Rights group: At least 10 shot dead in Nicaragua violence

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – A Nicaraguan rights group says at least 10 people were shot dead as police and paramilitary groups attacked roadblocks set up by opponents of President Daniel Ortega’s government.

Nicaraguan Pro-Human Rights Association head Alvaro Leiva says more than 20 were also wounded in the Sunday violence.

In the town of Nindiri, Roman Catholic Bishop Abelardo Mata was attacked as he was traveling in a car.

Friend Roberto Petray told the news channel 100% Noticias that the priest was forced from the vehicle by attackers who broke its windows and punctured its tires.

Managua auxiliary Bishop Silvio Baez tweeted that Mata was out of danger following the incident.

The death toll follows a violent weekend involving armed attacks against more than 200 Nicaraguan university students. The students had sought refuge in a local church after police forced them out of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, which had been occupied during two months of protests against the government of President Daniel Ortega.

“It was a really hard night. They discharged their entire heavy arsenal against stones and mortars,” said a sobbing young man who declined to give his name out of fear. “They wanted to kill us all.”

Father Raul Zamora said the students came under fire at the Jesus of Divine Mercy church for more than 12 hours. He said a journalist from The Washington Post and a journalist from the BBC exited the church safely earlier Saturday, along with some wounded students who needed urgent hospital care.

The police onslaught was televised by local media outlets and covered by three local journalists who reported via Facebook Live. Students fearing for their lives sent farewell messages to friends and family. “I did it for the country and I don’t regret it,” a crying girl said in a video that went viral. “Forgive me mama, I love you.”

The police have not issued official statements.

Two students were killed, Roman Catholic cardinal Leopoldo Brenes said.

On Saturday morning, Cardinal Brenes negotiated with the president’s office for the safe transfer of students out of the church and to the Metropolitan cathedral, where representatives from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights were on hand.

“We have said not one more death, and this keeps happening,” Brenes said. “These two deaths hurt.”

Tensions in Nicaragua erupted this spring after the government announced cuts to social security. The changes were quickly reversed, but students took to the streets and occupied the main university with a wider call for Ortega to step down.

The crisis has left around 270 dead and more than 2,000 wounded as forces loyal to the government crack down on opponents.

Families began burying the dead Monday following the bloody weekend. The family and friends of 20-year-old university student Gerald Vasquez, one of two students killed Saturday when pro-government groups attacked the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, carried his casket to a Managua cemetery, chanting “They were students, they weren’t delinquents!”

In a statement issued Monday night, the U.S. State Department condemned the continued violence in Nicaragua.

“Every additional victim of this violence and intimidation campaign further undermines Ortega’s legitimacy,” said spokeswoman Heather Nauert. “Early free, fair and transparent elections are the best path back to democracy and respect for human rights in Nicaragua.”

"We call on Ortega to cease his repression of the people of Nicaragua immediately," she said. "The Nicaraguan government must heed the Nicaraguan people’s call for democratic reforms immediately. Early, free, fair, and transparent elections are the best path back to democracy and respect for human rights in Nicaragua.

She said the Trump administration has imposed additional U.S. visa restrictions "on individuals responsible for human rights abuses or undermining democracy in Nicaragua, as well as on their family members. The United States will continue to expose and hold accountable those responsible for the Ortega government’s campaign of violence and repression."

WSOC