Catholic Priests Are At The Forefront Of Nicaragua's Protests

But with many leaders in the country's Catholic Church backing the demonstrators, and the government quick to use the church as an enemy, the protests look unlikely to stop anytime soon.

Under the proposed plan, the government would raise income and payroll taxes while still cutting pension payments by 5%. That may not seem like a lot, but in a country where 30% of people live on $2 a day, that's a serious dip in available cash for many people.

Ortega is actually on his second run as president, having seized power from the country's dictatorship in 1979. Once in power, the Sandinistas declared themselves a Marxist regime, staying in control of the country until Ortega lost the presidency in the 1990 election.

By 1983, when Ortega met Pope John Paul II (pictured above), Archbishop Miguel Obando y Bravo's fight with the Sandinistas had grown so great that the pope was actually interrupted repeatedly while trying to conduct mass during a visit to the country.

But since returning to office, Ortega has steadily consolidated power, positioning allies throughout the legislative and judicial branches of government. He's won reelection twice since coming back — in 2011 and 2016 — after managing in 2014 to do away with term limits for the presidency entirely.

Ortega's governing style is also a family affair: His wife, Rosario Murillo, serves as his vice president. His children in turn "run the family’s business empire via a web of public-relations firms and media companies that functions as the government’s communications department."

Angering Nicaraguans further, Murillo reportedly referred to those killed as “vampires, needing blood to feed their political agendas,” in an Apr. 19 national radio address.

The United States and the United Nations both issued statements of concern about the death toll, and Pope Francis said he was “very worried over what’s happening these days in Nicaragua," adding that every “useless spilling of blood must be stopped.”

Nicaraguan Attorney General Inés Miranda on Thursday said that his office would be investigating the deaths that have occurred during the protests. "A responsible and formal investigation was started regarding the following acts: the loss of life of students, police and civilians; the injuries sustained by students, police, and civilians; looting and property damage, both public and private," Miranda said.

Much like during the 1980s, high-ranking members of the clergy haven't been shy about making their feelings known. During the rally, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes told protestors that Ortega had a month to reach a deal that would satisfy the people's demands. “The government has just one month to come through. If it doesn’t, the people will be told that it couldn’t,” Brenes said.

Brenes went on to call the Ortega government “demonic, based on envy and every kind of evil.”

“Blessed are those who thirst for justice, for they will be filled,” Brenes said. “The devil is always astute and always intervenes when we say the truth. The devil would want for us to remain in the dark.”

Unlike the previous demonstrations, Saturday's rally was entirely peaceful — either due to the massive size of the crowd or the religious overtone it held.

"The changes in social security were just the last straw," one woman told the Miami Herald on Saturday. "But they were doing so many things before — stealing elections, stealing government money, so much corruption."

“The love and care that we have for our undisputed leader, the commander-president, has to be expressed by a sea of people, to defeat that religious-political march of the right-wing church," a Sandinista communique announcing the rally read, according to the Miami Herald.

The 19th of April Student Movement, which has organized the student groups under one umbrella and issued a list of demands to the government, called for a halt in protests until Wednesday. But after that, Ortega will face another squeeze of pressure, one he may not be able to withstand.