Nicaragua scraps pension reform in bid to end protests
Demonstrations were the worst experienced in the 11 years Ortega has led the country
Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega scrapped on Sunday a contentious pension reform that triggered four days of violence in which two dozen people were killed, but rioting students vowed to keep up street protests until he is ousted.
Since the clashes erupted on Wednesday, pitting protesters against security forces and pro-government supporters, 25 people have died, according to the Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights.
“Among the dead are minors, students” and a journalist who was shot dead on Saturday while reporting on the chaos in the Caribbean city of Bluefields, the centre said in a statement.
Officials on Friday gave a toll of 10 deaths but have not revised their figure since.
The protests were the worst experienced in the 11 years Ortega has led the country. The 72-year-old leftist president, a former Sandinista guerrilla, rules Nicaragua with his wife and vice-president Rosario Murillo.
During talks with business leaders, Ortega announced he was revoking the April 16 pension reform of the Nicaraguan Institute for Social Security (INSS), “which acted as a trigger that started this whole situation”.
The controversial reform would have increased both employer and employee contributions and reduced benefits in a bid to tamp down on a climbing deficit.
Students played a major role in the wave of unrest that met that reform.