Nicaragua: “Memory of the Rebellion” Documentary Premiere
“The Memory of the Rebellion in Nicaragua: Testimonies Against the Silence,” is a CONFIDENCIAL documentary that rescues the historical truth of April 2018
HAVANA TIMES – “Go after them with everything” was the decisive order that circulated on April 19, 2018, throughout the Sandinista Front and government apparatus in Nicaragua. Its objective: to suppress citizen protests that marked a civic awakening in the country. Hours later, a massacre began that left more than 350 dead in less than six months. Seven years later, the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo continues attempting to erase that memory through lies.
But the testimonies of mothers who lost their children, young people who took cover under fire, and the hundreds of thousands who marched for democracy challenge the official version in a documentary that CONFIDENCIAL will premiere on Sunday, June 1, 2025, on its YouTube channel, where its audiovisual productions are shared due to television censorship imposed in the country.
The documentary, titled “The Memory of the Rebellion in Nicaragua: Testimonies Against the Silence”, tells the story of a rebellion that the regime tried to silence with extreme violence, and recounts how the dictatorship seeks to rewrite history while continuing to kill, imprison, and exile those who dare to remember the truth.
The Official Lie About the April Rebellion
Seven years later, the regime continues to celebrate the dismantling of the “roadblocks” and insists on its narrative of an attempted coup. In every public appearance, Ortega repeats his version of events: that Nicaragua was a peaceful country before 2018, that there was a strong alliance with the private sector, that they were doing the best for the people. According to him, the problem was an “imperialist conspiracy,” “garbage” bishops, and “traitors to the homeland.”
“Protests began, and we didn’t repress them—we let them march,” Ortega falsely claimed in a speech on May 24, 2025.
At another point, the dictator again mentioned police officers and Sandinista militants killed during the protests but ignored the hundreds of deaths caused by the regime’s shoot-to-kill orders given to police, paramilitaries, and the Army. That order also claimed the lives of 19 minors, including a 14-month-old baby in his father’s arms.
Murillo, for her part, spent the entire month of April hurling insults at the opposition, the rebelling public, businesspeople, students, and the Catholic Church—all wrapped in talk of love, victories, and God.
“Seven years since the massacres,” said Murillo on April 1. “Seven years since the unforgivable nights and days of terror, since the supreme betrayal of the homeland and the people. Seven years since the unjustifiable attack of hatred, cruelty, and ambition.” She then claimed that in Nicaragua “peace reigns, which is the great victory.”
Now imposed as “co-president,” Murillo also celebrated the success of the official lie and the mass exile caused by political persecution:
“They wander, aimless, across the world, because that’s what they deserve. They have no homeland, no character, no love, they don’t know love. (…) How it hurts them, how it burns, when we remind them of their failures, their defeat (…) Those born traitors, the unworthy, the cowards, the vandals, lackeys, slaves of the imperialists, they are not Nicaraguans.”
Testimonies in CONFIDENCIAL’s Documentary
The documentary gathers the voices of mothers and relatives of the murdered, young people who barricaded themselves in universities and neighborhoods, and activists who keep historical memory alive.
These are testimonies of how a self-organized movement against Social Security reforms became a nationwide demand for change in the face of violent repression—amplifying the national cry of “Justice, freedom, and democracy.”
The film also records the figures of repression and massacre, verified by international organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the UN Group of Experts:
- More than 350 people killed between April and September 2018
- Over 2,000 injured due to state repression
- Thousands arbitrarily detained as prisoners of conscience, including around 60 still in prison
- Over 350,000 Nicaraguans forced into exile
The documentary also documents “Operation Clean-Up,” which dismantled barricades with bullets; the “caravans of death” that roamed the streets firing indiscriminately; and the May 30 massacre, which turned Nicaraguan Mother’s Day into a day of national mourning.
Crimes Against Humanity in Nicaragua
The UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), which continues to investigate the situation in the country, has directly identified Ortega, Murillo, and over 50 officials as responsible for grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including:
- Extrajudicial executions
- Torture
- Sexual violence
- Forced disappearances
- Religious persecution
- Statelessness
In its repressive escalation, the regime has also passed laws to criminalize dissent, shut down more than 5,500 civil organizations, imprisoned opponents, and stripped 452 citizens of their nationality—including 358 former political prisoners expelled from the country, and hundreds more who were either deported or barred from entry.
“The Memory of the Rebellion in Nicaragua: Testimonies Against the Silence” is a journalistic act of resistance against the systematic attempt to erase the historical memory of April 2018, and an effort to preserve the truth of a rebellion that left an indelible mark on Nicaragua’s history.
The documentary will premiere during the live broadcast of the program “Esta Semana”, on CONFIDENCIAL’s YouTube channel, starting at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 1, 2025.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.