In the first eight months of the fourth illegitimate term of Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua suffers from the intensification of the repression that already accumulates more than 1,400 canceled non-governmental organizations, political prisoners sentenced under illegal processes and without the right to defense, express detentions, siege or house by jail, migratory restrictions and exile of nationals “ungrateful”.
The latest repressive actions also include the persecution of independent journalists, massive closures of channels and radios, arrests of priests and harassment of the Catholic Church. All these events, ordered by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, have pushed another 100,000 Nicaraguans into exile to protect their physical integrity and freedom or seek better economic opportunities in the face of rampant unemployment and legal and political uncertainty.
In CONFIDENTIAL, we spoke with a seminarian who is following acts against the Catholic Church, a young woman who still works in a non-governmental organization and fears its closure like other NGOs, a retiree and a journalist who never thought of leaving the country and had to go into exile in the Last month they give their opinion on the course that Nicaragua is taking and share their reactions in the first person. All of them shared their testimony on the condition that they not be identified for fear of reprisals against them or their relatives.
“We feel frightened, outraged, powerless”
George, seminarian
As a citizen and member of the Church, which is persecuted today, I logically repudiate all attacks and violations of human rights. I deeply regret that now, even, they want to take away our right to free worship and religiosity.
I think that Nicaraguans have been forced to live like this, but now there is a new generation of thinkers and leaders who have awakened in us the hope of building a country based on freedom, democracy, justice and peace. However, we cannot reach that new dream country by following the old paths that led us to poverty, injustice and crises at all levels.
For now, I think that a good part of Nicaraguans feel scared, but also outraged. There is a lot of impotence because many of us would like to act, but we know that one swallow does not make a summer. No matter how many wishes and courage we have here, there is someone who, sadly, has the upper hand, and that someone is the State.
Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, is one of the voices that they have not been able to placate, but we see that the government forces do not sit still and repress, intimidate, vilely attack and that is where many of us withdraw and say “better not speak, better be silent”.
All this has affected us all emotionally. It is enough to look at the sadness of the parents who adjust for the supplies or food of their children, those who abandoned their land due to repression, those who are not allowed to pray freely. We are emotionally in crisis.
The abuse of power and authority of the State is becoming more and more acute and I feel that this will be a time bomb that will explode at some point, just as we experienced it in 2018. The impact of all this is engraved on the faces and looks who lost their children in April 2018, in the social systems – education, health, security – that have been flawed and corrupt for a long time, in the economic crisis and the lack of opportunities for those of us who are not supporters of the Government.
“Forget progress in this country… there is hopelessness”
Martha, an NGO worker
We are adrift. Daniel Ortega is going to completely ruin the country as revenge for the 2018 uprising and he has made this clear on more than one occasion, without any shame.
The repression is generalized, it is not only focused on a sector of the population; It ranges from Sandinistas to opponents, from Catholics to Evangelicals, from rich to poor. What happens is that the coverage is sometimes biased and I say this as someone who does not belong to the popular group and who has experienced this repression without lights and in silence.
On a personal level, this has caused me anxiety crises, waiting for the day when they will cancel my organization and confiscate everything, because I know that sooner or later they will close me down.
The closure of NGOs has left a high unemployment rate and the prices of the basic basket seem made in Dubai. It seems incredible that now, to be able to live with the basics, you must have up to two or three jobs.
If we go to my field of action, it is impossible to go crazy with the educational issue. The situation is extremely worrying. Boys and girls are not learning to read and write, and while our society becomes more and more ignorant, the cow keeps getting fatter.
For my part, I feel that I have aged 30 years since 2018. Every day is a new concern: water, electricity, food, transportation, that they released “Fulanito”, the one who killed “Fulana”, that they are stealing on a motorcycle, that the “Mengana” left the country wet, that this, that that. Who can live well like this?
I think that in general, the feeling of the population is one of resignation. Because what can I do for my country if they couldn’t do anything to the one who has been in prison for three months. What can I do? If the life of his “saviors” in the 80’s is worth nothing and he lets them die in jail. For me, who is going to go out and ask for justice? Who will take care of my family if they put me in jail?
In order not to suffer more and not to bring suffering to my family, I better remain silent and endure until I see the next brave person who strikes a match, supposedly to light the fuse of the volcano, and in a breath they extinguish it and disappear. Because that is our pattern. So I could say that apart from resignation, there is despair. Many of us feel this way.
Personally, I planned to study for a doctorate in a few years, but now the choice is to eat or study. About any other plan that Nicaraguans have, the options are: plan or eat. There is no other. Forget getting ahead in this country. That no longer exists.
“Now it is the Church, tomorrow we do not know what will happen”
Sandra, retired
I have never been a supporter of this government, but I never thought that we would live through such bitter days. They have practically taken over everything and have even taken away our freedom. We cannot give an opinion because that is to become their enemies and nobody wants to be imprisoned. I who lived through the war fear for my son and my grandchildren.
Life in Nicaragua is increasingly expensive and scarce. What they give us as a pension, in my case, I’m retired, doesn’t fit us, but we can’t say anything. Every day we go to bed and wake up with a new concern, now it is the Church, tomorrow we don’t know what else it will be.
I am not afraid for myself, because I am old and I have already lived what I had to live, but I am afraid for my children who are still young and my grandchildren who are starting a life in a country like this. That is why I understand many who seek a better course in other countries. And it is painful that youth leave because their country did not offer them a future.
Emotionally, I think it has affected us all. Especially to those who have experienced the abuses of these people (the Government) firsthand, the mothers who lost their children, those who have relatives in prison, the young people who do not see opportunities and the old who are not at peace even in our old age .
I think fear is widespread. We have censored ourselves. In my case I don’t talk about politics or with the neighbors because one never knows what intentions they may have. I tell my children and grandchildren not to put anything on social networks, because even for that they can harm us. Can’t comment.
I don’t know what will happen to this country. I don’t know if I will see the change or if I will leave this world without seeing it. But I hope that soon we get out of this situation and that these people pay for everything they have done to us. After all our history, we don’t deserve to live like this.
“They ask me when I’m going to return, I don’t have the answer”
Sami, recently exiled journalist
Almost a month ago I had to leave my country. What hurts me the most is that I cannot see my children. I can’t hug or kiss them. Be with them if they need me. I can’t tell them stories when they go to sleep. What hurts me the most is that when they ask me when I’m going to return, I don’t have the answer. It hurts because I haven’t done anything wrong that I should run away from.
I’m in a place where I can’t even do a bank transaction because I don’t have a passport, since the government decided that I shouldn’t have one, without giving an explanation as to why. The change, from one day to the next, has been so strong and traumatic that sometimes I have to take a sleeping pill so that I don’t think about the whole life that I was forced to leave behind in Nicaragua.
Nicaragua is currently like a large property of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, in which you must live according to what they determine. Laws, institutions, international law are not valid. The only thing that counts is the will of the Ortega Murillo family.
There is simply no freedom. Nicaragua is a “failed” country. You have to build it again because it is currently useless. Even if the Ortega Murillo dictatorship falls, it will take many years to rebuild it.
Every piece of news that appears about repression, persecution and all the human rights violations committed by the Ortega Murillo hurts, because the country is destroying itself more and more, but Nicaraguans, who notice it, cannot do much because they will be persecuted and imprisoned. . It’s sad.
The dictatorship persecutes everyone they consider to be a danger so that they remain in power. Most of the time that fear is unjustified. We have to get our children out of Nicaragua. This country does not guarantee them a future.
There can be no quality of life in a country where people are imprisoned for thinking differently from the rulers, where hundreds of innocent people were murdered and there is no justice for them and their families. Nor where hundreds of thousands of people have to leave the country, for economic or political reasons, and families are fractured. There can be no quality of life in a place where you can’t freely express your ideas because if you do, you’ll get caught or get shot.
There is fear among the population, but I think that fear is not for oneself, but for our relatives. Many do not act so that their families do not suffer reprisals, but there will come a time when the people will say enough is enough. That will be sad, for the shedding of innocent blood. What has already happened so many times in Nicaragua, since the time of the first years of independence.
The dictatorship will not be able to meet the need for freedom that the Nicaraguan people have right now.
