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NICARAGUA-UNREST-POLITICS-PARAMILITARIES
Nicaragua rights group urges Ortega to disband paramilitaries
MANAGUA, July 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A rights group in Nicaragua on Thursday
called on President Daniel Ortega to disband paramilitary groups accused of
killing, torturing and kidnapping anti-government protesters.
The head of the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights, Alvaro Leiva, told
a news conference that if Ortega wanted to prove his assertion that the
paramilitaries were not under government control, “he should step up to
guarantee citizens’ right to security.”
In interviews this week with US and Venezuelan television networks, Ortega
denied persistent allegations that the armed and masked paramilitary gunmen
seen operating in coordination with police were under his government’s
command.
Each time he was asked about the armed groups, Ortega switched attention to
anti-government militias he accused the opposition of running with US
funding, accusing them of killing dozens of police officers.
Three months of unrest in Nicaragua have claimed more than 300 lives,
according to rights groups.
Protesters demanding Ortega step down have been countered with repression
by police and paramilitaries firing live ammunition.
Ortega said on Monday that he believed that the “turmoil has stopped” and
“matters are becoming more normal” in the country, one of Latin America’s
poorest.
But since then, at least four more people have been killed, including a
Brazilian medical student, and Leiva said “citizens are in a deep state of
fear” over actions by the paramilitaries.
The Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights alleged anti-riot units and
government shock troops were among the members of the paramilitary squads,
which went around masked and armed.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0829 hrs