Attacks by paramilitary forces against civilians continue in Nicaragua, for the third consecutive month. Dictator Daniel Ortega blames a "murderous, coup-mongering satanic sect" for the months-long popular uprising against his government.
Since the Ortega regime announced that Nicaraguan's poorest citizens will now be forced to pay more into the nation's social security system and receive less benefits from it, more than 300 people have been killed in protests against the Ortega government.
The proclamation arrives at a time of increasing consensus in the international community that para-militaries, police and Nicaraguan military elements loyal to Ortega are responsible for the past three months of civilian bloodshed in the Central American nation.
From The Guardian:
Ortega has faced growing international condemnation over the killings in recent days, including from one-time supporters.
Uruguay's former leftwing president, José Mujica, this week said he feared the Sandinista dream had strayed into autocracy, adding: "There are times in life when you must say: 'I'm off.'"
Thirteen Latin American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay – have denounced "the acts of violence, intimidation and the threats directed towards Nicaraguan society".
In the past, America has interfered covertly and overtly in Nicaragua to pursue its own interests.
There is no possible justification for the murder of over 300 citizens, most of whom were killed while they engaged in peaceful protest, or sought refuge from the country's escalating violence.
The Ortega government's extrajudicial kidnappings and arrests of intellectuals and community leaders under trumped-up terrorism charges are ongoing.
The Guardian quotes Ortega as saying, "We have to re-establish order in our country… The road isn't war, but peace and dialogue."
I don't know about you, but I don't think his thugs talked those hundreds of victims to death.
This past weekend when 200 protesters were trapped in a church by assault rifle-toting paramilitaries, two unarmed civilians were killed. Dozens were injured.
At a time when the government is celebrating the 39th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista victory over the Somoza dictatorship, Ortega, a driving force in the Sandinista movement, has himself become a dictator.
There's a reason that protestors in Nicaragua are being killed. Those qualified to lead the people are being labelled as terrorists and arrested. Ortega worked to overthrow a dictator nearly four decades ago. His country's change of management came as the result of the people rising up against the injustices heaped upon them.
He knows what's coming. Scared and small a man as Ortega is, he's having others kill for him to prolong the inevitable.
Image via Wikipedia
