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They lost their home, paintings, songs and projects, the singer-songwriter confirmed. The incident is not related to the fires in Los Angeles.
Nicaraguan singer-songwriter Carlos Mejia Godoy with his wife Xochitl Jiménez, during the screening of Jon Silver’s short film “Living in Exile: Carlos Mejia Godoy” in Santa Rosa, on May 18, 2023. // Photo: Christopher Chung | The Press Democrat
Nicaraguan singer-songwriter Carlos Mejia Godoy, currently in exile, and his wife, Xochitl Jimenez, lost their home in Santa Rosa, California, due to a fire on the night of Sunday, January 12, 2025. The composer confirmed the news in a message shared with family and friends. The incident is not related to the Los Angeles wildfires, which have been raging for weeks, consuming hundreds of hectares and thousands of homes.
“Dear friends, near and far: Now that I’ve regained some calm, I want to express, above all, my gratitude for your concern regarding the events we’ve been going through. It’s been hours since this inferno, but the pain remains,” he said.
The composer and performer, considered one of the leading figures of Nicaraguan music, shared his anguish: “Watching from outside our home, seeing the apartment where we poured our love, devotion, and dreams dissolve in flames was an incredibly difficult moment.”
On January 12, Carlos Mejia Godoy and Xochitl Jimenez were visiting his sister Conchita, close by their apartment in Santa Rosa, about 90 kilometers north of San Francisco, when the fire broke out and consumed their home.
The fire, preliminarily attributed to an accident, began around 10 p.m. The couple noticed the flames but could not enter the apartment to save anything.
People close to the couple reported that firefighters arrived promptly and contained the fire. By the next morning, some belongings were salvaged, including Carlos Mejia’s iconic accordion, his cellphone, Xochitl’s laptop, and a few other items. However, they lost artworks, books, clothes, and all their household appliances. The apartment was left in ruins.
“God is great and gives us the strength to face this reality and everything that comes with it. We didn’t just lose material things; we lost many valuable items tied to our craft and creativity: paintings, songs, projects. Some things had been transferred to the laptop and were saved, but 80% of all this material has turned to ashes,” said the 81-year-old artist.
“It’s very painful, very heartbreaking. But we are already beginning to look ahead. It will take time, like pinolillo settling at the bottom [of a glass], slowly but effectively,” he added.
He noted that he couldn’t provide more details about the incident at this time, as “it would mean revisiting those bitter hours.”
However, he emphasized that in this situation, he and his wife have been “embraced by the love of family and the solidarity of friends, like you, who reached out as soon as you heard about this tragedy.”
“Xochitl and I are infinitely grateful and want to say that this is a test from the Creator, urging us to take a new path. Despite being 81 years old, I’m full of positivity, beautiful dreams, and many things I’ll share with you in the coming days. Not everything is negative. There are wonderful things that neither nature nor anyone else can take away from us because they are eternal—love, passion for culture, and the solidarity that we continue to learn from, and which you, through your actions, have shown us is humanity’s greatest treasure,” he continued.
“We will move forward and begin our journey again—the path our homeland has set for us. We will take advantage of these circumstances to walk once more, proud of our country, proud of our civic, cultural, and ethical values. We love you all deeply, and may God bless you,” he concluded.
This article was first published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.
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Confidencial es un diario digital nicaragüense, de formato multimedia, fundado por Carlos F. Chamorro en junio de 1996. Inició como un semanario impreso y hoy es un medio de referencia regional con información, análisis, entrevistas, perfiles, reportajes e investigaciones sobre Nicaragua, informando desde el exilio por la persecución política de la dictadura de Daniel Ortega y Rosario Murillo.
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