Ortega celebrates grip on power

Managua, Nicaragua — President Daniel Ortega used Thursday’s 39th anniversary of the 1979 revolution against dictator Anastasio Somoza to celebrate strengthening his grip on power after three months of anti-government protests and to attack Nicaragua’s Roman Catholic Church as allies of “coup mongers.”

In recent days, the government and its supporters routed some of the remaining focal points of the resistance.

Those still loyal to Ortega, who helped lead the Sandinista uprising decades ago, say the country has made progress under his rule. Detractors argue Ortega has become a dictator himself and should step down after consolidating near-total political control in the hands of his family. His wife, Rosario Murillo, occupies the vice presidency.

Tens of thousands gathered at a public square near Lake Managua to hear Ortega and others speak during a rally commemorating the fall of the Somoza dictatorship.

“It has been a painful battle,” Ortega said of the recent unrest. “Painful because we have confronted a conspiracy armed and financed by internal forces we all know and external forces we totally identify.”

The Nicaraguan Pro-Human Rights Association tallied 351 killings related to unrest between April 19 and July 10, while the government puts the death toll at more than 200. The vast majority of the deaths were civilians, the group said.

On Thursday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said it had counted 277 deaths.

While lauding his own government for patience and restraint, Ortega singled out the Catholic hierarchy for blistering criticism. He originally asked church leaders to mediate the crisis, but on Thursday he said their actions had disqualified them as mediators. He said the bishops had given him an ultimatum to call early elections and he alleged that churches have been used to stockpile weapons and stage attacks.

“I thought they were mediators, but no, they are committed to the coup mongers. They were part of the coup mongers’ plan,” Ortega said.

Managua auxiliary Bishop Silvio Baez said via Twitter that slander does not hurt the church. “It suffers for those who have been murdered, for the families that cry, for the unjustifiably detained and for those who flee repression.”

Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States, which on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning human rights abuses by Nicaraguan security forces, tweeted that all sides must return to the dialogue mediated by Nicaragua’s Episcopal Conference.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.