Contrary to what continues to be said by our U.S. State Department, but is globally recognized, Nicaragua IS steadily improving economically even while still being very poor.
True… Nicaragua is being touted as great vacation spot.
True… Nicaragua has reached 90% food sovereignty.
True… Nicaragua has free universal health care and free education through university.
True… Visitors can ask questions and talk to anyone they wish to talk with.
True… Nicaragua ranks 1st in the world for women in parliament.
True… Nicaragua is combatting climate change with alternative energy infrastructure – solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric.
True… Nicaragua is peaceful.
Electric charging stations under Managua airport parking solar panels
Strangely this week, these very positive attributes are now suddenly being used by Homeland Security as a justification for revoking Temporary Protection Status for thousands of Nicaraguans and Hondurans in the U.S., status granted after Hurricane Mitch wiped out Nicaragua in October of 1998.
Photo: EFE Spanish news
Was the Protection Status needed 26 years ago? Absolutely! Mitch destroyed the countryside and infrastructure and Nicaragua’s neoliberal government then in place didn’t even want to declare a national disaster until pushed into doing so. You remember our images of the black plastic tent city of 1,200 families dumped just down the road from us? With no water, food, jobs, permanent shelter, health care or transportation? That was true then.
1999 - early Nueva Vida flood victims from Hurricane Mitch
You’ve watched over the years as we’ve described that neighborhood of Nueva Vida grow and develop… now 16,000 people… who since the Sandinistas returned to power in 2007 now have electricity, water, some paved roads and sidewalks, bus access, and health care in a combination through our Nueva Vida Clinic and what is offered by the national Ministry of Health.
July 2025 - combination clinic - Nueva Vida Clinic staff & MINSA staff
Is the population still poor? Yes. Did the Nicaraguans who entered the U.S. after Mitch with protected status become part of U.S. culture and economy… for the past 26 years… a whole generation or two? Yes. Did they do exactly what they were supposed to do for their families while their homeland was under mud from Mitch? Yes. And now, not only are they losing their Protected Status, but being deported? Why? They aren’t criminals. They are pulling their own weight. They are contributing to our U.S. economy. They have families born in the U.S. This is nuts!
Nicaragua will welcome them, as it has been doing and also because Nicaragua has open borders… you can enter here as a U.S. citizen with a U.S. passport and a mere $10 to pay for your 90-day tourist visa. But this new policy not only is draining the U.S. economy by evicting workers, and is heartlessly cruel while splitting up families raised in the U.S. from their U.S. lives, but it is also draining on Nicaragua… dumping thousands of folk back into the country, while eliminating the monthly remittances that were being sent from working Nicaraguan families in the U.S. back to their Nica families.
Nicaraguan family
So yeah, Nicaragua working hard to improve life for its population and stabilize its economy in decades of social and structural fairness is now being punished with U.S. actions formed in stupidity and ignorance. Nicaraguans who came to the U.S. and did everything right when their land was under water, are being punished through this stupidity and ignorance. Or perhaps even worse, with deliberate vindictiveness. I am so ashamed!
We struggle on here in Nicaragua, continuing to work with and for the poor. We know many of your lives are in shambles, but if you can help, please do. We need you to continue to help do what is right. And by all means come visit and see for yourselves. Bienvenidos!
Dr. Jorge Flores and Alaska volunteer Kyle, tired after a rural clinic day at El Porvenir. Photo: Jennifer Aist
To Donate Online: https://www.jhc-cdca.org/donate-now THANK YOU!! - Sarah