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 Nicaraguas 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 Ortegas Sandinista Front (FSLN) has lost touch with the people in whose name it once fought.
As deadly anti-government protests gripped Central Americas 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 Ortegas 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.