Nicaraguan Candidate Saved From Knife Attack

MASAYA – The Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) is requesting an “exhaustive police investigation” into an attempted knife attack on its vice-presidential candidate, Carlos Mejía Godoy.

The attack occurred Monday morning during a campaign tour of the Municipal Market of Masaya, when a pack of young, “rough looking” teenagers approached Mejía from behind and tried to stab him with a knife concealed in a T-shirt.

Party security officials deterred the attack by grabbing the knife, prompting the assailants to scatter and run off into the market.

The motive of the attack is not clear. The MRS, whose original presidential candidate Herty Lewites died of a heart attack July 2, released a statement this week saying that Mejía and substitute presidential candidate Mundo Jarquín would not be scared off the campaign.

Mejía, a famed revolutionary folk singer and songwriter, has been in politics for only two weeks.