This is Ben Norton, and you're listening to Moderate Rebels.

This episode is just me.

I'm not joined by my co-host, Max Blumenthal, and this is a report from inside Nicaragua.

In January and February, I have spent several weeks in Managua, the Capitol, reporting on

the effects of U.S. sanctions, which have done serious damage to Nicaragua.

And as you'll hear in this episode, are blatantly illegal under international law.

And I've also been reporting on the aftermath of the 2018

U.S.-backed coup attempt against the democratically elected Sandinista Front, the leftist

political party that governs Nicaragua. And as you'll hear in the upcoming episode here,

I sat down for an interview with Nicaragua's

ambassador to the United Nations International Court of Justice.

His name is Carlos Arguez Gomez, and the ICJ, the International Court of Justice, is the

legal arm that works with the United Nations in the Hague and the

Netherlands where Argoello-Gomez is based. So in this episode, we talk about a variety of

issues, including, as I mentioned, the U.S. sanctions on Nicaragua, which are essentially a form of

warfare and collective punishment targeting the entire civilian population that have done damage to the Nicaraguan economy.

You know, this is a very small country of only 6 million people that is still trying to develop itself.

Even though it is actually the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, it is one of the

most equitable countries in the Western Hemisphere. It has really high rates of not only income

equality, but also representation of women and the government. In fact, it is the fifth best

country in the world when it comes to gender parity and representation

of women in society.

...