At almost 50 days since the protests began in Nicaragua, the excessive force of power and the failure in the peace negotiations are some of the factors to highlight

Since last April 18, the world has witnessed the protests that have taken place in Nicaragua against the regime led by President Daniel Ortega.

Although at first it was believed that these demonstrations arose in response to the dissatisfaction of people by the law to social security exposed by the National Government, this hypothesis was left in the void after Ortega canceled it and still the protests were still standing.

Leer en español: "Se han vuelto contra su propia gente en un ataque cruel, sostenido y letal": Erika Guevara

And the negotiations?

The violence experienced before the month of the protests was overproduced in Nicaragua the need to create a negotiating table between the Executive of Daniel Ortega and the opponents of his government, with the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference as mediator.

The National Dialogue for Peace began on May 16, without achieving greater results between the parties. The main reason?: The position held by the protesters, mostly young, to continue the protests if Daniel Ortega does not resign to the position of president.

"You sleep peacefully, we do not, I miss out your word because we have put the dead, this is not a table of dialogue, this is a table to negotiate your way out and you know it very well," said Lésther Alemán, one of the young people who attended the National Dialogue, to Daniel Ortega.

According to the newspaper El País, given Ortega's refusal to yield to what his foreign minister Denis Moncada called a "route for a coup d'état", on May 23 the Church decided to suspend negotiations indefinitely.

However, five days later it was the Church itself, which heads the Commission of Mediation and Witness, who reported that delegates from the Nicaraguan Government and opponents had agreed to return to the negotiating table, even without a set date.

"The delegation of the Government and the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy expressed their willingness to resume the national dialogue at the plenary retake the agenda of the issue of democratization," said a letter from the Church quoted by CNN.

In addition, it called for a cessation of violence and respect for the norms established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which also acts as guarantor in the country.

"Criminals full of hate"

Meanwhile, the government's rejection of the protests does not stop. The vice president of Nicaragua and Daniel Ortega's wife, Rosario Murillo, has not hesitated to show her displeasure towards the protesters, whom she has labeled as "criminals full of hate," according to the newspaper La Prensa of Nicaragua.

In addition, she assured that in the executive branch "we take IGNORE INTO account all the approaches", but on the negotiating table they will only talk with the opponents who raise their arguments "with absolute attachment to the Constitution of the Republic", quoted the same publication.

Excessive strength

According to an Amnesty International (AI) report, there are 83 deaths that have left the acts of violence present in the demonstrations in Nicaragua.

However, that number changes if it refers to the statistics presented by the Nicaraguan authorities, who claim that there have been 15 deceased, while the Court has a number 76.

However, the main international organizations agree that the actions of the Government in favor of arresting the demonstrators have not been the most humanitarian.

"They have turned against their own people in a cruel, sustained and lethal attack," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, on May 29 during a press conference in the one that presented her report on the Nicaraguan reality.

Likewise, Guevara -in the head of the human rights movement- accused the authorities of orchestrating extrajudicial executions during the repression against citizens, with the help of vigilante groups and members of the Sandinista Front (Frente Sandinista, in Spanish).

However, the accusations go much further, including President Daniel Ortega among the people who could be part of those crimes. "The organization considers that there are reasons to believe that these deaths would have occurred with the knowledge of the highest authorities of the Nicaraguan State, including the president of the republic," says the AI report.

So far, Ortega has not spoken about Amnesty International's accusations about him and his government, although other national authorities did confirm the existence of "criminal groups" behind the violence, according to BBC World.

However, this does not seem enough for the protesters, who again left to march on May 30 to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, in order to support the "Mothers of April". This movement seeks the clarification of the truth, in relation to the disappearance and murder of young people during the protests that started almost 50 days ago.

Latin American Post | Christopher Ramírez Hernández

Translated from "Se han vuelto contra su propia gente en un ataque cruel, sostenido y letal": Erika Guevara"