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The Nicaraguan diaspora around the world will commemorate in Costa Rica, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States the eighth anniversary of the civic protests of April 2018, amid a human rights crisis that persists after the “repressive wave carried out by the State.”
Eight years after the beginning of the demonstrations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) warned in a statement that Nicaragua is experiencing “one of the most serious situations in the region,” due to the “absolute concentration” of power and the continuation of repressive practices orchestrated by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
April 18, 2026, marks eight years since the massive protests in Nicaragua, triggered by the announcement of reforms to the social security system. The anti-government repression left 355 people dead, more than two thousand injured, and to date at least 800,000 Nicaraguans, 11.6% of the total population, left the country between April 2018 and November 2025, according to data from the Nicaragua Nunca Más Human Rights Collective.
In this context, Nicaraguans in exile have organized an international agenda that combines remembrance, denunciation, and cultural expression.
Costa Rica: Commemoration and Denunciation
In Costa Rica, various organizations, including the Nicaragua Nunca Más Collective, the Mothers of April Association, and the Red de Mujeres Pinoleras, have organized a series of commemorative events in San Jose.
Confirmed events include:
- • Sunday, April 19, 9:00 a.m., San Jose
Mass in memory of the victims of the 2018 repression at the Church of San Francisco de Asís, popularly known as the “Brick Church,” organized by the Nicaragua Nunca Más Human Rights Collective.
At the same location, beginning at 10:00 a.m., a food fair organized by the Red de Mujeres Pinoleras will commemorate what they call “eight years of resistance and hope.” “Together, united to continue demanding justice and the swift end of the dictatorship,” the women’s exile organization stated.
Beginning at 1:00 p.m., the Nicaraguan diaspora has called for a cultural and artistic festival.
- Monday, April 20, 2:00 p.m.
The agenda titled Long Live Memory and Resistance, organized by the Nunca Mas Collective, includes a virtual exhibit from the Museum of Memory.
- • Tuesday, April 21, 6:00 p.m., San José
The Nicaragua Nunca Más Collective, together with the School of Philosophy of the University of Costa Rica, has organized a discussion titled: Eight Years Since April: Collectives, Memories, and Resistance Against Authoritarianism. It will take place at the Faculty of Letters.
- Thursday, April 30
The organization has also planned a concert for memory and freedom, honoring the anniversary of the Nicaragua Nunca Más Collective.
While the diaspora organizes in Costa Rica, inside Nicaragua the repression exercised by the regime “spreads widespread fear and increases the underreporting of complaints due to well-founded fears.”
United States: April Marches
En distintas ciudades de Estados Unidos —país que también acoge a los nicaragüenses que huyen de la represión—, se desarrollarán las siguientes actividades:
- Saturday, April 18, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Miami
The organizations Nicas Autoconvocados and Tranque de Miami will hold a vigil and reading of the names of “every child, student, and citizen killed” during the 2018 violence in Nicaragua. It will take place outside the Nicaraguan Consulate in Miami.
- Saturday, April 18, 1:00 p.m., Indianapolis
A gathering under the slogan “April lives, the insurrection that does not die” will take place at 1718 Lafayette Rd.
- Sunday, April 19, 10:00 a.m., Miami
Under the slogan “One Nicaragua, One March,” the March of the Crosses will be held. Organizers invite participants to “carry a cross with the name of each person killed.” It will begin at the Nicaraguan Consulate in Miami.
- Sunday, April 19, 12:00 p.m., Miami
As part of the eighth anniversary of the April Uprising, a Mass will be held at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in memory of the more than 355 people who were killed and who “gave their lives for freedom.”
- Sunday, April 19, 10:00 a.m., Los Angeles
Nicaraguans in Los Angeles are being called to march for Nicaragua. The march will begin at 565 S. Hill St. and proceed to City Hall.
Europe: Memory and Cultural Spaces
- • Saturday, April 18, 2:00 p.m., London
The Nicaraguan community will gather in a demonstration in front of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, commemorating the eighth anniversary of the 2018 Civic Rebellion.
The mobilization in London joins international efforts to highlight a crisis that, according to the IACHR, is occurring in a context of “severely limited civic space” and persecution against anyone perceived as an opponent.
- Saturday, April 25, 12:00 p.m., Spain
The exhibition by the Mothers of April Association and No Olvida, Museum of Memory Against Impunity in Nicaragua, will take place in Santiago de Compostela from April 25 to May 7, 2026, at the Librería AENEA.
- • Thursday, April 30, 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Barcelona
The Nicaragua Nunca Más Collective will hold a “day of denunciation and hope,” featuring a discussion forum, photographic exhibit, and a musical performance by Ludwing Gomez in Barcelona.
