The best student in Nicaragua in 2023, Jeybi Bonilla, considered by his teachers to be a brilliant mind, left Nicaragua with his family to join in Guatemala with his father, Jimmy Bonilla, a teacher originally from Nandaime and former politician of the Ortega regime who was deported from the country, stripped of his property and denationalized for participating in a Catholic procession.
In November 2023, Jeybi won the title as the best high school student nationwide with an average of 99.7 percent, which led him to stand out among Nandaimeños who recognize him as a hard-working young man with a comprehensive education. At the time of his victory, Jeybi’s happiness was not complete, his father had been kidnapped, without committing any crime, by the Nicaraguan dictatorship.
The Granada professor Jimmy Bonilla was arrested by the Ortega police on April 5, 2023 when he participated with other family members in a religious procession known as La Reseña, celebrated during Holy Week by the Catholic church in the municipality of Nandaime.
Obtaining first place meant that Bonilla was interviewed by government media, who also, through the Ministry of Education, organized said contest. At the time of being interviewed, the young man thanked God, his family and in particular his father who at that time had been detained for eight months in the Tipitapa “La Modelo” Penitentiary System; However, the Sandinista media censored the gratitude to his father in the journalistic article.
Professor Jimmy Bonilla was released on September 5 along with 134 other former prisoners of the dictatorship through the intervention of the United States government and sent to Guatemala, temporarily, to define their immigration status. The UN Refugee Agency set a date until early October to reunify Nicaraguan political prisoners with their families so that they can then go together to another country.
It is there where the young 17-year-old student manages to reunite with his mother Tania González and his two younger brothers with his father in Guatemala City to be relocated to the United States. In an interview that Jeybi gave to La Prensa, he assures that the freedom of his father and the reunification of his family is the best gift he can receive.
“We are now together, we have managed to reunite after so much suffering, we are very happy to be able to hug each other again as a family,” the young man told the local media. One of the awards that Bonilla received for his academic excellence was a scholarship at the American University (UAM), which he was forced to abandon after leaving the country.
Related news: Son of political prisoner Jimmy Bonilla rises as the best high school student; dedicates the award to his father “in absentia”
“It hurt me a lot to abandon my career, I love studying and I want to continue doing it, that’s why I’m researching where I can apply for scholarships,” says Jeybi. The young man states that despite his sadness over his father’s unjustified imprisonment by the dictatorship, he always attended to his academic responsibilities.
Brain drain
Jeybi Bonilla is one of the particular cases of the brain drain that Nicaragua is experiencing. As a result of the protests against the Sandinista government, which were eradicated by state repression with weapons and laws, the country experienced one of its largest mass migration chapters in its history. Hundreds of Nicaraguans were forced to live in exile due to the government crisis that keeps the population subject to unemployment, poverty and elimination of fundamental freedoms.
For Nicaragua, which has a population of less than seven million, mass migration has proven to be a serious brain drain, leaving the country prevented from growing in areas such as scientific, intellectual, artistic, environmental and political. The regime has also given signs of this loss, placing in key positions for the country officials with little or no experience in positions such as ambassadors, ministers and even the use of nepotism due to a lack of suitable candidates for important positions.
Among the professionals who have had to leave Nicaragua are doctors, lawyers, journalists, writers and thousands who work in agriculture, essential for the growth of a developing country. So far, more than half a million Nicaraguans have migrated regularly and irregularly, the main destinations are: the United States, Spain, Costa Rica and Panama.
