Managua, Nicaragua – Hundreds of students and union members marched to the Nicaraguan Congress on Tuesday to protest the unauthorized hike in bus fares by operators in this capital.
“Today we made a peaceful march, but it seems that the government is getting accustomed to wanting to negotiate from the edge of the abyss when there are confrontations,” one of the march leaders – who asked to remain unidentified – told journalists.
The march organizers announced protests for Wednesday at various spots around Managua, where they said they planned to block streets and roadways.
They said that the council representing students at state-funded universities will ask Nicaragua’s Catholic hierarchy to mediate in the public transport situation.
In the march on Tuesday, college and high school students and members of the FNT union linked to the main opposition Sandinistas moved through the city without incident.
The capital police, who authorized the march, monitored the development of the demonstration protesting the hike in bus fares from 14 cents to 17 cents.
Since the students began their protests on May 3, five vehicles have been burned, between 70 and 80 people have been arrested and an undetermined number of university students and police officers have been injured in assorted confrontations.
The bus drivers began a partial strike on March 6 to demand a $2 million government subsidy to compensate them for the losses they were experiencing due to the recent rise in fuel prices.
In response to the fact that lawmakers did not approve the subsidy, the transport workers unilaterally raised the price of bus tickets by 3 cents, or 21 percent.
Although Congress did an about-face on May 25 and approved the demanded subsidy, bus drivers continue to keep half their buses off the road, now demanding additional subsidies and vowing not to rescind the fare hike.
Meanwhile, President Enrique Bolaños’ government is at odds with Managua’s Sandinista mayor, Dionisio Marenco, over how to resolve the problem.
