On March 8th, Nicaraguan feminists once again took to the streets of San José, Costa Rica, chanting the slogan, “We march here; we can’t in our country. ” PBI accompanied the refugee women’s bloc during the march.
For the past seven years, Nicaraguan women refugees in Costa Rica, facing political persecution, have participated in the 8M marches organized in this country. Here, they demand freedom for political prisoners and chant slogans such as “Women in exile, never silenced” and “You will flourish, Nicaragua, free and feminist,” along with those shared with the Costa Rican women’s movement, such as “Not one woman less, we want to be free.” In doing so, they join in the denunciation of the increase in femicides in the host country, where Nicaraguan women are also murdered.
The Pinoleras Women’s Network (REMUPI), an organization supported by PBI, published a statement on social media in which they denounce:
The advance of conservative and patriarchal policies seeks to strip women of the rights we have won through struggle and organization. The precarization of labor and exploitation of migrant women in Costa Rica means they face double and triple shifts without access to basic rights. There is a lack of effective protection for refugee women, including access to immigration regularization and safety against male violence. The criminalization of protest and state repression target those who defend human rights in Nicaragua and throughout the region.
The feminist collective Las Malcriadas also took advantage of March 8th to demand proof of life for feminist activist and journalist Fabiola Tercero, who has been missing since July 12, 2024, the day she was arrested. Since then, there has been no news of her whereabouts.
At the march in San Jose, several activists carried signs demanding the freedom of Fabiola Tercero.
At PBI, we recognize the courage and peaceful resistance of Nicaraguan women human rights defenders who, far from being silenced, have consolidated their activism from exile, strengthening alliances with women’s organisations in Costa Rica and other countries in the region.