**I wrote this post yesterday to start compartmentalizing some of what was happening here, I will follow up with updates to changing numbers**
One thing that has significantly changed since I moved here is my perspective. I certainly still have access to U.S. news through social media and talking with friends and family. But I can't turn on the radio and hear it or turn on the TV and see it. It's a very distant awareness that I'm not used to. It made me think of the perspectives in news, who is always on the news, and who gets left out. Some events during this week here made me finally understand what it's like and what it means for a country in which something grave has happened but receives scarce international response. It was crazy to me to reach out to my family to let them know I wasn't allowed to leave my house for a reason that hadn't even made the news. For the sake of the attention that the Nicaraguan people deserve, here is what has happened this week.
On Monday the government passed a new version of a social security law, increasing the contribution percentages to social security of both employees and companies by .75% and 3% respectively. However, this law also includes a 5% reduction in retirees' pensions. This is a part of a larger struggle that INSS (the Nicaraguan Social Security Administration) has been facing in recent years. One significant problem in 2017 was a shortage of medication for retirees, which resulted in INSS taking pension funds to cover medication costs. This year there are 6,422 new retirees in the country but the same amount of medical attention persists. This new law is an attempt for INSS to regain control of its crisis, but this is like putting a band aid on a gunshot wound. It is a temporary and inadequate fix to a much bigger structural problem within the Nicaraguan Social Security System.
Fast forward four days. Riots have broken out all over the country with three people dead and dozens injured. Local news outlets are covering the riots but international news outlets have barely picked up the story. Why is that you might ask? Because the government shut down all but one of Nicaragua's major news outlets. Some public transport is shut down, police crowd the streets leading into Managua and all over downtown itself, my coworkers and I are confined to our house for safety and yet when I texted all of this to my family, no one had a clue.
Every effort has been made to be sure that this story is not shared with the world, and that protesters are silenced, whatever the cost. Citizens are facing the daunting challenge of not only voicing their opinions and beliefs, but fighting against their own government to do so and risking their safety or ultimately their lives to do so
Although I can't identify with this struggle, I can empathize and I use my voice to make sure that despite the obstacles, this story is shared. Even if you as a reader can't do anything, do what you can to understand the issue and make it known, because that will be the ultimate show of solidarity for this cause.
UPDATE: When I wrote this post, this story had only been picked up by one major global news outlet. I am happy to see that today it is everywhere in the news. Please keep it that way!! The awareness of this situation is key. There are now 10 people confirmed dead and many more injured. Speak out for the people who are risking their lives to do so.
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| A "Tree of Life" in downtown Managua |
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