PBI-Nicaragua accompanies the block of Nicaraguan migrant women at International Women’s Day march in Costa Rica

Published by Brent Patterson on March 9, 2025March 9, 2025

Photo: The banner says: “In Nicaragua there is a dictatorship we demand an end to the repression”.

PBI-Nicaragua has posted on Instagram:

“Another 8th of March in which Nicaraguan women cannot march in their country.

For the past 7 years, Nicaraguan women refugees in Costa Rica, due to political persecution, have participated in the M8 marches organized in this country.

Here they call for freedom for political prisoners and chant slogans such as “Exiled women, never silenced” or “You will flourish Nicaragua, free and feminist” along with those shared with the Costa Rican women’s movement such as “Not one less, free we want” thus joining the denunciation on the increase of femicides in the host country where Nicaraguan women are also murdered.

PBI accompanied the block of refugee women in the march. We recognize the courage and resistance of Nicaraguan women defenders who far from being silenced have consolidated their activism from exile.

#8M #WomenDefenders #womenrefugees”

La Prensa further reports that “dozens of Nicaraguan women” took part in the protest in San Jose, demanded the release of political prisoners in Nicaragua, and that the “block of women from Pinerola” carried banners with messages including “Against macho tyranny, here we are feminists”.

Photo: The banner says: “Freedom for political prisoners”.

EFE also reported: “In the march, the participants also launched slogans against the government of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, which they called a dictatorship, and also expressed their support for Nicaraguan women who have had to go into exile to flee violence and repression in their country.”

That article also highlighted the situation in Costa Rica, notably: “Data from the Observatory of Gender Violence against Women and Access to Justice of the Judiciary of Costa Rica, indicate that at least 30 femicides occurred in 2024, while so far in 2025 at least 11 have been counted.”

Photo: The sign says: “Nicaraguan migrant women also resist”.

In November 2024, Nicaraguan feminist activist Ana Quirós commented how the criminal code in Nicaragua criminalizes abortion despite repeated efforts to align the law with international human rights standards. She also stated that there had been 64 femicides and 158 attempted femicides so far that year.

For more on the work of PBI-Nicaragua, click here.

And to read the PBI-Nicaragua article about the IWD mobilization, click here.