Nicaragua's Elections

The municipal elections happened here 2 weekends ago. Since then things have been crazy. Of course everyone knew the Sandinistas would try to steal the elections. They did not let observers in to oversee the process, many polling places closed early, results from certain polls have never been reported, and those that have been reported are suspected to be altered in some way. The Sandinistas ending up winning in the majority of the municipalities including Managua.

The person that "won" in Managua is Alexis Arguello, an ex champion boxer, ex drug addict, who was robbed of all his riches when the Sandinistas took power in the 80s. Now, for some reason, he is with the Sandinista party, maybe in the hopes of getting back his lost fortune from the Sandinistas.

Eduardo Montealgre, is the Liberal candidate, who declared himself the winner as well, claiming he had the raw numbers from the voting polls and that he was the real winner. He is a successful businessman both here and in the States> He, I am sure has his own faults, as all politicians seems to, but was the clear choice for most people I know here.

Once he declared himself the winner, violence began to break out on the streets between the two opposing parties. Despite this violence, we had school the next day. My principal seemed confused as to why I would think it was dangerous coming into school, saying that the violence was only in the barrios, which is not true, the unrest is focused around the main Electoral building which is on the main road, not too far from where I live and where many people need to drive through the city.

Every day last week, the school closed at 4, since most of the incidents in the street seem to happen around rush hour. Luckily, I have been able to get a ride with Sabine, and not worry about taking a taxi. The rabble rouser gather in the rotundas (traffic circles that are all over the city) and wave flags, set off mortar explosions, throw rocks at people and passing cars, rip down political propaganda and burn things in the street.

The votes are being recounted, but not without any observers, so they are thought to be fraudulent. This weekend was rather calm and we were able to leave the house and drive around which was nice. But today (Tuesday) there was a March for Democracy, organizer by Montealegre. School was canceled and the streets were flooded with Sandinistas again trying to impede the march. The streets were full of people in masks throwing rocks, shooting mortar, wrecking cars, etc. The Liberals gathers for the march, but it was canceled due to all the violence.

Although it is unbelievable to see what is happening on the streets that I travel everyday, it is even more unbelievable to know that tomorrow morning they will be clear and "safe" and people will be traveling to work as normal.

And just so everyone knows, the area that I live in is very safe and secure and I feel safe as long as I am home!

Check out this video I recorded of the news.