Nicaragua will have marches and a general strike to demand Ortega's resignation.

By Monica Yanakiew - Reporter for Agência Brasil 

Nicaraguans returned to the streets this Thursday (12) and promised to hold three days of marches and a 24-hour general strike to demand the immediate resignation of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo. The aim of the protests is also to demand an investigation into the deaths of more than 200 people since the beginning of the demonstrations against the government on April 18. The protests take place one day after the meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) – the second to address the violence and repression in Nicaragua.

Ortega has already made it clear that he will not resign, nor will he call early presidential elections. He accuses the opposition of attempting a coup. On the 19th, the government celebrates the 39th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. A guerrilla fighter with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which brought together leftist forces, Ortega led the movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in July 1979.

At the OAS meeting, the executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Brazilian Paulo Abrão, said that the death toll had reached 264 and 1.800 people were injured. Most are victims of repression by security forces and paramilitary groups sympathetic to the government – ​​according to testimonies, ballistic examinations, and images collected by a group of IACHR investigators in Nicaragua.

 “Only Venezuela and Nicaragua rejected the report we presented,” Abrão told Agência Brasil. The IACHR and Amnesty International accuse the government of “shooting to kill” in an attempt to control the protests – the most violent since the end of a civil war in 1990. The IACHR, which is linked to the OAS, also denounced “new forms of repression” that mainly affect “children and adolescents.”

The protests were sparked by a pension reform, which was eventually revoked by Ortega. But the demonstrations continued, this time against the violent repression by the government, whose legitimacy is being challenged. Government supporters claim that those responsible for the wave of violence are opposition and pro-government groups, who are clashing. And that the opposition wants to overthrow a democratically elected president.

Ortega was re-elected in 2016 for a third consecutive presidential term, in a vote – without the presence of international observers – whose result has been questioned even by former allies of the ex-guerrilla fighter. Now, he is accused of wanting to install in power "a corrupt political dynasty, like the one he fought against" in the Sandinista Revolution.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro defended, at the meeting on Wednesday (11), the need for a peaceful solution to the crisis, an end to the violence and mentioned the solution of early elections – proposed by the Catholic Church and the Civic Alliance (which brings together sectors of Nicaraguan society against repression). Both participated in the "national dialogue" with the government, which was interrupted after Ortega rejected the proposal to shorten his term.

Protests and general strike

In addition to the protests today (12) and on Saturday (14), the Civic Alliance called a 24-hour strike for Friday (14). The protesters adopted the slogan “Together we are a volcano”. In a statement released this Thursday, the group reaffirmed that it wants to bring forward the elections. Despite having rejected the two IACHR reports, Ortega allows the commission to maintain a group in the country, monitoring in real time all serious allegations of human rights violations, and that four special investigators investigate the hundreds of murders already committed.

According to Abrão, Nicaragua remains on the OAS agenda. New meetings between the governments of member countries will continue to be held to decide on future measures, including resolutions condemning the violence.