On July 28, 2019 Hagamos Democracia, an Nicaraguan NGO whose legal status was revoked by the Nicaraguan government in December, invited Nicaraguans in exile to a meeting. Nicaraguan exiles who did not receive an invitation broke into the place and demanded to be included. A fight broke out in the end where some people were injured. This article provides Doña Francisca Ramírez´s interpretation of that event and the situation of the exiles.
“The Alliance should listen to the people” says Doña Francisca, peasant leader
by Loanny Picado, July 29, 2019 in LaLupa, online magazine
[see original Spanish at https://lalupa.press/2019/07/29/la-alianza-debe-escuchar-al-pueblo-dicen-dona-francisca-lider-campesina/ ]
One day after members of the Civic Alliance and the Blue and White National Unity (UNAB) were challenged by a group of exiles in Costa Rica, who expounded on a series of demands, Francisca Ramírez, a leader of the Peasant Anti-Canal Movement who also is in Costa Rica, said that in the face of the discontent the Alliance should listen to the people.
“The Alliance should reorganize, it should listen to the people above all, I think that the entire problem is rooted there. They have not been able to unite the sectors for this very reason. When the dialogue happened, they told me that a peasant woman could not be at the negotiating table, because there were other much more intellectual people who should be there. That should not be how it is”, said Doña Francisca.
During the event organized by Hagamos Democracia, representatives of the Civic Alliance and the UNAB were present, among them Violeta Granera, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Mónica López, Ana Quirós, Max Jerez, José Pallais, Mario Arana and Luciano García, and the ex political prisoners Edwin Carcache and Medardo Mairena.
The exiles demand decisive actions
A group of people barged into the place who identified themselves as exiles in the face of the harassment, persecution and the massacre that the Ortega-Murillo regime unleashed in 2018 as responses to the civic protests of the citizenry that left a toll of more than 300 murdered.
The group of exiles, who ended up staying in the activity organized by Hagamos Democracia, demanded timely actions to confront the dictatorship, like a national strike, as well as other actions that would ensure their return to Nicaragua, but especially more unity and representation of the different national sectors.
“I believe that the Alliance needs to get down to the reality. This struggle is all of ours, the Alliance should correct itself, it must listen to the people, the exiles suffer a lot, and no one understands that suffering better than the one who is experiencing it. Within the Alliance there are people who should not be there, decisions are made in another way, when they should be a consensus of all the sectors, “ expressed Ramírez who did not participate in the activity.
Among the exiles who questioned the Civic Alliance and UNAB were citizens who participated in the barricades in Carazo and Matagalpa. The lawyer in exile Álvaro Cerros ended up injured at the end of the event.
Ortega is the only enemy
In spite of the differences shown during the event, Ramírez thinks that perspective has not been lost, and that the only enemy is the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“Here the only enemy is Daniel Ortega, we should be clear about that. It is difficult from the suffering of the peasant in exile to see how we are doing. All the sectors should be listened to, we should not be closed, “ said the peasant leader.
Doña Francisca, in spite of her years leading the Peasant Anti-Canal Movement, has been distanced from it, but said that she is willing to meet with Medardo Mairena to carry out action strategies to help the peasants.