1 de junio 2022
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The de facto police state imposed by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua was momentarily breached this May 30, with small, clandestine acts of citizen resistance. The actions were in support of the National Mourning convoked by the mothers of those killed during the government massacre on May 30, 2018.
Members of the National Blue and White Unity Movement (UNAB) succeeded in placing a funeral wreath, adorned with flowers, white roses and a blue ribbon, just outside the gates of the Denis Martinez National Stadium in Managua. The wreath was “in memory of the victims”, killed four years ago.
The opposition group reiterated their commitment to “seek justice, truth and no impunity” for each one of the 355 people who died as a result of the Ortega-Murillo regime’s violent repression of the civic protests that began in April 2018. The death toll has been confirmed and documented by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.
For four years now, Nicaraguans recall that on May 30, 2018, the Ortega regime perpetrated a massacre that left 19 people dead as they participated in a “Mothers’ March” in Managua and in different departments around the country.
Those killed on that May 30, four years ago were: Carlos Manuel Vásquez, José Manuel Quintero, Mauricio Ramón López, Cruz Alberto Obregón, Dodanim Castilblanco, Jairo Antonio Osorio, Dariel Steven Gutiérrez, Darwin Salcedo, Rudy Antonio Hernández, Juan Alejandro Zepeda, Marvin José Meléndez, Heriberto Maudiel Pérez, Kevin Antonio Coffin, Edgard Guevara, Daniel Josías Reyes, Jonathan Morazán, Francisco Javier Reyes, Maycol Cipriano González y Orlando Aguirre.
Altars, ribbons and blue and white confetti
In Granada, citizens also expressed their support for the mothers of the 19 people killed. Blue and white confetti was tossed on some of the streets, and posters appeared with messages such as “May 30, national mourning”; “May 30, justice for the victims’; Justice for all the victims’; “Freedom for the political prisoners”; and simply, “Freedom”.
Other Nicaraguans opted to make altars inside their homes. Some displayed photos of those shot and killed during the “Mothers’ March”, and the front pages of printed newspapers from that day, with headlines denouncing the Ortega massacre.
Altar set up inside a home in Managua in support of the national mourning called for by mothers of the victims of May 30, 2018. Courtesy photo.
There were others who simply placed black ribbons on the inside doors of their houses, or played music alluding to the peaceful, civic resistance that was born in 2018.
A group of Nicaraguans in Mexico expressed their solidarity with the national mourning called for by the families of the victims. They posted a video featuring photos, and a voice reading the names of the 19 people killed on May 30, 2018.
“Today, we stand in solidarity with the mothers and families of all the victims of the repression perpetrated by the regime of Daniel Ortega in these four years. From here, we continue demanding justice and freedom for the people of Nicaragua,” they indicated in one part of the video.
This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times
