NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Last year, the attendees to the UN Committee of 24 Regional Seminar in Nicaragua got to meet the President of the country, Daniel Ortega. It was a surprise visit, and most of use weren't prepared as we had just spent the day driving around during tourist activities and weren't dressed for an official state visit. Several of the country representatives lamented their attire and that they couldn't officially share their photographs as their dress violated their official protocol. All in all, our meeting with Ortega lasted for more than two hours. With him speaking at length about his experiences with the United States, the United Nations, Leftist movements in Latin America, and also decolonization in Africa. I meant to write a post about that conversation, but never got the chance to. I'm hoping to do so this year, especially if we are fortunate enough to meet with him again. Several country reps and representatives from Non-Self-Governing Territories refused to take

There are so many interesting things when traveling to different parts of the world. Environments and landscapes change. Languages and cultures change. The sense of time can feel different. The referents that we use to pin down meaning, to create social and cognitive maps shift. It can be disorientating in a very fundamental sense. You rely on certain things to give a sense of stability. Certain things to be understood by those around you. When those shift it can be bewildering.  One thing that I've found most interesting from the two UN regional seminars that I've attended, both in Latin America, is the way the pantheon of historical referents shifts. In a Guam context, there are certain figures that can be safely and comfortably referred to and provide a stable sense of communal meaning. Magellan, Yokoi, Hurao, Kepuha, San Vitores, the Archbishop, various Governors, maybe some MMA fighter or a Chamorro musician. People may debate their legacy, their social value or pulsi

Someone once told me that Nicaragua is a land of wounds. If Latin America is a land of open veins, Nicaragua is a land of wounding after wounding. Since becoming independent from Spain in the early 19th century, it has gone through regular periods of social upheaval and repression, generally with the United States playing some form of oppressor. In the 1850's a US mercenary and would be monarch William Walker took over the country and re-instituted slavery. Although the US government didn't necessarily fund and organize his private imperial venture, they recognized his facade of a government, as it would be one where they were certain it would follow their interests. Walker was expelled by a coalition of local Central American leaders who all detested the power that the United States and its economic and military emissaries tended to wield over their local affairs. As the United States saw Latin America as their sphere of influence, they closely monitored any potential inte