Nicaragua Update 14

all photos courtesy 100% Noticias

The United States is preparing sanctions against the government of Daniel Ortega if it does not address the concerns of the people of Nicaragua regarding the repression and violence.

"We are observing all this with great attention, since we have to make sure that the people asked for a dialogue and that the government participates; the people have asked for investigations and the government must carry them out; the military said they are out of all of that and should remain on the sidelines." said a senior Trump administration official.

The US is contemplating revoking visas of all Nicaragua government and their families currently residing in the US. The Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH), has provided a preliminary report, which states that 76 people were killed during the protests from April 19th. The report has not be updated.

The US has expressed their concern over the situation in Nicaragua. The Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, representing Florida and of Cuban origin, asked Pompeo to act before the situation is the same as in Venezuela:

"One month has passed since the massive protests in Nicaragua against the dictatorial regime of Ortega, 76 people have been murdered, 868 have been injured, 438 have been arrested. Torture and degrading treatment, as well as censorship of the media and other forms of persecution to prevent citizens from participating and exercising their human rights," said Ros-Lehtinen.

"The message is clear, the people of Nicaragua want the country to have a new power, that Ortega comes out, they are calling for new elections, where there are international observers and they want them immediately. The United States can and should do it, using the tools to help the people of Nicaragua to end repression and restore democratic order, "said the diplomat.

"It is urgent that the administration impose sanctions on those responsible for these abuses and I will be presenting the names of the people who have to be sanctioned immediately," she added.

"I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass the Nica Act as soon as possible to help Nicaragua," she said.

"What has been done up to now denotes that they have all the capacity and all the strength to take us to a different Nicaragua.

The Nica Act seeks to get the United States to veto the loans that Nicaragua requests from multilateral organizations of which Washington is a party if "free, fair and transparent" elections are not held and there are changes in the institutional order of the Central American country.

The daughter of Vice President Rosario Murillo, Zoilamérica Narváez Murillo, has said the government is trying to buy time by manipulating the national dialogue with their own agenda which has nothing to do with what the people want.

Zoilamérica Narváez Murillo, the step-daughter of Daniel Ortega, has said that

"at the same time the government has continued to establish a whole theatre of falsehoods. We know that they disguised people close to demonstrators committing misdeeds and assaults to indispose the population against the protesters. We also know that there are false people in the blockades. There are false messages every day. There is a lot of blackmail where today it is tried to incriminate the students of everything that is happening in Nicaragua," she said.

Zoilamérica, who resides in Costa Rica, believes that Ortega is using all his efforts into manoeuvring and manipulating the situation to avoid his exit from power.

"You can not give a coup to a state that is already destroyed. Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo wove a strategy of dismantling the state from the electoral fraud, where having a parliamentary majority dismantled the constitution in order to ensure having the control of all the powers of the State in Nicaragua. The State has been cracked by them. The messianic arrogance of the danielismo, the one that from a protest in 30 days they see themselves seated in a table of negotiation with brave boys who ask that they resign, that they go away. Objectively they are going to plead legality, they are going to speak about the lack of legitimacy, because before our eyes what exists is a heroic act of boys that in 30 days of protest managed to unseat a dictatorship, "she said.

She believes that the report of the IACHR has been the first act of justice for the families of the victims. The Government has denied the pain and losses.

"The manoeuvrability of this Government has made Mr. Luis Almagro, unfortunately, give statements that question the dictatorial nature of this Government, we hope that the (final) report of the IACHR will not be subject to any political negotiation. The government of Daniel Ortega has never been moved by any international condemnation." she said.

Zoilamérica congratulated the young people, the poor, the seniors and the farmers, for maintaining the courage to fight against the Ortega-Murillo regime.

A group of private citizens had a meeting with the Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) to ask for a national strike since the repression continues and the government’s failure to comply with the recommendations of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.

"We are governed by two incompetent mentals, two psychopaths who are not going to stop for nothing, then we ask the big capital, which has also been a guilty party of this situation to be sacrificed and leave the good intentions and go to the actions. In his hands is to give him what hurts the most to this Government as in the dialogue we saw, is the economy. So if you are interested in the economy, the national strike will give you where it hurts most," said one of the protesters. A national strike is a last resort if the dialogue is not successful.

"We have already lost too much in this country. Here we have come from war after war, murder after murder. We are a form of national strike that we invite to COSEP and we demand as a people that they release a communiqué and join the will of the people. The people are losing money, and the private company has not taken the position demanded by the people. It is time to decide gentlemen, the country, your children, your grandchildren, your family, your Nicaraguan brothers or your money. I think that reaching zero here is cheap for our freedom and our dignity," said one citizen.

"We do not care about the economy of the country. It is not their blood that is spilling on the streets. It is unfortunate that we are indifferent to so much bloodshed and we believe that we can continue life as in this country nothing has happened. It is not fair." commented another citizen.

On Friday morning, the president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), Vilma Núñez, reported one death in violence in Leon occurred on Thursday as a result of a paramilitary attack against protestors who were blockading the Leon-Managua highway.

A doctor at the hospital reported that there were, in fact, three deaths and they all occurred on Wednesday night at around 9:30 pm.

"Definitely the government tried to solve by fire and blood what had been raised in the dialogue that was the dismantling of the blockades. In León, what they did was to forcibly collect all the public employees of Corinto and Chinandega to attack the residents who remained in the blockade." Nuñez said.

During the blockades on Wednesday night, there were 60 protestors injured. Three dead, one with a bullet to the head, execution style.

Medical students reported being kidnapped in Leon, on Wednesday afternoon, just after 6 pm. They were set up in a medical post to treat the wounded from the blockade.

One of the students, Alejandra Álvarez Gil, told the news outlet that 14 medical students from the hospital and three journalists were in the building when the forcible confinement took place.

"We were kidnapped from 6:00 pm more or less. We were in a house where a medical post was established to care for the wounded. There was a person wounded by a bullet in the left thigh and we were treating him. At that time mobs arrived in two Hilux trucks and started shooting at the house. Our first impulse was to protect ourselves inside the house. We never imagined that they would start attacking and firing directly at the house with the obvious intention of wounding or even killing those of us who were inside." she said.

According to Alvarez, there was a point where they forcibly opened the door and told them they had to leave the house and took them away.

The president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) Vilma Núñez, confirmed the complaint.

"I was in constant communication with Alejandra Álvarez Gil and her mother. They were taken away, no one knows where others knew that they had been put into the regional house of the Sandinista front in the San Felipe de León neighbourhood. They put them in a room and started questioning them, they took their cell phones. I do not have the details if they were returned. "

Núñez explained that while they were held, they asked for their ID cards and the places where they lived, among other personal information.

"They were interrogated for two purposes, as a police interrogation to charge them with a crime, or as an interrogation to conduct espionage and subsequent assaults against their families,” she said.

The official death toll has risen to 79, including those who died on Wednesday night, Manuel de Jesus Chávez Ramírez, Carlos Manuel Solís and Luis Arias Díaz.

The family of Manuel de Jesus Chávez Ramírez confirmed his death as a result of being shot execution style during the attack carried out by Sandinista mobs in the city of Leon on Wednesday night.

"He was coming home from work and a bullet hit him. They took him to the hospital. In the hospital, they say that the doctor was speaking with a policeman. They did not want to give a death certificate and all his belongings that he was carrying were stolen." said Mrs. Justa Ramírez.

Manuel was attending school on Saturdays and worked during the week. He did not participate in the protests and did not belong to the Sandinista youth. His wake is being held today.

"What does Daniel (Ortega) want, Rosario Murillo, what do they want. That they keep killing people. We do not want to. What we want is for there to be justice for all young people." added Mrs. Justa Ramírez.

The president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) Vilma Núñez, said that Carlos Manuel Solís worked in a cyber café in León, was living near the clinic that was attacked. She also confirmed the death of Luis Arias Diaz, 35, who was shot in the face and left lying in the cobblestone street.

The International Federation of Human Rights has expressed to President Ortega, the urgency of the UN’s entry into the country to continue the investigations into the serious violations of human rights.

"In accordance with the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the FIDH urges the government to authorize a visit by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to Nicaragua, to carry out immediate, independent and impartial investigations and to establish all the guarantees necessary for human rights defenders to be able to carry out their work in the country without risks to their life and integrity," warns FIDH.

"The government of Nicaragua must abide by the recommendations of the IACHR, respect the exercise of the right to publicly demonstrate and guarantee the immediate cessation of repression of protests. It is not seeking to silence the civilian population that will solve the political and social crisis that the country is going through, "affirmed Gloria Cano, Vice President of FIDH.

For his part, the Vice President of FIDH, Juan Francisco Soto, said: "We salute the efforts made by the bishops of the Episcopal Conference to promote a way out of the grave situation in Nicaragua. In that sense, we call on the Nicaraguan government to demonstrate its willingness to reach a concerted solution between the parties and agree to advance the agenda set for dialogue."

In their press release, a note is made of the death of the young Carlos Manuel Solís, who died after being shot in the head, as well as the 60 people injured, as a direct result of the attack by members of the National police (in civilian clothes) and the forces of the Riot police related to the government.

"Groups related to the government destroyed the medical post installed by students of the University of León and kidnapped 17 of them. The men took them in two vans to the departmental house of the Sandinista National Liberation Front in León, and were later released by efforts of a priest, family and friends,” the note said.

On Friday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted security measures on to 13 Nicaraguan students whose lives are in danger because of their participation in the protests against the government.

The army issued a press release about a shipment of army trucks that entered Nicaragua from Honduras. It explains that the rucks were an awaited shipment of trucks that they had ordered months ago to replace the ageing ones that are currently being used. The clarification came because of

"malicious information emerged about the work of the Army".

It is interesting to note that an order of anti-riot water cannons arrived shortly afterwards. No-one is saying who took delivery of those, but rumour has it that tankers of gasoline (from Ortega’s refinery) are in Managua. Surely they are not thinking of using gasoline in those water cannons?

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