For the sixth consecutive year, Nicaraguan women were unable to demonstrate on #8M, under a dictatorship where the only woman in command is Rosario Murillo
HAVANA TIMES – Women’s rights are in “sharp decline” in Nicaragua. This is not to say they had significant advances before, according to activists and feminists. However, the rapid deterioration of women’s rights is more evident because as the rule of law has weakened in the country, it also harmed the struggle of women and girls. This is the panorama of March 8 in Nicaragua, International Women’s Day.
For the sixth consecutive year, Nicaraguan women are unable to march to demand the vindication of their rights. Hundreds of feminist organizations have been closed down and their property confiscated, while rates of gender violence continue to rise and the idea of a false equality, in which women do not exercise any real power, persists.
CONFIDENCIAL lists eight setbacks in women’s rights in Nicaragua, on the occasion of March 8.
1. Six years without being able to march
On International Women’s Day, Nicaraguan women are unable to demonstrate in the streets without being repressed, due to the de facto police state imposed on the country.
The last time women protested to demand the recognition of their rights and raise their demands to the State was on March 8, 2018, forty days before the beginning of the April Rebellion. Since then, the Ortega and Murillo regime took control of the streets and now no one can demonstrate. Marches are prohibited.
Not being able to demonstrate this #8M in Nicaragua is a cause of “indignation” for feminist activists and further confirms the authoritarian character of the Nicaraguan regime. Any gathering of women in public or private spaces implies intimidation by paramilitary groups and the risk of imprisonment because the dictatorship does not tolerate the slightest act of dissent.
2. Gender violence left 74 victims of femicide in 2023
Data from the organization Catholics for the Right to Decide indicate that 2023 concluded with 74 victims of femicides; 23 of which occurred in the Caribbean and 22 abroad. Most of these crimes are characterized by the cruelty with which they were committed; one of these women was even burned alive by her partner, who then committed suicide.
Between January and February 2024, five other Nicaraguan women were also murdered, three in the national territory and two abroad, according to the organization.
Despite the alarming data on the situation of violence experienced by women in Nicaragua, the Ortega regime has not taken any action to prevent it, say feminist activists. On the contrary, impunity continues to prevail in aggressions against women.
3. The regime holds 19 women political prisoners
Women do not evade the political trials of the Ortega regime either. To date, 19 political and student activists, feminists, and human rights defenders continue to be prisoners of conscience. The trials against them have been carried out wit
