Sunday 18 January 2009, San José, Costa
Rica
Nicaragua Farmers Fight
Police, More Than 160
Arrested
Guatemalan
Authorities Investigate
Murders
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Evoked
Venezuela Amendment in
New Phase
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President to Arrive in Cuba
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Nicaragua Farmers Fight
Police, More Than 160
Arrested
Managua - More
than 160 Nicaraguan
farmers were arrested
last week when they
blocked a key highway
and clashed with police
in a protest to demand
that Congress pass a law
to ease their debts.
About 2,000 growers from
northern Nicaragua
blocked a section of the
Pan-American Highway
about 35 km from the
capital of Managua late
on Monday .
Police spokeswoman Vilma
Reyes said 167 people
were arrested. Two
police and one of the
farmers were injured in
the clashes before
police reopened the
highway, she said.
The farmers arrived in
Managua on Monday to
pressure lawmakers to
back a proposal they
presented to Congress
late in 2008 that would
allow them to
temporarily suspend debt
payments. They argue
that the interest rates
they are being charged
by small lending firms
are too high.
The farmers' proposals
have not been supported
by either President
Daniel Ortega's
left-wing Sandinista
party or right-wing
leaders, who are locked
in a fight over local
elections that
opposition parties say
were rigged.
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