Supporters of Nicaragua’s ruling party rally behind their president. The man who once helped overthrow a dictator, but is now accused of becoming a dictator himself. Daniel Ortega first came to power nearly 40 years ago. He returned for a second shot at the presidency in 2007 and quickly set out to consolidate power. He even got rid of term limits. We watched this live broadcast of Ortega’s speech in the town of Masaya, the heart of a popular uprising that threatens to bring him down. As he called for peace and unity, his police forces opened fire on residents just blocks away from me. The people pushed back. Residents began erecting barricades three months ago in response to the state’s violent crackdown on protesters. The barricades snarled traffic and infuriated the government. Masaya quickly turned into a war zone. Guardabarranco — that’s his nom de guerre — used to run a snack food business. In April, he stopped working to help defend his neighborhood. It’s the one bastion of resistance that police had failed to control. The people of Masaya fought police forces for months. But their barricades would soon fall. In the capital, Managua, the opposition movement continues, fueled by the injustice and terror of the crackdown. It all started back in April. People came out to protest cuts to Social Security and were confronted with tear gas and bullets. President Ortega later scrapped the reforms, but it was too late. It was no longer just about Social Security. This was about democracy. Ortega had stacked the courts, taken over the legislature and rigged elections. And the people had had enough. They started to demand that Ortega resign. About 300 have been killed in violent clashes since protests began, including several police officers and many students. In a defiant move, about 200 students occupied this public university. They were holed up here for months, surviving on donated food and medical supplies. Jonathan López is a third-year economics student. The mood was quiet, but tense. Everyone knew what was coming. Police and paramilitaries attacked the very next day. Two students were killed and several others injured. The rest were trapped through the night. Eventually church leaders negotiated to end the standoff, and the students were released. We went back to Masaya as President Ortega stepped up attacks on this rebel stronghold. That morning, Salvadora Medina’s son, José Esteban, had been shot in the chest by sniper fire. She said she’d been cooking him breakfast when the shot rang out. Police and paramilitaries finally pushed through two days later and raised the flag of the ruling Sandinista party in the neighborhood plaza. Ortega has called it Operación Limpieza: the cleanup operation. It’s a nationwide strategy to stamp out the unrest, clear barricades and root out resistance at any cost. What will happen next? No one knows. But for the moment, Ortega appears to be winning the battle over his critics, if only by sheer firepower.