Celebrities and intellectuals who backed the Sandinista revolution in the 1980s have accused President Daniel Ortega's government of stifling dissent.
Noam Chomsky, Salman Rushdie, Bianca Jagger and other high-profile former sympathisers have joined a chorus of alarm at recent actions.
The Sandinistas returned to power in Nicaragua last year after winning an election against a divided opposition, ending 17 years in the political wilderness and raising hopes of progress in central America's poorest nation. Much of that goodwill has evaporated after controversial decisions that have revived 80s-era suspicions over Ortega's commitment to democracy.
International donors, including Britain, have threatened to cut funding over what they say is an authoritarian and reckless style of government which is compounding economic woes. One of the most serious rows flared over the electoral agency barring two opposition parties from November municipal elections, claiming they missed a deadline for naming party representatives in all electoral districts.
Wow, who saw that one coming? Oh, that's right, conservatives did, 25 years ago.
I've always been amazed that the people most likely to support communist regimes are the first people the communists get rid of when they take over; intellectuals, homosexuals, writers, entertainers, etc. You'd think those intellectual types might know better.
By the way, to lump Bianca Jagger in as an "intellectual" might be a stretch, even for them.
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