Cervantes Prize winner dedicates award to Nicaraguans killed in protests

MADRID, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Nicaraguan author Sergio Ramirez, winner of the prestigious 2018 Cervantes Prize for literature, on Monday dedicated the Cervantes Prize award to his fellow countrymen who had been killed in recent protests.

Cervantes Prize is considered to be the highest recognition for literature in the Spanish language. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes -- author of Don Quixote -- perhaps the most famous work ever published in Spanish.

Ramirez made a speech at the award ceremony held on Monday at University of Alcala, close to Madrid.

They had been killed, Ramirez said, "in the streets for asking for justice and democracy and for the thousands of young people who are fighting with no more than their ideals that Nicaragua becomes a republic once again".

"As a novelist, I cannot ignore the constant events which make up the reality where I live and which are so stormy and upsetting and often tragic," he said.

In his speech at the event attended by King Felipe VI of Spain and Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, Ramirez looked back at his days with the Sandinista rebels who ousted the Nicaraguan dictator, Anastasio Somoza in the late 1970's.

"One day I left literature to join a revolution which defeated a dictatorship; it was because I still felt like a child on my knees watching a puppet show and I wanted to take up broadsword to help Don Quixote beat the bad guys," Ramirez said.

Ramirez became vice president of Nicaragua, alongside former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. But he now opposes the Nicaraguan leader, who was facing deadly protests over pension reforms.

Ortega on Sunday repealed a controversial reform of the country's welfare system that triggered days of violence. The Nicaraguan Center of Human Rights said on Monday that at least 25 people had died in the riot. Enditem