Nicaragua is in the midst of its deadliest unrest since the country's civil war - which
ended after decades of violence and instability in 1990.
Hundreds have died amid government crackdowns on protests calling for President Daniel Ortega
to step down.
Citizens, activists, and journalists alike are calling attention to the crisis, which
they say has been vastly underreported by western media.
One of those people is Dánae Vílchez, a Nicaraguan journalist who has been covering
the unrest in the streets since May.
We spoke to her from the capital city of Managua where much of the violence is taking place.
She helped put in context just how bad things have gotten.
I’m Alex, this is NowThis World, and in light of the crisis in Nicaragua, we’re
asking: how did the country get here?
“I’ve never seen something like this, so I think this is the most important thing
that’s happened in the country in the last 30 years.”
The recent conflict started in mid-April 2018, when protesters descended on the capital,
protesting the government’s failure to address forest fires that burned through a protected
region in the country.
A couple days later, Ortega’s government approved a plan that would slash pension payments
and overhaul the social security system.
New protests erupted over this plan, quickly evolved to reflect long-seated
frustrations with the government.
That’s when pro-government groups started violently cracking down on protesters, leaving
at least 25 people dead.
Ortega rolled back the reforms just days after announcing them.
“It was too late...people were really mad, at that time they didn’t care about the
reform anymore, they wanted Ortega to leave.”
For many, the issue was bigger and more deeply rooted - it was about years of corruption,
authoritarianism, and censorship.
Ortega is in the midst of his third consecutive term as president, and fourth term ever, - something
that wasn’t allowed before 2014, when the National Assembly, comprised mostly of Ortega’s
party members, scrapped term limits.
In fact, the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front controls all branches of government,
the army and police, and through threats of censorship and intimidation - pockets of the
media.
He even further consolidated power by instating his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president
in 2016.
Over the last 4 years, experts say Ortega’s rule has transformed Nicaragua’s democracy.
And protesters agree.
“They call him dictator all the time, but now they mostly call him a murderer, that’s
the word that they use.”
Ortega, who spent seven years in prison for bank robbery, became president less than a
decade after his release, and spent the following years consolidating power amid charges of
electoral fraud and creeping authoritarianism.
And recently, a drop in in tourism and Ortega’s overhaul of the Social Security system took
Nicaragua from one of the fastest-growing economies in Central America to suffering
hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
People were ready for a change.
Over the last two months, those calling for Ortega to resign have been met resistance
from pro-government paramilitary forces.
“You see the people with the mortars and the rocks trying to run from the bullets and
you see the paramilitaries with AK-47s, and Dragunovs, war guns.”
Amnesty International recently reported that Ortega’s government is colluding with these
armed groups, and accusing the police of intentionally allowing perpetrators of violence to flee
the scene.
The order from the government, the report claims, is to “shoot to kill.”
The government has denied any connection or responsibility to the killings.
Regional human rights group, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, has been tracking
the violence, and reports that more than 200 people have been killed and upwards of one
thousand people injured.
They have denounced the government’s excessive use of force, illegal detentions, censorship
of the press "and other forms of intimidation,” including the deaths of hundreds of demonstrators
as well as several police officers.
A journalist was also killed while filming a Facebook live.
“I’m not gonna deny we feel fear.
I’ve been running from bullets during this month that I’ve been here like twice, and
yeah you do feel the fear that when you’re in the streets something might happen.
“
So, what does the future look like for this country embroiled in crisis?
There is reason for hope.
Within the country, the Catholic Church has attempted several times to act as a peace
broker between the two sides - getting as far in mid-June as a commitment to a ceasefire.
“People don’t believe in Nicaraguan justice right now, but they do believe in international
justice.”
Although the ceasefire quickly dissolved, the church has stayed committed to calling
for early elections to help put an end to the violence.
A similar call has been repeated by some of the country's’ most powerful businessmen
and the U.S. State Department.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was granted access to investigate the violence
and even the UN has called for access.
But Ortega has indicated he does not plan to step down.
Still, people hope that Ortega could face international persecution, even if he can’t
be brought to justice in his home country.