ConflictBarometer_2015

THE AMERICAS
people demonstrated in at least eight Mexican states as well
as abroad to commemorate the first anniversary of the disappearances.
The Interdisciplinary Independent Group of Experts, designated
by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) to investigate the Ayotzinapa case, signed a ten-point
agreement with the government on October 19. The agreement
encompassed the procedure of further investigations in
the case. The following day, the group of experts presented
its final report on the Ayotzinapa case before the IACHR. On
November 30, relatives of the 43 normalistas and the director
of the Attorney General's Office agreed on the terms of
further investigations. Subsequently, the protesters removed
their camp near the presidential residence in Mexico City. jok
NICARAGUA (INDIGENOUS GROUPS)
Intensity: 3 | Change: NEW | Start: 2015
Gobierno Territorial Indígena de Wangki Twi Tasba Raya Constantino
Rommel and two others were injured on a road near
Waspam, when they allegedly failed to stop at a control post,
resulting in police and military opening fire on their vehicle.
YATAMA leader and member of the National Assembly Brooklyn
Rivera Bryan was accused of illegally selling land titles to
settlers, acting ''against the fatherland'' as well as of inciting
violence in the Caribbean Coast, having him removed from
his parliamentary seat by the FSLN majority vote on September
21.
Ortega condemned Miskitos taking up arms, but stated that
the indigenous communities had the support of the government
and that they would regain their belongings according
to the Autonomy Law of the Caribbean Coast. peh
NICARAGUA (OPPOSITION)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 2008
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
Miskito groups, YATAMA vs. government
autonomy, resources
A violent crisis over autonomy and resources in the coastal
regions of the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region
(RACCN) erupted between members of the Miskito indigenous
and the indigenous party Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih
Aslatakanka (YATAMA), on the one hand, and the government
of President Daniel Ortega, on the other.
YATAMA and other indigenous organizations had been
granted enhanced autonomy rights after the civil war in the
1980s, in which armed indigenous groups had fought against
the government. YATAMA developed into a political party
after an autonomy agreement had been signed in 1988. In
recent years, the party had repeatedly expressed its dissent
with policies of the government, especially regarding the
enforcement of indigenous rights [→ Nicaragua (opposition
groups)].
Tensions developed after a series of murders and abductions
of indigenous and their leaders in Waspam municipality
in the RACCN, allegedly conducted by illegal settlers called
colonos. Up to 15 Miskitos were reportedly killed, mostly by
bands of about 30 colonos armed with AK-47 assault rifles.
After Miskito groups had allegedly burned down about 20
accommodations of colonos, clashes between Miskitos and
settlers in late August and early September left numerous
indigenous dead or wounded. More than 1,000 Miskitos fled
the region in September in fear of reprisal attacks by colonos,
crossing the border to Honduras or resettling in the regional
capital Puerto Cabezas/Bilwi.
Miskito groups took up arms and organized into self-defense
groups in the beginning of September. They accused the
government of neglecting the issue as well as individual
politicians of supporting the clear-cutting of tropical forest
and exploitation of hardwoods by colonos. The government,
in turn, ordered an investigation and deployed national police
and military forces to the indigenous territory Wangky
Twi Tasba Raya on September 7.
On September 14, an armed clash between members of
YATAMA and the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front
(FSLN) left an indigenous leader dead and eight others injured
in Waspam. The same evening, about 100,000 indigenous
marched in Waspam requesting the government to end violence
by taking action against the colonos and to enforce
the land title regulation. The next day, former leader of the
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
opposition groups vs. government
system/ideology, national power
The violent crisis concerning the orientation of the political
system and national power between various opposition
groups and the government of President Daniel Ortega's
ruling party Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) continued.
On February 25, leaders of the two main opposition parties,
the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) and the Constitutionalist
Liberal Party (PLC), as well as the initiative ''Cruzada PLC por la
Unidad'' formed an alliance called the National Coalition for
Democracy (CND) to run in the 2016 presidential elections
against the FSLN.
From April onwards, the CND and civil society movements
organized weekly demonstrations in the capital Managua in
demand of free and fair presidential elections in 2016. Several
of these marches turned violent. On July 8, a police
unit clashed with anti-government protesters outside the
Supreme Electoral Court (CSE) in Managua demonstrating
for the independence of the CSE. The police used tear gas,
rubber bullets, and physical violence against the protesters,
leaving several of them injured, including PLI deputies. On
September 2, protesters were fired at during a demonstration.
PLI officials later accused the FSLN of having infiltrated
protests in order to provoke disturbance and violence. On
November 18, members of the Sandinista Youth (JP), the FSLN
youth organization, attacked a protest march. The same day,
the police detained three civil society activists and three PLI
members, two of them deputies, accusing them of violence
against journalists and attempted murder. PLI President Eduardo
Montealegre rejected the accusations and designated
the detained as political prisoners.
Throughout the year, opposition groups and civil society organizations
also demonstrated against the construction of
the Interoceanic Canal. Ortega had awarded the construction
contract to the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development
Company in June 2013. Approx. 15,000 people took to the
streets in Juigalpa, Chontales department, on June 13. At
a protest march to Managua in late October, JP members
attacked participants, while another seven protesters were
injured in clashes with riot police. One week later, government
officials announced that the environmental and social
impact assessment for the canal project had been approved.
Further demonstrations of indigenous groups and parties
took place in late August in Puerto Cabezas, Autonomous Re-
116