https://themilitant.com/2018/07/21/death-toll-rises-as-nicaraguan-govt-continues-attacks-on-protesters/
Death toll rises as Nicaraguan gov’t continues attacks on protesters
By Róger Calero
and Maggie Trowe
Vol. 82/No. 28
July 30, 2018
Movement of Mothers of April lead march on Mother’s Day, May 30, in
Managua, Nicaragua, honoring those killed and wounded by government
thugs during April demonstration. Banner reads “No more assassinations!
No more massacres!” Nearly 300 people have been killed. Movement of
Mothers of April lead march on Mother’s Day, May 30, in Managua,
Nicaragua, honoring those killed and wounded by government thugs during
April demonstration. Banner reads “No more assassinations! No more
massacres!” Nearly 300 people have been killed.
The largely working-class and student protests that exploded against the
government of President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua in April continue
nearly three months later with no sign of abating. Ortega has escalated
deadly raids targeting opposition strongholds.
Demonstrations against Ortega began after supporters of the ruling
capitalist party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), and
police attacked retired workers demonstrating against government
measures to make workers increase their contributions to the country’s
social security pension fund and impose cuts on their benefits.
The government’s brutal repression of a student protest April 19 —
leaving one person dead and dozens wounded — ignited more protests.
Students occupied university campuses, and workers, small farmers and
others set up barricades and roadblocks in towns and cities across the
country.
In an attempt to quell the unrest, Ortega withdrew the social security
cuts April 22, but by then protesters were calling for his and Vice
President Rosario Murillo’s resignation, for an end to government
repression, and prosecution of police and paramilitaries responsible for
the killings.
Almost 300 people have been killed and over 2,000 wounded since the
protests began, the vast majority government opponents. Hundreds have
been arrested.
We were able to get a firsthand feel for the protests — and the brutal
repression — from meeting and talking with protesters on our reporting
trip to Nicaragua in June.
On July 13 a nationwide general strike emptied streets in Managua and
much of the rest of the country, as businesses were shut down and public
transportation stopped, heeding the call of a coalition of government
opponents, including representatives of the demonstrating university
students, workers, the main capitalist associations, small farmers
groups and a variety of political formations.
Two days later car caravans of anti-government protesters drove to
Masaya, a center of the uprising, as government paramilitary groups
armed with assault rifles prepared to launch an attack there.
Gov’t calls massacre a ‘cleanup’
Ortega has moved to retain his grip on power using gangs of armed
supporters, police dressed as civilians and former army officers to
clear out barricades, campuses and roadblocks.
On July 10 Ortega’s forces stormed the cities of Jinotepe, Diriamba and
Matagalpa, leaving 38 dead — 31 government opponents, four police and
three paramilitaries — making it the bloodiest day so far since the
protests began.
The government defended what they called a “cleanup operation,” saying
it had acted to protect Nicaraguan families from “terrorist violence.”
Vice President Murillo has cynically called these operations “Caravans
of Peace.”
“The government wants to impose itself with bullets,” Francisca Ramírez
told the press when we were there. She is a leader of small farmers and
merchants who have protested against a 2013 law approving large-scale
expropriation for a far-fetched plan to build a transcontinental canal
through Nicaragua.
A “national dialogue” to attempt to mediate a solution to the political
crisis was suspended May 23, when government representatives rejected
demands for early presidential elections and walked out.
Ortega and Murillo have dismissed the massive popular discontent calling
for their resignations. “The rules cannot be changed overnight because
of the whim of a group of coup mongers,” said Ortega July 7.
He was speaking at an event held instead of an annual march to
commemorate El repliegue, a “tactical retreat” carried out by popular
forces led by the FSLN during the 1979 insurrection in Managua against
the former U.S.-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. After 17 days
of street combat, the then revolution-minded FSLN forces were forced to
retreat to nearby Masaya, where a population in rebellion against the
dictatorship welcomed them.
This year the march was called off because Masaya and many of the towns
along the route were occupied with protests and barricades. After
forcibly clearing the roadblocks, Ortega drove to Masaya accompanied by
armed supporters July 13, the day of the general strike.
In 1979 the FSLN led a popular insurrection that overthrew the hated
Somoza dictatorship, and established a government that mobilized workers
and peasants in defense of their economic and political interests,
increasingly encroaching on the prerogatives of Nicaraguan capitalists
and imperialist interests. In the late 1980s, however, the FSLN backed
away from that revolutionary course and was voted out of office in 1990.
Today it is indistinguishable from other bourgeois parties.
Dwindling support for government
In 2006, after 16 years as an opposition party, and amid an economic and
political crisis for working people, Ortega was elected president. His
administration has continued the FSLN’s class-collaborationist policies
of making alliances with sectors of the bourgeoisie and foreign
investors. The capitalist development registered in Nicaragua has come
at a real price for working people — the lowest minimum wage in the
region; roughly 40 percent of the population lives in poverty; greater
concentration of land in the hands of a few big landowners; encroachment
on democratic and political rights; and widespread corruption.
After his election, Ortega won the support of many of the country’s
poor, who benefited from social programs implemented by his government.
But that backing has dwindled in the past few years as the government
has imposed cuts. Support decreased even more after its brutal response
to recent protests.
The opposition to Ortega comes largely from working-class and
middle-class layers — including many that up until April considered
themselves FSLN supporters — and from supporters of opposition parties,
as well as workers who were part of the Sandinista revolution in the 1980s.
The main capitalist associations that had been allies of Ortega and his
government as he implemented anti-working-class measures are now backing
protests against him. While convinced it is not possible to go back to
business-as-usual with Ortega remaining in power, these forces are
divided on how fast he must go. Most are demanding elections be moved up
to March 2019, a proposal backed by Washington, as well as Organization
of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro. So far, Ortega refuses.
Concerned with foreign investors’ interests in Nicaragua and general
stability in the region, Washington favors Ortega’s “orderly exit” from
government. The deepening economic and social crisis the government’s
policies have created for workers, farmers and youth, and its violent
suppression of the protests, create conditions for the imperialist
rulers in Washington to take advantage of.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •1,000s of workers protest for gov’t-funded pensions
•Liberals’ furor against Trump fuels voice of the ‘war party’
•‘Militant’ beats back prison censorship in Florida - again
•Ontario salt miners push back boss attacks in 12-week strike
•Death toll rises as Nicaraguan gov’t continues attacks on protesters
•DSA victory in NY primary deepens crisis of rulers’ parties
Feature Articles •'Revolutionary war began liberation of women in Cuba'
Also In This Issue •Books by SWP leaders perk interest at librarians’ meet
•Ukraine miners’ strikes, protests win back wages
•Protests demand, ‘Fire cop who killed Antwon Rose!’
•As hiring picks up, rail workers fight for job safety
•Fuel hike protests bring down Haiti prime minister
Editorials •Build fighting unions! Pensions for all!
On the Picket Line •NY hospital workers picket against pension, health
cutbacks
•British Columbia: Hard Rock Casino strikers win solidarity
•B.C.: Hard rock miners strike to demand union rights for temps
Books of the Month •Great 1877 Strike showed class-struggle road for US
workers
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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