Editing Daniel Ortega (section)

===2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests===
{{Main|2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests}}

In April 2018, student protests over a nature reserve fire expanded to cover an unpopular decree that would have cut social security benefits and increased taxpayer contributions.<ref name="nyt-Robles-24-12-2018"/> The protesters were violently set upon by the state sponsored Sandinista Youth.<ref>{{cite news|title=Peaceful Protests against Nicaraguan Social Security Reforms Violently Repressed|url=https://www.havanatimes.org/?p=132219|date=19 April 2018|work=The Havana Times|access-date=6 August 2018|archive-date=7 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507003502/https://www.havanatimes.org/?p=132219|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite attempts by Ortega's government to hide the incident through censorship of all private-owned news outlets, photos and videos of the violence made their way to social media where they sparked outrage and urged more Nicaraguans to join in on the protests.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nicaragua Roiled by Protests Over Social Security Benefits |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/world/americas/nicaragua-protests-ortega.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/world/americas/nicaragua-protests-ortega.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited |work=The New York Times |date=20 April 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ijnet.org/en/blog/facing-censorship-nicaraguan-journalists-and-citizens-turn-social-media|title=Facing censorship, Nicaraguan journalists and citizens turn to social media|work=ijnet|date=3 May 2018|access-date=6 August 2018|archive-date=6 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806084904/https://ijnet.org/en/blog/facing-censorship-nicaraguan-journalists-and-citizens-turn-social-media|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Amidst unrest, Nicaraguan journalists use digital innovation to share information|url=https://ijnet.org/en/blog/amidst-unrest-nicaraguan-journalists-use-digital-innovation-share-information|work=ijnet|date=24 July 2018|access-date=6 August 2018|archive-date=6 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806054923/https://ijnet.org/en/blog/amidst-unrest-nicaraguan-journalists-use-digital-innovation-share-information|url-status=dead}}</ref> Tensions escalated quickly, as police began using tear gas canisters and rubber bullets, and eventually live ammunition on unarmed protesters.<ref name="the Miami Herald">{{cite news|title=In Nicaragua, the political battle is moving from the streets to the negotiating table|url=https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article210129639.html|work=The Miami Herald|date=2 May 2018|access-date=6 August 2018|archive-date=6 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806084839/https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article210129639.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Authorities were also seen arming Sandinista Youth members with weapons to serve as paramilitary forces.<ref name="the Miami Herald"/> Dozens of student protesters were subsequently killed. Despite the withdrawal of the unpopular decree, the [[2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests|protests continue]], with most protesters demanding Ortega's and his cabinet's resignations.<ref>{{cite news|title=As Nicaragua Death Toll Grows, Support for Ortega Slips|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/world/americas/nicaragua-protests-ortega.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/world/americas/nicaragua-protests-ortega.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited|access-date=7 May 2018|work=The New York Times|date=4 May 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

On 30 May 2018, Nicaragua's Mother's Day, over 300,000 people marched to honor the mothers of students killed in the preceding protests. Despite the attendance of children, mothers and retirees, and lack of any violence by marchers, marchers were attacked in an event dubbed the "Mother's Day Massacre".<ref name="The New York Times">{{cite news|title=Nicaragua Protests Grow Increasingly Violent, 100 Killed Since April|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/world/americas/nicaragua-protests-killings.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/world/americas/nicaragua-protests-killings.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited|access-date=31 May 2018|work=The New York Times|date=31 May 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Protests on Nicaragua's Mother's Day turn deadly|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/31/americas/nicaragua-mothers-day-deadly-violence/index.html|access-date=31 May 2018|publisher=CNN|date=1 June 2018|archive-date=31 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180531213101/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/31/americas/nicaragua-mothers-day-deadly-violence/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Nicaragua: Violent attack on mass Mother's Day march in Managua|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/05/nicaragua-violento-ataque-a-multitudinaria-marcha-de-las-madres-en-managua/|access-date=30 May 2018|publisher=CNN|date=30 May 2018|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615143238/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/05/nicaragua-violento-ataque-a-multitudinaria-marcha-de-las-madres-en-managua/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=31 May 2018 |title=Estados Unidos condena masacre del Día de las Madres y pide una investigación inmediata |trans-title=Health is, above all, a political and governmental choice. |url=https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2018/05/31/politica/2428258-estados-unidos-condena-masacre/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623085033/https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2018/05/31/politica/2428258-estados-unidos-condena-masacre |archive-date=23 June 2018 |access-date=23 June 2018 |work=La Prensa}}</ref> 16 were killed, and 88 injured, as "police sprayed the crowd with bullets, government sharpshooters positioned on the roof of the national baseball stadium went headhunting with sniper rifles".<ref name="Rogers-2018"/>

In June 2018, Tim Rogers wrote in ''The Atlantic'' magazine:<blockquote>Over the past seven weeks, Ortega's police and paramilitaries have killed more than 120 people, mostly students and other young protesters who are demanding the president's ouster and a return to democracy, according to a human-rights group [CENIDH, [[Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights]]]. Police hunt students like enemy combatants. Sandinista Youth paramilitaries, armed and paid by Ortega's party, drive around in pickup trucks attacking protesters. Gangs of masked men loot and burn shops with impunity. Cops wear civilian clothing, and some paramilitaries dress in police uniforms. "This is starting to look more like Syria than Caracas," one Nicaraguan business leader told me.<ref name="Rogers-2018">{{cite journal |last1=Rogers |first1=Tim |title=The Unraveling of Nicaragua |journal=The Atlantic |date=6 June 2018 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/nicaragua-ortega-protests/562094/ |access-date=13 July 2020 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728203208/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/nicaragua-ortega-protests/562094/ |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

By December 3, 22 people were dead and 565 imprisoned. Professionals involved in the protests (lawyers, engineering majors, radio broadcasters and merchants) had been reduced to lives of "ever-changing safe houses, encrypted messaging apps and pseudonyms", with the Ortega government allegedly "hunting us like deer", according to one dissident (Roberto Carlos Membreño Briceño). Human rights organization offices were raided, computers seized and observers expelled.<ref name="nyt-Robles-24-12-2018"/> Observers from the Organization of American States were expelled after releasing a critical investigative report of the government's response to the protests.<ref name="nyt-Robles-24-12-2018"/> The report found the government had progressed from "using tear gas to rubber bullets, then real bullets and finally military firepower like assault rifles and grenade launchers", based on an analysis of videos posted on social media. At least 1,400 people involved in the protests were hurt, although that the number was probably "far higher because most people were too afraid to go to public hospitals, where doctors were fired for treating wounded protesters".<ref name="nyt-Robles-24-12-2018"/> By July 2019 the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch called on the United States to impose sanctions on Ortega "and other top" Nicaraguan officials "implicated" in the crackdown on protests.<ref name="hrw-sanctions-2019">{{cite web |title=Nicaragua: US Should Sanction President Ortega |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/16/nicaragua-us-should-sanction-president-ortega |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=16 July 2020 |date=16 July 2019 |archive-date=22 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722164823/https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/16/nicaragua-us-should-sanction-president-ortega |url-status=live }}</ref>