Exiled Nicaraguans to March in Rejection of the Nov. 7 Vote

Nicaraguans in different parts of the world are organizing marches in their separate cities for November 6 and 7, the day before and day of the voting set to take place in Nicaragua. In these “elections”, ruler Daniel Ortega will participate opposed only by token allied parties. In the preceding months, Ortega cancelled the legal status of the true opposition parties and imprisoned the seven aspiring candidates who had hoped to run against him for president.  

The marches will be held in Canada, the United States, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, Peru, Spain, Italy, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and Greece, among others.

The simultaneous events seek to demonstrate the repudiation of exiled Nicaraguans, now scattered throughout the world, against the elections being held in their Central American country. In addition, they hope to be heard by the different countries’ governments, who they’re asking to declare Ortega’s foreordained presidential reelection illegitimate, and not recognize him as a democratic leader.

Alfonso Hernandez, from the organization Conexion Nica (Nica Connection), explained that demonstrations will take place in at least 12 European countries and 22 cities. They’ll also be held in 14 US states. Some of these localities have planned more than one event for the two days of protest. The organization calculates that some 30 or 40 events will be held, some in the week before the elections.

The demonstrators will manifest their rejection of what they call “an electoral circus”. Since there’s no real political competition at all, the Ortega regime will be left fraudulently in power for a new electoral period – representing Daniel Ortega’s fourth consecutive presidential term. By the next scheduled elections in 2027, Ortega will have been continuously in power for 20 years.

Luis Montoya, in representation of the organizations in Spain, said that Nicaraguans want to “put Nicaragua on the world’s radar, and show that from outside the country we’re not going to accept another period in government for this regime. We’re not going to accept any more repression.”

In Costa Rica, the march will leave from the Merced Park in San Jose at 9 am, and culminate with the reading of a statement at the Plaza de la Democracia. Parallel to this, another group of demonstrators will direct a protest in front of the Nicaraguan consulate in Costa Rica.

Due to the regime’s repression in Nicaragua, directed against anyone who attempts to demonstrate, the internal organizations opted to protest by other means, such as printing leaflets or scrawling graffiti on the walls.

“They haven’t been able to paint slogans on the walls as we’d hoped, due to the repression,” noted one of the members of the organization inside Nicaragua. This source assured that despite the demonstrations taking place in other countries, within Nicaragua they’ll be protesting “in silence”, to avoid being captured and jailed by the dictatorship’s security apparatus.

Esmeralda Green, speaking from Ireland for the demonstrating organizations, explained that this march will serve as a catalyst, so that Nicaraguan exiles around the world can unite in a “great group”. They won’t be displaying either logos or ideological slogans; rather, it will be one united voice to say “Enough!” of dictatorship.

Green added that the demonstrators will also be demanding the release of the 159 political prisoners currently in the jails of the Ortega dictatorship. 

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