The Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, wife of President Daniel Ortega, announced Monday the revocation of the social security and pension reforms (approved unilaterally without the approval of congress), that sparked the protests last week which have left close to 30 fatalities.

Despite this measure, the street protests and violence have not seized in the Central American country, thousands of people have taken to the streets now expressing their disgust with the violence displayed by the government and demanding the destitution of President Ortega, “Ortega get out!”, “Ortega, murderer”, “No more deaths”, chanted the crowd.

The protests include mainly students in public universities, a group that was victim of the repressive violence of the state, but it also includes members of private and public institutions.
President Ortega has been in the Presidential seat for over a decade.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica and President Luis Guillermo Solis commented that the Costa Rican embassy and consulate in Managua are operating normally and so far have not reported an increase in the request for visas, the transit in the Peñas Blancas frontiers is normal for this time of the year and there have been no disturbances.

“I would suggest (to president elect Carlos Alvarado), to continue generating the best relations with our neighbor country in the North, for our sake, for Nicaragua’s sake and for all the Nicaraguans that live in Costa Rica. What does this mean? There needs to be dialogue, collaboration and understanding”, commented Luis Guillermo Solis.

However, the Directorate General of Immigration in Costa Rica, expects the requests for refuge by Nicaraguans to increase, since this is a normal behavior when situations like the one Nicaragua is facing, arise.

Between January and March immigration reported 22 refugee requests by Nicaraguans

The UN has requested from the Nicaraguan authorities that a deep and transparent investigation of the deaths reported as a result of the protests and to allow the “free exercise of the freedom of speech” to all citizens including the human right defenders that are monitoring the situation.