The 33 Nicaraguan political prisoners released and banished by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, were awarded this Thursday, March 9, with the prize “Champions of Justice”, delivered by the Global Women’s Instituteattached to the George Washington University, located in the capital of the United States.
The recognition was received —on behalf of these women who spent months and, in some cases, years kidnapped by the Ortega dictatorship— by the former politician and civic leader, Tamara Davila, who was imprisoned for 606 days at the headquarters of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance in Managua, known as El Chipote.
Along with Dávila, twelve of the 33 honored women were present, while the rest participated in the ceremony virtually.
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, and Brisa de Angulo, from A Breeze of Hope Foundation, an organization that assists victims of sexual violence.
Criminalized for wanting a fair Nicaragua
In his speech, Dávila recognized the courage and integrity of the women imprisoned by the Ortega regime, for not giving in to mistreatment and psychological torture of those who were victims while they were kidnapped.
“I am the daughter of two extraordinary women, the sister of two others, who have been my support and strength in these almost two years of kidnapping and unjust and illegal imprisonment, mother of a six-year-old girl, whom I did not see or hug for a long time. a year and two months, because the dictatorship in my country did not allow it, neither to me, nor to Suyen Barahona, nor to María Oviedo”, he expressed in his speech.
“All women like me, like you, want and work for a beautiful, free and democratic Nicaragua. For a more humane and egalitarian world. That’s why we were punished. That is why we were criminalized,” she added.
Dávila reflected on the harsh scenario of the Nicaraguan woman under the Ortega-Murillo regimewhich maintains a police state that has violated the rights of mobilization and expression of citizens.
“In my country, for more than nine years now, it is unimaginable that women take to the streets on these dates, and since 2018, it is impossible to have a meeting like this. In Nicaragua, any organized woman is susceptible to being persecuted and/or criminalized; them and their families,” Dávila recalled.
“Today, more than 200 organizations working for women’s rights have been closed down, confiscated, and hundreds of feminist activists forced into exile. All this with the purpose of dismantling the movement and going backwards in the fight for our rights. And of course this has a serious impact on the lives of the women who are still in Nicaragua,” she reflected.
They remember persecution of civil organizations
He also mentioned the repressive escalation of the Ortega regime against civil society organizations, mainly those specialized in care for children and women victims of violence and abuses.
“In Nicaragua, any organized woman is susceptible to being persecuted and/or criminalized; them and their families. Today, more than 200 organizations working for women’s rights have been closed down, confiscated, and hundreds of feminist activists forced into exile. All this with the purpose of dismantling the movement and going backwards in the fight for our rights. And of course this has a serious impact on the lives of the women who are still in Nicaragua,” she pointed out.
Dávila thanked the struggle and courage of those women who have faced the Ortega regime, and for which many of them have had to suffer harassment, jail or exile, due to the repressive response of the dictatorship.
They celebrate the ideological diversity of exiled women
“I, like the more than 139 women who have been identified as political prisoners of the regime at some point since 2018, and the 33 who were released on February 9 – today one month of that – am here thanks to those multiple hands, of multiple women who fight every day for freedom, for justice, equality and democracy,” said Dávila.
“I am also thinking of the thousands of women in exile and those who were recently exiled. All different. Let’s look at our faces, right here among the released prisoners present, and we easily realize that we are very diverse, in terms of ages, ideologies, religions, social strata, but we are united by the desire to live without violence, in freedom and democracy.” pondered.
“That is why we were imprisoned by the Ortega Murillo regime. Persecuted, murdered, criminalized for telling the truth, for shouting rebellion, speaking face to face and looking into the wind, for denouncing human rights violations, for raising our voices. And what an honor”, concluded the feminist and defender of human rights.
This is the list of the 33 women kidnapped, released and exiled, who were honored by the The Global Women’s Institute:
Ana Margarita Vijil Gurdian.
Dora Maria Tellez Arguello.
Maria Fernanda Ernestina Flores Lanzas.
Suyen Barahona Cuán.
Maria del Socorro Oviedo Delgado.
Violet Mercedes Granera Padilla.
.Daysi Tamara Dávila Rivas.
Christian Maria Chamorro Barrios.
Maria Esther González Vega.
Cinthia Samantha Padilla Jiron.
Russia Evelyn Pinto Centeno.
Alejandra de los Angeles Pérez González.
Jeannine Horvilleur Cuadra.
Ana Carolina Alvarez Horvilleur.
Mildred Giselle Rayos Ramirez.
Sandra del Carmen Acevedo Diaz.
Karla Patricia Vega Canales.
Nora Indiana Cuevas Abaunza.
Javiera Auxiliadora Jimenez Ortega.
Guisella Elizaxbeth Ortega Cerón.
Heydi Walkiria Ortega.
Maybel Marginny Aguilar Mojica.
Maria Jose Camacho Chevez.
Martha del Socorro Ubilla.
Thelma Estela Vanegas Garcia.
Nidia Lorena Barbosa Castillo.
Maria Jose Aragon Abarca.
Dominga de la Cruz Morales Jimenez.
Maria Jose Martinez Salas.
Maria Esperanza Sanchez Garcia.
Karla Vanessa Escobar Maldonado.
Julia Cristina Hernandez Arevalo.
Gloria Maria Cajina Machado.
