Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega is defying calls to step down and hold elections amid a months-long wave of anti-government protests that has left as many as 350 people dead.
The next elections in Nicaragua will take place in 2021 as scheduled, Ortega told US broadcaster Fox News.
"Moving up elections will cause instability, uncertainty and make everything worse," Ortega said in his first interview since 2009.
Ortega also rejected as lies accusations that Catholic priests were being attacked: "There is not a single priest who says they are being persecuted."
He denied reports from eyewitnesses and rights organisations that two people were killed in a church in the capital Managua that had been besieged by paramilitary forces close to the government.
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"No Nicaraguan has died in a church," he said.
Meanwhile, thousands of people took to the streets of Managua on Monday to protest against Ortega's government.
The Central American country has been in turmoil since April 18, when anti-government protests erupted in response to controversial social security reforms.
Rights groups put the death toll from the violence as high as 351, while the government acknowledges less than 50 deaths.
The Organization of American States last week passed a resolution calling for called for early elections in Nicaragua and an end to the political violence.
