Nicaragua Network

1. Logging prohibition goes into effect
2. Political briefs: election schedule in May; Gadea declines to run; no pastoral letter; observers?
3. First Zika baby born normal
4. Venezuelan aid reported for 2015
5. Rainy season expected to be normal
6. Support increased for small tourism businesses
7. Disability access improvements announced
8. Boston Zoo supporting tapir conservation

1. Logging prohibition goes into effect

Logging of the 72,000 hectares of pine forests in Nueva Segovia, Madriz, and Estelí was stopped on Apr. 13 by an order from the Nicaraguan Institute of Forestry (INAFOR). On Apr. 15, government communications coordinator Rosario Murillo announced the formation of a presidential commission to evaluate Nicaragua’s forests which would be led by Attorney General Hernan Estrada.

Loggers first noticed the prohibition when the INAFOR’s log tracing system closed down and they were notified verbally of the prohibition by the INAFOR district delegate. The owner of a pine forest in San Fernando, Nueva Segovia, Jose Andres Castillo, said that the government had been influenced by critical environmentalists who place all the blame for environmental problems on loggers. He added, “We, the owners of forests, when we cut down a pine tree we plant ten and we can demonstrate that in the areas that we own. I have been a forest owner for twenty years and we are replanting.” Bayardo Olivas, also in the timber business, called the prohibition “drastic” and said that the industry supported 18,000 families directly or indirectly and the prohibition would increase unemployment and migration. Silvia Castellanos of the Timber Industry Association of Nueva Segovia said that the timber being extracted currently is from thinning of the forests to prevent the spread of the pine beetle infestation which has damaged many forests in the region.

However, environmentalist and presidential adviser Jaime Incer Barquero said, “I congratulate President Ortega and hope that it [the logging prohibition] will be permanent. Incer said that the prohibition of logging and of transportation of logs is not only for pine trees but for all species until new orders. Incer Barquero has visited the Serrania Dipilto-Jalapa Protected Area and strongly criticized the government’s logging permissions. (On Oct. 20, 2014, President Ortega had issued a decree suspending for one year the prohibition against the logging of pine trees.) Incer said that the protection of these forests should be of the highest importance for the authorities and for the population “because logging is drying up the water; it is drying up the rivers.” He added, “We have to fight against the felling of trees. It is true that the pine beetle is having an effect but logging is out of control and healthy trees are being taken.”

Environmentalist Ruben Alvarado, a member of a Catholic Christian Base Community, also spoke out against the massive extraction of pine logs. He said, “With the pretext of the pine beetle, we see a commercial interest. We are not against [taking out infected trees] but measures should be taken to make it less damaging. We don’t want logging because we would [soon] be in a desert with grave consequences.”

Murillo said that the new commission would “do a complete evaluation of these forestry issues and put together proposals for the president.” Along with Estrada, other members of the commission are Juanita Argeñal and Roberto Araquistain of the Ministry of the Environment, William Schwartz of INAFOR, and representatives of the Army, Police, and the Nicaraguan Institute for Municipal Development. (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 13, 15; Informe Pastran, Apr. 15; Boletin Ecologica, Apr. 16)

2. Political briefs: election schedule in May; Gadea declines to run; no pastoral letter; observers?

The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) will issue the schedule for the November 6^th general elections in May, according to an Apr. 18^th report in the Informe Pastran. After the CSE announcement, the parties have to register their candidates for president, the National Assembly, and the Central American Parliament. They must also prepare their lists of persons who will sit on the departmental and municipal electoral councils and name their poll watchers for each polling place. (Informe Pastran, Apr. 18)

On Apr. 7, octogenarian radio broadcaster Fabio Gadea Mantilla, who was the opposition candidate for president in 2011, said that he would not be a candidate in this year’s election. He said, “Since there has been no change for the better in the Supreme Electoral Council, I have decided not to accept the candidacy that has been offered me.” The National Coalition for Democracy, led by the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), had asked Gadea to run as its candidate. Raul Obregon, managing director of M&R Consultores polling firm, said, “We’ll have to see who surfaces; the important thing is that the PLI needs a figure who can achieve more popularity than Gadea, something that I see as difficult.” Rev. Saturnino Cerrato said on Apr. 12 that, in light of Gadea’s withdrawal from consideration, he reaffirmed his desire to be the candidate of the Coalition. However, National Assembly Deputy Eliseo Nuñez said on Apr. 18 that PLI members had closed ranks around Deputy Luis Callejas of Chinandega. Meanwhile, Hugo Torres of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), also a member of the Alliance, said that his party was not seeking the presidential candidacy of the coalition and that the candidate should be chosen by consensus. (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 7, 12; Informe Pastran, Apr. 12. 15, 18)

The Nicaraguan Catholic Bishops Conference, in a communique issued on Apr. 12, lamented the fact that they have been unable to come to consensus on a pastoral letter that they wished to issue on the occasion of Holy Week and Easter. The communique said, “We recognize that even while there exist among us sincere friendship and a solid unity on matters of faith and pastoral vision about our national reality, we have different points of view about what is the best focus for the current moment in our country’s history.” The bishops’ meeting took place at the Papal Nunciature but Nuncio Fortunatus Nwachukwu had no statement for the press and the bishops left by different doors without comment. Silvio Baez, auxiliary bishop of Managua, said, “The situation in Nicaragua is so complicated, so changeable, and so obscure at some points, that it is sometimes difficult to decide which things to accentuate, which things to highlight and which things to leave for the future…. All this comes into play when it comes time to write a document….” This is the first time in 30 years that the Bishops Conference has not issued an annual pastoral letter and it is assumed that it is because of political differences among the bishops. (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 12, 13; Informe Pastran, Apr. 12)

Kenny Bell, chief of the European Union delegation in Nicaragua and Panama, said on Apr. 13 that the EU had not yet received any invitation to observe or accompany the November elections. “There has been no communication with the Supreme Electoral Council. The possibility exists but naturally we would need a formal request.” He added, “A period of five or six months would be necessary to prepare an exploratory mission… and now we are nearing the time limit to put together the necessary framework.”

Meanwhile, Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Supreme Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said, “This year we will again support campaigns and actions to promote an electoral process that is transparent, that has independent national and international observers, and that promotes the greatest possible participation of Nicaraguans exercising their right to vote.” (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 13; Informe Pastran, Apr. 12, 13)

3. First Zika baby born normal

Nicaraguan health authorities revealed on Apr. 18 that one of the pregnant women who had been diagnosed with Zika gave birth recently to a healthy baby. Communications coordinator Rosario Murillo passed on the news saying, “The baby of a mother who tested positive for Zika, thank God, was born in good health. The baby weighed seven pounds and its head measurement was 34 centimeters which is normal.”  

The Health Ministry said that over the weekend two new positive cases of Zika had been diagnosed bringing the total to 139. One of the cases was a pregnant woman. Last week the US Centers for Disease Control said that, while pregnant women infected with the virus risk having babies with brain defects, not all of the babies will have microcephaly or other congenital problems. (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 18)

4. Venezuelan aid reported for 2015

The Nicaragua Central Bank released a report detailing US$381 million in Venezuelan aid in 2015. Of that total, US$306.8 million were loans from the Venezuelan national oil company PDVSA, US$2.5 million from the Venezuelan Bank of Economic and Social Development (BANDES), and US$71.6 million in foreign direct investment.  Nicaragua pays for half of the oil it obtains from Venezuela in cash. The over US$300 million loan from PDVSA represents the continuation of preferential terms for the other half which the Central Bank described as “concessional credit for 25 years including a 2 year grace period and an interest rate of 2% which will be paid by the private sector from the investments it makes in socially productive projects.”

According to the report, 62% of the loan was destined for socially productive projects in the areas of energy independence, industry, fair trade, land and sea transportation, services, business development, agricultural and forest development, food and nutrition security and sovereignty, public transportation subsidies, housing infrastructure, affordable housing, humanitarian aid, and urban and rural infrastructure. The report noted that transportation subsidies included fare support to keep bus fares at 2.5 cordobas (US$0.09). (Informe Pastran, Apr. 18)

5. Rainy season expected to be normal

According to the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER), Nicaragua can expect a normal rainy season this year after two years of drought. INETER scientific adviser Jose Antonio Milan, speaking at a meeting with officials from the country’s 153 municipalities, indicated that rains could begin around May 15.  Denis Melendez, executive secretary of the National Risk Management Roundtable, said that the country’s watersheds should begin to recuperate around the third week in May and the problem of dry wells should begin to resolve itself at that time also. He warned, however, that although normal rainfall is expected, the flow of water in rivers where forest cover has been lost will not be the same as in years past. He said that farmers should begin preparing the soil for planting. (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 11; Informe Pastran, Apr. 15)

6. Support increased for small tourism businesses

The Nicaraguan Bank of Production (BANPRO) is creating a US$5 million fund to enable the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (INTUR) to make US$3,000-$35,000 loans to promote micro, small, and medium businesses along the Coffee and Water Routes. In an effort to grow the tourism sector, the Nicaraguan government has designated themed “routes” for preferential development of micro, small and medium businesses in order to prevent large-scale foreign investment from driving local businesses out as is happening in Honduras and other countries where the transnational tourist industry sets its sights on developing tourism. The fund will help 500 Nicaraguan-owned businesses with loans below 9% interest [as compared to a sample small business loan application on the web page of a Nicaraguan bank which showed a 25% interest rate] and highly favorable payment conditions. Tourism income in Nicaragua grew by 18.7% in 2015, surpassing half a billion dollars. (Nicaragua News, Apr. 12; El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 12; Informe Pastran, Apr. 12)

7. Disability access improvements announced

The Sandinista government continues to work to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo announced a plan to add wheelchair ramps at bus stops and other localities for handicapped access. “We have the capacity to build 1,750 ramps, improving mobility for those with disabilities in parks, bus stops, and stadiums,” Murillo said. The work will be carried out by municipal governments and includes access to bathrooms in public parks.  Seven hundred Managua bus stops are being refitted with ramps, and damaged manhole covers and storm sewer grills are being replaced.

However, Jose Antonio Gutierrez, president of the Nicaraguan Association of Persons with Severe Physical Disabilities (ANDIS), said bus owners have not kept the elevators that lift wheelchairs onto their buses in working order nor have they replaced damaged safety straps for the wheelchairs on the buses. He said that several organizations were coordinating with the Institute for the Regulation of Municipal Transportation of Managua (INTRAMMA) to set up a meeting with the federation of bus owner cooperatives to address the issue and make sure that at least 30 to 35 buses have functioning elevators. (Informe Pastran, Apr. 12, 13; El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 11)

8. Boston Zoo supporting tapir conservation

The Zoo of New England (ZNE) is fighting to preserve Nicaragua’s tapir from extinction. The ZNE, composed of the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston and the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC) have been working on research, conservation and education projects related to the Baird’s tapir in Nicaragua since 2014. Under Project Tapir Nicaragua, tapirs in the forests of eastern Nicaragua are collared to compile information about where they travel and tapirs that have spent time in captivity are reintroduced into the wild. Katruk, a female tapir who lives in the Indio Maiz Biological Reserve, wore a collar for a year and the information on the collar is now being studied by scientists.

The Baird’s tapir, which is the largest land mammal in Central America and can weigh as much as 600 pounds, is threatened in Nicaragua because of loss of forest habitat and because the animal is hunted for its meat. ZNE has published a book being distributed in schools in the North and South Caribbean Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua which explains to students the importance of the tapir for the health of the forest environment. As the book notes, the Nicaraguan tapir is an herbivore and acts as distributor of seeds. The seeds that it eats are dropped again in the forest in its feces which help the forests to regenerate.

Scientist Christopher Jordan, who works with GWC in Nicaragua, coordinates a forest ranger program with local Caribbean Coast residents to help conserve the tapirs. Jordan said, “It is extremely rewarding to see the reaction of these local people to our work. Even those who have no direct economic benefit from our forest ranger program are extremely happy with the results of our project and support both us and the forest rangers. Conservation is part of these local people’s identity.” He added, “Our work is creating long-term conservation solutions for indigenous people who deserve them and for species that need them in a globally important country for biodiversity.” (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 12; http://globalwildlife.org/2015/12/17/qa-from-the-field-nicaragua/; http://www.zoonewengland.org/zoo-news/2016/march/from-massachusetts-to-nicaragua-%E2%80%93-working-on-behalf-of-baird%E2%80%99s-tapirs)