MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's legislative allies are canceling the legal status of non-governmental groups identified as supporting months-long opposition protests.
Ortega's Sandinista party controls 70 of the 92 votes in the National Assembly, and in the past two weeks the body has acted against the Center for Health Research, the Institute for Strategic and Public Policy Studies, Let's Make Democracy, and the Nicaragua Center for Human Rights.
The Sandinistas contend the groups promoted and financed a failed coup attempt against Ortega.
In April, protests against changes to Nicaragua's social security system were violently repressed. Demonstrations continued for months, but after regaining its footing, Ortega's government has methodically pursued its perceived enemies.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights says at least 320 people have died in the violence.
