Francisca Ramirez

My linocut "Doña Chica" (Francisca Ramirez) is one of the pieces included in "Tierra Herida: Printmaking from the Americas" The exhibit was curated by Alec Dempster and runs through March 9, 2019 at the Walkers Point Center for the Arts 839 S 5th St. Milwaukee, WI 53204. USA.

Tierra Herida: Printmaking from the Americas is a panorama of contemporary printmaking in the Americas—46 artists from 20 countries explore the theme of mining from colonial times to the present, with the objective of making visible the problems of mining in the Americas, generating a debate that provokes consciences and actions.

"Doña Chica"

Linocut by Carlos Barberena

"Doña Chica" (Francisca Ramirez) is a Nicaraguan farmer and Campesinos right activist and the head of the National Council for the Defense of the Land, Lake and Sovereignty. Since 2014 she has been leading protests against the construction of an inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua and the expropriation Law 840, which gave to the Chinese company HKND the concession of the construction of the inter-oceanic canal and other infrastructure projects. Those constructions are putting on risk several indigenous communities and the expropriation of the land and displacement of hundreds of farmer families, also is putting in serious dangerous national parks and the lake Nicaragua. 

In April 2018 Francisca Ramirez “Doña Chica” and other leaders of the Campesino movement joined the pacific public unrest protests against the totalitarian Ortega’s Government and called for a general strike. Since April 18ththe terrorist Ortega’s Government has been killed close to 500 students and civilians including more than 20 children, thousands of wounded, hundreds political prisoners and hundreds of forced disappearance. Doña Chica received death threats from paramilitaries, the police and the Nicaraguan army, for that reason she had to fled to Costa Rica where she is still working with leaders of the #sosnicaragua movement for the freedom of Nicaragua.