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Nicaragua remembers first victim of Washington-backed coup attempt

FLOWERS were laid in a ceremony to remember the “immortality” of student Cristian Emilio Cadena a year after he was killed while defending his university from armed right-wing groups in Nicaragua.

The “hero of peace” was honoured as the first victim of last year’s Washington-backed protests which saw violent militias go on the rampage for months as they sought to oust the democratically elected Sandinista President Daniel Ortega.

Mr Cadena was killed on April 20 2018 while defending the National University (CUUN) in Leon as it came under attack from the Alianza Civica — a US-funded group made up of right-wing students and business organisations including the American Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce and the National Superior Council of Private Companies (Cosep).

Nicaraguans marked a year since the start of anti-government unrest sparked by protests over reforms to pensions which would have seen an increase in bosses’ contributions. 

Hundreds of people were killed in the months of violence that followed until government forces were able to restore stability and defeat the attempted coup. 

Peace talks restarted in February with around 200 prisoners released by the government as part of a reconciliation process.

Sandinista parliamentarian Carlos Emilio Lopez described the fallen student as “a young man integrated into the National Union of Nicaraguan Students, a militant of the Sandinista youth and a militant of peace who died in a heroic act defending the university from violence with a spirit of sacrifice.”

Mr Lopez added: “The best way to honour Cristian is to defend each of the social programmes and projects promoted by our Sandinista government.”

Sandinista youth, university officials and members of Unite-Leon led a march to the El Zapote cemetery where they released white balloons as a symbol of the continued fight for peace. 

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