Church acts as mediator in Nicaragua unrest, addresses corruption in Honduran government
Nicaraguan church leaders are among those decrying a violent response to protests. And in Honduras, a Jesuit-run radio station has charged the government with becoming a dictatorship.
On a grassy embankment in Managua, dozens of metal crosses with black flags honoring the dead and disappeared stood as a coda to more than a week of antigovernment unrest. Beside the memorial, protesters dressed in black chant, “They weren’t criminals, they were students!”
In late April thousands of people took to the streets to oppose social security reforms that would require workers to pay more and receive fewer benefits. Protesters and analysts say that the reform—later reversed by President Daniel Ortega—ignited the flame of frustration that’s been smoldering for the past decade as Ortega has centralized power, curbed media freedoms, and made his wife the vice president.
The government’s violent response to what started off as small-scale student protests has led to nationwide calls for new elections, raising doubts over the political survival of Ortega and the Sandinista movement, which ousted a U.S.-backed dictator in 1979.
