2 Dead and many Injured in Chichigalpa

All,

Something awful transpired last week in the municipality where La Isla Foundation does the majority of its work.  We have waited to verify everything and it appears our worst fears are true. A horrible incident between workers, police and company security transpired last week.  To me this event shows the stress and the abuse this community lives under every day.  I always feared it would explode. Men steal scrap metal from the sugar mill in order to support their families and have been killed for it by company security in the past.  What occurred last week seems to be an intensification of this terrible dynamic.  Clearly rusty metal isn’t worth anyone’s life.  The Pellas Group and the Chichigalpa police should be ashamed. 

La Isla Foundation is struggling to get by month to month and we are one of the only voices providing these sugar cane workers and their families with a voice in the USA.  Please consider donating at laislafoundation.org  We need to make 60k to operate for a year, including hiring a grant writer who can help make us self sufficient while we grow our school and trips program.  Also, consider coming down and learning spanish or traveling with us to support the community.  We are exploring our options but we and the community certainly need your help. As most of you know no US staff takes a cent from donations at this stage and everything goes directly to the community and our staff in Nicaragua.

Here is what occured:

Two dead and 32 wounded in clash in Chichigalpa

Clashes between police and sugar mill workers resulted in two dead and 32 wounded in Chichigalpa. At 6:00am on July 7, police attempted to arrest Alonso Cuadra, 19, accused of stealing wire from the San Antonio Sugar Mill. Cuadra, his brothers, and dozens of fellow workers aboard a truck carrying them to work at the mill, resisted the arrest, injuring several officers. The police reacted with force killing Ervin Urrutia, 26, with a bullet to the chest. At 11:30am confrontations began between protesters and the police who received reinforcement from 800 police officers from Chinandega, Leon and Managua. At 3:10pm there was another death: Norvin Flores, 17, evidently felled by a police bullet as well. The violence continued the next day. 

Chinandega Police Commissioner Douglas Pichardo said that the seven agents who participated in the arrest of Cuadra that began the conflict had been suspended pending an investigation by the Internal Affairs Department of the National Police. A committee that included Chichigalpa Mayor Victor Sevilla and church representatives met with protesters. Police later released 29 detainees who had been involved in the clashes with police. 

President Daniel Ortega lamented the death of the two Chichigalpa residents and said, “This is not within our norms of conduct…. When there is a break in public order we should avoid as much as possible the utilization of force to resolve problems.” Denis Darce of the Permanent Commission on Human Rights (CPDH) questioned why police officers have stood by when there was violence at the universities among student organizations and then reacted with violence against the workers in Chichigalpa. (El Nuevo Diario, July 8, 10; Radio La Primerisima, July 7) 

Please help.