THE IMMIGRANT ODYSSEY

Odyssey of an Atypical Immigrant to California

How a journalist fled his country for political asylum

Blonde, white-pale skinned and greeneyed. Santos isn’t your typical immigrant arriving from Central America. He’s an educated journalist fleeing political persecution from Nicaragua. He finds himself in a difficult situation, fleeing from the tentacles of Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian government in Nicaragua.

In April 2018, Nicaraguan university students turned to the streets in solidarity with senior citizens who were beaten by police agents as they protested against social security reforms and a rise in their contributions. Among the student victims, 15-year-old Alvaro Conrado was shot in the throat with an AK rifle by police on April 20, 2018, causing him to bleed, making him unable to breathe. “It hurts to breathe,” were the last words he said as he died.

His crime: showing solidarity by bringing water to university students who were rebelling against the government in the intense tropical heat. He bought the water with money he had received a few days before as a gift on his birthday. Alvaro was one of almost 100 people killed by Nicaraguan police and pro-government armed forces known as “turbas sandinistas.” About a dozen journalists were robbed, issued threats and attacked since the start of the protests. Angel Gahona, a reporter, was shot dead in the coastal city of Bluefields, during a Facebook Live broadcast.

Nicaraguans reacted with a roller coaster of emotions, sadness, rage, fear, and a feeling of not being able to do anything. The events of April 2018 were reminiscent of the 1970s Somoza dictatorship. From this juxtaposition, many Nicaraguans equated president Daniel Ortega to Anastasio Somoza who was overthrown in 1979.

Nauseated from this political chaos, many Nicaraguans have fled the country, seeking refuge. Reflecting on the dark gathering ent countries around the world loOKing for asylum. We’ve done it because we’ve lost our freedoms after 40 years in which one person has wielded power, in this case Daniel Ortega. You should be able to demand your citizenship rights in any democracy in the world. We supposedly live inside a democracy, but the government reprisals are very tough and ultimately results in death.

They shoot you, they hunt you, it is very difficult! During my last days in the country, there were many protests due to the social security reforms. The government’s response was to shoot the university students who led this struggle, they shot the students for peaceful protest. So, this caused an outrage in society, then many sectors of civil society started to join the protests. This struggle has been called “the Self-Convened,” because anybody can self-convene or can convene a protest to declare himself or herself against the regime. This has caused many of us who don’t agree with the

“I miss everything tremendously, because at this moment my wife is pregnant and my daughter will be born in two weeks, but I can’t be there.”

storm clouds looming on the horizon, Santos decided to flee the country and seek political asylum in the United States. He arrived in California and has adapted as best he can to his new life.

You’ve told me you’re from Managua, Nicaragua,

right? Yes.

Were you born in

Managua, Nicaragua? Yes.

Why did you have to leave Nicaragua and seek political asylum in the United States?

I’m not the only one. At this moment we are many, thousands of Nicaraguans that have been forced to immigrate to differregime to exile ourselves from our country.

OK, how was your experience before coming here to California?

It’s been a dreadful experience. I came under much stress, much stress. A stress caused by having to sleep under my bed because at night the impacts from the shots would hit the walls of the houses. I spent three months during which I couldn’t go out to the street. Three months in which you are under curfew, in which you can feel the insecurity. You can walk in any area of the capital city Managua and at any moment they can shoot you.

That’s shocking, but how about here in the U.S.? Have you had any culture shock regarding the differences between American and Nicaraguan cultures?

Well no, not really. I haven’t had a cultural shock because I’ve been well connected to global culture. I have visited the United States on many occasions. It is my first time in California. It is my first time here. After having studied a bit and analyzed which state could be the best state that I should travel to in search of asylum, I determined California was the best one. I realized that the struggles of pro immigrant groups have gained much ground in California and reflected on what California’s sanctuary state status entails. Besides, the Latino community here in California is very large.

I immigrated from my country and I won’t possibly return for a very long time while the current regime that governs Nicaragua remains in power. So, I believe California is a very interesting gateway for me into the United States, into another culture because I can connect to this Latino community. If later I have to move to a different state, I believe California will have given me the ability to assimilate this other culture.

A memorial honors Alvaro Conrado, killed by the Nicaraguan government in 2018.

As you might know, a journalism career is dangerous in many countries, sometimes resulting in jail and death. If you could travel to the past, would you still choose to be a journalist again?

Without a doubt, I would decide on the same career. I don’t have a doubt about it. I believe that when you study journalism, you do so because of a passion that doesn’t compare with other interests. Therefore, I believe I would choose journalism again.

Do you miss your family, your friends, the Nicaraguan flora, and fauna, the climate?

I miss everything tremendously, because at this moment my wife is pregnant and my daughter will be born in two weeks, but I can’t be there. My wife is in hiding. She’s a refugee in another place that I can’t reveal and I’m over here. I’m in an immigration process and I don’t know how long it will take. I don’t know how much time will pass for me to be able to be with my family again. Yes, there are many things that I miss from Nicaragua, but I consider myself a person capable of adapting to any type of ambiance. GLEN SALAZAR

Instagram for Kids?

Tseems like a couple of times a month a new study emerges confirming the dangers of social media and its effect on our mental health. Now the data-grabbing, money-hungry social media platforms want to get ‘em younger. It’s the cyberbullying, gossip and the compulsive desire to maintain an unrealistic identity based on our own idea of perfection that we will never live up to.

Social media has been conditioning us for years through manipulative algorithms that monitor and collect data about our movements online. Launching an app aimed at capturing the attention of the under-13-year-old demographic, has the potential to cause catastrophic consequences. Details about the rumored Instagram for kids are almost non-existent because, well, it is a rumor, but it does seem to carry some weight. Enough weight in fact that this rumor prompted attorneys general from 44 states and jurisdictions to release a letter on May 10 to Mark Zuckerberg.

“The attorneys general urge Facebook to abandon these plans. Use of social media can be detrimental to the health and well-being of children, who are not equipped to navigate the challenges of having a social media account,” signed, 44 U.S attorneys. Platforms like Facebook have undoubtedly revolutionized the way we communicate with one another. Social media does enjoy benefits like reuniting family members, enabling expedited organ donation, and community building. But this well-intentioned online society birthed an unforeseen ugly side.

All those wacky face filters that utilize a device’s front camera sure caught on quickly. Among many others, the soft-focus animated flower-crowns and cute little cat ears were brilliant ideas to keep everyone’s eyes fixed to their device, and hey, who hasn’t thought about what they might look like as a human-cat hybrid? The trouble is the effect it has on the developing brains of kids and teens.

Snapchat dysmorphia is a physician-coined term for a mental health disorder that surfaced sometime in early 2018 and affects one in 50 people in the United States. The mental condition that makes people obsess over their actual or perceived physical flaws to the point of seeking plas-

tic surgery to amend their “flaws.” Even if it were one in 1,000 people, fully recognizing that teens are already susceptible to this, is that a technology we should put in the hands of children? And yes, an Instagram for kids would very likely include a face-filter feature. Why wouldn’t Facebook do it? It’s already available to kids through Messenger Kids. “Some of the people living with BDD (Body dysmorphic disorder) have a history of unnecessary or repeated cosmetic surgeries; the disorder has been associate with obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression, and suicidal tendencies,” Ana Sandoiu says in Medical News Today. U.S. AGs: If this conditioning isn’t convincing enough, Jonathan “Use of social Haidt studied data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control media can be and Prevention and found that suicides amongst females bedetrimental to tween the ages of 15 and 19 are up over 70% compared to the average rate between 2001 and the health and 2010. 10-14 The suicide rate of girls isovertwicethatat151%. well-being of The increases for both self-harm and suicide correlates with social children.” media’s increasing availabilty on mobile devices in 2009. It’s a beast we refuse to acknowledge. If Instagram for kids is anything like Messenger Kids launched in 2017, which not surprisingly proved to be not quite as secure as advertised, then these kids are in for some trouble. We can count on a number of parental controls, including direct message receipts that allow the parents to audit messaging content and time restrictions. Also, no GPS tracking requests and an ad-free environment, but Facebook can, does, and will transfer children’s data to third-party companies. It will still collect data on kids under the age of 13, but what Facebook is able to do with that information is different thanks to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. It’s collecting information about what children send and receive –– text, audio, photos, gifs, emojis, stickers –– it’s all logged to build a model that represents kids’ online habits. Gaining access to that data to build its priceless profiles or models on every individual has given the most powerful tech companies tunnel vision, a diagnosis that suggest big tech are unaware of their destructive algorithms’ consequences. They know, but they just don’t care. THOMAS HUSEN