Just over three years ago, I had the privilege of travelling to Nicaragua alongside 13 Canadian women as part of Canada World Youth’s volunteer program. The experiences we shared are some I will never forget; fumbling through the language barrier, attempting new cuisine, living with local families, and surviving the peril of limited Wi-Fi access.
We stayed in the small town of Condega, in the Estelí region of the country. It was there we lived alongside and met so many welcoming, kind people. The bonds we formed are precisely what makes the current crisis in Nicaragua so heartbreaking.
Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, may not be known as a powerful man on the global stage. However, the Ortega dynasty currently controls the country’s presidency, congress, military, police and courts.
Protests initially began in April, after the government announced cuts in retirees’ pensions and subsequent tax increases. Believing use of force would stop these demonstrations, the government unleashed police anti-riot squads on its citizens. The violence that ensued only further angered protesters, who are now protesting far more than the initial pension cuts. In just 75 days, 309 Nicaraguan citizens have been killed at the hands of their increasingly autocratic government.
If not for the near constant Facebook notifications from the families I met, I would not be aware of any of the conflict, due to the disappointing lack of international coverage. How is it that 309 people have lost their lives at the hands of their own government, and the majority of North Americans are completely unaware?
We are living in an increasingly tense and divisive political climate. American politics have informed the political dialogue all across the globe, resulting in increasing hate-driven incidents here in Canada and across the world. Human rights atrocities are taking place in multiple countries, and yet our global community does nothing. Migrant children at the U.S. border are being separated from their families and forced to stay in cages. Three-hundred-and-nine Nicaraguan people, the majority of which were young students, are dead. Somehow, in the midst of all of this, there are people who choose “not to be political.” If there was ever a time to be political, this is it.
I cannot help but notice that these incidents that we are so quick to ignore are happening to non-white people. I suspect, if 309 white students were to lose their lives in protest, we may be faster to act.
Regardless of your place on the political spectrum, regardless of where you were born, I would hope we can all agree that basic human rights must be protected. Children must be protected. The right to life should be held with more regard than the skewed priorities of a dictatorship. I would implore everyone to look into the various human rights organizations that are offering aid across the globe to the various people who so desperately need it. These atrocities will only continue if we remain silent.
Jennifer Hamilton is a local student and writer.
