Managua, Nicaragua: A group of mothers who had been conducting a hunger strike in a Catholic church in Nicaragua have left the premises and been transferred to a local hospital for treatment. The women had spent eight days at Saint Michael the Archangel parish in Masaya, about 20 miles southeast of Nicaragua’s capital of Managua.
“The Archdiocese of Managua, since November 14 has been very concerned about this situation that Fr. Edwing Román has been going through along with the 13 people that began a hunger strike at Saint Michael the Archangel Parish in Masaya, among them mothers of those detained [in anti-government protests],” the archdiocese said in a statement Nov 22. Authorities had cut water and electricity to the church and surrounded it to block the exit of those inside, says the Catholic News Agency.
Anti-government protests in Nicaragua sprang up in April 2018. The crackdown from security forces and pro-government militias resulted in more than 320 deaths last year, with 2,000 injured and tens of thousands fleeing the country as refugees. Modest pension reforms triggered the unrest but protests quickly turned to objections to what critics said was Ortega’s authoritarian bent.
