Ortega’s troops mount raids after student siege ends
NICARAGUAN government forces launched intense raids backed by heavy equipment yesterday in three rebellious towns south of the capital, leaving scores of people injured after another bloody week of uprisings.
Residents and rights groups said troops used mechanical shovels in the early hours to clear barricades in three towns near Masaya, and attacked protesters in the latest violence convulsing the Central American country.
Monimbo, in southern Masaya department, has been the focus for resistance against the government of Daniel Ortega, the country’s president, since a wave of student-led protests began on April 18 over a pension reform plan which has now been dropped. Since then, violence has claimed at least 272 lives.
“The situation is serious,” said Alvaro Leiva, secretary of the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights. “We need to open a corridor to evacuate the wounded.”
The latest violence came a day after some 200 students, entrenched for 20 hours in a parish church in Managua besieged by pro-government troops, were finally freed following the intercession of Catholic bishops. That operation left two students dead and more than a dozen injured.
The students had sought refuge in a local church after police forced them out of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, which had been occupied during two months of protests against Mr Ortega.
The attack took place on the third day of nationwide demonstrations against the former revolutionary hero now accused of authoritarianism.
“It was a really hard night. They discharged their entire heavy arsenal against stones and mortars,” said a sobbing young man who declined to give his name as he left the church siege. “They wanted to kill us all.”
Father Raul Zamora said the students came under fire at the Jesus of Divine Mercy church for more than 12 hours. He said a journalist from The Washington Post and one from the BBC exited the church safely earlier, along with some wounded students.
The police onslaught was televised by local media outlets and covered by three local journalists who reported via Facebook Live. Students fearing for their lives sent farewell messages to friends and family. “I did it for the country and I don’t regret it,” a crying girl said in a video that went viral. “Forgive me mama, I love you.”
The events brought widespread condemnation and calls for an end to the violence, including from the new socialist government in Spain.