Nicaragua government takes over five opposition-held towns

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaraguan riot police have taken over the city halls of five municipalities that had been in the hands of an opposition party, four months before scheduled municipal elections. Kitty Monterrey, president of Citizens for Freedom, a political party disallowed by the Nicaraguan government before presidential elections last year, confirmed the police occupations in San Sebastian de Yali, El Cua, Murra and El Almendro.  Oscar Gadea Tinoco, mayor of Pantasma and member of Citizens for Freedom, also said that police occupied his town Saturday. Citizens for Freedom had won each of those town halls in the 2017 elections. But headed into last year’s presidential election, President Daniel Ortega showed little tolerance for the opposition.