Video: Is This The End Of Nicaragua's Protest Movement?

What started in mid April as a series of peaceful protests over welfare cuts in Nicaragua, soon spiraled into a larger opposition movement demanding that president Daniel Ortega resign.

The former leftist rebel and political leader has been in power for over a decade and has no intention of stepping down or allowing a more democratic and transparent political game. On the contrary, the government has responded brutally against the protesters with tear gas and bullets.

More than 300 people have been killed and many more have been wounded. As the political crisis escalated, the police started acting in cahoots with paramilitary groups, who drive around armed, hooded, and in pick-up trucks, as you can see in this New York Times video.

On Friday July 13th, the police escorted a group of paramilitaries to the campus of one of Managua's main universities that had been occupied by some 300 students. The attack lasted several hours. Two students were killed and several were wounded. Those who remained trapped inside the university were finally allowed to leave after the Catholic church intervened, calling for a cease fire.

In Masaya, a smaller town considered the stronghold of the most fierce opposition, people erected barricades and had managed to fend the pro Ortega forces off with homemade weapons. But last week police and paramilitary groups acted together, once more, in a final "clean up" operation that culminated with the raising of the government party in the center of town.