WORLD BRIEFING / NICARAGUA
More than 160 farmers were arrested when they blocked a key highway and clashed with police in a protest to demand that Congress pass a law to ease their debts, Nicaraguan police said.
About 2,000 growers blocked a section of the Pan-American Highway late Monday about 20 miles from the capital.
Police spokeswoman Vilma Reyes said 167 people were arrested. Two police officers and one farmer were injured before police reopened the highway, she said.
The farmers were pushing a proposal they presented to Congress late in 2008 that would allow them to temporarily suspend debt payments. They argue that the interest rates they are being charged by small lending firms are too high.
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