Nicaragua in Flames
Photo by Opinion Digital
Over the past few weeks, the Central American 6-million nation of Nicaragua has been rocked with waves of political unrest against its President Daniel Ortega, who unleashed retaliatory measures to repress peaceful protests against a law that reduced social security paid to the elderly. As the situation escalated, the clashes between the protesting youth and the elderly against the riot police has claimed at least 43 lives, followed by 40 disappearances and nearly 300 injured.
The protests, led by university students, sparked as a result of Sandinista government’s newest law, which reduced social security paid to the elderly, state salaries and increased payments to the Institute of National Security.
“As a product of this event, workers, elderly, and students organized a peaceful protest as a way to deny the recent changes,” writes a local Nicaraguan, “The government began to repress the protesters with bands and policemen, physically harming the elderly. In retaliation, the youth took the responsibility for protecting the defenseless protesters from the government-sent police force and delinquents.”
Consequently, the government’s anti-riot measures, which included live-ammunition, erupted in massive protest marches in Nicaragua’s major cities, gathering crowds of nearly 150,000 in Managua, demanding the resignation of President Ortega, his Vice-President and wife, Rosario Murillo and his government.
"The situation isn't over. The people demand that the only way they will be satisfied is if the Government, and its band of corrupt members, leaves,” writes the local, “Nicaragua is tired of the thefts, repression, and lies.”
The protests, coordinated through social media, already have left a bloodstain on Nicaragua’s in the 21st century, climaxing with the assassination of Angel Gahona, a young journalist killed during a live-broadcast on Facebook. Despite the governmental toll of 10, many human rights groups claim that more than 60 protesters have been killed, inciting a UN investigation.
President's Fate Unknown
President Daniel Ortega, who under pressure has revoked his policy, remains as one of the last Latin American contemporary revolutionaries, ruling the country since 1979, as well as leading the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) against the Somoza dictatorship.
After overthrowing Somoza, Ortega became the coordinator of Nicaragua’s governing junta, and was elected president in country’s first ever democratic elections in November 1984 that followed with a US-backed guerrilla war and economic embargo, which took a considerable toll, pushing the Nicaraguans to vote the Sandinistas out of office in 1990.
His rule, which resumed in 2006 after a successful presidential election and the removal of a 2-term office limit, marred the country with multiple cases of mass persecution, repression and Nicaragua’s isolation from the international affairs.
The fate of Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista government remains unclear, despite calls for negotiations by the local Catholic Church, led by the bishop of Managua, the highly-respected Silvio Baez, as well as menacing warnings to the regime, attributed to the former head of the Sandinista Popular Army.
It seems that Daniel Ortega's government is looking for stabilization, but the protesting nationals are not showing any signs of backing down until their demands are heard.
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