Nicaragua marks 1979 revolution amid protests

UNITED STATES.- Nicaragua marked the 39th anniversary of the 1979 revolution against dictator Anastasio Somoza on Thursday amid protest and bloodshed.

Some say the country has made progress under current President Daniel Ortega, who helped lead the 1979 Sandinista uprising that ousted the Somoza family.

But others say Ortega has become a dictator himself.

Protests that broke out over pension cuts in April have blossomed into a larger movement demanding Ortega cede the power him and his wife, Rosario Murillo, have concentrated in their family’s hands.

In recent days, Ortega has appeared to want to celebrate the anniversary without the embarras- sing roadblocks and encampments erected by the opposition.

Government allied-forces dislodged students camped out at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and retook the symbolically important neighborhood of Monimbo, a stronghold of the 1979 revolution located in the city of Masaya, southeast of the capital.

The city had recently become a center of resistance to Ortega’s government. The Nicaraguan Pro Human Rights Association tallied 351 deaths between April 19 and July 10 in the country. The government says more than 200 people have been killed since the unrest began.

President Daniel Ortega used Thursday’s 39th anniversary of the 1979 revolution against dictator Anastasio Somoza to celebrate strengthening his grip on power after three months of anti-government protests and to attack Nicaragua’s Roman Catholic Church as allies of “coup mongers.”

In recent days, the government and its supporters routed some of the remaining focal points of the resistance.

Those still loyal to Ortega, who helped lead the Sandinista uprising decades ago, say the country has made progress under his rule.