By Tim Rogers and Blake Schmidt

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua’s capital was again terrorized by political violence yesterday afternoon when hundreds of Sandinista loyalists – who were joined by leftist sympathizers from El Salvador – turned Managua into an urban battle zone by taking over the city, blocking traffic, shooting explosives and attacking the opposition – including members of the news media.

Downtown businesses were once again forced to close early, some of them boarding their windows in anticipation of violence, as Sandinista fanatics – many of them masked and armed with bats, rocks, machetes and guns – congregated in various sectors of the city to prepare for battle against opposition members who had announced a march to support Liberal Party candidate Eduardo Montealegre, who claims victory in the Nov. 9 municipal election in Managua.

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The planned march by the PLC party, to proclaim fraud over the recent municipal elections was abandoned when rival factions from the FSLN ruling party blocked the route with buses and gangs of hooded youths with mortars and various other weapons.

Hundreds of Sandinista armed with homemade mortars, stones and sticks surrounded a group of liberals, among them was the candidate for mayor of Managua, Eduardo Montealegre, who had to be removed by riot to prevent being assaulted by the mob.

The siege of the marchers, which also involved politicians, intellectuals and civil society leaders, was maintained for about two hours in the western sector of the capital, until the opponents decided to withdraw.

Fighting broke out in various parts of the capital also, with the media once again a target of the FSLN.

One of the journalist covering the events, Ivan Olivares was stabbed with a bayonet and taken to the hospital for stitches.

Olivares later made a call to President Daniel Ortega not to incite further violence, stressing that journalists are becoming the targets of violence from the groups allied to his government.

In two other seperate events media crews from local channels 2 and 8 had their vehicles ransacked and destroyed.

This is the second time in three days the FSLN supporters have refused to let the opposition express their solidarity in the form of a protest march.

In what can only be described as a political war, the capital city of Managua will today become a battleground for rival supporters.

A caravan of about 40 buses filled with FSLN supporters, armed with home made mortars and various other weapons, made it’s way from the northern part of the country toward the capital this morning.

At the same time a similar amount of PLC supporters converged on the capital for their announced peaceful protest march over the recent municipal election results.

The Sandinistas will be trying to block the route of the march with buses and have many supporters at every roundabout in the Capital.

The same tactics were used Sunday in Leon where a protest march there, was unable to proceed and a pitch battle ensued with several casualties.

In Leon the police were either unable or refused to get involved in the situation and chaos prevailed.

Former US baseball star Cal Ripkin JR was forced to cancel his baseball clinic in Leon and the once in a lifetime opportunity for Nicaragua’s baseball youth was lost.

With no government intervention other than the police to allow the peaceful march, Nicaragua is faced with another sad day in its history of political unrest.

Tourist are advised to avoid the capital at all cost today.

Managua, Nicaragua - Nicaragua’s capital was bracing for large demonstrations Tuesday by the ruling Sandinista party and the opposition after supporters of President Daniel Ortega blocked an important highway through Managua, forcing opposition leaders to seek refuge in a church.

- Nicaragua will produce 21.4 percent less coffee for export in the 2008/09 growing season compared with the previous cycle, the head of the country’s exporters association said on Saturday.

Nicaragua sees the 2008/09 coffee harvest, which began this month, at about 1.3 million 60-kg (132-pound) bags, coffee exporter Jose Angel Buitrago told Reuters at an annual coffee conference in Costa Rica.

Nicaragua closed its 2007/08 coffee cycle in September with about 1.6 million 60-kg bags of exports, a 37.1 percent jump from the 2006/07 season.

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- A standoff between supporters of Nicaragua’s governing party and opponents wounded eight on the outskirts of the capital Sunday as conflict over alleged voter fraud turned violent.

One partisan from each side was shot and six police officers were injured by tossed rocks and fireworks, national police spokeswoman Vilma Reyes said.

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A campaign to bring textbooks to Nicaraguan students by a former Examiner reporter has surpassed its goal.

Textbooks for Nicaragua Campaign, by Carol Franks whose journeys throughout Central America were profiled in a series of features on The Examiner’s Travel Page this fall, has raised $3,500, surpassing its $2,000 goal.

Franks promised her Nicaraguan students this past spring to bring back ESL textbooks from Canada. Pearson Longman, publisher of the ESL series, Side by Side, kicked off the campaign by donating 20 textbooks, an assortment of dictionaries and some readers.

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MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Nov. 15 — Full Story">Cal Ripken Jr. could have guessed it was going to be “a real interesting trip,” as he diplomatically put it, when the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua decided it was too dangerous for the baseball Hall of Famer to stay as planned at the Intercontinental hotel in the capital. The night before his arrival, a mob of club-wielding Full Story">Sandinista supporters had smashed windows at the mall next door, part of ongoing violence here since contested elections.

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Managua, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) — China has made admirable achievements since initiating its reform and opening-up policy some 30 years ago, Javier Chamorro, executive director of ProNicaragua, the Nicaraguan government’s investment promotion agency, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The move has shortened the distance between China and Latin America, but more importantly, it has brought the two peoples closer to each other, he added.

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