Nicaragua following Venezuela into the abyss?

[GatoGordo]

Nicaragua protesters dig in as more killed
Julia Rios, May 26, 2018

Managua (AFP) - Hundreds of protesters dug in around Nicaragua on Saturday, blocking roads as at least eight more people were killed in a 24-hour period.

Unrest has resumed since week-long church-mediated talks between the government and opposition to quell a month of violence broke down late on Wednesday.

Hundreds of demonstrators in the north, center and south of the Central American nation were blocking highways on Saturday, demanding Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, stand down.

Since protests began on April 18 at least 83 people have been killed and more than 860 wounded, police and rights activists say.

Four people were killed on Friday, and another four by mid-day Saturday, police and family members said.

Ortega, a former Sandinista guerrilla who first ruled between 1979 and 1990 before returning as president 11 years ago, had kept power by maintaining leftist rhetoric while ensuring an accommodation with powerful private industry and keeping up trade with the United States.

But demonstrators have voiced frustration over corruption, the autocratic style of Ortega and Murillo, limited options to change the country's politics in elections, and the president's control over Congress, the courts, the military and the electoral board.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/nicaragua-protesters-dig-more-killed-232915422.html

Nicaragua is following Venezuela toward the rocks

In Nicaragua, for over a month, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in nationwide protests demanding the ouster of autocratic President Daniel Ortega after nearly 12 years of corrupt rule. More than 70 Nicaraguans have been killed and some 800 injured as Ortega’s security forces and armed militants have unleashed their violent fury on unarmed civilians.

While outsiders may have been surprised by the sudden turn of events, those who have been following Ortega’s systematic undermining of democratic institutions and concentration of power and wealth knew it would only take a spark to upset his carefully laid plans to establish a family dynasty in Nicaragua along the lines of the Somozas, ironically the family dictatorship that Ortega’s guerrillas once overthrew but which it now closely resembles.

That spark came with the sudden announcement of a social-security reform requiring workers to pay more while receiving fewer benefits. When peaceful protesters demonstrated against the changes, security forces and regime militants (known as turbas divinas, or “divine mobs”) descended on the unarmed civilians, mostly students and younger Nicaraguans, with a fury that shocked the country and only enflamed the situation. Ortega made things worse when he said the violent crackdown was necessary because “gang members” had infiltrated the protests. Instead, the worst violence has come from Ortega’s own Sandinista Youth thugs and police.

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https://nypost.com/2018/05/28/nicaragua-is-following-venezuela-toward-the-rocks/

The Castro Boys may be a lot of things, but they aren't lazy. When it comes to "spreading the Marxist/Leninist revolution", they have no equals.

1. The "Sandinista Youth". Ortega's version of Adolf's youth organization. These young people are indoctrinated at a young age NOT to serve Nicaragua, but to serve The Revolution. These are the next generation of zealots who will lead the way, should the current glorious leadership need their help. Not that any of them will accede to power, so long as Ortega can keep it all in the family. I have had the misfortune of meeting one of the Sandinista Youth advisers... you can't hide your Cuban accent, Iván.

2. The turbas divinas (TD). In Venezuela, these are known by another name... the colectivos. Red shirted, heavily armed thugs (Adolf's version of the brown shirts) who patrol on motorcycles and inflict violence upon anyone they deem in need of such violence. The internet is awash with photos and videos of these thugs harassing pedestrians and shopkeepers, who they rob and shakedown with impunity (in front of PNB). The TD, like the colectivos in Venezuela, are fully funded and armed by the Ortegas. This group does the bidding of the Ortegas, but are not "officially" part of the organization... leading to plausible deniability.

My hats off to the protesters in Nicaragua. They see what has happened in Venezuela and they are determined to not let that happen in their own nation.