My Little Grain of Sand for Nicaragua

By Michelle Quezada

HAVANA TIMES – My beautiful Nicaragua, I dream of seeing you free, of your streets full of children who love you, who don’t fear repression or death for exercising a constitutional right.

April is the month that marked many of us, without a doubt. We are fighting against a tyrant who has snatched all of our rights and freedom of speech from us, who has converted our Constitution into a personal diary so it suits him. 

Remembering is reliving, shouting Nicaragua libre at the top of my lungs, raising my flag and shouting with a hunger for justice in my country.

When I’m able to talk to my family from here in my exile, I get a knot in my throat. Friends I made at the protests, who are also in exile, know what it means to be so far from home.

I’ve thought about going back lots of times, but we know what will happen if we go back: death or jail, and we would only cause more pain for our country and our families. No matter how much I love my Homeland, I can’t live there.

The friends I have in Nicaragua tell me not to come back, that things are really ugly over there. It’s true, I follow what’s happening in the country very closely. We know that safeguards for a safe return don’t exist. We know this very well, because arbitrary arrests continue. Just like attacks and disappearances, and also more people are being charged with fabricated crimes.

At least I can protest here in Norway for Nicaragua, and I know I won’t get hurt. My little grain of sand for my country is to continue protesting with my voice here in this part of the world, and tell everyone I can about our situation. That’s how people realize that Nicaragua is living a crisis right now. I have been on radio shows to denounce crimes against humanity committed by Daniel Ortega’s dictatoship.  

Many people have taken an interest in the subject and have researched about it on their own, and then they give me their take on the complex problem and encourage me to carry on in this struggle.

There are very few of us Nicaraguans in Norway. I’m thinking about creating a forum. That will come later. 

Only we can defend ourselves from the tyrant and free Nicaragua from the kidnapping it is suffering. From exile, social media has been a great tool for us to keep informed, as well as to continue denouncing what is happening.

I invite every exile to carry on fighting as best we can, for us to come together with others and never forget what it is we are fighting for and what our beliefs are.

Read more from the diary of Michelle Quezada here in Havana Times.