Nicaragua: Cultural Happening in Times of Protest

Music, dance, photography, poetry and handicrafts were the artistic expressions presented by several former political prisoners and Nicaraguan artists who have joined the civic struggle against the Ortega-Murillo government, which exploded in April 2018. The cultural event “Mi Voz, Mi arte, Mi País” (My Voice, My Art, My Country) was organized by a group of emerging women leaders, who work for human rights and art initiatives.

They stated that this is a necessary event in the struggle, because it provides an opportunity to Nicaraguans to express themselves freely in a private space, since it is currently prohibited to demonstrate publicly, says the lawyer Karla Sequeira, one of the organizers. For this reason, this first cultural meeting was not open to all audiences.

Nahiroby Olivas was one of the political prisoners who took this opportunity to recite a poem he wrote after spending ten months in the “La Modelo” prison. Harving Lesage, one of the three Esteban Lesage brothers who were political prisoners for singing in the barricades of Carazo, performed a song he recently composed dedicated to the lawyers who have defended and accompanied the more than 700 political prisoners.

Here below we present images of the ambience:

The political prisoners who learned to make handicrafts inside the prison took advantage of this space to sell their products to those people attending the cultural event. Carlos Herrera

One of the Lesage brothers, who were political prisoners for more than ten months, sang a song he recently composed to honor the Nicaraguan lawyers who defended prisoners of conscience. Carlos Herrera

The instant when lawyer Yonarqui Martinez, who defended more than fifty cases of political prisoners, receives a hug from student leader Nahiroby Olivas after listening to the song dedicated to the defenders of political prisoners. Carlos Herrera

Several photographers took advantage of the event to exhibit some of their pictures. Carlos Herrera

Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli also participated in this cultural space reciting some of her poems written during the crisis in Nicaragua. Carlos Herrera

Singer Mario Ruiz, of the Garcin and Milly Majuc bands, entertained the audience with several of his songs dedicated to Marcelo Mayorga, Alvaro Conrado, Richard Pavon and others of the more than 325 people who were killed last year in the context of the crisis. Carlos Herrera