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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Thousands Protest Against Ortega in
Nicaragua
MANAGUA – Thousands of opposition members
marched on Saturday to defy the power of
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega hours
before another march was to begin in support
of the president, all under a strong police
guard to avoid confrontations.
The opposition march, which ended without
incident, was called by 18 organizations of
civil society to protest the Sandinista
government’s harassment of the opposition
and against the Supreme Court ruling
allowing Ortega to run for re-election,
according to the organizers.
The demonstration, in which several thousand
people from all over the country took part,
according to the organizers, began at 9:45
a.m. local time (1545 GMT), hours before the
beginning of the march in support of Ortega.
Violeta Granera, representing the
organizers, at the end of the march read the
“Managua Manifesto,” which said that the
march was carried out after overcoming
obstacles, threats and acts of terrorism by
the Ortega government “to intimidate the
opposition, but without success.”
The march was called to protest the Oct. 19
ruling of the panel of Nicaragua’s Supreme
Court, which voted to overturn a ban on
re-election. The ruling clears the way for
Ortega to seek re-election in 2011.
Joining in the demonstration were members of
five political parties of the opposition
waving banners with slogans like “Out with
ALBA,” referring to the Bolivarian Alliance
for the Americas promoted by Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez, “No to re-election”
and “Yes to freedom of speech.”
The opposition protest ended as planned in
front of the building of the Supreme
Electoral Council without any incidents to
report, except for complaints that in some
towns of the nation’s interior followers of
President Ortega tried to keep the
opposition from assembling freely.
The Sandinista march was to take place
Saturday afternoon to celebrate, according
to its organizers, the ruling party’s
victory in the municipal elections of Nov.
9, 2008, considered “fraudulent” by the
opposition.
Sandinista demonstrators plan a 2-kilometer
(1¼-mile) march through the capital to a
plaza in front of a hotel on Managua’s south
side, where a rally was to be held.
The rally was planned to end with a speech
by President Ortega. |
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