The death toll from violent anti-government protests in Nicaragua last week is now up to 38, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights told CNN Friday. The government reports a death toll of 10.

The deaths came amid the largest street protests the country has seen since the civil war ended in 1990. Protesters clashed with security forces, and different groups among the demonstrators also clashed with each other.

The unrest was spurred by the implementation of a controversial pension reform resolution intended to halt the growing deficit in the country's social security system.

Citizens took to the streets to protest the changes, which amounted to increased contributions into the social security system by workers and employers and the reduction of the pensions of retired workers. </s> (CNN) Dozens of people died last week in Nicaragua as a result of anti-government protests, human rights groups there told CNN Friday -- in contrast to the government's official death toll, which stands at 10.

The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, based in the capital city of Managua, reported 42 deaths on Sunday. On Saturday, the group had reported 43 people died but revised the death toll, saying they'd mistakenly included a person who was in critical condition.

The Permanent Commission on Human Rights said 58 people died. The government reported its latest death toll April 20.

The deaths came amid the largest street protests the country has seen since the civil war ended in 1990. Protesters clashed with security forces, and different groups among the demonstrators also clashed with each other.

Demonstrators in Managua threw rocks and set fires as police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Several television stations were taken off the air as the government tried to stem the unrest.

Read More </s> A non-governmental rights group in Nicaragua says it has confirmed that 63 people died during days of protests over social security changes that convulsed the country last week, AP reported.

The Permanent Commission on Human Rights adds that at least 15 other people are missing. Director Marcos Carmona accused authorities Thursday of "a massacre" against student protesters and the Nicaraguan people.

The government did not immediately confirm, deny or otherwise comment on Thursday's report. Its most recent official death toll of 12 was announced Monday. </s> A non-governmental rights group in Nicaragua says it has confirmed that 63 people died during days of protests over social security changes that convulsed the country last week.

The Permanent Commission on Human Rights adds that at least 15 other people are missing. Director Marcos Carmona accused authorities Thursday of "a massacre" against student protesters and the Nicaraguan people.

The government did not immediately confirm, deny or otherwise comment on Thursday's report. Its most recent official death toll of 12 was announced Monday.

The rights group said it has also counted over 160 people wounded by gunfire, including nine who lost an eye and two who were left paralyzed.

President Daniel Ortega's government has scrapped the overhaul that sparked the protests and agreed to talks with different sectors of society. </s> Dozens of people died last week in Nicaragua as a result of anti-government protests, human rights groups there told CNN Friday — in contrast to the government’s official death toll, which stands at 10.

The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, based in the capital city of Managua, reported 42 deaths. The Permanent Commission on Human Rights said 58 people died. The government reported its latest death toll April 20.

The deaths came amid the largest street protests the country has seen since the civil war ended in 1990. Protesters clashed with security forces, and different groups among the demonstrators also clashed with each other.

Demonstrators in Managua threw rocks and set fires as police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Several television stations were taken off the air as the government tried to stem the unrest.

Nicaraguan Attorney General Inés Miranda on Thursday announced an investigation into the deaths.

“A responsible and formal investigation was started regarding the following acts: the loss of life of students, police and civilians; the injuries sustained by students, police and civilians; looting and property damage, both public and private,” Miranda told reporters.

A journalist who was covering the protest was among those killed, state media outlet El 19 Digital reported.

The unrest, mostly led by students, started when President Daniel Ortega tried to change the country’s social security system. He implemented a controversial pension reform resolution intended to halt the growing deficit. The changes increased contributions by workers and employers and reduced retired workers’ pensions.

Ortega revoked the resolution Sunday, putting an end to violent clashes. Peaceful protests continue in Nicaragua, with demonstrators now calling for Ortega’s resignation.

The Nicaraguan government has been accused of using excessive force against protesters and “arbitrarily (shutting) down media outlets covering the recent protests,” a human rights organization says.

“Human Rights Watch received credible accounts that suggest that police officers used excessive force to shut down demonstrations in several places across the country and that pro-government groups attacked peaceful protesters,” the group said in a statement.

The US State Department and the United Nations have condemned violence against protesters, whom the vice president compared with “vampires” who “feed off blood … (to) achieve advances in their political agenda.” Both institutions called for a peaceful resolution.

Nicaragua “needs to comply with their international obligations to guarantee that people are able to freely express their rights of freedom of expression and freedom to peacefully assemble,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Liz Throssell said in a statement.

The US State Department issued a statement Monday ordering the departure of US government employees and their families. The department also urged travelers to reconsider travel plans to Nicaragua.

Ortega came to power as part of the Sandinista rebels who overthrew the Somoza dynasty in 1979. He fought against the US-backed contras during the 1980s and has remained a key ally to Venezuela.

He was first elected president in 1985, then ran unsuccessfully in 1990, 1996 and 2001. He was elected again in 2006, 2011 and 2016.

In the last presidential election, Ortega was elected in a landslide victory, with his wife as vice president. Critics have accused the couple of skirting laws while building a political dynasty.

Nicaragua’s constitution bars presidents from being re-elected and also bars candidates who are relatives of the sitting president from running.

In 2014, Ortega used his power to pressure lawmakers to do away with term limits. </s> Nicaraguan Health Minister Sonia Castro confirmed Thursday that 15 people have died and 199 have been wounded over the past two days of anti-government protests around the country.

At public and private health centers nationwide "(medical) attention was provided to 199 people who were injured and we also have 15 fatalities," said the minister at a press conference together with other top public officials.

This is the second time since the eruption of the crisis on April 18 that the Daniel Ortega government has confirmed fatalities resulting from the protests, although humanitarian organizations say that the death toll so far stands at about 100.

The first time the government acknowledged protest deaths was when Vice President Rosario Murillo spoke of 10 fatalities in an April 20 appearance before reporters.

The assistant director of the National Police, Francisco Diaz, on Thursday at the press conference read from a report specifying that of the 15 deaths over the past two days, seven occurred in Managua, four in Esteli, three in Chinandega and one in Masaya.

On Thursday, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights released a preliminary report in which it lists at least 11 deaths and 79 people injured during the incidents on Wednesday and Thursday, and it energetically condemned the acts of violence and repression "ordered" by the government.

Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said that the government is "confronting with reason and the law this criminal wave" and denied the existence of "shock troops or paramilitary groups aligned with the government," adding that the Ortega administration had not and will "never" provoke such "sorrowful and tragic events."

He urged the "authorities to coordinate the effort for national dialogue, call for calm and cease all violence, with an eye toward continuing to work for security, justice and peace."

A Catholic Church-mediated national dialogue to find a way out of the crisis was begun on May 16 with the participation of an alliance of civil society sectors and the government but it was suspended last week.

The Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua warned on Thursday that the dialogue will not be resumed as long as the government continues with its repression.

Nicaragua is mired in a socio-political crisis that began with protests over government-sponsored social security reforms but continued even after the Ortega administration cancelled the reforms, exacerbated as a result of the demonstrators killed. </s> Fifteen people have been killed and 218 injured in violent incidents in troubled Nicaragua, police said Thursday.

Wednesday's violence hit the capital Managua, where paramilitary gunmen reportedly attacked an anti-government demonstration; the city of Chinandega in the north-west; Esteli in the north; and Masaya near the capital.

Diaz attributed the violence to "criminal groups," while a statement by President Daniel Ortega linked those groups with the opposition.

Ortega denied the existence of paramilitary groups allied with the government.

The Bishops' Conference denounced action by "armed groups close to the government against the civilian population" and said it was impossible to now resume dialogue in which the Catholic Church had mediated between civil society organizations and the authorities.

The army meanwhile denied that security forces had cooperated with paramilitary groups to crack down on demonstrators.

"We shall never accept slanderous information. The Nicaraguan army has absolute control over its forces," according to the statement.

The Central American country has been in turmoil since April 17, when protests erupted against new taxes on old age and disability pensions, as well as an increase in social security contributions.

The official death toll from the violence stands at 39; human rights group Amnesty International has said, however, that more than 80 people have been killed. </s> Managua — The death toll from weeks of violent unrest in Nicaragua rose to 100 by Thursday as embattled President Daniel Ortega rejected calls to step down and the Catholic Church, which has tried to mediate the conflict, refused to resume the dialogue.

At least 16 people were killed and 88 injured on Wednesday and into the early hours of Thursday as pro-and anti-government supporters clashed in a number of cities, the Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights said in an update on Thursday.

It said this was one of the most violent days yet in a wave of protests against Ortega and his ruling party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, that began on April 18. More than 900 people have been injured.

The protests were initially triggered by now-aborted reforms to the near-bankrupt social security system. But the unrest quickly broadened into a rejection by many Nicaraguans of Ortega and his wife, Vice-President Rosario Murillo, who are seen as autocratic.

The government and opposition agreed on Monday to resume peace talks mediated by the Catholic Church that stalled last week.

But the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference announced on Thursday that it would not resume the dialogue as long as "the people continue to be repressed and killed" by "groups close to the government".

The Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights said the latest killings occurred in the capital Managua and the cities of Esteli and Masaya, while incidents also took place in Leon.

"The aggressors were the repressive police and shock forces" who report to Ortega and his wife, according to the rights group.

"Massacre! Shots are being fired against peaceful demonstrators," Managua’s auxiliary bishop, Silvio Baez, wrote on social media.

The head of the Organisation of American States, Luis Almagro, has condemned the killings by "repressive forces and the armed forces", and called on Ortega’s government to stop the violence.

The US State Department issued a statement condemning the "government’s violent response to peaceful Mother’s Day marches in Managua and other cities yesterday, including assaults on mothers mourning their children killed since protests began April 18".

Ortega, meanwhile, denounced a "conspiracy" by the opposition aimed at "terrorising" the people, referring to Wednesday’s unrest.

"There are no shock forces or paramilitaries close to the government, so we cannot accept that we are accused of tragic and painful events that we have not provoked and we would never provoke," he said in a statement.

Installations of the official radio station Radio Ya and a rural credit co-operative were burned, and the facade of the national baseball stadium was destroyed.

Offices of the opposition channel 100% Noticias, censored for several days in mid-April by the authorities because of its coverage of demonstrations, and the transmission installations of the opposition radio station Dario in Leon were also attacked, their owners reported.

Deputy national police director Francisco Diaz said "criminal groups" had attacked a pro-government event in Managua "with firearms and mortars," leaving seven dead and 91 injured by gunfire, including 20 policemen.

The opposition said on Wednesday that one person died when pro-government activists opened fire in Managua on a rally in support of mothers who have lost children in the protests.

The unrest poses the biggest crisis ever faced by Ortega, a former guerrilla leader who first ruled between 1979 and 1990 before returning as president 11 years ago.

In a speech to thousands of supporters in Managua Wednesday night, he vowed to remain in power.

"Nicaragua belongs to all of us, and here we are all going to stay," said Ortega.

The speech came a day after the country’s richest and most influential businessman appealed for presidential elections to be moved forward from 2021 in a bid to calm the unrest.

The comments by Carlos Pellas, who controls the vast Grupo Pellas empire, came as a surprise as the powerful industrialist and other business leaders have traditionally supported Ortega.

"From my point of view, and it is something largely shared in the private sector, we must find an orderly way out of this, in a constitutional way, which implies reforms including a (presidential) election moved forward" from 2021, he said in an interview with newspaper La Prensa.

Ortega must "show the willingness to dialogue and accept fundamental changes", said Pellas, who has not previously spoken out publicly about the crisis. </s> MANAGUA, April 22 (Reuters) - Anti-government protests in Nicaragua entered a fifth day on Sunday as the death toll from the violence rose and looting was reported in some areas, aggravating the crisis around longstanding President Daniel Ortega.

The Red Cross said at least seven people had died and hundreds had been injured in the demonstrations, while a local human rights organization said it had registered 25 deaths.

The protests began on Wednesday over plans to increase worker contributions and lower pensions, and some stores in Managua were looted at the weekend, Reuters witnesses said. At least two protest marches were planned in Managua on Sunday.

Late on Saturday, local media said a reporter was shot and killed during a live broadcast from Bluefields, a town on the Caribbean coast hit by the unrest. Graphic footage of the incident soon spread onto local and social media.

Lissett Guido, a Red Cross spokeswoman, said there were seven confirmed deaths and that the number would likely rise. The government had reported "almost 10" by late on Friday.

Marlin Sierra, director of human rights organization CENIDH, said it had logged 25 deaths, mostly caused by firearms and rubber bullets. That number could not be independently verified. Most of the dead were aged between 15 and 34, she said.

The police crackdown on demonstrators and curbs on some media in the past few days have fueled broader criticism of Ortega, who has gradually tightened his hold on the country's institutions since he returned to power over 11 years ago.

Pope Francis called on Sunday for an end to the violence in Nicaragua and called for differences to be "resolved peacefully and with a sense of responsibility."

Nicaragua has been one of the more stable countries in Central America, largely avoiding the turmoil caused by gang violence or political upheaval that has at times plagued Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala in recent years.

But top Nicaraguan business lobby COSEP has backed peaceful protests against the government, and said it would not enter talks with Ortega to review the social security plan until he had ended police repression and restored freedom of expression.

A former Marxist guerrilla and Cold War antagonist of the United States, Ortega has presided over a period of stable growth with a blend of socialist policies and capitalism.

But critics accuse Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, of trying to establish a family dictatorship. The country remains one of the poorest in the Americas.

Ortega was a driving force in the overthrow of one of Latin America's most notorious regimes when his Sandinistas ended the Somoza dynasty's long rule of the country in 1979.

He was elected president in 1984, but a civil war, which pitted the Sandinistas against U.S.-backed right wing Contra rebels, hurt his popularity, and he was voted out in 1990.

Not until a 2006 election did Ortega reclaim the presidency.

Now 72, he has maintained an uneasy relationship with the United States, toning down his Cold War rhetoric but forging close ties with U.S. adversaries such as the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro.
The Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights says the death toll from ongoing anti-government protests has reached 38.