OTTAWA: Canada on Friday condemned Nicaragua's bloody crackdown on protesters, saying it is devastating the Latin American country and raising regional security concerns.
"We condemn the killings of unarmed protesters by state security forces and paramilitary groups and the crackdowns in Managua and Masaya," Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.
"The civilian population is being intimidated on a daily basis by these forces," she said. "The clear absence of justice and accountability for their crimes is unacceptable. The perpetrators of these actions must be held accountable. This nationwide civil conflict has had a devastating impact on the citizens of Nicaragua. It is now posing serious risks to the security of the region," she added.
The death toll resulting from two months of violent clashes between anti-government activists and pro-government forces has now risen to 212, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said earlier Friday.
The Washington-based group said more than 1,300 people had also been wounded in the upheaval.
Nicaragua's descent into chaos began when relatively small protests against now-scrapped social security reforms exploded into a popular uprising against President Daniel Ortega, whose forces met demonstrators with a violent crackdown.
Freeland urged the Nicaraguan government to "protect the right of its citizens to demonstrate peacefully and safely."
She added that Ottawa supports calls for an independent investigation by the OAS and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights into rights violations in Nicaragua.