Call for talks in Nicaragua after deaths

NICARAGUA’S government urged its opponents on Monday to return to the negotiating table, after a night of clashes between police and protesters left five more people dead in the country’s escalating crisis.

Residents described scenes of terror overnight in the flashpoint city of Masaya, which saw running battles all weekend pitting residents armed with homemade mortars and slingshots against what they said were paramilitary forces and riot police loyal to President Daniel Ortega.

More than 100 people have died in the violence sweeping Nicaragua since protests erupted on April 18 against Ortega, the man who has dominated the Central American country’s politics for four decades.

The Catholic Church initially tried to mediate the conflict, but called off the talks after a crackdown on a march led by victims’ mothers on Wednesday left another 16 people dead.

Ortega’s wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo – a figure widely reviled by the protesters – made an appeal to return to dialogue.

“We all want peace, we want dialogue, we want to work together and listen to each other, discuss all issues, because there’s a solution for everything,” she said. “Let’s not keep suffering losses, pain, mourning in our families.”

The wave of protests against Ortega and his ruling party – the Sandinista National Liberation Front – erupted on April 18 and quickly turned violent.

The brutal crackdown on what started as relatively small protests against pension cuts have fuelled demands for the ousting of Ortega and Murillo.