MANAGUA, Nicaragua—The children and grandchildren of Nicaraguan revolutionaries who fought alongside Daniel Ortega to topple a dictatorship four decades ago are now leading a movement to oust him from power.
The nation’s largest public university, once a stronghold of Mr. Ortega’s Sandinista revolution, has become a command bunker for a student-led revolt. The government is loath to dislodge the several hundred student rebels holed up at National Autonomous University, where dozens of barricades made of paving-stone and sheet iron control access.
More violence could further inflame a conflict during which police and paramilitary groups have killed at least 120 people in the past seven weeks. A student leader said that includes four people at the university.
A university student leader known by the pseudonym Tigrillo showed a gunshot wound he said he received during the university takeover.
“Ortega is a murderer and he has to go now,” said a 21-year old engineering student wearing olive-green fatigues who calls herself Comandante Tortuga (Commander Turtle), a moniker in the Sandinista tradition. “The awakening of the Nicaraguan people has no turning back.”
This granddaughter of a revolutionary fighter commanded a hilltop campsite surrounded by sandbag trenches overlooking the now-closed campus. A friend who calls himself RoboCop wields a small homemade mortar.
What began as a protest against tax increases to fund Nicaragua’s cash-strapped pension system morphed into a nationwide movement that aims to force Mr. Ortega’s ouster.
Nicaragua’s government says that the protests are a plot to overthrow a democratically elected government.
The rebellion caught most Nicaraguans by surprise. Just two years ago, Mr. Ortega won his third consecutive term as president by a landslide. During his 11 years in power, he has worked closely with the country’s private sector to deliver economic growth. He has kept Nicaragua largely free of the toxic levels of violence that afflict the region.
Bottles that students used to make Molotov cocktails.
But the progress has come at a high price. Mr. Ortega has largely dismantled the country’s fragile democratic institutions. He controls the country’s congress, its Supreme Court and judiciary as well as its electoral agencies and most of the media.
The rebellion is also fueled by the deep unpopularity of his eccentric wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo. Beyond giving the national weather report and news on a daily noon TV broadcast, critics say she effectively runs the country.
Ms. Murillo has also alienated many of Mr. Ortega’s old Sandinista comrades-in-arms. The reclusive Mr. Ortega has scarcely appeared in public since the disturbances began.
“The one who did the revolution betrayed the revolution,” said a student whose nom de guerre is Erasmo, who said he’s the son of a Sandinista fighter.
Nicaraguans have grown tired of corruption allegations surrounding the ruling couple. They resent the Ortegas’ authoritarianism and say the ruling couple have come to resemble the Somoza family dynasty, which ruled Nicaragua for decades. Students say the protests are an angry demand for freedom and democracy.
A rebel student leader who goes by the pseudonym Comandante Tortuga stood guard this week on a university hilltop.
“The students are playing a key role. For the first time since he took power, Ortega has lost the streets,” said Humberto Belli, a former education minister.
The big question now is whether Mr. Ortega, 72, will be able to stay in power. He has said he is unwilling to leave office before his five-year term ends in 2021.
After meeting with Nicaraguan bishops on Thursday following a breakdown in talks between the government, its opponents and the private sector, Mr. Ortega said he would study their proposals to “democratize” the country.
Mr. Ortega’s opponents are demanding that he pass electoral and constitutional changes to level the political playing field and guarantee free, early elections.
“After the terrible repression of recent days, he lost what little legitimacy he had left. We won’t accept anything that doesn’t mean his immediate resignation,” said Edwin Carcache, a student leader.
A protestor who goes by Robocop held a makeshift firecracker launcher.
Nicaragua’s economy is starting to feel the impact. Funides, a prestigious local think tank, slashed its growth outlook for the country to 1.7% from the 4.7% growth projection before the protests began. If political instability continues throughout the year, Funides sees the economy shrinking 2%, in what would be the country’s first recession since 2009.
“The country is heading towards an economic paralysis,” said Mario Arana, a member of Funides and a former central bank chief.
At the university, protesting students share meals—rice with peas and chicken—while a radio mostly plays heavy metal and techno. Most of them sleep here because of fear that they could be kidnapped by police or paramilitary gangs if they return home.
Gunmen have wounded several students during nighttime attacks. Tigrillo, or Little Tiger, a 22-year-old engineering student, was wounded last month when a bullet grazed his left temple.
“We won’t give up. Who will win in the end, a corrupt dictator or millions of Nicaraguans? The answer is obvious to me,” he says.
Outside the university, a “Tree of Life”—one of 140 metal structures that light up at night across Managua and constructed under the orders of Ms. Murillo—lies on the ground after being knocked down. In its place, a blue-and-white Nicaraguan flag flutters in the wind.
A student rebel who calls herself Syria stood at the barricade she is in charge of inside the National Autonomous University. On the ground are the words Daniel Genocide, in reference to President Ortega.
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