July 17, 1979: all eyes are on Managua. That day, dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle boarded a plane that would take him to Miami. It was the end of the Somoza dictatorship. Meanwhile, somewhere between the small cities of Ocotal and Esteli, David Solorzano, a scrawny adolescent of seventeen, already had ten months of combat under his belt…
Read MoreThe Permanent Council of the OAS took up the issue of Nicaragua in a special session on Friday and heard the report of several experts and officials of the organization, among them Luis Angel Rosadilla, delegate of the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, and witness of the negotiations.
Read MoreThe failure of the negotiations in Managua, given the lack of political will of the Ortega Murillo dictatorship, could accelerate international diplomatic sanctions, which until now are on standby in the face of expectations of the results of the political dialogue.
Read MoreAlthough he was imprisoned for seven months in the La Modelo prison, the university leader, Levis Artola Rugama, now under house arrest, did not lose his sense of humor nor the charm that characterize him. Neither did he lose the rebelliousness that motivated him to get involved in the protests against the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Read MoreOrtega was not even able to comply with these initial agreements which would have gvien him credibility while more substantial aspects were negotiated. Just 24 hours later after the agreements were announced, his police and paramilitary forces violently dispersed civilian protesters in one of Managua’s shopping malls.
Read MoreNicaragua’s government on Friday announced the release of 50 political prisoners to a supervised house arrest, two days after its talks with the opposition were suspended. According to the Inter-American Human Rights Organization list documenting 800+ political prisoners around 200 are ,now under house arrest without civic rights.
Read More“Crac, crac, crac” sounded next to twenty-three-year-old Cristian Melendez’s right ear as he stood with a plastic bag over his head. At the same time, two Police investigators were hitting him to get him to open his legs. Moments later, an electric shock surged through his testicles and his whole body. “I wanted them to kill me to stop the pain,” he remembers thinking.
Read MoreThe Organization of American States (OAS) meets on Friday in a special session to discuss the ongoing human rights crisis in Nicaragua. The session can be watched live at 1:00 p.m. ET (11 a.m. in Nicaragua) with the sound in Spanish or English. See the links in the article.
Read MoreThe deadline of the political negotiations set for April 3, ended in Managua without agreements on democratization and justice. The government of Daniel Ortega rejected moving up the 2021 elections and the investigation of the massacre perpetrated by the Police, paramilitaries and agents of the regime, preferring to leave the crimes in impunity.
Read MoreTalks between the Nicaraguan government and opposition have been suspended after they failed to reach an agreement to end a year-long wave of political violence.
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