Protesters demand Nicaraguas Ortega, wife quit
News & Trends •
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 states1 hundreds of protesters in nicaragua have resumed their protest blocking roads in many parts of the country with at least eight more people killed in the last 24-hours1 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 down1 since protests began on april 18 at least 83 people have been killed and more than 860 wounded police and rights activists say1 four people were killed on friday and another four by mid-day saturday police and family members said1 unrest resumed since week-long church-mediated talks between the government and opposition to quell a month of violence broke down late on wednesday1 but demonstrators have voiced frustration over corruption the autocratic style of ortega and murillo limited options to change the countrys politics in elections and the presidents control over congress the courts the military and the electoral board1 the organization of american states has called for ortega to call early elections an issue which became the biggest stumbling block in dialogue1 foreign minister denis moncada said an early ballot would mean dismantling constitutional order and the democratically elected government1 before protests broke out an oas team had been trying to mediate in a process aimed at bringing about new elections as well as electoral reforms1 ortega and murillo were elected in november 2016 for a term that ends in january 20221