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 agr...
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