Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 16 June 2018
Nicaraguans battle over symbols amid unrest

By ESTEBAN FELIX sion and the ‘Chayopalos’
Associated Press ended up being a symbol
MANAGUA, Nicaragua of power,” she said.
(AP) — During almost two More than 160 people have
months of anti-government been killed in street clashes
protests, symbols of Presi- since the protests started.
dent Daniel Ortega’s ad- Protesters have also turned
ministration and even the symbols of the revolution
earlier Sandinista revolution against the government.
he helped lead have been When Ortega and others
defaced and destroyed or rose up against the Somo-
sometimes appropriated za family dictatorship in the
by demonstrators. late 1970s, the rebels were
Ortega and his wife, cur- woefully outgunned and
rent Vice President Rosario they used homemade mor-
Murillo, returned to power tars of welded pipe to fire
in 2007, and to many Ni- on security forces.
caraguans it seemed their Now those same artisanal
election campaign never weapons are being turned
stopped, even growing in on Ortega’s police and
size and intensity as they gangs of pro-government
planted billboard portraits thugs.
and other ostentatious Echoing another tactic
works across the country. In this May 26, 2018 photo, the Spanish word for “Murderer” covers a mural of Nicaragua’s President of the revolution, whole
These symbols have be- Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua. segments of cobblestone
come targets for protesters Associated Press streets have been pried
during demonstrations that One of the main targets viewed them as a gaudy Marisa Olivares Morales, a up, especially in Masaya,
were initially set off in mid- have been Murillo’s “Cha- extravagance in a country sociology professor at the southeast of the capital.
April by a since-canceled yopalos,” or Trees of Life, rife with poverty. Central American University The stones are stacked into
austerity plan for the social that spouted up around Once the protests erupted, of Nicaragua and a former waist-high barricades, just
security system but have Managua in 2013 — huge crowds chanted “Fall, fall, long-time member of the as the Sandinistas did to
expanded into demands steel sculptures of trees fall,” pulled the trees down Sandinista National Libera- fend of Anastasio Somoza’s
for the Ortegas to give up covered with hundreds of and bounced on their tion Front, says the felled security forces, at times in
power. light bulbs lining the capi- twisted limbs for live videos. trees are an important sym- the very same streets. The
Almost overnight, symbols tal’s major thoroughfares. Recyclers quickly stripped bol for protesters. use of cobblestones was
of the Ortegas were paint- The administration por- their wiring, while others un- “Taking down Rosario Mu- also symbolic during the
ed with graffiti, burned, trayed the brightly colored screwed light bulbs to be rillo’s first Tree of Life was revolution because they
pulled down and stamped Trees of Life a public art in- proudly dangled on cords a response from the kids were made at a Somoza
on by angry feet. stallation, but many people around their necks. to such a brutal aggres- family factory.q

Venezuela’s Maduro replaces VP while promising ‘new start’

Associated Press the government’s top eco- a key role in Venezuela’s
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) nomic policy maker. power structure, he has his
— Venezuelan leader Nico- Under Venezuela’s consti- own following at times at
las Maduro named a new tution, the vice president odds with Maduro’s, Smilde
vice president in a leader- is designated by the presi- said.
ship shuffle that he said sets dent. The vice president “I see it as an effort to make
the stage for a “new start” also assumes power if the sure that the people closest
to his second term oversee- president resigns or be- to him are his allies,” Smilde
ing the crisis-rocked coun- comes incapacitated. said of Maduro’s changes.
try. Rodriguez will become the Smilde noted El Aissami will
The new No. 2, former For- second woman to hold the continue in title the eco-
eign Minister Delcy Rodri- country’s vice presidency. nomic role he already was
guez, has been serving as Six women were appointed performing. “It’s not like
head of the government- to 10 other Cabinet posi- he’s being banished from
controlled constitutional tions that were also filled the government.”
assembly. Rodriguez and Thursday. In this Aug. 28, 2017 file photo, Delcy Rodriguez, then president Aside from Maduro, Rodri-
her brother, Communica- Maduro coasted to victory of the Constitutional Assembly, gives a press conference in guez is one of the most vis-
tions Minister Jorge Rodri- last month in an election Caracas, Venezuela. ible leaders of the Chavista
guez, are among Maduro’s boycotted by the main op- Associated Press movement created by
most trusted inner circle. position parties and broad- David Smilde, a Venezuela middle of last year has re- the late socialist President
Maduro announced Rodri- ly condemned as illegiti- specialist as senior fellow at lied heavily on Rodriguez Hugo Chavez.
guez’s promotion on Twit- mate by the U.S. and other the Washington Office on as head of the constitu- She served as foreign min-
ter, calling her a “sister” foreign governments. Latin America think tank, tional assembly and on her ister for more than two
and “brave young wom- With his power consolidat- viewed Maduro’s reorga- brother as his chief spokes- years before being named
an” who has been “tested ed, he must now tackle an nization as a move to con- man and lead negotiator president of the govern-
in a thousand battles.” economic crisis marked by solidate his power in the in high-stakes negotiations ment-controlled assembly
She replaces Tareck El Ais- widespread shortages and people he trusts most. with the opposition. charged with rewriting the
sami, who fills a new role as hyperinflation. The president since the While El Aissami maintains constitution.q