MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Violence in Nicaragua leaves the dialogue in suspense

In Diriamba, a hundred of hooded and armed supporters of the former Sandinist guerrilla assaulted Catholic leaders. EFE/Jorge Torres

14 lives claimed the increase of violence in Nicaragua, which is about to break the the dialogue to resolve the crisis that left some 250 dead in almost three months of protests against President Daniel Ortega.

A day after Ortega ruled out advancing the elections, strong riot and anti-riot confrontations against opposition protesters took place on Sunday in the cities of Jinotepe and Diriamba.

In Diriamba, a hundred of hooded and armed supporters of the former Sandinist guerrilla broke into the city's basilica on Monday, assaulting Catholic leaders.

The Catholic Church, which mediates between the government and the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, proposed advancing the elections from 2021 to March 2019 in order to get out of the turbulence that surrounds the country since the protests broke out on October 18. April.

But after Ortega's statement and the bloodshed in recent days, the Nicaraguan Bishops' Conference (CEN) warned that it values “seriously the continuation of the dialogue,” which has been suspended three times since it began in mid-May. may. “What sense does it have to continue with the dialogue, if the streets continue to be filled with blood,” said Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, president of CEN.

For the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, you cannot negotiate with “the representatives of a government that lies, that does not accept its responsibility and continues attacking and massacring the population.”

The opposition called for a march next Thursday and a national strike on Friday, the second during the crisis.

In a counter-offensive, the government will hold a Friday before the 39th anniversary - July 19 - of the Sandinist revolution.