Brainerd Lakes Area Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and Brainerd Lakes Pride will join the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Meeting.  The Brainerd area AFL-CIO and Lakes Area Restorative Justice are invited to join the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Meeting.

The Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Meeting will discuss how the participating organizations can get the word out to the Brainerd community about their work.   The Meeting will discuss the possibility of the participating organizations holding a joint event.

LAMTA will do a dry run of the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Meeting at the Tuesday, December 28 LAMTA online meeting.   An invitation will be sent to the listservs of all the participating organizations encouraging their members to join the Tuesday, December 28 meeting.   [Doug, BLUE chair Dean Borgeson, and DSA co-chair Julius Kapushinski joined the Tuesday, December 28 LAMTA meeting].


Gayle read a letter she and Larry composed about Nicaragua they plan to submit to the Star Tribune.   The letter detailed the progress Nicaragua is making in all areas of life.   The letter rebuts the false accusations Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega stole the Presidential election and represses political opposition.

Larry and Gayle observed the national elections held in Nicaragua on Sunday, November 7.   Nicaraguans voted for President, National Assembly, and Central American Parliament.   Larry and Gayle met many Nicaraguans.   They reconnected with BACP supporter Paul Baker-Hernandez.   Paul is a talented singer and songwriter who lives in Nicaragua.  (Paul performed in Brainerd for BACP in 2012, 2014, and 2017).  They met Ben Norton, the editor of The Grayzone, an anti-war and anti-imperialist news website, who recently moved to Nicaragua.

Larry and Gayle visited the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.  Many English-speaking Black Nicaraguans live on the southern Caribbean coast.   The northern Caribbean coast's population is predominately Indigenous.  Both regions have autonomous governments.
Road building progress has made it much easier to visit Nicaragua's Caribbean coast.

Nicaragua is building lots of parks and recreational areas.

Nicaragua is making huge strides in gender equality.   There are many programs to help women start businesses.   Women occupy key government positions, including Vice President and Defense Minister.   There are slightly more women than men in Nicaragua's National Assembly.   This is one of the highest proportions of female representatives in a national legislature in the world.  Under Nicaraguan law, half of all candidates for political office must be women.   Political parties' tickets must be gender balanced.   If a man runs for President, his Vice Presidential running mate must be a woman.  (Vice versa if the Presidential candidate is a woman).   

All over Nicaragua, people are building homes and refurbishing shops.

Nicaragua is food self-sufficient.   Nicaragua exports food.   Most of Nicaragua's food is grown by family farms or cooperatives. 
The Nicaraguan government encourages the growing of food crops such as rice, corn, and beans.  There are also cattle ranching and pig and chicken farming.

Larry discussed the failed 2018 coup attempt.   The U.S. supported the coup attempt and imposed more sanctions on Nicaragua after the coup attempt failed.   The coup attempt failed because of the massive resistance of the Nicaraguan people, who support their nation's democracy.

Larry and Gayle stressed the Nicaraguan government works at a very local level with the people.  A lot of initiatives to improve the quality of life start at the local level.

Larry and Gayle met Nicaraguans who fought in the Nicaraguan Revolution (1979) against the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship and resisted the U.S.-created and funded Contra terrorists in the 1980's.   They have lived to see the progress they fought for.

Larry and Gayle received Nicaraguan handicrafts.  Vice President Rosario Murillo, the wife of President Ortega, encourages the production of handicrafts.  She makes some herself.

Larry and Gayle listened to President Ortega give a speech in Managua's historic plaza after the election.

The U.S., Canada, and European Union oppose Nicaragua because it is a threat of a good example, i.e. a democratic socialist government which works with the people to improve the quality of life.  They also oppose Nicaragua's independent foreign policy, which embraces international law, national sovereignty, and the right of every nation to self-determination.   Nicaragua seeks to have good relations with all nations.

The U.S. media grossly distorts Nicaragua's government as a dictatorship.   This is a complete fabrication.  There is freedom of speech, press, and assembly in Nicaragua.   People freely criticize the government.   There are many opposition parties and NGOs.  Police presence in Nicaragua is minimal.   President Ortega easily wins re-election because he is genuinely popular due to the Sandinista government's great accomplishments in improving the living standards of Nicaraguans over the last 15 years.

Larry and Gayle plan to give an online presentation about their experiences visiting Nicaragua and observing the national elections.
BACP and DSA would co-host the presentation.


BACP will hold our next monthly meeting on Monday, February 7 at 7 p.m.   (BACP usually doesn't meet in January, barring exceptional circumstances, such as planning a peace vigil or responding to the possibility of a new U.S. war or the escalation of an existing war).  The BACP meeting will be held online via the Zoom website.   The meeting will last 40 minutes, the maximum amount of time Zoom provides for free meetings.


The BACP meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.   


BACP Meeting Notes Submitted by Doug Olson