Hi everyone, As you may know, one of the Cowgirls recently raised a concern about our participation in Copa Lucrecia on Sunday. This tournament has been a favourite with the Cowgirls for many years and raises funds for Football and Life Skills projects for women and girls in Nicaragua, as well as acting as a show of solidarity with the leftist Sandinista revolution. Concerns were raised about the current President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, who is accused of becoming increasingly authoritarian, oppressing any opposition to his rule, including from feminists, indigenous groups, trade unions, cooperatives, student groups and political parties. While Ortega was originally brought to power by the Revolution, Sandinistas are increasingly distancing themselves from him because he is not governing by their values. While the charity supported by the Tournament is completely independent of the Government, the Nicaraguan Ambassador attends every year and poses for photos with each team, which are then shared on Nicaraguan news sites - arguably to show that the British left still supports Ortega’s government. The Committee have raised these issues with the organiser of the tournament and he offered several compelling counter arguments, including the suggestion that there is an active disinformation campaign by the US and right wingers to discredit the Nicaraguan government and their leftist credentials. He has suggested that we raise these issues directly with the Ambassador at the tournament and start an open and honest debate. We’ve discussed this as a Committee and obviously have huge concerns about our involvement and what it means. However, given that both “sides” have presented really compelling arguments we just don’t feel we know enough to boycott at such short notice. Our conclusion is that we honour our commitment to attend but don’t pose for photos with the Ambassador. We also really encourage anyone who goes to raise any issues they have as an individual with the Ambassador and capture her responses for discussion among us all. Over the next few months we need to explore this issue in much more depth so that we can make an informed decision next year. We realise this will sit differently with different people and it’s completely up to individuals to decide whether or not they want to participate. All we would ask is that you update Spond asap if you’re not going to play so that we can arrange teams etc. Thanks so much to those who raised this issue, such an important one and we really welcome everyone’s input into the discussion, now or in the future. In solidarity (with things we think are good but might not be), The Cow Committee