“Goodbye Macondo”, the Agony of Leaving Nicaragua

 More than one hundred thousand Nicaraguans have left Nicaragua as a consequence of the systematic repression unleashed by the Ortega-Murillo regime since April 2018 in the country.

In Holland there are dozens of Nicaraguans who have put an ocean between them and their homeland in order to feel safe. Almost all asylum seekers have been approved, as the situation in Nicaragua worsens.

Saying goodbye to Nicaragua is a slow and painful process. And it was precisely what the weekend of May 27 and 28 was reflected in one of the rooms of Amstel, in Amsterdam, where the group Lleca Teatro presented the play “Adios Macondo”, which portrays the ordeal that exiles go through, and the pain left by the absence of those who were killed by the dictatorship.

On stage, perhaps, inspired by “Dante’s Inferno”, specifically Purgatory, the play shows us how souls face their final destiny, waiting for their sentence, clinging to the memory and pain of having left the world of the living.

Gabriela, one of the characters, opens the production dramatically. She reads the tarot for one of those present, but beyond that, with her dislocated voice, predicts and makes you feel the migrants’ suffering. It is a crude account of the souls who have died trying to cross the border into the United States, as well as those who were killed by the dictatorship in Nicaragua.

“The work captures the pain of leaving one’s country, the part of you that you cannot bring with you into exile. It is a portrait of the life of those who are still alive and the death of those who were killed or are imprisoned by the regime,” says the director of the theater group.

The Lleca Teatro group is made up of political exiles based in the Netherlands, plus Geraldine Guerrero from Mexico, all under the direction of Miguel, who even from a distance prefers not to give his real name to protect his relatives who still live in Nicaragua.

“Only Geraldine and I have experience as actors in theater. The others are acting for the first time, but they have done very well,” Miguel shares.

Lleca Teatro in Holland was formed for the purpose of channeling the grief of being away from Nicaragua. More than just an acting group, it has become a circle of therapy and emotional support and the reality of exile, expressed in works such as “Adios Macondo”.

“For me, finding this group was like finding salvation. I arrived in Holland a year ago, escaping from Nicaragua after moving from safe house to safe house. Now with this work I can channel the sadness of feeling the loss of being forced to leave my country,” says Guadalupe, one of the members of the group, who also prefers anonymity.

There are special moments when the play really hits the mark. The electric guitar’s faint background music takes you into the dark scenery, adorned with crosses and photographs of political prisoners and people who have lost their lives. It is the raw grieving of the reality of migrants, waiting for the uncertain, hoping that at the end of purgatory they can get to heaven, in this case the land they were forced to leave.

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times