MANAGUA, March 9 — The opposition in Nicaragua announced yesterday it would reconsider whether to continue crisis talks with President Daniel Ortega’s government seeking, after the country’s bishops declined to participate in the process.

The head of the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, former diplomat Carlos Tunnerman, said at a press conference following the close of an eighth round of talks that it would immediately “rethink the negotiation.”

“We will not physically be in the negotiation forum,” the Bishops Conference, headed by Cardinal Archbishop of Managua Leopoldo Brenes, had said in a statement following the meeting in Managua.

The Civic Alliance, which advocates for entrepreneurs, students, rural communities and civil society, is seeking the release of all political prisoners, the restoration of civil liberties, electoral reform and justice for victims of the repression.

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After eight rounds of negotiations, the government has yet to share its goals for the talks — and has shielded itself with a confidentiality pact that bans the parties from sharing details of the discussions with te press.

The crisis began in April 2018, sparking months of protests across the Central American country against Ortega’s leftist government.

More than 300 people were killed in a brutal crackdown on the opposition and independent media. Hundreds of opposition figures were thrown in jail and more than 50,000 Nicaraguans fled the country. — AFP

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