November 2, 2004

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Arsenio Alvir, Baptist candidate for the National Convergence alliance for the mayor of New Guinea called on people to remain calm and to turn to dialogue in the face of rising electoral violence that left its first victims in its wake.

Alvir is the favorite as mayor of New Guinea, some 300 kilometers southeast of Managua in municipal elections to be held November 7.

Here last Sunday the remains of farmer Martin Zeledon Urbina were buried. Urbina was shot October 28 but two alleged adversarial activists.

It is presumed that the target was his wife Gladys Espinoza Ramirez, political secretary for the Sandinista Nacional Liberation Front in Colonia Union, in the same municipality.

Alvir called on the government, the police and the Supreme Electoral Council to hold a clear and swift investigation of the crime and to take immediate measures to calm down the situation. The FSLN also called for an investigation into the attack.

On the other hand, in Las Naciones, also in Nueva Guinea, two unknown assailants set fire to German Espinoza Urbina's store, a FSLN militant, causing material damages.

In the San Francisco Community, activities from the Liberal Constitutionalist Party beat members of the Resistance Party. Two people were injured, one hospitalized.

Moreover, the legal representative and president of the Christian Way Party (PCC) Francisco Masis denounced that in Juigalpa, a city located 146 kilometers from Managua, in the center of the country, FSLN activities destroyed propaganda and poster for their candidates.

Church of God Pastor William Gonzalez lamented the incidents and commented that these events stain the elections, something that should be a civil fiesta. The Evangelical leader called for calm, dialogue and to avoid confrontation, which only leads to violence as took place in Nueva Guinea.

Latin American Caribbean Communication Agency (ALC)