“90 years after General Sandino’s Passage to Immortality, women have played a fundamental role in the construction of this Free and Sovereign Nicaragua. 90 years since our women organized themselves into the Defense Army”
March 8, 2024
Journalist Alberto Mora: We welcome the Comrades Jessica Leyva, Minister of Women, and Jahosca Méndez, Human Rights Ombudsman, thank you for being here, and what better time to talk to you about the achievements and progress women have had, in celebration of International Women’s Day. Congratulations to both. We know the work they carry out from their institutions, but beyond that, what could they tell us about the role women play in all areas of national life; and what are the opportunities they have had and can haver moving forward?
Jahosca Méndez: Good morning… welcome to the families, to those women who get up today, like every day, to look for their daily bread, and who are an example of enthusiasm, they are an example of entrepreneurship and an example for all Nicaraguan women. What to say on the topic of International Women’s Day? Part of the achievements we have made have to do with the fact that political empowerment of women is fundamental. From the GRUN [Gobierno de Reconciliación y Unidad Nacional – Government of Reconciliation and National Unity] we have held positions as public servants, and in those positions we can say that we have made advances as women.
Jessica Leyva: I think it is valid to note, 90 years after General Sandino’s Passage to Immortality, women have played a fundamental role in the construction of this Free and Sovereign Nicaragua. 90 years since our women organized themselves with the Defense Army. Let us remember emblematic women in this historical process such as Conchita Andai, our dear companion and National Hero Blanca Estela Aráuz, María Altamirano, Juanita Cruz, Emilia. They are women who were part of that historical process and we can say we, this new generation of women, continue under that guidance, with this light of our General Sandino. We maintain a continuity with those women who participated in that anti-imperialist struggle through the different programs implemented by our good government.
Let us also remember there was another great stage of our revolution, in which women like Arlen Siu, Nora Astorga, Claudia Chamorro emerged. They are heroines of our revolutionary process, and in this process all women from all sectors get involved: the women of the countryside, in education, as the compañera already said, but also in political spaces, and in sports and culture. We have much to celebrate and comment on, because Nicaragua is a world leader in terms of gender equality thanks to the political will of Commander Daniel [Ortega] and Compañera Rosario [Murillo].
Journalist Arlen Hernández: In international studies of more than 150 countries, Nicaragua ranks 7th out of more than 150 countries in gender equality. How does the Sandinista Front, in this second stage of the Revolution, safeguard women’s rights and their full development?
Jessica Leyva: There are different programs that guarantee the advancement of their rights, but in addition to these programs we have the strengthening of our laws, which have guaranteed the full participation of women in all decision-making spaces. In addition, there is the organization of our women in the neighborhoods and communities to create all these advances, this development. The FSLN has opened these spaces for participation, it has guaranteed that young people, women in universities, indigenous women are involved in the community participation process. All this is possible thanks to the work carried out by the different institutions which are responsible for accompanying this process of empowerment, of guaranteeing women’s rights.
Jahosca Méndez: To expand a little on what the Minister shares with us, apart from supporting all women’s rights, today, through our legal framework, there are programs and projects, such as the Usury Program, which has been a fundamental issue for women, because before, women depended on…. Now a woman has financial freedom to manage her business, her entrepreneurship and be able to say: “I count, I am going to achieve this goal, I am going to start a business, for instance, a used clothing store.” When we go by bus or in a car, we see how women have advanced with these programs and undertakings thanks to the political will of our Government. We can pass by a street and we see entrepreneurship and we see the sale of used clothing, we see the economic dynamism and that is a fundamental part because we have seen ourselves supported as women in entrepreneurship issues, in all these aspects.
Journalist Arlen Hernández: How are these financial advances, access to land, economic independence within the home, fundamental for women? How is this transformation being achieved from being dependent to being independent, while always transforming society?
Jessica Leyva: There is a model of complementarity our Sandinista government implements, which seeks those relationships of respect, unity, family and Christian values, in which men and women are fully involved. This model of equity and complementarity has its essence in our model of the person, the family and community. We first transform the male human being, the female human being, who will complement each other in the family and then from the family we will bring that change about, that community change, that culture of peace, of rights, of being able to guarantee men and women relate in a fair, equitable way, and with equal rights and opportunities.
Economic rights are one of the most important banners of our Revolution because we have had different programs, Productive Packages like Zero Hunger, Zero Usury, family gardens; and now the Adelante Program [loans], housing programs such as the Bismarck Martínez, where women and men have great participation. They are enjoying their rights, realizing their dream in this Nicaragua, under their own model, focused on their national realities.
Let us remember, in talking about the advances of women around the world, Nicaragua from 2012 to today, at the Latin American and Caribbean level, has remained the leader in women’s rights, we are No. 1 in Latin America and the Caribbean, thanks to conscious participation of women and men at the head of our institutions, at the head of our neighborhoods and communities.
Jahosca Méndez: In addition, in supporting all these rights. and especially in relation to property, the titles to the land. This legal right to land ownership is guaranteed through the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, which today, based on Law 1174, the Office of the Attorney General for the Defense of Human Rights is attached. We support the issuing of property titles for people, the right of people have to their own property title. Within the coordination with the Attorney General’s Office, the delivery of the legal titles is carried out.
As the Attorney General’s Office for the Defense of Human Rights, through house-to-house visits we guarantee the restitution of women’s human rights. In coordination with the Attorney General’s Office, women are delivered property titles, and at the same time we deliver the “Woman with Dignity” Card.
This further strengthens and expands on these issues so fundamental for women, while guaranteeing restitution. It is important to state that as the Attorney General’s Office for the Defense of Human Rights, we guarantee the promotion and protection of Nicaraguan families.
Journalist Alberto Mora: How does the support for women from your Institutions work?
Jahosca Méndez: We are involved in coordination and we carry out house-to-house visits. By being merged we complement and guarantee Nicaraguan families have the right to a property title, and at the same time during house-to-house visits, we can share the Women’s Card. That has been a fundamental part.
Journalist Alberto Mora: Are there women who go to the Attorney General’s Office?
Jahosca Méndez: There are women and families who come to the Attorney General’s Office to resolve their various situations. For example, if there is a woman who is facing a conflict in a dysfunctional relationship, they approach the Attorney General’s Office and we provide support, advice and give them guidance and guidelines on where that person can go, to which institution they can present their problem in order to guarantee all her rights.
For example, if we care for a person who has been suffering from domestic violence, psychological violence, then we provide direct care, refer them and coordinate with different institutions such as the police station and legal medicine. It is not only women who have that support, but also Nicaraguan families.
Jessica Leyva: From our Ministry of Women, we carry out a violence prevention campaign through booklets we produce, from the National Commission for Harmonious Living, and we remain in contact to speak of other topics we are promoting, such as the participation of women in the Creative Economy, and the participation of women in sports.
We guide with information so women who are not yet part of a program can be, and search for institutions according to their desires, their aspirations to grow, to learn. At the beginning of the interview, the compañera talked about everything women do in terms of the local and family economy. Our Women’s Ministry focuses on this community attention through our direct presence visits, addressing the different booklets and programs all our institutions have, for the restitution of rights.
Journalist Arlen Hernández: Taking into account all this evolution we have been achieving, this represents progress for our society. What can we expect in the coming years?
Jahosca Méndez: These are advances and achievements we have been building and that have been supported through the good practices of our good government which supports equity and gender equality for Nicaraguan women. We can wait, and indeed I am convinced that every day women in our society are evolving, we are overcoming all these inequality gaps that exist in other countries, but particularly in our Nicaragua we are moving forward firmly and as we would always say in good faith: Forward with a firm step and with good living!
Jessica Leyva: I think the compañera has expressed it quite well, all those advances are part of the leadership our women have. What awaits us in the coming years? More social achievements, more spaces for participation for women, reinforcing those we already have. Let us remember there is also a process of change in our rural areas. The University in the Countryside has been a strategy that has a great impact on women. Also in technical education, where great work has been done by our national technology, to involve young women in careers only men would have been seen in eight years ago, as in other parts of the world; but in our country it is not like that, it is now a different reality.
This is the case in other fields of participation, we see women producers increasingly have access to knowledge and technical support from all the institutions of our production system. This allows her to grow as a woman, strengthening all of her actions so her children can move forward. We know women are the great driving force in the family, for them to be able to move forward with their dreams. So I think that’s what’s coming to us in the next five years.
Jahosca Méndez: Complementing this topic, to share more of the achievements we have had, which are significant and that we see reflected in today’s legal framework, in the different laws and reforms approved, we can see how all these women’s rights are guaranteed. An example is the issue of the Cybercrime Law, which includes sections that severely punishes people who, through social networks, expose, intimidate and blackmail a woman.
We can see how these frameworks and legal standards are regulated. Speaking of the Family Code, which talks about the Compensatory Pension, when it exists or is demonstrated in cases of marital breakdown, the woman is left in a state of economic imbalance.
So we can see how all these laws protect and guarantee that women are not left with this imbalance and through the Family Code, the Compensatory Pension is guaranteed. If I enter into a divorce process and demonstrate before the judicial authority that the woman never worked, as they would popularly say, her partner never let her work, then we prove all this; and the person, through the Judicial Authority, requests the Compensatory Pension, it is guaranteed. That is another of the rights women have been acquiring and are guaranteed through legal mechanisms.
Journalist Arlen Hernández: What does being women mean to you?
Jessica Leyva: In Nicaragua I believe it is joy, it is Revolution, because we in this country have all the conditions to be able to grow, undertake new goals, have a decent job. Bring stability and security to our family. Being a woman in Nicaragua means progress, a dignified life, it means peace, because we women are in all these processes.
Jahosca Méndez: Being a woman, through my experience, both personally and professionally, is a learning experience. As women we sometimes have many challenges to face and sometimes we limit ourselves. But we as women, because of that quality, are a jewel in a crown and we can be a reference not only emotionally but also a reference for all those women who today feel that they cannot move forward, or feel stagnant.
We women talk among ourselves and we talk and try to broaden perspectives, and that is the idea in the end, that we as women can be that reference to all other women and tell them: Yes it is possible, yes we can advance, yes we can learn! Yes we can know!
I consider that being a woman has been like a blessing in my life, and above all it has been fundamental for my family and the Nicaraguan families, which today, through our good government, has given us the opportunity to hold all these positions. as public servants and political empowerment. It is a challenge and at the same time it is a learning experience and the achievements we have acquired have been very important in our lives.
Journalist Alberto Mora: Congratulations to both of you today on International Women’s Day, also to all the women who are watching us and to those who have not been able to tune in, congratulations as well. Today a large number of activities are taking place, in celebration of International Women’s Day: The Pencona Woman, the Nicaraguan Woman, the Heroic Woman.
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