Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition 6.10.2025: Daniel on US Persecution of Immigrants; Remembering Father D’Escoto; Becca Renk on Mothers Day; Upcoming webinars

Daniel Ortega Speech on June 2, 2025 Health care is “the first duty that we have as Revolutionaries, as Sandinistas, as Nicaraguans, is… to take care of the lives of Nicaraguans, to watch over the lives of Children, to watch over the lives of Young People, to watch over the lives of Adults.”

“the Government of Israel…They want to make the Palestinian people disappear and they kill whoever they find along the way.”

“Thousands of Nicaraguans are working… in the United States, because they work in jobs US citizens no longer work in; Salvadorans, Venezuelans, Haitians, Guatemalans, Mexicans alike. But there the President of the United States issued a decree [on] the expulsion from the US of over 500,000 Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran citizens, and those poor people are fleeing from there, persecuted.  This is like the persecutions that the Nazis did looking for how to hunt down Jews in the different European countries that they occupied. They went looking for them everywhere, people in civilian clothes, working people, and where they discovered families there they entered with great violence, forced them out with their rifle butts and sent them to concentration camps. And this is happening now in the United States, a brutal, inhuman persecution, which has nothing democratic or Christian about it, but is fascist behavior, simply fascist behavior.

I want to express our solidarity with all those persecuted Brothers and Sisters, and in particular with our Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters, who always have the doors of Nicaragua open, and have been able to take airline flights and once here they are taken care of very well, on the part of the Migration Service, they are taken care of, they are received; their health is checked.

We say to them: Sisters, Brothers, don’t think of trying to return to the United States again right now, because there is a terror there, and the most painful thing is the suffering of Mothers and Children….Our solidarity is with all those Families who are being persecuted in the US. Our solidarity with those who have returned to Nicaragua, who have managed to return to Nicaragua, and always say to them: This is your Land, this is your Nation, here you will be able to work in Peace.

Padre Miguel d’Escoto - Nicaragua’s Minister of Dignity Anniversary of his death, June 8, 2017. Padre Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann was one of one of the world’s great moral leaders, a tireless advocate of non-violence and peace. For everyone who knew him personally, he was a determined, loving human presence, the embodiment of solidarity and moral charity. Miguel had tremendous humility and willingness to serve. Miguel was a great educator. He was a man of action who fulfilled his religious vocation through a lifetime of service as a Maryknoll priest. He served as Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister, a post he held until 1990, all through the years of the US government funded terror war.

Very early on, Padre Miguel came under relentless pressure from the Vatican to give up his government post. When he refused, in 1985, the papal authorities banned him from saying Mass. This ban was not lifted until Pope Francis in 2014. 

The FSLN had to survive 17 years of political opposition and internal splits. During that time, Miguel D’Escoto was one of several key figures supporting Daniel Ortega’s leadership through one gratuitous attack and setback after another. His spiritual authority and intellectual rigor reinforced Daniel Ortega’s defense of core Sandinista principles while exposing the superficiality and opportunism of Ortega’s detractors.

With his election as President of the 63rd UN General Assembly, he brought together specialists in economics and other disciplines to formulate proposals to reform the international financial system. US and allied government opposition vetoed that initiative. After the Honduran oligarchy ousted Manuel Zelaya in June 2009, Padre Miguel accompanied Zelaya in a daring but very dangerous and in the end unsuccessful attempt to land at Tegucigalpa’s airport. Just two years later, Miguel tried in vain to support Libya’s Jamahiriya against NATO country aggression. Miguel d’Escoto never gave up fighting for peace and justice. La Casa de la Soberanía short video on Father D’Escoto: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Fd7J8bV5b/

NicaNotes (Becca Renk): Celebrating Mothers…By Helping Them Survive! Last week, Nicaragua celebrated its biggest holiday. Bigger than Christmas, or Easter, or even the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is a day when Nicaraguans celebrate the holiest of holies: their moms. Nicaragua has proven this: despite being one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, since 2007 it has managed to reduce maternal mortality by 79.8%, reduce neonatal mortality by 62.5% and reduce infant mortality rates by 58.6%. Through the country’s universal free healthcare system, all prenatal, childbirth and post-natal care in Nicaragua is offered countrywide free of charge – c-sections, premature births, neonatal ICU stays and even fetal surgeries are free. Nicaragua is the only Central American country offering this type of surgery free in the public health system.

Nicaragua Government Presentation at Veterans for Peace event Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Victory in Vietnam Remarks on May 3, 2025, by Ambassador Jaime Hermida Castillo, Permanent Mission of Nicaragua to the United Nations. “Nicaragua and Vietnam shared the same history. Nicaragua has been militarily occupied by the US Marines many, many times during our 200-year history of independence. About 100 years ago, to be precise, 99 years ago today, Sandino said, ‘No more.’ And then, seven years later, the Marines, for the first time withdrew from Latin America. What Sandino used in defense of Nicaraguan sovereignty was later known as guerilla warfare, which was studied deeply and applied by many countries, and Vietnam…. “The legacy of Veterans for Peace began in Vietnam, but I will say it developed and grew and grew with Vietnam. Because we can see the Veterans for Peace movement in solidarity all through these decades. Veterans for Peace was essential for Central America. There were many, many veterans, who did everything that they could to stop the war until the war was stopped in Central America. One of them is a Nicaraguan hero and he now lives in Nicaragua, who I think you know pretty well, Brian Willson. He’s a Nicaraguan citizen and is also a hero. We thank you for that peace movement here, that was very, very helpful.”

New York Times lists Nicaragua as #14 in a List of 52 Travel Destinations to Visit in 2025 So, if you are one of the hoi polloi who do not have the time or money to travel to 52 places around the world in one year, focus on number 14. 

Nicaragua and China Break Ground on Landmark Solar Project to Power Water Access and Energy Sovereignty Nicaragua has inaugurated construction on a major solar power plant in partnership with China, marking a strategic leap toward energy independence and access to clean water. Funded by an $83 million investment from Beijing, the facility in Masaya, is set to supply renewable energy to the country’s water utility, ENACAL, directly benefiting nearly 4 million people across urban and rural communities. The plant will generate 140,000 megawatt-hours annually, enough to cover around 40% of ENACAL’s electricity consumption. The Masaya facility is part of a national network of three solar power plants, with additional construction underway in León and Matagalpa. The projects form a cornerstone of what the government has called an “energy offensive for human development,” aiming to lift people out of poverty through sustainable infrastructure.

Ideas, suggestions, questions about Nicaragua? Want to collaborate with others in the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition?  Contact us on our website.  There’s a brand-new contact form there – and we’re eager to hear from you!

Events

June 15: Global March to Gaza (WhatsApp Video 2025-05-19 at 21.59.06_a6365d9e (1).mp4 This is a call for many participants to join a peaceful march at the Egyptian border with Gaza, with the aim of negotiating the opening of the Rafah terminal with the Egyptian authorities, in collaboration with NGOs, diplomats, and humanitarian institutions.

Sunday, June 22, 3 pm ET Nicaragua Webinar: Our Time in Nicaragua: Veterans for Peace Report Back With Gerry Condon (delegation leader, VFP national Board Member and past President); Josh Shurley (VFP national Vice President); Michael Kramer (President, Northern New Jersey VFP); Douglas Ryder (President, Raleigh/Durham, NC VFP); Dan Shea (President, Portland, Oregon VFP); Al Glatkowski (At-Large VFP member in Virginia); Chris Smiley (VFP Communications Director, Managua). Webinar Co-moderator:  Camilo Mejía, Nicaraguan citizen, US veteran, former prisoner of conscience.

June 22: Belgium - Protest for Peace and Justice: No to NATO War Summit  An international protest will take place at The Hague in response to the upcoming NATO Summit (June 24 and 25). A protest against the increasing militarization of Western powers and their support for the ongoing Israeli offensive in Palestine.

June 23: Peace Conference in Brussels

Monday, July 8, at 2:30 pm ET. Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition monthly meeting on Zoom. Email NicaraguaSolidarityCoalition@gmail.com for zoom access.

NSCAG Webinar, Tuesday, July 9, 6:30 pm BST (1:30 pm ET): The topic is “Nicaragua’s free education for all: A right, not a commodity.” Speakers will be participants in a teacher exchange between Nicaragua and the UK.

Nicaragua Webinar Sunday, July 27, 3 pm ET: Features two groups of visitors exploring the Nicaraguan health system and Solidarity in Action: Nicaragua’s Popular Revolution. Speakers will also share their experiences from the July 19 celebration. Both groups are visiting Nicaragua with the Casa Benjamin Linder.

Nicaragua Webinar Sunday, August 24, 3 pm ET: Will focus on SINAPRED, Nicaragua's highly successful National System for Prevention, Mitigation and Attention to Disasters.

Nicaragua Webinar Sunday, September 21, 3 pm ET: Speakers from Nicaragua and Venezuela will discuss the remarkable affordable housing programs in these two countries.

Delegations to Nicaragua 2025:

Casa Ben Linder Email casabenjaminlinder@gmail.com to apply:

July 2025: Solidarity in Action: Nicaragua’s Popular Revolution

November 2025: Salud & Solidaridad: Hands-On Healthcare in Nicaragua

Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition: nicasolidarity.com

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