I was sent via Facebook a juxtaposition of 2 pictures with 40 years separating them.I was anxious to get on a plane. If I go, I know I will not be able to come back, I know I will be pulled into the current of history. It’s very hard for me now: do I pack my bag? For 12 years, I never unpacked it except to do laundry.
- S.M.
I went back to Managua in June of 2018, just as paramilitary groups closed in on student protesters occupying the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN).
I just decided I had to be there, no matter how many other eyes were reporting to the world, I had to know for myself what the resistance was mobilized by, confronting and imagining collectively.
I decided to produce a postcard featuring the diptych of “Molotov Man” and an image from an anonymous photographer, of a protester in a similar stance, preparing to throw what appears to be a mortar round. On the other side is a new image I made of a young man, a scarf wrapped around his face to hide his identity, with graffiti being written on the wall behind him -- “SOS,” in black, while he writes, in red, “Las balas,” the bullets.
We’re always living history, except we think of it as daily life.
Nicaragua 1978–2018 at SUNY Old Westbury
Long Island, NY, 2019
…I believe that by organizing this exhibition, the UCA is fulfilling a role of utmost importance, which is preserving for present and future generations the historical memory of one of the most tragic yet also promising moments in our nation’s evolution. These seven months of civic rebellion, beginning on April 19th 2018, have signified a complete and irreversible change in the course of this country’s history…
Since 2007, the Nicaraguan people have witnessed a deliberate process of destruction of our democratic institutions, paving the way for one family to sequester the greatest concentration of power in our almost two hundred years of independence. This process set the stage for installing a new dynastic dictatorship in our country.
--Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim (excerpts from opening remarks) Managua, November 15, 2018
…This exhibition will contribute to the “Recovery of Historical Memory” in our country, where an attempt is being made to impose an official narrative that contradicts what really took place, where victims are transformed into perpetrators of violence, and where the crimes of governmental repression are attributed to those who decided to rebel peacefully and civically, when faced with such egregious affronts to their dignity, and the violation of their human and political rights.
...the recovery of historical memory is a socio-cultural project aimed at preserving and sharing what really occurred, resisting the imposition of a false reality, and safekeeping testimonies so that history will accurately judge those who were the artifices of such horrific acts.
--Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim (excerpts from opening remarks) Managua, November 15, 2018
January 18, 2019 cover of La Prensa
La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, published its cover blank on January 18, 2019 in protest against the refusal by the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) to hand over paper and ink imported by the Editorial La Prensa group, in Managua.
“Have you wondered about living without information? La Prensa Editorial has decided to release this publication today which marks 20 weeks since the General Directorate of Customs began restraining raw material from our company that arrived in Nicaragua in September 2018.”
The newspaper, which has a critical approach towards Ortega’s government, reported that “customs blocking” risks their future publications and qualifies as a “threat to the freedom of speech and access to information of Nicaraguans.”
Nicaragua’s independent press has been under government siege for reporting on the protests against Ortega that started on April 18, 2018. According to humanitarian groups, the government crackdown on protests led to 325 deaths and more than 600 people arrested.
I went back to Managua in June of 2018, just as paramilitary groups closed in on student protesters occupying the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN).
I just decided I had to be there, no matter how many other eyes were reporting to the world, I had to know for myself what the resistance was mobilized by, confronting and imagining collectively.
I decided to produce a postcard featuring the diptych of “Molotov Man” and an image from an anonymous photographer, of a protester in a similar stance, preparing to throw what appears to be a mortar round. On the other side is a new image I made of a young man, a scarf wrapped around his face to hide his identity, with graffiti being written on the wall behind him -- “SOS,” in black, while he writes, in red, “Las balas,” the bullets.
We’re always living history, except we think of it as daily life.
Nicaragua 1978–2018 at SUNY Old Westbury
Long Island, NY, 2019
…I believe that by organizing this exhibition, the UCA is fulfilling a role of utmost importance, which is preserving for present and future generations the historical memory of one of the most tragic yet also promising moments in our nation’s evolution. These seven months of civic rebellion, beginning on April 19th 2018, have signified a complete and irreversible change in the course of this country’s history…
Since 2007, the Nicaraguan people have witnessed a deliberate process of destruction of our democratic institutions, paving the way for one family to sequester the greatest concentration of power in our almost two hundred years of independence. This process set the stage for installing a new dynastic dictatorship in our country.
--Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim (excerpts from opening remarks) Managua, November 15, 2018
…This exhibition will contribute to the “Recovery of Historical Memory” in our country, where an attempt is being made to impose an official narrative that contradicts what really took place, where victims are transformed into perpetrators of violence, and where the crimes of governmental repression are attributed to those who decided to rebel peacefully and civically, when faced with such egregious affronts to their dignity, and the violation of their human and political rights.
...the recovery of historical memory is a socio-cultural project aimed at preserving and sharing what really occurred, resisting the imposition of a false reality, and safekeeping testimonies so that history will accurately judge those who were the artifices of such horrific acts.
--Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim (excerpts from opening remarks) Managua, November 15, 2018
La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, published its cover blank on January 18, 2019 in protest against the refusal by the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) to hand over paper and ink imported by the Editorial La Prensa group, in Managua.
“Have you wondered about living without information? La Prensa Editorial has decided to release this publication today which marks 20 weeks since the General Directorate of Customs began restraining raw material from our company that arrived in Nicaragua in September 2018.”
The newspaper, which has a critical approach towards Ortega’s government, reported that “customs blocking” risks their future publications and qualifies as a “threat to the freedom of speech and access to information of Nicaraguans.”
Nicaragua’s independent press has been under government siege for reporting on the protests against Ortega that started on April 18, 2018. According to humanitarian groups, the government crackdown on protests led to 325 deaths and more than 600 people arrested.
I went back to Managua in June of 2018, just as paramilitary groups closed in on student protesters occupying the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN).
I just decided I had to be there, no matter how many other eyes were reporting to the world, I had to know for myself what the resistance was mobilized by, confronting and imagining collectively.
I decided to produce a postcard featuring the diptych of “Molotov Man” and an image from an anonymous photographer, of a protester in a similar stance, preparing to throw what appears to be a mortar round. On the other side is a new image I made of a young man, a scarf wrapped around his face to hide his identity, with graffiti being written on the wall behind him -- “SOS,” in black, while he writes, in red, “Las balas,” the bullets.
We’re always living history, except we think of it as daily life.
Nicaragua 1978–2018 at SUNY Old Westbury
Long Island, NY, 2019
…I believe that by organizing this exhibition, the UCA is fulfilling a role of utmost importance, which is preserving for present and future generations the historical memory of one of the most tragic yet also promising moments in our nation’s evolution. These seven months of civic rebellion, beginning on April 19th 2018, have signified a complete and irreversible change in the course of this country’s history…
Since 2007, the Nicaraguan people have witnessed a deliberate process of destruction of our democratic institutions, paving the way for one family to sequester the greatest concentration of power in our almost two hundred years of independence. This process set the stage for installing a new dynastic dictatorship in our country.
--Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim (excerpts from opening remarks) Managua, November 15, 2018
…This exhibition will contribute to the “Recovery of Historical Memory” in our country, where an attempt is being made to impose an official narrative that contradicts what really took place, where victims are transformed into perpetrators of violence, and where the crimes of governmental repression are attributed to those who decided to rebel peacefully and civically, when faced with such egregious affronts to their dignity, and the violation of their human and political rights.
...the recovery of historical memory is a socio-cultural project aimed at preserving and sharing what really occurred, resisting the imposition of a false reality, and safekeeping testimonies so that history will accurately judge those who were the artifices of such horrific acts.
--Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim (excerpts from opening remarks) Managua, November 15, 2018
January 18, 2019 cover of La Prensa
La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, published its cover blank on January 18, 2019 in protest against the refusal by the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) to hand over paper and ink imported by the Editorial La Prensa group, in Managua.
“Have you wondered about living without information? La Prensa Editorial has decided to release this publication today which marks 20 weeks since the General Directorate of Customs began restraining raw material from our company that arrived in Nicaragua in September 2018.”
The newspaper, which has a critical approach towards Ortega’s government, reported that “customs blocking” risks their future publications and qualifies as a “threat to the freedom of speech and access to information of Nicaraguans.”
Nicaragua’s independent press has been under government siege for reporting on the protests against Ortega that started on April 18, 2018. According to humanitarian groups, the government crackdown on protests led to 325 deaths and more than 600 people arrested.
Susan Meiselas
Susan Meiselas is a documentary photographer and President of the Magnum Foundation