The journalist Marisol Balladares Blanco and her daughter Gloria Elena Escorcia Balladres are the most recent faces of the persecution and the collateral effects of the harassment against freedom of expression and freedom of the press suffered by journalists in Nicaragua.
Balladares and her daughter left everything behind in their native country due to the harassment they suffered from the Government of Daniel Ortega. Marisol says they were forced to flee because she «needs to save her and her daughter’s life.»
Marisol, originally from Bluefields, worked for 15 years for Radio Corporación and the magazine Conexion Caribe. This bilingual publication is written in the coastal native language, Miskito, and in Spanish and covers special reports and local investigations.
A report and the beginning of the persecution
Balladares published in Conexion Caribe an investigation about the land expropriation suffered by the indigenous people of the Caribbean Coast. Their land has been taken by the so-called «colonos», who are former soldiers and paramilitary members sent by Daniel Ortega government to exploit the Caribbean natural resources. According to the investigation, the newly arrived «settlers» are damaging the forests. Native people are forced to abandon their property, emigrate to the cities because of the violence imposed by «the settlers».
Balladares reported that she suffered an attempted kidnapping a few months ago. She also said that the Bluefields authorities ordered her capture for damaging Daniel Ortega’s image. On March 28, the threats reached a climax when a paramilitary came to the radio station where she worked and attacked her with a knife.
Since then, Balladares and her daughter avoided sleeping in their home due to the sieges, threats, and the murder attemp. A new aggression occurred on July 12, when journalists Balladares asked her daughter to change local currency and buy dollars at the Bank. After her transaction, three officers intercepted her, confiscated the money, and, as Balladares reports, groped her. Gloria Elena Escorcia Balladres was detained for two hours. After proving that the money had no doubtful origin, they returned the dollar notes to her.
The nightmare
On July 14 at 9:00 pm, after several weeks of stress, both decided to leave Nicaragua through a nonofficial path, since she had an immigration ban on leaving the country. Marisol and Gloria Elena began their journey crossing through Honduras and Guatemala. They entered Mexico on Thursday, June 29, crossed Veracruz in a «cayuco» which is a long river boat, and continued to Monterrey and Reinosa. Finally, on July 22 at midnight, they crossed the Colorado River to the United States. At 04:55 am they presented themselves to the immigration agents.
Image taken by Marisol from inside a bus with tinted windows as it passed near the Gulf of Mexico
From the beginning, Balladares explained to the immigration agents that she is a journalist and that she suffered political persecution in Nicaragua. Her goal was to request refugee in the United States due to the harassment suffered in her country. After a few hours, Balladares and her daughter were sent to a detention center known as «the freezer» for undocumented immigrants.
Image taken from inside the “El Congelador"
«There were about 100 people. We wore dirty clothes and worn shoes,» says the Nicaraguan journalist who recalls that they spent three nights in that center under low temperature covered only with a paper blanket. Balladares suffered hypothermia one of the nights. The detainees were not provided with masks. Marisol and her daughter used toilet paper to cover their mouth and nose to protect themselves from COVID-19.
This is how Marisol's shoes were after traveling overland from Nicaragua to the United States in search of freedom
After three days, they were handcuffed on hands and feet and placed on a bus. Balladares asked four times without success when she could present her evidence of persecution. Instead, the agents drove them to El Paso, Texas, where they remained for four days, after which they were transferred to the Juárez pass, at the border wall with Mexico, and were told that they couldn’t stay in the United States.
Marisol and her daughter knew they were at the border thanks to the GPS, the officers never warned them.
During the seven days of detention, she was never allowed to present her evidence to the competent authority.
Look at the future with optimism.
Marisol and Gloria Elena are currently in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. A non profit organization is supporting them to study the case and decide their opportunities to enter the United States and apply for political asylum. Marisol Balladares is worried for their safety. Returning to Nicaragua is not an option.
Marisol and her daughter Gloria Elena in a hostel in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico
She additionally suffers from skin and hypertension problems, and needs medication. Fortunately, her 21-year-old daughter, also a journalist and first division soccer player, has impeccable health and is one of Marisol’s strengths.
Balladares and her daughter are for now in a safe place, waiting for the authorities of the United States Government to allow them to expose their case. They want to speak out and demonstrate that attacks against journalists are real in Nicaragua, and that they have no other option but to flee their country in search of freedom and security.
Marisol and Gloria Elena being transferred to a safe place in Ciudad Juárez.