In 2018, Nicaragua’s citizens rose up against the repressive, authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega, who has been in power since 2007. The largely student-led demonstrations were met with heavy force from the police and paramilitary groups, leaving hundreds dead and imprisoned, and thousands wounded.
In the thick of this violence and mayhem was Gabriela Selser, a seasoned Nicaraguan journalist who had covered the Contra War of the 1980s and Nicaragua’s political repression ever since. Today, Gabriela lives in exile in Mexico.
In 2023, with support from AJWS, she compiled her reporting and reflections into a powerful book in her native Spanish: “Chronicles from April: The truth about the 2018 rebellion in Nicaragua.” The book is one of the best accounts of a political crisis that’s largely been hidden from the outside world; today, Nicaragua remains an oppressive dictatorship. We spoke with Gabriela about her life, her writing and what comes next.
The following interview has been edited and condensed.
AJWS: What led you to compile your experiences and testimonies from the outbreak of the 2018 protests?
Gabriela Selser: While the protests were starting, I was working for two international media outlets. In my work as a journalist, I covered the protests, the clashes between demonstrators and police, the arrests of young people. When the police and paramilitaries violently repressed the protests, I saw many young people injured. I was a war correspondent in the 1980s in Nicaragua, and the clashes immediately brought back memories of that time.
AJWS: Why was it important to you to cover the emotional side of the story?
GS: As a journalist working in foreign media, you cannot take sides. Although you always have a position on the matter, you try not to let it show. So, I asked myself: what am I going to do with all the emotions that this is provoking in me as a human being, as a woman? What about what I feel in front of the dead, in front of the wounded, in front of injustice? I had to document this in another way. So, along with my journalism work, I kept a diary and took notes of how I felt.
AJWS: Can you describe some of the abuses you witnessed during the protests and clashes?
GS: I saw students wounded and hit by sniper fire. I saw journalists, demonstrators, and university students beaten with clubs by paramilitaries and armed forces of the Sandinista Front. It was one injustice after another. Every day the tension and confrontation were growing. The young people protesting had stones and mortars. The police had serious weapons, and they aimed to kill. Most of the young people who began to fall dead were shot in the forehead, in the heart, in the back…there were a lot of demonstrators who lost their eyes from direct bullets. First blanks, then pellets, and then real bullets.
AJWS: The book begins with the protests of 2018. How has the situation changed since?
GS: After the social uprising began, the government armed some 3,000 paramilitaries to put an end to all the protests, and they banned demonstrations and began to take political prisoners. At the same time, the government began to establish tighter control over civil society, closing any space to dissent and forcing many critics into exile.
AJWS: That includes you. You’ve now been in exile for over a year. Can you speak to that experience?
GS: After the repression that began in 2018, in 2020 we fell into the pandemic. COVID brought another repressive wave, and because of my reporting on the handling of the pandemic, I started to receive threats. I suffered a lot of harassment and threats. A couple of times they put police patrols in front of my house, which was a very common intimidation tactic. I resisted, like many people—nobody wants to leave their country. But eventually I began to accept that I had to leave.
AJWS: In February of 2023, 222 political prisoners in Nicaragua were freed after nearly two years of isolation and torture—but promptly exiled as well*. How did it feel to witness this mixed event?
GS: The first reaction was one of joy, they were finally letting them go. But then, we found out that not only were the political prisoners banished, they were also being stripped of their Nicaraguan nationality. They were stripped of their homes and had their property confiscated. Even their pensions were revoked. More than 40 of the 222 were people over 60 years old, people who were retired. So, Nicaragua is in a state of total injustice. The way this government is handling the administration of the country is a mixture of insanity and revenge, and a sickness for power.
AJWS: Chronicles from April tells this story with amazing detail and compassion. Can you describe the impact of AJWS’s support on your creation of the book?
GS: The support of AJWS was fundamental to be able to publish Crónicas de abril, since I was able to pay for the printing of the book and some presentation activities, including its launch in Costa Rica in 2023. I am very grateful for this help, which is undoubtedly a contribution to the rescue of memory, so that Nicaragua will never again repeat this history of dictatorships, violence and repression.
AJWS: What is your hope for the future of Nicaragua?
GS: Freedom, in the first place. That there is a radical change in Nicaragua, that Daniel Ortega and [Vice President] Rosario Murillo leave power, and that all the functionaries who are responsible for the most serious violations of human rights be brought to justice. After that, I hope there will be a restructuring of the military apparatus, of the police, of the army, of the judiciary, and of the electoral power to allow truly free and transparent elections. The whole flawed state apparatus in Nicaragua must be restructured. A great task lies ahead.
*In September, 2024, the Ortega regime released another 135 political prisoners following negotiations with the U.S. These Nicaraguan nationals were also forced to leave the country upon their release.