The Quixote Center’s work in Nicaragua is currently on hold following the government in Nicaragua’s decision to cancel the legal incorporation of our longtime partner, the Institute of John XXIII/Association Roncalli. 

The Quixote Center has worked with the Institute since 1984, when we launched a program for the delivery of humanitarian aid during the US- imposed Contra War. After the war we continued to work with the Institute on a variety of community development, education and health projects. Our work expanded following hurricane Mitch in 1998, involving the integration of housing construction, community organizing and leadership development. Our most recent effort, Homes of Hope, built 200 homes in cooperation with housing cooperatives as well as some individual homeowners between 2017 and 2022.

The government’s decision to cancel the Institute’s legal incorporation means the Institute of John XXIII must now close. Institute staff are currently in discussion with the government concerning the distribution of Institute resources and program activity. 

While the remaining staff at the Institute are in these conversations, we are also discerning the future of our work in NIcaragua. 
 

Homes of Hope Update

In 2014, the Quixote Center launched the “Homes of Hope” initiative in partnership with the Institute of John XXIII in Nicaragua. Since that time, we have delivered over $1 million to capitalize housing projects in Nicaragua and the campaign has raised nearly $1.6 million overall. 

The program is delivered through two inter-related initiatives managed by the Institute of John XXIII: The Community Housing Program and the Family Housing Program.

Annual Report 2018

The Quixote Center's Annual Report for 2018 is now available. If you like the work we are doing, please consider a . You can designate funds to a specific program, or put it toward general funds that support all of our work. 

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Lessons from Haiti: Another View on the Nicaraguan Crisis

Since April 18, the solidarity movement has been struggling over how to interpret events in Nicaragua and where to push in terms of advocacy and/or speaking out. As with many people following the situation, I have watched and listened to friends take a harsh line towards one another and with me about articles I have written. While the division in the solidarity movement is not in and of itself new, the tensions have boiled over. The gulf between people over how the situation is understood and should be represented is enormous. There are even calls from some to support U.S.

Inspirational and Influential Women of the World: Dolly Pomerleau Part III

I first met Dolly in January of 1996. I had just moved to Washington, D.C. and was looking for a job. I had contacted the Quixote Center a few months prior about the possibility of setting up a small project to donate funds to a clinic in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The clinic served the neighborhood of the Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs, where I stayed in July of 1995 with a Witness for Peace delegation. This had been my first trip to Nicaragua, and the group I was with was eager to help out the community in a meaningful way.

Inspirational and Influential Women of the World: Dolly Pomerleau Part II

Dolly Pomerleau was one of the pioneers who founded the Quixote Center in 1975. She and Bill Callahan launched this justice work with a strong commitment to social justice in both civil society and within the Catholic Church. In both arenas, that justice included changing structures to establish the equality of women and men. Dolly was utterly committed to that and all the other projects and ideals to which the Center committed itself over the years. 

Tell Congress to Support Dialogue in Nicaragua, not Impose More Sanctions

calls on the U.S. government to more aggressively employ the Magnitsky Act as a means to sanction individual members of the Nicaraguan government, while also condemning violence in Nicaragua. The stated goal is to support democracy, but the text of the resolution is not based on a balanced accounting of what has transpired in the country over the last three months.

Update on Nicaragua: The National Dialogue is back on...for now

Following fighting between the Nicaraguan government and protestors in mid-April during which nearly 50 people were killed in four days, the National Dialogue was set up as a means to discuss the conflict and work toward justice for the victims of the violence. At the table are the government, representatives of the national university system, labor unions, and the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, composed of students from the April 19th Movement, the Superior Council of Private Enterprises, and representatives of "civil society" organizations.

Update on Nicaragua: Interview about Situation in Masaya

Over the last week there has been an increase in violence in Nicaragua. In Masaya several people were killed, government buildings burned, a market ransacked, and ongoing blockades of the roads leading into the city.  Much of the media attention about the ongoing political crisis in Nicaragua has ignored the conflicts in cities outside of Managua, or focused solely on accusations of excessive force by the police.

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