On Thursday, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights released a preliminary report in which it lists at least 11 deaths and 79 people injured during the incidents on Wednesday and Thursday, and it energetically condemned the acts of violence and repression "ordered" by the government. The protests were initially triggered by now-aborted reforms to the near-bankrupt social security system, but the unrest quickly broadened into a rejection by many Nicaraguans of Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, who are seen as autocratic. The government and opposition had agreed on Monday to resume peace talks mediated by the Catholic church that stalled last week.But the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference announced Thursday that it will not resume the dialogue as long as “the people continue to be repressed and killed” by “groups close to the government”. A man stands next to a burned car after a protest against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, Nicaragua May 31, 2018.REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

The bloodshed was condemned by the Central American country’s Episcopal conference of Catholic bishops, which called it “organized and systematic aggression” and suspended talks with the government that had been scheduled for Thursday. The assistant director of the National Police, Francisco Diaz, on Thursday at the press conference read from a report specifying that of the 15 deaths over the past two days, seven occurred in Managua, four in Esteli, three in Chinandega and one in Masaya.
Catholic bishops cancel the planned Episcopal Conference talks with the government after protests against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega turn violent. According to the Nicaraguan Human Rights Center, pro-government armed groups killed 11 people.