Nicaragua's toppling 'trees' strike ominous note for Daniel Ortega's rule

The metal sculptures were meant to beautify cityscapes but for protesters they came to symbolise a revolutionary who lost touch

When protesters flooded the streets of Managua this week, their anger found an unusual target: a garish metal forest of 17-metre (56ft) sculptures known as the Árboles de la Vida.

The multimillion-dollar art project – inspired by the work of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt – was reputedly inflicted upon Nicaragua’s capital and other cities by first lady Rosario Murillo in an attempt at civic beautification.

For critics, however, the multicoloured structures – more than 140 of which now adorn roundabouts, street corners and parks – have come to symbolize how Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista Front (FSLN) has lost touch with the people in whose name it once fought.

As deadly anti-government protests gripped Central America’s largest country this week – and the death toll reportedly rose to more than 60 – the trees came crashing down.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/28/nicaragua-daniel-ortega-trees-of-life-protests

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Tens of thousands have joined student-led protests, which started as an outbreak of fury over social security reforms and morphed into a broader revolt against the authorities’ violent response – and Ortega’s 11-year rule. At least forty-two people have died in the unrest, .

“We came in memory of the university students who fell fighting a dictatorship,” said Cinthia Madrigal, 30, who joined a march in Managua. “We took to the streets peacefully … and Daniel ordered us to be killed.”