On July 19, at 6:30 p.m., she will give a lecture at the Tolosa Cultural Center on the role of women in the Nicaraguan conflict.

What is happening in Nicaragua?

On the one hand, there has been a fire in one of the largest nature reserves in Nicaragua: Indio Frequently in reserve. More than 5,600 hectares were burned, and the government’s failure to declare a state of emergency has sparked outrage among students. The Indio Maíz Foundation, along this route, denounces that there are plans to build a road very close to the reserve and that there are also opportunities to build an interoceanic canal. The reason for this lack of interest is clear.

The reform of social security has also given rise to controversy.

Oh, yeah, yeah. They want to cut their pensions by 5%, arguing that Nicaragua is in total crisis. Pensioners took to the streets to oppose the reform, and the students joined these demands on April 18. The police used rubber bullets and, because of the outrage, they went out again on April 19, when the police used firearms and the first murder took place. In 90 days, more than 360 people have already been killed; only on Sunday, 20 killed, in 6 villages. The violence has worsened considerably, which is yet another violation of human rights in the 11 years that the FSLN has been in government. While they say there is a lack of resources, they are buying ammunition and weapons.

What do you think of the government version?

It's the makeup version. They want to make a division between the people and the anti-people and, listening to their comments, they seem to continue living in the 1980s: they talk about the war and the tacit coup d’état, while we are witnessing a massacre in Nicaragua. And they only have the weapons, not the citizens who are on the front lines in the barricades. What did they do from the beginning? Deny the dead. Unfortunately, the government is responsible for more than 80% of the media, and its version is the one that is being disseminated the most. Most of the other media is owned by an entrepreneur, and one of the president’s sons has a major advertising agency, all of which maintain the official version. However, the social networks have not been able to take control and the citizens are denouncing everything that is happening in them.

Does the world know what is happening in Nicaragua?

At first, the echo of the events did not come from Nicaragua itself, but now it is opening a space in the international media to explain what is happening there. In addition, an information caravan has been created: International Information Caravan in Solidarity with Nicaragua (International Soliradidad Information Caravan with Nicaragua). They are members of the youth and student movement and are touring several European cities. Among others, they have visited the city councils of San Sebastián and Bilbao, as well as the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation.

What is the social status of women in Nicaragua?

Over the past 11 years, we’ve seen more women police go out into the streets trying to shut down women’s cries, such as the March 8 or November 25 marches. The rate of femicide is high and it is one of the countries with the highest number of pregnancies among adolescents. These minors become pregnant, in many cases, because of sexual abuse, and the country has ignored all this, preferring to say that they are young mothers.

What position did they take in the conflict?

Many of these women are at the forefront of this struggle in the national dialogue. Many people believe that national dialogue is not solid, but it is in fact a tool for the democracy of our country. We have seen the representative of the Autonomous Movement of Women shouting for the rights of women and Nicaragua; we have also seen many women in the barricades, in the pots; and, many spokesmen of the student movement are also women. And, women have designed strategies to ensure safety during gatherings. So far, historically, men have taken mortars at demonstrations because they are very heavy, but now this has also changed: women also take mortars in the first line. Mortars are also a communication tool to announce the arrival of the police.

Have they sought to empower citizens in addition to street fighting?

Yes, because they want to create a popular uprising to create a social and ecological transformation in Nicaragua. Nicaragua must transform itself from a patriarchal society into a people with a feminist point of view, giving greater participation to women, and creating real parity. It has been said that we are the 12th country where women live the best, and we have a 50/50 law, but this law does not really represent the needs of women: they put a woman in some high position, only to be politically correct, which is of no use, if then all the projects in these spaces are conceived and developed by men. After the 1979 revolution, literacy was one of the most important projects in Nicaragua and now we want another literacy: we know how to read and write, but we don’t know how to leave spaces for women to participate.

There are also women in the caravan.

Three out of four are young women who are vociferously denouncing what is happening in Nicaragua. They are receiving threats because of this, and they will have to live their return to Nicaragua with great tension, where they will be waiting for them. However, they continue to denounce the situation.

How do people get that information?

In general, people are eager to hear what is going on. When the murders began, we were hit hard, because we know that we have historical precedents: It was a struggle for Nicaragua’s freedom and now we need to fight again. But in this case, we want to fight for a popular rebellion, not for the people to take up arms. During the revolution, the Basque Country offered great solidarity to Nicaragua because of the great similarities between the two processes; many Basque citizens, along with the citizens of El Salvador and Honduras, participated in the revolution of 1979 and later celebrated its victory. However, since then, many people have not followed what has happened in Nicaragua, which has caught them all by surprise. We are not surprised, because every day we see how the dictatorship is intensified in order to strengthen the regime. Thus, on the one hand, solidarity is being created and, on the other hand, there are also people who come to insult us because they have this romantic image of the revolution. They repeat the speech of President Daniel Ortega, saying that the mobilizations are called by the extreme right and supported by the CIA; imagine also that the information caravan has been financed by the Spanish government. The love of the 1979 revolution does not allow many to have a critical view. President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, have tarnished our historic legacy: they consider themselves Sandinistas, but they are actually tarnishing Sandino’s name. They have created a total dictatorship, and they want to rule from that position.

What future do you foresee for Nicaragua?

We are optimistic, but the reconstruction of Nicaragua will be a long process. The Government has formed a solid structure, and it is difficult to eradicate all this influence, which has reached every corner. They have created a network of corruption and, for example, they have created Councils of Citizen Power to obtain the names and surnames of Nicaraguans who participate in the mobilizations; they have also deprived the universities of their autonomy. However, the main demand now is the resignation of Ortega and Murillo. We want the Supreme Electoral Council to be restructured and new judges appointed so that we can have free and transparent elections. After that, let the reconstruction of Nicaragua begin: to judge correctly what has happened; to give way to critical voices; to guarantee the participation of women; to eradicate the marginalization of the LGBTQ movement; and, to join the peasants and indigenous peoples. If the citizens have decided to go out on the streets, let it really be to radically change the situation.

This news has been published by the portal of Tolosaldea and has been brought to LUZ thanks to the license CC-by-sa.