A Twenty-Four Hour General Strike, Protests, and Police Repression in Nicaragua

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Nicaragua’s opposition called a 24-hour general strike on May 23, 2019, in the hopes of ratcheting up pressure on the government of President Daniel Ortega and forcing him to release political prisoners. The strike had broad support among many businesses, and emptied streets in most of Nicaragua’s cities. The opposition also attempted to carry out demonstrations on May 26 to protest the death of jailed activist Eddy Montes, supposedly killed during a prison riot the week before. After the strike and protests, the government threatened to take measures against those who participated. Commentators weighed in with varying degrees of optimism. Nicaragua’s ongoing crisis began on April 18, 2018, when a protest against an aborted pension reform mushroomed into a wider movement against Ortega’s government. Over the last year at least 325 people have been killed in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces, hundreds more have been imprisoned, and more than 600,000 have fled the country.

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