For most people, it is difficult to imagine restarting life in political exile. However, young Nicaraguan activists have built a safe, inclusive and collective space in Costa Rica to recognize themselves as people in exile, while trying to re-establish their lives in the new country.
The Volcánicas Feminist Collective was formed by young women who had to leave Nicaragua abruptly for political reasons. Most were university students united by a shared history: their active participation during the April 2018 protests in Nicaragua following an environmental disaster and pension reforms, which reflected the anger against corruption and the authoritarian Ortega-Murillo regime. The government response to the peaceful protests was swift and brutal. Hundreds of protesters were persecuted, illegally detained, tortured and killed. More than 300,000 Nicaraguans have had to leave the country for their lives, including the members of Volcánicas, most of whom are now recognized as refugees in Costa Rica.
For Alharaca, journalism is not only a channel for information, but part of the collective effort to construct more just and equitable societies and promote democracy, a need at a time when El Salvador is in the grip of a two-year long state of exception that enables the government to violate constitutional rights. Alharaca believes in alliances, working in partnership with fellow independent outlets to strengthen feminist journalism and expand their reach in urban and rural communities.
CAMY Fund has supported Alharaca’s growth since 2020. They have built a team of 17 mostly full-time staff, established their own office space, and strengthened the organization’s capacity so they can focus on reporting on the topics they care about. Young people, women, and the LGBTIQ+ community are a key demographic, and much of their content is on topics relevant to youth, using Instagram, X, Facebook, and Tiktok to reach their 34,000 followers.
While many of the people in exile in Costa Rica continued to advocate for political change in Nicaragua, the young women of Volcánicas recognized the lack of safe spaces for Nicaraguan exiles to gather. They named themselves Volcánicas because of the moment of civil and social awakening experienced in 2018 and recognized each member of the collective as volcanoes, so common in the Nicaraguan landscape, and as an eruption for change. As their work evolved, the Volcánicas expanded their areas of focus; their current goal is to promote the rights and freedoms of Nicaraguan migrant and exiled people (especially women) in Costa Rica through advocacy, networking, digital communication and accompaniment support. In the process of building a gender-diverse community, the young women also found and recognized the need for healing and care of their own trauma.
The CAMY Fund was one of the first partners of Volcánicas and has supported the growth of this community, as well as build alliances with other migrant feminist networks in Costa Rica. With support from the CAMY Fund, Volcánicas developed the ‘Migramos para Vivir’ campaign and co-produced the podcast ‘Furia Volcánica’, in which they shared the experience of feminist political
exile. The podcast won the first place in the III edition of the Digital Innovation Award for Public Freedoms 2020 granted by the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation in Nicaragua. They have also conducted workshops, training sessions and meetings to document the experiences of Nicaraguan women in Costa Rica, including those who have been in the country for more than forty years.
Las Volcánicas honor their friends, networks and family in Nicaragua who cannot leave the country or speak out. They recognize the power of speech and expression and use it to continue to build visibility for their experiences. By breaking the silence, they keep the activism and spirit of their movement alive, both in their home country and where they have found refuge.
