Nicaragua’s Political Crisis Descends Into ‘Dark Days’
A surge of violence has snuffed out economic activity and dimmed prospects to resolve a revolt against longtime leader Daniel Ortega
Protesters demonstrated on Saturday behind a barricade in the city of Masaya, Nicaragua, where 11 people were killed during confrontations with police and paramilitary groups, say human rights groups. PHOTO: BIENVENIDO VELASCO/EFE/ZUMA PRESS
MANAGUA, Nicaragua—A surge of violence has snuffed out economic activity and dimmed prospects to peacefully resolve a political crisis here that began as a protest against tax increases and turned into a revolt against Nicaragua’s longtime leader Daniel Ortega.
Since mid-April, more than 100 people have been killed in confrontations with police during mass protests and what human-rights groups say are paramilitary gangs aligned with Mr. Ortega’s government.
Among them were 15 people killed at a peaceful Mother’s Day protest march last month in Managua and 11 people by paramilitary groups and police in the predominantly indigenous city of Masaya this past weekend, including a 15-year-old protester who witnesses say was executed by a policewoman.
On Tuesday, violence flared in the quaint colonial city of Granada, home to hundreds of American retirees.
“We are going through very dark days,” said Humberto Belli, a former education minister. “The people are out in the street demanding that Ortega leave, but he has shown an unexpected ability to kill. We see more blood every day—three, four, five people killed on a daily basis. This has no end.”
The Organization of American States on Tuesday approved a mildly worded resolution calling for an immediate end of the violence and asking all parties to participate in peaceful dialogue. The resolution, co-sponsored by the U.S. and Nicaragua, was much weaker than declarations made Monday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who accused Nicaraguan police and armed pro-government groups of killing dozens of protesters.
“It was a wishy-washy resolution, Nicaragua demands more urgent attention from the OAS than it’s gotten,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank.
The U.S. ambassador to the OAS, Carlos Trujillo, said the OAS declaration marks the beginning of the organization’s engagement with “the grave situation” in Nicaragua. He blasted the government, saying it “has committed grave crimes” against peaceful protesters.
Nicaragua’s government denies links to paramilitary groups and says the unrest is the result of an opposition plot to overthrow it. Police haven’t addressed the alleged police shooting of the teen.
Nicaragua “is committed to stability amidst this wave of criminal violence generated by certain groups of the opposition which conspire from the darkness…to terrorize families,” Luis Alvarado, Nicaragua’s representative to the OAS, said Monday.
Mr. Ortega, a former guerrilla leader who played a central role in the overthrow of the Somoza family dictatorship in 1979, was re-elected by a landslide in 2016 after 16 years out of power. He ran largely unopposed after maneuvering to ban any real contenders.
Until the recent spate of violence, Nicaragua had enjoyed far lower levels of violent crime than its Central American neighbors El Salvador and Honduras. Mr. Ortega also had been able to deliver high economic growth and apparent political stability. Most Nicaraguans appeared content or resigned to the quid pro quo—until now.
A demonstrator on Monday placed crosses in a field in support of teenagers who have died in recent protests against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, Nicaragua. PHOTO: JORGE CABRERA/REUTERS
But many Nicaraguans say they are fed up with Mr. Ortega and his wife, the unpopular Vice President Rosario Murillo, who they say have usurped democratic institutions and snuffed out political opposition. Government plans to confiscate large tracts of land to build a commercial waterway to rival the Panama Canal have cost the Ortegas rural support.
“Managua and the country are no longer calm. Ortega has to go now,” said Claudia Guillén, a 19-year-old university student.
The country’s capital of Managua, a sprawling city of modest malls, street vendors and office towers mixed with open pastures, is now largely deserted. Shops are closed and vandalized. Few people venture out at night. Walls are covered with graffiti calling Mr. Ortega a murderer. A group of police officers stand guard by a monument to the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, erected by Mr. Ortega, after protesters tried to knock it down during recent demonstrations.
Throughout Nicaragua, barricades have sprung up, blocking roads and snarling traffic, and making the key Pan American highway that links many of the country’s cities impassable. Tourism has been hit hard, hotel managers say, with occupancies at major hotels plunging and some international airlines paring back flights.
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