MANAGUA, (Reuters) – The Nicaraguan government said yesterday that a man arrested in May last year during months of anti-government protests died in a shooting at the prison near Managua where he was being held. The prisoner, Eddy Montes, was a U.S. citizen, his cousin Paola Montenegro told Reuters, after Nicaraguan media published photos of what appeared to be his U.S. passport.
The U.S. embassy did not respond to requests for information. The Nicaraguan interior ministry said in a statement that Montes had family who were of foreign nationality but gave no further detail.
Hundreds of people were killed and hundreds more detained in a crackdown on protests that were triggered in April last year by a social security reform but quickly swelled into a national call to oust President Daniel Ortega.
Montes was part of a group of prisoners which tried to snatch a gun from a guard while the International Red Cross was visiting the prison, the interior ministry said, adding that the guard acted in self-defense.
Montes had been accused of attacking a police station during last year’s protests.
The Nicaraguan government has said that it would release all people arrested during the protests as a step to restart dialogue with opposition groups. It said last month it had released over 600 prisoners, but others remain in custody.
