Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 5 May 2018
In Nicaragua, deadly protest crackdown spurs Ortega critics

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN was a big, unpleasant sur-
MANAGUA, Nicaragua prise for him. He thought
(AP) — President Daniel that he could contain any
Ortega looked out over a type of dissidence with the
sea of waving flags and mobs, but it turned out that
clapped to the same songs wasn't the case."
that first accompanied him Relatively small protests by
to power nearly 40 years elderly pensioners began
ago. April 18 in Managua, the
To his left stood his first lady capital, and in Leon. Af-
and vice president, Rosa- ter the protesters were at-
rio Murillo, and to the right, tacked by Sandinista youth
Victor Tirado, another ag- groups, university students
ing former guerrilla com- — historically, a bastion of
mander. Sandinista support — react-
The pageantry seemed de- ed in great numbers.
signed to recall the heyday Suddenly marchers carried
of Ortega's Cuban-backed signs with slogans such as
Sandinista revolution, even "Daniel and Somoza are
as these days many Nica- the same thing."
raguans — including one- Protests spread to other cit-
time allies — are compar- ies, authorities yanked in-
ing him to the dictatorial dependent news channels
Somoza dynasty he helped In this Monday, April 30, 2018 photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega speaks to supporters covering the unrest off the
accompanied by Vice President and first lady Rosario Murillo, and former guerrilla commanders
overthrow in 1979 of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, Eden Pastora, left, and Victor Tirado Lopez, in Las Vic- air, and Murillo accused
Protests in which dozens of torias square in Managua, Nicaragua. unspecified political inter-
people were killed amid a Associated Press ests of manipulating the
harsh crackdown by po- demonstrators for shadowy
lice and government-allied While tensions have deep wound in the heart of has been generally popu- purposes. In some cases
civilians have weakened calmed somewhat in re- the country." lar, presiding over a coun- polices fired live rounds on
Ortega, one of the few cent days, large anti-gov- Torres said that was a refer- try with above-average protesters, and the non-
leftist leaders remaining in ernment demonstrations ence to the dissident San- rates of economic growth governmental Permanent
power in Latin America, have continued. dinista Renovation Move- and anti-poverty programs Commission on Human
forcing him to pull back on Many expect Ortega, 72, ment, which was founded praised by the World Bank. Rights says the death toll ul-
social security reforms that to draw on years of crafty by breakaway Sandinistas "It's the only government timately reached 63.
sparked the unrest and fac- political experience to buy over 20 years ago and of that has worried about the Dr. Carlos Jarquin, a medi-
ing a newly emboldened time through an upcoming which he is a member. poor," said Ada Lopez, a cal school professor who
opposition determined to dialogue mediated by the Some of the dead were 48-year-old lawyer who at- was a high-ranking health
see him leave office. Catholic Church. Some op- children of Sandinistas tended Monday's pro-gov- official in Ortega's first gov-
"In repressive, criminal bru- ponents have already said raised on principles they ernment rally. ernment during the 1980s,
tality, (Ortega) has been they will not participate but now accuse Ortega of But lately there have been found himself volunteering
equal to the Somozas and instead call for a referen- abandoning. signs of discontent amid to treat the wounded at a
is showing signs of surpass- dum on removing him from Victor Cuadras, a 25-year- growing reports of govern- clinic.
ing them," said retired Gen. power. old chemical engineering ment corruption and fa- "I couldn't sit at home see-
Hugo Torres, who broke This week's rally presided student and spokesman vored treatment of Orte- ing that they were shoot-
with the Sandinista Front over by Ortega gathered for the April 19 University ga's family members. ing them, that they were
more than 20 years ago. thousands of government Movement, said he used The government was criti- torturing them, that they
Ortega has consolidated loyalists and state work- to belong to Ortega's San- cized for its response to were killing them, and not
nearly all levers of power in ers at Managua's Plaza of dinista Front and his father wildfires that burned 13,500 do anything for them," said
his hands or those of allies. Victories and was billed as is a Sandinista war veteran. acres in a tropical nature Jarquin, who still consid-
The Supreme Court pushed a call for peace and dia- Standing in front of his shut- reserve last month, spark- ers himself a Sandinista.
aside a ban on presiden- logue. tered university, he said the ing some protests that in "The current government
tial re-election in 2011 to let But even as the crowd only way out of the current hindsight seem a precursor has abandoned the San-
him continue in office. Op- observed a moment of si- crisis is for Ortega to leave to the more recent demon- dinista principles of work,
ponents complain a friend- lence for those who died in power. strations. of giving to the poor and
ly electoral council tilts the the protests, a little over a "We don't want this dictator The smoldering resentment the repressed." As the vio-
scales in his favor. mile away Sandinista Youth anymore, who keeps op- became a conflagration lent clashes continued
For many, Ortega's choice dismantled a memorial to pressing us, who keeps per- in mid-April when Ortega and international pres-
of Murillo as his vice presi- the victims that had sprung secuting us and with whom decreed changes to prop sure mounted, Ortega an-
dent in last year's election up in a traffic circle. we will never have a free up the country's troubled nounced he would repeal
suggests dynastic ambi- And the president struck a Nicaragua," Cuadras said. social security system that the social security decree
tions. combative tone, pepper- Ortega led Nicaragua from would have raised citizen and released jailed protest-
Many would dispute, how- ing his words with battle 1979 until 1990, fending off contributions while reduc- ers. The Catholic Church
ever, that the Ortega era references and vowing not a U.S.-sponsored armed re- ing benefits. agreed to mediate talks.
matches the thuggish cor- to take a single step back- bellion until he was voted "What he (Ortega) didn't Even many allies believed
ruption under Anastasio ward. out of office. He regained count on was that the pub- the crackdown had gone
Somoza, who dissolved "Unfortunately the same the presidency 11 years lic was actually more open too far. The crisis indicates
congress, imprisoned and people who incited the ago and has built bridges to voice opposition to him that alliances with the pri-
tortured opponents — war before are inciting vio- to former foes in the busi- and his wife," said Manuel vate sector and the Catho-
Ortega included — and lence once again," Ortega ness community and Cath- Orozco, a senior associate lic Church that Ortega has
came to own vast tracts of said. "Once again the sow- olic Church. at The Inter-American Dia- relied on since returning to
the country. ers of hate have made a At least until recently, he logue in Washington. "That power are fraying.q