US Nurse Visits New York to Discuss Her Persecution by the Nicaraguan Government

Weekly News Update on the Americas, 13 November 2001

Dorothy Granada, an internationally acclaimed health promoter and human rights activist who served for 12 years as director of a women's health clinic in Mulukuku, Nicaragua, is speaking at two events in the New York metropolitan area on November 15 and November 16. She will discuss the recent Nicaraguan elections, and the efforts of the current government to have her expelled for her humanitarian work.

IN NEW YORK CITY:

Thursday, November 15, 7:00 pm At Judson Memorial Church, Garden Room, 241 Thompson St (between 3rd Street & Washington Sq South A/C/E/F/S to W 4th St).

Sponsored by Nicaragua Solidarity Network 212-674-9499, <nicadlw@earthlink.net>.

IN WESTCHESTER:

Friday, November 16, 7:00 pm Potluck dinner & talk at Margaret Eberle's home in White Plains.

Sponsored by WESPAC. RSVP & directions: 914-948-2188.

The 1997 recipient of the International Pfeffer Peace Prize, Granada is widely known and loved in Nicaragua, in part for her courageous resistance to government persecution.

During the last year the 70-year-old nurse successfully resisted illegal attempts to deport her from Nicaragua and close down the Women's Clinic in Mulukuku. Human rights groups in Nicaragua and worldwide rallied to her defense in the face of persecution by the president of Nicaragua himself, Arnoldo Aleman.

President Aleman accused Granada of performing abortions, which are illegal in Nicaragua, and of serving only members of the opposition Sandinista Party, charges she has consistently denied.

In December of last year, he ordered Ms. Granada deported without a hearing, forcing her to go into hiding for two months while lawyers and human rights groups came to her defense.

Nicaraguan courts found no basis to the charges against Granada.

Even leaders of Aleman's own Liberal Constitutionalist Party have called for an end to his persecution of the popular nurse.

Some of those same leaders have accused Aleman of being the most corrupt president in Nicaragua's history.

My crime has been to combat malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhea and malnutrition which the campesinos suffer from and which are not treated in any way on the part of the government, said Dorothy Granada. I have not harmed the President of the Republic or any official of this government and I don't know where all this hatred comes from.

Granada is also a Clinical Instructor at the University of Texas medical branch's Department of Family Medicine in Galveston.

Every year the University sends down a large medical delegation to provide medical, dental and other needed health services.

The Women's Clinic in Mulukuku is part of a cooperative organized by women in 1998. The coop has played a leading role in educating women about their rights and protecting them from abuse; the clinic focuses largely on prenatal care, childbirth, and children's health.