The government rejected some of the proposed remedies, such as increasing the retirement age, arguing that older people have fewer possibilities of finding employment, and that the urgency of the reform required fast results to ensure the INSS's viability, as some measures suggested by the IMF would not yield results for three or four years. The government of Daniel Ortega prepared a reform plan for the INSS based on the IMF's report. The IMF alerted Nicaragua in 2017 that in the absence of the reform, the cash reserves would be depleted by 2019. This deficit has increased by over 50% annually for the last two years. In 2013, the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute was in a deficit situation that had been grown annually, reaching 2,371 million Nicaraguan córdobas by the end of 2017. Counterprotests also occurred at the time in support of the Sandinista Front government. There were suspicions that the government had an interest in the fire, as it is the largest natural reserve through which the Nicaraguan Canal is planned to make. In early April 2018, demonstrators marched in Managua, the country's capital, to protest what they regarded as an insufficient government response to forest fires that burned 13,500 acres (5,500 hectares) of the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve, a tropical nature preserve that is home to Rama and Kriol indigenous people, as well as significant biodiversity and endangered species. By February 2018, the project was widely viewed as defunct, though a 60% absent vote to revoke the 2013 legislation creating the project, the Chinese company ( HKND) granted the concession to develop the canal maintains legal rights to it as well as to ancillary infrastructure projects. Over a year later protests started again, this time opposing the construction of a proposed Chinese-funded inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua, with environmental impact, land use, and indigenous rights, as well as Nicaraguan sovereignty among the chief concerns of demonstrators. Later, to calm down the protests, concessions to the pensioners were made by president Daniel Ortega to supply a reduced pension. After a week of demonstration, the peaceful protesters were attacked by paramilitary groups associated with the Sandinista Youth, while police had moved back only moments before. Soon, students and young people joined their protests. The 2013–2018 Nicaraguan protests began in June 2013 when some elderly people with only a small contribution (less than 750 weeks) demanded a reduced pension from the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute. 21.1 Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaraguaīackground Pensions for small contributors.16 Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts report.15 Expulsion of international human rights organizations.13 Expulsion of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.2.9 Application of the Democratic Charter.
Part of the 2014–2020 Nicaraguan protests ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)
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