After the government’s decision to destroy the barricades in León, the citizens decided on Tuesday to build ditches (zanjas in Spanish) on the public roads of the neighborhoods Laborío, Zaragoza and Sutiaba, as a means of protection against the stalking of the so-called “trucks of death”.
Since last June 22, the municipality with the support of armed police and paramilitaries and “men in hoods”, have been given the task of intimidating the population and destroy the more than 400 barricades. Dozens of injured and arrested as a result.
“It’s inhumane what the police are doing, they shoot at all the people they see in the streets, they remove the barricade but they do not respect the citizens, this Monday I spent 45 minutes sheltered in a house for fear of being killed”, said Martinez, who called on the government to regulate this situation.
For his part, Byron Fuentes, a bus driver at the Sutiaba Bus Terminal, said he has stopped working for 10 days but supports the protests of the people.
“The roads are obstructed but we seek to circulate even against it but the important thing is to provide the service and respect the struggle that the population has,” said Fuentes, a member of Cotranscul.
Francisco Ramón Berrios, one of the more than three thousand “caponeros” (moto taxi drivers) who circulate illegally in the city, said that the barricades have not been an obstacle to work.
“The people who are in the barricades have left areas free for the pedestrian and vehicular crossing above all in the morning hours, at night they close them again as a precaution,” said Berrios, who admitted that the business has been very good.
Source (in Spanish): El Nuevo Diario
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
