Jacinto Yoder, my grandnephew and a Nicaraguan citizen and church leader, just issued this account of the dangerous situation in the country where he and my nephew Pablo (his father) and family have lived since 1995:
Our country is at the verge of an all-out war, if we’re not in one already. Last night the infamous head of the Consejo Supremo Electoral (Supreme Electoral Council) resigned, but we thought he had resigned back at the beginning of the year. Such is politics. Apparently he was still leading the CSE.
Business men, campesinos and vandals (gangs included) aren’t impressed with any of what has been going on, and are demanding that the president step down, and there have been burnings of various buildings: The Fiscalía (prosecution) building in Masaya, Caja Rural (Venezuela aid channel) center in Managua, the barracks of the MTI (Ministry of transport) in Sebaco, two radio stations (one on each side of the fray), and a few Alcaldías (mayor’s offices), including a government party building in Ometepe. There has been looting in a number of department stores in various cities, and the famous Masaya tourist market was partially burned. The students have taken a number of universities in Managua, the latest one being the UNI (a modern one). When we were in Matagalpa for a few hours of quick business the 29th, two of the main banks whose leaders oppose the government were open but had tin and plywood all over their windows.
There is basically no law right now, so people just do what they want. The police are apparently scared or unwilling or don’t have the power to do much. They go out and take down a barricade, and the next day there are three to replace it. They push rebels out of one area, shooting as they drive by out of the back of their Hilux pickups, and the rebels just show up in another area. They have mostly lost control of a large part of Managua (Masaya seems to be in the hands of the rebels). The southern part of Managua, from Lake Tiscapa to the south, including Carretera a Masaya, is where the rebels protest and reign, mostly. This makes the empty lots from earthquake faults around Lake Tiscapa the battleground between the two groups. The new stadium was in the center of the fray on Mother’s Day. Rocks on glass windows, slingshots, homemade guns, fireworks, and more and more real guns in hands of both sides make Managua look a mess. The smoke from the burning buildings and tires hovered over the city the afternoon of Mother’s Day. The army is apparently trying to stay neutral, but we all wonder for how long.
Violence has slowly but surely kept escalating and we’re not sure what comes next. Now, with 18 killed around Mother’s Day, including a number of the “peaceful march” youth with bullets in their heads, some people are asking for what amounts to a nationwide strike (though the private sector leaders are not calling for it themselves at this point). Not knowing if it will actually happen, but even if the businesses stay open, the roadblock people are saying they are going to completely shut down and will only let emergencies through. Waslala now has roadblocks on either side of town, though we’ve seen no violence, and the town at the turnoff for Zapote Kum, Puerto Viejo, has one too. We can still travel to Zapote, as long as they don’t cut off our turn off like they did one day. The Puerto Viejo barricade is on the bridge right after our turnoff for Zapote.
The local medical clinic is only seeing like an average of a dozen people a day, and we’ll probably need to close next week if the barricades keep being complete ones. Our fabric store was running at about 60% sales in May, which is amazing with all the unrest, actually. Some straggling busses still come by our house here at Kusulí, but it seems like there are fewer every day.
Thanks for your prayers, and may the Lord help Nicaragua!
Jacinto Yoder
Waslala, Nicaragua
June 1, 2018
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