Planning a holiday in Nicaragua? DON'T

Nicaragua is a great place for a holiday.

The weather us fantastic, the beaches clean and beautiful, with coasts on both the Pacific and the Caribbean, great food, cheap beer, and the people are so friendly.

Sounds like the perfect place to be, hey?

Unfortunately 2 months ago, peaceful demonstrations against a rise in taxes and a 5% cut in 'elderly benefits', were met with riot police with tear gas and live rounds.

The tragedies that resulted from that first night of violence have made Nicaraguans to be mad.

Mad at living under a dictator who, well, does what dictators are known for -oppressing their people and stealing all the money.

The people of Nicaragua are fighting in the streets because they are being shot. Murdered for speaking out. Killed for voicing their opinion.

Over 200 have been murdered - most of them university students and teens.

Thousands have been injured.

Countless have gone missing.

Mothers are being rounded up and chained to fences, until their 'rebel' children hand themselves in.

Doctors and nurses have been shot for providing medical treatment to the wounded.

Families have been locked INTO their houses, while police set fire to it.

Why doesn't the world know about this?

Why are tourists still flying into the airport not knowing what awaits them in the street outside?

Why are backpackers still crossing the border expecting the biggest beer crawl they've ever seen at Sunday Funday in San Juan Del Sur?

The government has shut down news agencies.

Reporters have been shot by snipers, even during live feeds.

Tourist's SD cards and other memory devices are being confiscated at the borders.

Nicaragua isn't a place of violence.

These people aren't guerrillas, they are students.

They are farmers, office workers, council workers.

I was in Sheffield's 'sister city', Esteli when the riots began. It was 4 days before it was deemed safe enough for us to leave.

Since then, it has become a lot worse.

Please look up #sosnicaragua, because I can't put all the atrocities on this forum.

People need to know what's happening there.

Nicaraguans deserve their cause to be known.

Please help get this story into the news, so aide can be arranged.

They desperately need medical supplies. If not for the whole country, at least for Esteli - what's the point of having 'twinned cities', if you won't help them out.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/expatsinnicaragua/permalink/1955936711142967/

---------- Post added 17-06-2018 at 15:50 ----------

This is an example of the Human Rights violations this government is getting away with because the world isn't being told.

This family in Managua refused to let police snipers into their house.

What did the police do?

Blocked the doors, locking in 6 members of the family, including a toddler and a 5 month old baby and SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE.

The police then shot at anyone who tried to help, including members of the fire department.

That night, all 6 family members were in their coffins and thete was a candle light vigil being held.

The police turned up and violently dispersed the crowd.....INSIDE the funeral home.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/expatsinnicaragua/permalink/1966231063446865/

Scandalous. Appalling violence being used against ordinary people; why hasn't this been on the news?

Socialism at its finest

I'm trying to get it on the news.

One of the cities is twinned with Sheffield, Esteli.

I was hoping someone would care enough to make some noise about it.

There are silly backpackers still going there thinking it's fine, or it will make a good blog, but Nicaragua is not currently a safe place for travel.

The FCO continues to advise against all but essential travel to Nicaragua.

The Facebook link in the OP doesn't seem to work.

Here is a BBC article:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-44510106

This Reuters report includes reference to the refusal to allow snipers in:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nicaragua-protest/deadly-shoot-out-fire-break-nicaragua-truce-talks-proceed-idUSKBN1JC0VU

More here

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/nicaragua-authorities-unleashed-vicious-repression-against-benefits-cuts-protesters

I'm trying to get it on the news.

One of the cities is twinned with Sheffield, Esteli.

I was hoping someone would care enough to make some noise about it.

 

There are silly backpackers still going there thinking it's fine, or it will make a good blog, but Nicaragua is not currently a safe place for travel.

Around 15 years we went Trekking to Nepal at the same time as the political scene was reaching boiling point, curfews, riots etc. The Foreign Office was warning against all travel there. We went nevertheless. Had no problem.

Around 15 years we went Trekking to Nepal at the same time as the political scene was reaching boiling point, curfews, riots etc. The Foreign Office was warning against all travel there. We went nevertheless. Had no problem.

And this help the Nicaraguan people how?

And this help the Nicaraguan people how?

I didn’t realise this was a thread about «* helping «* the Nicaraguan people, I thought it was about telling people not to go there on holiday, which certainly won’t help the people.

What are you doing exactly, other than being a keyboard «*(in)activist*»

My point was that you shouldn’t always believe the hype.

AND

Should you be using a Forum to TELL people not to go there on holiday ?

What’s your interest actually ?

while political instability of this type is not likely to effect tourists much in the sense that they almost never actual targets, it is still not a good thing. If you're far away from the action in a coastal or mountain area, etc, then you probably wouldn't notice anything unusual whatsoever. But if you are in the city, especially the capital and which is where the big stuff like riots and demos always goes down, you might easily have to stay in the hotel for days because of a curfew which is not much fun when you can hear live rounds, bumps and shouts outside. The airport might close and you could get stranded. If you've already booked your flights you're in a difficult position because most travel insurance doesn't cover stuff like this at all. You can't claim your money back just because there's a coup or a revolution going on in wherever you wanted to go. It would be a difficult decision to make. But if I had flights booked to Nicaragua right now, I'd probably go. But I wouldn't be happy about the prospect of it at all.