NICARAGUA: In April 2018 Nicaragua convulsed. A package of reforms to the social security system prompted nationwide protests that were violently repressed. On April 19, three people were killed, just on the second day of demonstrations against the reforms. Soon, the purpose of the protests would change, and the demonstrators would begin to demand justice for those killed.
Human Rights organizations count more than 300 people killed in the context of the social protests in Nicaragua. According to a report by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) formed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which was in Nicaragua to investigate the events, it blames the majority of the deaths on State repression by paramilitary groups in combination with the National Police, and accuses the Nicaraguan Government of committing acts that should be considered "crimes against humanity". Two days after presenting its report, the GIEI was expelled from Nicaragua.
Two years after the social outbreak, Nicaragua is living under a state police. Social protests against the government are forbidden and hundreds of opponents have been imprisoned and have become political prisoners. Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega accuses protesters of having attempted a coup d'état against his government during 2018. Relatives of those killed in the repression continue to demand justice.
Portrait of commander peluche one of those in charge of leading the resistance of the Ruben Dario commando in the city of Masaya, June 18, 2018.
Portrait of a guerrilla member of the Ruben Dario commando in the trench in the city of Masaya, June 19, 2018.
The hands of an anonymous man show the bullets used by the national police after a confrontation against students at the Central American University (UCA), in the city of Managua on June 23, 2018
In the vicinity of universities and main streets of the country, you can see different graffiti and stencil alluding to the deaths caused by President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, Managua July 22, 2018.
Students, protesters and guerrilla fighters create their own weapons to fight against the police and military. Managua June 29, 2018.
A Central American University student shows his cell phone with photos of the students injured when they were handling a bomb, to go detonate it near a police station. Managua June 29, 2018
Portrait of a young man from the Ruben Dario commando resistance in the city of Masaya, June 19, 2018.
A photograph of Bryan Picado is decorated with flowers during his wake after he was killed when police and paramilitaries attacked a barricade in the Sandino neighborhood of Jinotega, Nicaragua, Tuesday, July 24, 2018.
Portrait of an elderly woman inside her home after a bomb fell on the roof in the city of Leon on July 5, 2018.
A student of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua(UNAN),poses with bullet and shotgun shells used by national police and paramilitaries near the campus on June 23, 2018.
Portrait of a young Sandinista as he stands guard before the arrival of President Daniel Ortega and his vice president wife Rosario Murillo. Masaya, Nicaragua, July 13, 2018.
A man stands next to the coffin with the remains of Bryan Picado who was killed when police and paramilitaries attacked a barricade at the Sandino neighborhood of Jinotega, Nicaragua, Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Portrait of commander peluche one of those in charge of leading the resistance of the Ruben Dario commando in the city of Masaya, June 18, 2018.
Portrait of a guerrilla member of the Ruben Dario commando in the trench in the city of Masaya, June 19, 2018.
The hands of an anonymous man show the bullets used by the national police after a confrontation against students at the Central American University (UCA), in the city of Managua on June 23, 2018
In the vicinity of universities and main streets of the country, you can see different graffiti and stencil alluding to the deaths caused by President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, Managua July 22, 2018.
Students, protesters and guerrilla fighters create their own weapons to fight against the police and military. Managua June 29, 2018.
A Central American University student shows his cell phone with photos of the students injured when they were handling a bomb, to go detonate it near a police station. Managua June 29, 2018
Portrait of a young man from the Ruben Dario commando resistance in the city of Masaya, June 19, 2018.
A photograph of Bryan Picado is decorated with flowers during his wake after he was killed when police and paramilitaries attacked a barricade in the Sandino neighborhood of Jinotega, Nicaragua, Tuesday, July 24, 2018.
Portrait of an elderly woman inside her home after a bomb fell on the roof in the city of Leon on July 5, 2018.
A student of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua(UNAN),poses with bullet and shotgun shells used by national police and paramilitaries near the campus on June 23, 2018.
Portrait of a young Sandinista as he stands guard before the arrival of President Daniel Ortega and his vice president wife Rosario Murillo. Masaya, Nicaragua, July 13, 2018.
A man stands next to the coffin with the remains of Bryan Picado who was killed when police and paramilitaries attacked a barricade at the Sandino neighborhood of Jinotega, Nicaragua, Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Cristobal Venegas photographer
Photojournalist in Latin America and South America, based in Chile.
Fotoperiodista en latinoamerica y sur America, radicado en Chile