Nicaragua's unlikely opposition faces rocky road to defeat Ortega

Lesther Aleman, a 20-year old student, poses for a picture at an office in Managua, Nicaragua June 23, 2018. REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

MANAGUA (Reuters) - Lesther Aleman, a lanky and bespectacled 20-year-old student, had never taken part in a protest until April when he became the public face of a revolt that has shaken the rule of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

The straight-'A's student won national fame when in a live broadcast he called Ortega a "murderer" for the violent repression of protests that left more than 200 people dead. The crackdown reawakened memories of Nicaragua's decade-long civil war that ended in 1990.