Quixote Center supports poverty relief through economic development in Nicaragua. In 2025 we partnered with Peaceworks to provide a small loan to the El Porvenir coffee cooperative to enable them to harvest and process their crop. 

The Quixote Center has worked in Nicaragua 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 of John XXIII/Association Roncalli 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 housing project, Homes of Hope, built 200 homes, in cooperation with housing cooperatives as well as some individual homeowners, between 2017 and 2022. The government of Nicaragua canceled the Institute’s legal incorporation in 2022.

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

Fri, 08/03/2018 - 10:23pm by admin

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

Fri, 07/27/2018 - 5:38pm by admin

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

Fri, 07/13/2018 - 4:38pm by Tom

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

Fri, 06/22/2018 - 4:43pm by Tom

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

Wed, 06/06/2018 - 9:12pm by Tom

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.

Update on Nicaragua: Amidst Ongoing Violence, National Dialogue Suspended Again

Sat, 06/02/2018 - 5:37pm by Tom

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued its preliminary report (available  and ), following its investigation May 17-21, that 76 people were killed during protests that began in April and in demonstrations since. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, they documented that the government of Nicaragua, especially the anti-

Statement of the Cooperative Movement of Nicaragua on National Dialogue

Fri, 05/18/2018 - 7:28pm by Tom

The Cooperative Movement of Nicaragua issued the statement below on May 5, 2018 regarding their participation in the National Dialogue process, which was formally launched on May 16. As of this writing, Orlando Núñez has not been included at the main table of negotiation as requested in this letter. [ listed,  from El Nuevo Diario].  We provide a translation into English below.

Nicaragua: An Urgent Call for Solidarity from ATC

Thu, 05/17/2018 - 3:59pm by Tom

Below is a “Call to Solidarity” from The Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (ATC), or Rural Workers Association in Nicaragua in relationship to the current political crisis. As the international media continues to emphasize only the voices of opposition groups, it is important that we work to get out other perspectives on what is happening.

Manufacturing Dissent: The N.E.D., Opposition Media and the Political Crisis in Nicaragua

Fri, 05/11/2018 - 10:44pm by Tom

The world’s major media outlets have spoken, and the verdict is in: Daniel Ortega is on his way out. After years of cronyism, his dictatorial rule has met with mass popular resistance, a resistance Ortega’s government responded to with unprecedented force. All of this signals that Ortega  and clueless, and that “the people” have had enough.

Yes, we still oppose the NICA Act!!

Fri, 04/27/2018 - 6:45pm by Tom

The NICA Act is legislation proposed by Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the U.S. Senate (a version has already passed in the House) that would require the U.S. representatives at multilateral institutions to vote against new loans for Nicaragua (at the World Bank and IMF that means a veto). The NICA Act is in response to U.S. “concerns” over electoral manipulation by the Sandinistas, and would require suspension of assistance until democratic reforms are undertaken.

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