Mothers of slain students unite to seek justice

The two mothers walked shoulder-toshoulder ahead of a casket in the northern Nicaraguan city of Esteli, wailing in shared grief at the killings of their sons during a wave of anti-government protests.

Francisca Machado was accompanying the casket holding her 24-year-old son Franco Valdivia Machado’s body to the cemetery on that April day. Socorro Corrales had just buried her own son, 23-yearold Orlando Perez Corrales, the day before.

From that image of solidarity was born a movement that became the Mothers of April, formed by relatives of many of the 325 people killed in the government suppression of the student-led protests. Its members are demanding justice from President Daniel Ortega, who has tightened his grip on power and targeted voices of dissent, arresting hundreds and closing media outlets and human rights groups in the aftermath of the protests.

The group is preparing for a long struggle for accountability for the killers of their children from a government that has labeled the protesters criminals and coupplotters. Three of its nine leaders have fled Nicaragua, fearing for their own safety.

“We don’t want to think about many years passing, but part of our responsibility is to prepare for that scenario,” said Francys Valdivia Machado, whose younger brother was buried on April 22.