US Warns Nicaragua As More Killed In Unrest
Umer Jamshaid Published July 25, 2018 | 12:46 PM
The United States on Tuesday warned Nicaragua to halt violence against opposition groups as at least four more people were killed in unrest that has gripped the country for three months.
Managua, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jul, 2018 ) :The United States on Tuesday warned Nicaragua to halt violence against opposition groups as at least four more people were killed in unrest that has gripped the country for three months.
US Vice President Mike Pence said it was "undeniable" that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government was behind the violence, despite his denials.
Pence used Twitter to call on Ortega to "end the violence NOW" and bow to opposition demands to hold early elections. "The world is watching!" Pence added.
On Monday Ortega gave an interview to US television channel Fox news saying that he would not step down and would see through his current term to 2021.
He also asserted that "the turmoil has stopped" in his country after offensives over the past couple of weeks against protest hubs, and he denied his security forces and coordinating paramilitaries were attacking peaceful demonstrators.
Speaking on Venezuelan television, Ortega on Tuesday accused US senators in Miami of being behind a "conspiracy" to try to effect regime change in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
- Brazilian killed - According to a non-governmental rights group, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, Nicaragua's death toll stands at 301 since the turmoil started in mid-April. Other groups give higher figures.
An AFP photographer in the city of Jinotega, north of the capital, saw funerals for two of three people locals said were killed by police and pro-government paramilitaries.
Those killed included a boy, said the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights.
In Managua, a 32-year-old Brazilian medical student was fatally shot while driving home in the middle of the night, one of her professors at the American University in the capital said.
Brazil's government expressed "profound outrage" at the killing.
In a statement, it demanded the killers be brought to justice, and condemned the "disproportionate and lethal use of force, as well as the use of paramilitary groups in operations with security teams.
" Ortega, in his Fox News and Venezuela state television interview, spoke only of dozens of police officers killed in the violence. He also denied controlling paramilitaries acting against protesters.
Those assertions prompted Pence to tweet: "State-sponsored violence in Nicaragua is undeniable. Ortega's propaganda fools no one and changes nothing." In his interview with Venezuela's Telesur channel, Ortega said US senators in Miami were bankrolling "criminal gangs" in Nicaragua, with the help of extreme-right groups in the country to try to topple government.
He also slammed a mooted US law, the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act, which aimed to curb international loans to Nicaragua unless it can satisfy Washington that it is promoting democracy.
- Stalled talks - US lawmakers are reportedly mulling a resolution condemning Nicaragua, and preparing possible additional sanctions on Ortega's government.
The Organization of American States has also backed early elections as a way out of the crisis.
But talks between Ortega's administration and the opposition, mediated by Catholic bishops in the country, have stalled for over a month, with the president refusing to bring forward polls.
Managua's archbishop, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, told AFP that the Church "is not an enemy" of Ortega's government, and urged the administration to "listen" to the people.
He said that, while conditions were not right now to resume dialogue, "without talks there could be more deaths."For Nicaragua's 72-year-old president, a former leftwing guerrilla who has ruled over his poor nation for 22 of the past 39 years since his Sandinista rebels toppled a US-backed dictator, the unrest has been the worst he has faced since returning to power in 2007.
The protests were prompted by cutbacks to the social security system, but quickly spread as they tapped into broad disgruntlement with Ortega and his wife, whom he has made his vice president. Critics liken their government to a corrupt leftist dictatorship.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
PTI to stage nationwide protests against alleged electoral frauds
Senate continues discussion on Presidential address to Joint Sitting of Parliame ..
Masood Khan calls for Pak-US cooperation for regional peace
Interior Minister starts Margalla Trail Patrol for security
Currency Rate In Pakistan - Dollar, Euro, Pound, Riyal Rates On 26 April 2024
Today Gold Rate in Pakistan 26 April 2024
ICC Womens T20 World Cup Qualifier, Match 2: Ireland Women open with Comfortable ..
Robinson, bowlers help New Zealand go 2-1 up against Pakistan
Shahzeb Chachar to hold khuli kachehri on April 26
Heatwave amid Israel's aggression in Gaza brings new misery, disease risk
Tourism must change, mayor says as Venice launches entry fee
Court adjourns Judicial Complex attack case till May 17
More Stories From World
-
Iron ore futures close higher
47 seconds ago -
Tabloid head wanted to 'protect' Trump from salacious stories
50 seconds ago -
Kenyan rugby player turned TikTok star cooks to fight depression
11 minutes ago -
Guangdong carbon market closes higher
11 minutes ago -
Sugar futures close higher
11 minutes ago -
Nuggets push Lakers to brink as Embiid's 50 points lead Sixers over Knicks
21 minutes ago
-
China high-tech capacity exposes overcapacity mantra in green energy
31 minutes ago -
Golf: PGA Zurich Classic of New Orleans scores
41 minutes ago -
Cybersecurity firm Darktrace accepts $5 bn takeover
1 hour ago -
Clean energy drives massive BHP takeover bid
2 hours ago -
Copper price tops $10,000 for first time in two years
2 hours ago -
Ukraine agriculture minister held for alleged corruption
2 hours ago