Several arrested and injured in protest against Ortega in Nicaragua

Managua —  A protest against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega resulted in at least three people being arrested and several injured on Saturday during a new attack by the National Police against a group of demonstrators.

The arrests came less than 24 hours after the government signed a pledge not to repress people who participated in anti-government protests, which is, among other rights, guaranteed in Nicaragua’s constitution.

Among those arrested is Flor Ramirez, a demonstrator known as “la señora del huipil” (the lady of huipil), who has become famous in Nicaragua for the traditional attire she wears at each protest.

The police also assaulted a group of journalists who were covering the demonstration, known as the “national sit-in,” which was called by the opposition National Blue and White Unity group.

The police attack occurred next to a shopping center in Managua when a group of demonstrators, dressed in the colors of the Nicaraguan flag, approached within 15 meters of the police agents, who reacted violently.

The agents threw some of the demonstrators to the ground, kicking them after having immobilized them.

During the protest, which went on peacefully before the police attack, the demonstrators shouted slogans dedicated to Ortega such as “He’s a delinquent, he’s not a president,” “Democracy yes, dictatorship no,” “Long live free Nicaragua.”

In the midst of the turmoil, civilians also shouted, “You have to study so you don’t belong to the National Police,” and “Murderers.”

The police violence this Saturday did not stop the demonstrators, who protested again from the parking lot of the mall.

On Friday night the government signed a series of agreements with the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, in which it pledged to obey the Constitution in terms of guaranteeing public freedoms, including free expression, the rights to demonstrate, assembly, mobilization, and freedom of press and information.

Various sectors of Nicaraguan society and well-known personalities, among them the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) and the member of the negotiating team of the Civic Alliance, Azalea Solis, have expressed doubts about Ortega honoring his commitment not to use violence against civilians.

Since the social outburst against Ortega began nearly a year ago, some 325 people have died in anti-government protests, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Local humanitarian agencies count up to 561. The Government says its only 199.

At least 809 people remain in prison as “political prisoners,” according to the opposition, while the government has not updated its figure of 340 inmates for months, which it calls “terrorists,” “coup plotters,” or “common criminals.”

The IACHR maintains that the Nicaraguan government is responsible for “crimes against humanity.”

Ortega asserts that the crisis is actually a “failed” coup attempt.