The United States recalled this Tuesday the fourth anniversary of the “violent repression” with which the government of President Daniel Ortega neutralized demonstrations that left some 355 dead and that it described as an attempted coup.
“The United States commemorates the violent repression of the Ortega-Murillo regime (the presidential couple) against pro-democracy protesters in Nicaragua in April 2018,” said the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian A. Nichols, in a message.
In the message, sent to journalists by the press office of the United States Embassy in Nicaragua, Nichols shared a video calling the Ortega government an “autocratic regime”, a “family dictatorship” and converting the country “in a pariah state”.
The video explains that, four years ago, thousands of Nicaraguans flooded the streets of Managua and other cities in the country, and that what began as a rejection of controversial social security reforms “soon turned into expressions of discontent with the Government of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo”.
The United States commemorates the violent repression of the Ortega-Murillo regime against pro-democracy protesters in Nicaragua in April 2018. pic.twitter.com/LDngCN5oh1
— Brian A. Nichols (@WHAAsstSecty) April 19, 2022
“Nicaraguans were tired of the corruption that enriched the Ortega family and impoverished the population. They were tired of the usurpation of their civil liberties. Nicaraguans were asking for a change,” according to the narrative of the video.
Ortega “responded brutally”
Nichols, through the video, said that “the regime responded with brutality, killing at least 350 citizens, injuring thousands and sending hundreds of thousands into exile.”
The protests, described by the Executive as a coup attempt, left at least 355 dead according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), although local organizations raise the figure to 684 and the Government recognizes 200.
USAU. tells through the video that “the crisis in Nicaragua did not end with the protests of April 2018”, because “prior to the elections of November 2021, the Ortega-Murillos doubled the repression against the people of Nicaragua” and imprisoned to seven aspiring candidates for the Presidency of the opposition.
“After stealing the elections, they continued to push Nicaragua towards a totalitarian state,” he denounced.
According to Washington, “in their eagerness to install a dynastic dictatorship, the (presidential) couple took the form of another dictator from the past: Anastasio Somoza Debayle.”
forced into exile
“The autocratic regime has forced thousands of Nicaraguans into exile and isolated Nicaragua from the international community. Under this family dictatorship, Nicaragua has become a pariah state,” the US said in the video.
The United States said that “they support the people in their desire to live in democracy, in stability, in prosperity” and together with the international community “they are committed to a future for Nicaragua in a flourishing democracy.”
“History is plagued by dictators who thought they would rule forever, but nepotism sows the seeds of their own collapse, the will of the people can be crushed, but not banished, the future belongs to the people of Nicaragua,” he concluded.
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has been accentuated after the controversial general elections on November 7, in which President Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second together with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison.
