excluding English and the indigenous languages historically used in the region. In effect, a policy of
internal colonialism was imposed and its vestiges are still felt today.
The report on the human development of Nicaragua highlights that 11 out of the 25 poorest
municipalities of the country are in the Caribbean Coast; the level of unemployment is 90%, two times
greater than the national rate and the average rate of schooling is 2.2 years in comparison to the national
rate of 6.8
This brief historical outline allows for a better understanding of the context in which the fight against
racism and discrimination in Nicaragua is undertaken, the product of which brings forward the statute of
autonomy as a solution and this would represent the principal historical vindication of our peoples.
In effect since 1990, the statute of autonomy seeks to revert and dismantle the policy of internal
colonialism imposed upon the Nicaraguan Caribbean. It established the creation of two regional
autonomous governments formed of 90 elected councils, guaranteeing ethnic representation independent
of its population number.
With the autonomy of the Caribbean coast, a model of multiethnic democracy will be established
imbued with new laws approved by the National Assembly, with the purpose that they contribute to the
consolidation of the legal framework for autonomy and the prevention of major conflicts.
Among these, the law on languages can be mentioned; the regional model of health integrated to the
general health law; the autonomous regional educational system (SEAR) recognized as a new subsystem
in the Nicaraguan education; the law on demarcation and entitling of communal property (Law 445); as
well as the organic law of judicial power that established the creation of a justice administration model
for autonomous regions that incorporates common law.
The codification of the crime of racial discrimination has been achieved and the law on public
information access contains central aspects of the respect of the right to information in the languages of
indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, as well as the integration of a representative of the Caribbean
in the National Council for Public Information Access. Equally, two community universities have been
created in the Caribbean coast as well as indigenous and Afro-descendant civil society organizations
that promote and defend the rights of these peoples.
It is important to highlight that this fight against racism and discrimination is undertaken in all scenarios
including in the political field, where it is intended to identify possible strategic allies. From there, the
expectations regarding the alliance between the regional Yatama party, whose principal base is formed
by indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, and the FSLN, the political party in government that
defends the consolidation and strengthening of autonomy in the Nicaraguan Caribbean as its strategic