Students Leave UPOLI, Because Infiltrators “Want to Stain the Cause”
Fifty-two days entrenched in a university resistance bastion
By Yamlek Mojica (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – After 52 days entrenched in the facilities of the Polytechnic University of Nicaragua (UPOLI), turned into a bastion of the university resistance, the Student April 19th Movement decided to abandon the campus today, due to the “large number of infiltrators” in the university.
The young people remained in the Upoli since April 19, when the university students rose up to demand the exit of the pro-government National Union of Students of Nicaragua (UNEN) and for university autonomy. After the first wounded and killed, they also joined to demand justice, the cessation of repression and the departure of Daniel Ortega from power.
“We students of the Student April 19th Movement have left the UPOLI facilities. Also, we invite people who are still inside the campus to leave the university soon, in such a way that the university authorities can receive it as soon as possible,” they said in the statement.
Edwin Carcache, a representative of the movement, said that the exit was agreed with the students who were inside the university and the people in the surrounding neighborhoods that have helped them since day one. After the announcement, according to Carcache, there were only two or three students left on the campus.
The movement expresses that the abandonment of UPOLI is not a “defeat”, as they will continue protesting in the streets and reinforcing the barricades that have closed off the capital, despite threats that these young people have suffered from pro-government groups.
“We will not rest until we see this totalitarian regime abandon power. We will not stop until Nicaragua is a fair and democratic country,” the statement said.
“There are people who took advantage of the struggle”
One of the reasons for the leaders to leave the premises, are the multiple accusations about criminal groups within the university. “It happens that things like these (criminal acts) have happened and we as a movement have not been able to avoid it, it is uncontrollable. We do not want to stain the struggle of the university and that is why we have decided to leave,” said Carcache.
He noted that for a long time, they had discovered multiple people infiltrated by the government, among them Cristhian Josue Mendoza, alias “Viper”, formally accused by the police for organized crime, murder, theft of vehicles and other crimes.
“The students at UPOLI always treated him as an infiltrator because we knew he was. We have nothing to do with that man or with that script taken from the Rose of Guadalupe, they want to stain the movement,” Carcache said.
They did not go out for safety
A month ago, leaders of the Student April 19th Movement told Confidential that they did not leave the premises for fear of persecution by the National Police and the State. “We do not leave because we cannot”, they confessed at the time to this publication.
Edwin Carcache assured that before the departure they have taken security measures and the majority of students have moved to other occupied campuses or to the barricades in the capital and other parts of the country.
For the moment, the barricades near Upoli will be removed, due to a consensus that has been reached among the residents of the adjacent neighborhoods. “The struggle continues,” Carcache reaffirmed.