The Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH) reported that 38 people were killed on Sunday in three parts of the country where clashes exploded between police and protesters of President Daniel Ortega.
The Sunday slayings were the deadliest since violent protests erupted in April.
CENIDH President Vilma Núñez told BBC Mundo on Tuesday that 31 protesters and seven police and pro-government forces had been killed, revising previous estimates of 14 dead.
Ms. Nunez also told the AFP news agency Sunday’s violence had been “a horror” and “a disaster”.
“This looked like an occupation army,” she said of the pro-government police and support forces. “They wiped out all the barricades.”
The Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which has attempted to mediate stalled talks to resolve the political crisis, denounced Sunday’s police actions as operations conducted “at the price of blood and death”.
Since Sunday, the church has documented on social media attacks by masked pro-Ortega gangs on priests and worshipers, including an assault on Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, who was attempting to help anti-government protesters trapped inside a church.
Protests against Mr. Ortega began in late April when his government announced changes to its social security system. They quickly escalated into direct calls for him to step down.
The former communist rebel previously rued from 1979 to 1990. This time around he has served as president since 2007.
In 2016 he was re-elected to a third consecutive term amid accusations of authoritarian rule including grooming his children for future leadership positions. In 2017 he named his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president.
Over the weekend Mr. Ortega — appearing in public for the first time in over a month — rejected calls to hold an early election before his current term, which runs through 2021, expires.
Last week the U.S. Treasury Department responded to the heavy-handed crackdown on protests, which have killed roughly 350 people overall.
U.S. officials imposed harsh economic and travel sanctions on three of Mr. Ortega’s prominent associates, including the national police commissioner.
Anti-government groups have called for more protest marches on Wednesday and a strike on Thursday.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.