Thousands of Nicaraguans on Saturday marched peacefully through the capital, Managua, in a mass demonstration to demand justice following the violent suppression of a wave of protests that left 43 people dead.
During the rally, which was called by the Catholic church, Managua’s bishop issued a deadline of one month to see if there was a serious intention to achieve change through a national dialogue aimed at resolving issues that triggered the country’s worst unrest in 11 years.
The rally took place just hours after university students at the forefront of anti-government unrest issued conditions for talks with the government of embattled Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
Photo: Reuters
There was a sea of blue and white flags as the crowds massed outside the city’s cathedral, among them young people, the elderly and farmers protesting against plans to construct a canal linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.
“We have come on a pilgrimage as one people, brothers in the faith of the Lord Jesus, brothers in suffering for so many lives lost ... desiring justice, peace and reconciliation,” Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes told the crowds.
Brenes, the city’s archbishop, said he would act as a witness and mediator in the dialogue called for by Ortega, adding that he would impose a deadline of one month to see “if a real commitment exists” to carry out the agreements reached.
“If we see that they are not taking these steps, we will call a halt and we will tell the people of God that we cannot carry on,” he said to widespread applause and chants of “Make them go,” in reference to Ortega and his wife, Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo.
“We are no longer afraid, we want a free Nicaragua,” a demonstrator called Rosa Herrera, 65, told reporters.
“Nicaragua wants peace so that there is no more bloodshed,” said Maria Flores, a 40-year-old lawyer.
“There has to be justice for the dead and the disappeared,” she said.
The demonstration took place in a calm atmosphere with prayers for peace — but also demands for justice for the victims of the repression — in what was the second mass march since the protests, following a demonstration on Monday last week by the country’s business community.
Although Ortega has agreed to hold talks, the framework has yet to be defined, with the students on Saturday laying down their conditions for the dialogue to take place.
Their demands include the dismissal of police involved in the repression, the establishment of an independent UN-backed body to investigate the violence, that the talks be held in public and that the relatives of those killed be involved.
Any commission investigating the violence must be “independent and credible,” and have international backing to carry out its work, which would involve “investigating, condemning and sanctioning all those responsible for both approving and committing” the violence, they said.
The call came a day after Human Rights Watch called for pressure to be put on Ortega’s government to allow a visit by Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, the main rights body in the Americas, to investigate the allegations of abuse.
The students also demanded that a “Truth Commission” created by the government be disbanded, on grounds that “we don’t accept that the murderers investigate themselves.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in