Nicaragua Juanita Jimenez

Juanita was born in 1967 in the city of Masaya Juanita was born in 1967 in the city of Masaya. She was born to a mother of a more humble background and a father who had more money. This affected her upbringing since she felt more connected to the community in which her mother grew up but she was connected to families with money also since she was sent to private schools by her father’s and his family.

Juanita can still remember growing up during the Somoza dictatorship Juanita can still remember growing up during the Somoza dictatorship. Somoza broke the peace with Nicaragua and took control in 1933 and was succeeded by his sons until the triumph of the Sandinista revolution in 1979. This divided her family because her mother’s family was part of the revolution and her father’s family supported Somoza. After the revolution her father’s family had to flee Nicaragua because of this.

As I mentioned before because of the wealth on her father’s side of the family Juanita was sent to private school. However during the anti Somoza fight and the Sandinista Revolution she decided to stop going to private schools and entered a public secondary school where she entered a program for student leaders and through this she became involved in the revolutionary process. Juanita already had leadership experience from student groups in Sandinista youth. Juanita participated in the Sandinista activity as much as she could. She really wanted to be a literacy tutor to help those in her neighborhood learn to read and write but since she was just out of primary school she wasn’t chosen. That didn’t stop her though, she became the assistant to the literacy teacher in her neighborhood and helped him in every way that she could. Juanita received military training which included combat training since she was mobilized in war zones. Juanita had to say goodbye to many of her friends who were particpating in the war, some were going willingly and come unwillingly which was very hard for Juanita to deal with, she believes this is what gave her a sense of justice.

In 1992 Juanita officially left the Military structure and accepted a job with the Amanda Espinoza Women’s Movement, they were looking for a lawyer to help women who were victims of violence or cases that were related to violence. Juanita started taking cases and stood out for being a lawyer that really did justice. She took on a variety of different cases including violence, sexual abuse, alimony. She even started taking on other types of cases including civil cases and penal cases which made her well known in the city.

Juanita helped to create women’s police stations that focused solely on on women’s issues. Women would come beaten up and to Juanita it didn’t matter if it was the husband who had beaten her, it was still a crime and the aggressor must be sanctioned. Women’s police stations: Often staffed by specially trained women Aim to improve the ability to respond to the needs of women Support the victims in matters such as medical care, counselling or financial help.

Abortion is illegal in Nicaragua Abortion is illegal in Nicaragua. Even therapeutic abortion which is in the case to save a woman’s life if the pregnancy risks it. One case that Jaunita had arguing a case for therapeutic abortion was the case of Rosita. Rosita was a small girl, about nine years old, who had ended up pregnant after being sexually abused by her stepfather. Her parents worried for her and wanted to seek an abortion to save their daughter’s life. Rosita became to poster child for the Network of Women Against Violence to show an example of just why abortions are necessary to save thousand of lives.

Juanita played major roles in many feminist movement in Nicaragua it was bound to have an effect on her life. While she enjoyed her time working within the military and the people she got to help while being a lawyer their were also some negative effects. She has had two investigation done on her with the intent to criminalize her. One of them being for abortion. Since Jaunita was in favor of therapeutic abortion, she was accused of aiding and abetting abortion. While Juanita appreciated the unity and support of women, she worried about her family because she worried that she would be jailed. Juanita explains that they failed to jail her because “the cost was high, particularly for those in power because the level of censorship, the level of national and international condemnation was also very strong…” https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/108133 52:04

Work Cited: http://umich.edu/~glblfem/en/transcripts/nicaragua/JimenezTranslationAnnotatedFINAL.pdf http://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/1093-womens-police-stations-units.html http://www.physiciansforlife.org/rosa-qrapeq-victim-used-to-advance-abortion/