The mourning, the pain and the yearning for justice are still valid. This May 30, 2022 in Nicaragua it is remembered that on a date like this, four years ago, 19 people were killed while they accompanied, in that “mother of all marches”, the relatives of the first ninety victims of the repression of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. In addition, almost 200 wounded were registered due to the violence of the repressive forces of the dictatorship.
Sara López, mother of the victim Cruz Alberto Obregoncollapses when remembering the massacre of May 30, 2018, the date on which her son was shot to death when the Ortega-Murillo regime ordered the suppression of the “March of the Mothers” that took place in Estelí.
“Remembering that day completely clouds me,” she says as she pauses to try to stifle her tears. After a few seconds, she catches her breath, resumes the conversation and states: “It was a day that marked my life forever. I get up at night and wonder if what happened to me is true, I still don’t assimilate it, I don’t accept it”.
“That May 30, they murdered us together with my son. The taste we have is bitter, for us it is not a holiday date, it is the mourning that we always carry for the great massacre of that day, ”he adds.
On May 30, 2018, in Estelí they were also murdered: Dariel Steven Gutiérrez, Dodamin Castilblanco, Darwin Salcedo, Jairo Antonio Osorio, Mauricio Ramón López and José Manuel Quintero.
“May 30 is not a holiday, it is a day of national mourning”
Yadira Córdoba, mother of Orlando Aguirre Cordobakilled by a bullet in the chest at the age of 15 at the march that took place in Managua, firmly stated that he can no longer celebrate Mother’s Day because “that day marks four years since my son was murdered ”.
“May 30 is in mourning for me and for all the mothers who support us. They killed my son and it is a pain that is eternal, that will accompany me until I lose the breath of life, “she said.
He recalled that his son wanted to be “a great drummer, a great soccer player and he could not fulfill his dreams just because he left on May 30, 2018 to show solidarity with the mothers of April, without knowing that on May 30 his mother was going to become a of them and that on that very May 30 he was going to watch over him.”
Josefa Meza, mother of Jonathan Morazan Mezakilled by a shot to the head, while participating in the March of the Mothers in Managua, affirms that on May 30 “he was marked with pain, blood and mourning as of 2018.”
“For us it means a lot of pain, because from that date we remember the mourning we suffered with the bloodbath perpetrated by the dictatorship,” he said.
Josefa’s son studied Graphic Design at the Universidad del Valle and attended a Mormon church.
In Managua, other fatal victims were: Maycol Cipriano González, Francisco Javier Reyes Zapata, Daniel Josías Reyes, Edgard Guevara Portobanco, Kevin Antonio Coffin and Heriberto Pérez.
In Chinandega they also lost their lives Juan Alejandro Zepeda, Rudy Antonio Hernandez and Marvin Jose Melendezand in Masaya it was Carlos Manuel Diaz.
The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) revealed that the 19 murders that occurred in Managua, Masaya, Chinandega and Estelí, where marches were held in support of the Mothers of April, the regime of Daniel Ortega repressed protesters with bullets. The shots were fired by uniformed police and civilians. In addition, he accused the Government of Nicaragua of having committed “Crimes against humanity” for the series of violations he committed against the human rights of Nicaraguans.
“They will not silence us, we will continue to demand justice”
On May 18, 2022, the National Assembly—controlled by the Daniel Ortega regime—declared May 30 a national holiday for being Nicaraguan Mother’s Day. This implied that the date was at the level of holidays such as Easter or national holidays, which implies a total holiday.
However, the Mothers of April Association, before the move of the Ortega legislators, called to declare May 30 as “National Day of Mourning” for the massacre that the regime perpetrated four years ago.
The mothers of the fatal victims considered that the purpose of the regime is “erase from the memory of Nicaraguans the bloody act he committed on May 30, 2018.”
“For us, who killed our children that same day, it is even more painful because we never expected it. They will never be able to erase it, even if they declare it a national holiday,” Meza said.
In addition, he stressed that as relatives they will not rest in remembering the crime that was committed against their children, brothers, uncles, brothers or parents.
“We are in charge of continuing the memory of what happened through the Museum of Memory, through activities, because it is unfair that they have taken the lives of our children, it cannot go unpunished,” he said.
López considers that the declaration of a holiday was “a mockery” organized by the regime against the mothers of the victims and invited Nicaraguans to continue “rejecting, rejecting that day that he (Daniel Ortega) gave as a holiday, because we have nothing to celebrate”.
In addition, he indicated that this May 30 they will dress in “mourning, because we have nothing to celebrate, because four years later, as family members, we continue to demand justice for these crimes, they cannot go unpunished, they cannot be repeated.” .
