The government of Daniel Ortega this week took the first step in fulfilling its promise to provide low-income “Houses for the People” by handing out the keys and titles to new “dignified housing” to several hundred poor families in Managua, including many single-mothers who work in the ministry of health or as teachers.
The homes, built with funding from Venezuela, were constructed “with all the conditions and equipment, with walls, bars, tiled bathrooms and family spaces, dignified and loving, for our people who deserve the best,” said First Lady Rosario Murillo.
“From one day to the next they told us that we were going to have a dignified house … When has this ever happened in the history of Nicaragua? Until now, with our Comandante Daniel Ortega,” said health worker and beneficiary Idalia Hernández.
Román “Chocolatito” González and Juan Palacios, two Nicaraguan world boxing champs from impoverished Managua neighborhoods, will also be moving into the new neighborhood.
“After my victory on Aug. 2, the president called me in and the first thing that he said to me what that they were going to give me a furnished house, and today I really feel proud to be a Nicaraguan and have the support of our President Daniel Ortega,” Palacios said.
“We are fighting for every Nicaraguan family to have dignified housing,” Ortega said, adding that the homes will be paid for according to people’s financial abilities, and no one will be evicted for missing a payment. He urged beneficiaries to pay, explaining that the money would go toward building more housing for other families.
According to the government, 2,923 such homes have been built this year in 33 municipalities across the country. The government’s goal is to build 42,000 lowincome homes within the next four years, according to government sources.
–Tim Rogers
