Nicaragua Network

1. President Ortega travels to Caracas for Hugo Chavez’s funeral
2. Agreement reached to raise minimum wage by 12%
3. International Women’s Day celebrated
4. More people get potable water
5. Solar cooking benefits poor women
6. Honduras grants 90 day visas to 21 asylum seekers
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1. President Ortega travels to Caracas for Hugo Chavez’s funeral

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega traveled on Mar. 7 to Caracas to attend the funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who died from cancer on Mar. 5.  Ortega said, upon his arrival, “Chavez brought light with the Bolivarian Revolution….  He was a spontaneous man, a fighter with enormous light and strength, an extraordinary being who knew how to love his people and the people of Latin America.”  Ortega, who traveled with First Lady and Communications and Citizenship Coordinator Rosario Murillo, went directly to the military academy where Chavez was lying in state.  They were received by National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello and Foreign Minister Elias Jaua. 

The Nicaraguan National Assembly held a special session to honor the late Venezuelan president.  Rene Nuñez, president of the Assembly, called Chavez the heir to and promoter of the thought of liberator Simon Bolivar, particularly in his anti-imperialist ideas, and he announced that Nicaragua would lower flags to half mast for a week of national mourning.  Opposition Deputy Alberto Lacayo noted Chavez’s three electoral victories and his solidarity with Nicaragua and other countries, independent of their politics.  Wilfredo Navarro, also an opposition deputy, recognized Chavez’s contribution to rescuing the identity, cultural traditions, and historic values of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, noting that in recognition of this he was awarded the Jose Marti Prize by UNESCO in 2005.  Present at the National Assembly session were Vice-President Omar Halleslevens, Foreign Minister Samuel Santos, the Papal Nuncio in Nicaragua, Fortunatos Nwachukwu, and other diplomats.

Meanwhile, La Prensa quoted commentators who predicted dire consequences for Nicaragua as a result of Chavez’s death.  Felix Maradiaga said that “with the Castro brothers in decline in Cuba and Chavez dead, the Bolivarian project, without financial resources, is an orphan.”  Eliseo Nuñez, a National Assembly from the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), said that Ortega had created an “economic bubble” with Venezuelan money which Nuñez evidently expected to burst.  Economist Rene Vallecillo said that if Venezuelan funds were to decline, Nicaragua’s GDP growth rate [currently at over 4%] would be lowered by at least one percentage point and expenditures for health, education, and the bonus for low-salary government workers would decrease. Nicaragua’s economic ties to Venezuela include favorable purchase arrangements for oil, aid in the form of donations and loans, direct foreign investment in projects, and contracts under which Venezuela purchases Nicaraguan products.

Other commentators were optimistic.  Mario Amador, president of the Chamber of Industries, said, “In theory, nothing should change much. Venezuela is going to continue buying products from us at competitive prices. There are contracts that I am sure they are going to respect.  And also we will continue to buy petroleum from Venezuela.” Former trade minister Mario Arana said, “Nicaragua buys oil at international prices, paying half in 90 days and the other half over 25 years on soft terms.  The first part I don’t see changing because, after all, Venezuela has to sell its oil. The second, because Venezuela has its own internal challenges… could change at some time in the future.”  But, he added, “Nicaragua has sufficient reserves that should be invested in the best way so that they work like a revolving fund to favor programs of productive investment and social programs and then any adjustment would be done gradually if necessary.”  Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said that any proposals should show respect for the period of mourning but that business leaders would soon propose a free trade agreement with Venezuela which he said was necessary to get the greatest benefit from the use of the new ALBA currency called the Sucre.

Presidential economic advisor Bayardo Arce said that trade and aid relationships with Venezuela would continue.  Meanwhile, Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Petroleum Rafael Ramirez said, “We will continue strengthening the ties of Petrocaribe, the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America, ALBA, and the other mechanisms of regional integration, just as established by Hugo Chavez.”  (Radio La Primerisima, Mar.7; Informe Pastran, Mar. 6, 7; El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 7; La Prensa, Mar. 6)

2. Agreement reached to raise minimum wage by 12%

Representatives from the government, business, and unions came to an agreement on Mar. 7 to raise the minimum wage of workers in most sectors of the economy by 12% for the year.  Under the agreement, which took longer than usual to forge (eight weeks of talks), farm workers will earn 12.5% more, employees of small and medium sized businesses will see their wages rise by 10%, and workers in other sectors will earn 12% more.  The major sector not included in these negotiations is the Free Trade Zones (FTZ) for which wages are negotiated at another time.   Among those sectors where workers will earn 12% more are fisheries, mining, manufacturing (except assembly in FTZ factories), electricity, gas, water, restaurants, construction, finance, and tourism.

Union representatives were demanding an increase of 18% because of inflation and the increase in the nation’s gross domestic product. The Superior Council on Private Enterprise (COSEP) rejected that figure but did not make a counter proposal.  The average minimum wage in Nicaragua is US$145 per month while the basket of 53 basic goods for a family of five is US$450, according to the Central Bank.  With this increase, the lowest paid worker—that is, the farm worker—will make a minimum of US$100 from March 1 and US$107 per month beginning in September.  The highest paid worker—in construction—will earn a minimum of US$230 now and US$240 in September.

Luis Barbosa of the CST-JBE union confederation said, “We are satisfied even though it wasn’t all we desired.”  He asked business representatives in the future to move the talks forward faster because workers’ raises were supposed to have gone into effect in the second half of February rather than March 1, constituting a loss of half a month’s increase for the workers.  Eugenio Jose Membreño of the Workers Central of Nicaragua (CTN) was unhappy with the agreement.  He said, “Where is this economic growth?  We want to see it reflected in the minimum wage.  This proposal that they approved will just generate more poverty.”

COSEP representatives said that at next year’s talks they will ask for a multi-year agreement.  COSEP President Jose Adan Aguerri said, “Just as we made a multi-year agreement for the free trade zones until 2017, we believe that once this negotiation for 2013 is over, we should seek an agreement for 2014-2017, for national and international businesses,” asserting that such an agreement would give “stability to workers and businesses.”  He pointed out that employment in the formal sector was increasing each month with 8,000 new jobs in January of 2013. (Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 7; El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 7, 9; La Prensa, Mar. 8)

3. International Women’s Day celebrated

Organizations led by the Network of Women against Violence marched in Managua on March 8 carrying signs saying that the struggle for recognition of women’s rights continued.  Juanita Jimenez of the Autonomous Women’s Movement (MAM) said that the struggle for women’s rights in Nicaragua was contradictory, noting, “On the one side we have enormous advances such as the passing of the Law on Equality of Opportunity and the Law against Violence toward Women, but in practice we see that the situation of women has not changed.”  She mentioned that eight women have been killed by their partners or former partners in 2013 but only one murderer has been brought before a judge.  The others have not been indicted or are fleeing from justice.

A total of 85 women were murdered last year in Nicaragua, an increase of nine from 2011. In Guatemala, the figure was 708, in El Salvador 329 (down from 628 in 2011), in Costa Rica 40, and in Panama, 34. The report on violence against women in Central America, released by the Panamanian organization Women’s Encounter Space, did not include figures for Honduras, which has the highest murder rate per capita in the world.

National Assembly Deputy Carlos Emilio Lopez, a Sandinista who serves on the Committee on Women, Youth, Children and Family, said that the country had advanced in rights for women.  He said, “A great part of the gross domestic product that this country generates is from the work of women.  We have to recognize and make visible the contribution that women make to the economy.”  He noted that the Assembly had recently passed a law to stop violence against women which increased penalties in cases of domestic violence of all types.  “And the electoral law mandates that political parties have to field women candidates and that is contributing to a change in the composition of political power in the National Assembly,” he stated.  He also noted that over 40% of the country’s 153 mayors were women.  According to the United Nations, Nicaragua occupies fifth place among nations of the world in number of women serving as government ministers and ninth place for women legislators. 

First Lady and Communications and Citizenship Coordinator Rosario Murillo sent greetings to Nicaraguan women from Venezuela where she and President Daniel Ortega were attending the funeral of President Hugo Chavez.  She said that March 8 was “a special day that we celebrate with a restoration of rights and advances and achievements for the whole Nicaraguan family.”

Meanwhile, 200 women with small businesses from all over Nicaragua joined a program entitled “Promotion of gender equity in value chains for the development of Nicaraguan exports.”  The US$1.3 million project will last two years and will train women from both urban and rural areas.  The project is funded by the European Union and the training will be carried out by the Nicaraguan Association of Producers and Exporters (APEN).  The Network of Nicaraguan Businesswomen held a forum on Mar. 8 which 300 women attended and which featured a fair for women producers who exhibited their products including their own designs in costume jewelry, shoes, and clothing.  (La Prensa, Mar. 8; El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 7, 8, 9, 10; Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 7, 8)

4. More people get potable water

Seven thousand inhabitants of Siuna, Mulukuku and Waslala in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) now have potable water and sanitary facilitiesat their homes thanks to a program funded by Save the Children, the Swiss government, UNICEF, and municipal governments. More than 1,338 families in 16 communities now benefit from running water, according to Lucila Gonzalez, Caribbean regional coordinator for Save the Children. The projects cost more than US$2 million of which 54% came from Save the Children, 22% from Switzerland, 22% from the local governments and the remainder from UNICEF. The project in the RAAN also hooked up 17 schools to water and sanitation facilities, benefiting 2,000 students. 

Thirty percent of residents in the autonomous regions now have access to running water while 70% do not. That statistic is reversed in Managua.

An even larger project in Masaya, funded by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and Spain to the tune of US$39 million, will bring water and sewer connections to nearly the entire municipality of Masaya (139,701 people) and will stop the dumping of raw sewage into the Masaya Lagoon. The project includes drilling 10 deep wells, two holding tanks with a capacity of two million gallons, installation of 50 kilometers of water and sewer pipes, and the building of a sewage treatment plant. (El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 5, 9; Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 5)

5. Solar cooking benefits poor women

The small Nicaraguan Women’s Solar Project Foundation (FUPROSOMUNIC) has, since 2006, installed 664 solar cookers in nine municipalities. Solar cooking saves money, reduces deforestation, and is healthier for women than breathing wood smoke. The group focuses on providing the poorest of the poor with stoves discounted as much as 90%, thus requiring an investment on the part of the women of as low as US$20 paid over eight months. The stoves can save about US$13 in wood purchases monthly.The program has already received two awards and has been nominated for the prestigious Global Energy Award. Like other solar cooking programs such as Solar Cookers International, the women construct their own cookers and learn how to use and maintain them under the direction of FUPROSOMUNIC.

Solar cookers are useful for other things besides cooking food such as drying fruit and medicinal plants, disinfecting clothing, and purifying water. Some of the women are using the stoves to dry nuts and other products to sell. The foundation was formed through Swiss aid in partnership with a Nicaraguan sociologist. The biggest obstacle for the program is to overcome the initial skepticism of the women. But some are won over by their ability to easily and cheaply prepare traditional dishes, such as carne en bajo [a traditional dish based on corned beef and vegetables], that normally require a great deal of firewood to cook properly. Cooking on cloudy days or after sunset can be done on improved charcoal cookers also promoted by the Foundation.  These cookers are efficient and allow for frying, which the solar cooker does not.  (El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 10; Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 10)

6. Honduras grants 90 day visas to 21 asylum seekers

Honduran authorities said that they had detained 30 Nicaraguan citizens, among them a woman and two minors, who said that they belonged to the Nicaraguan Democratic Forces (FDN) and wanted political asylum.  Informe Pastran reported that the leader of the movement Roberto Diaz said that they were fleeing murders and persecutions in Nicaragua but presented no evidence to back up his claims.  Diaz also said that there were 5,000 armed men in opposition to the government of President Daniel Ortega in the mountains of Nicaragua.  Informe Pastran asked, “How has an army of this size remained unnoticed? How have they been financed, armed, fed, and trained without being seen?” 

The previous week, Nicaraguan Army spokesman Col. Orlando Palacios had insisted when questioned that there were no armed groups in the country.  Gonzalo Carrion of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) said, “The government is not going to recognize that there are armed groups and that is not any different from previous governments.  It would mean recognizing that something is not being done right.”  But at the same time Carrion said that CENIDH had no knowledge of any groups intending to seek asylum in another country because of political persecution. 

On Mar. 11, Honduras announced that it would give 21 of the Nicaraguans permission to stay in the country for 90 days.  The three minors were turned over to the Honduran Institute for Children and the Family to be taken to Tegucigalpa to a child protection center.  The asylum seekers are from Jinotega, Matagalpa, Nuevo Segovia and the Atlantic Autonomous Regions.  Nelson Morgan, head of the Office of Migration at El Paraiso, said that while the original number of Nicaraguans was 30, six had returned to Nicaragua saying that they had been deceived when they were convinced to cross into Honduras to seek asylum.  (Informe Pastran, Mar. 5; La Prensa, Mar. 6; El Nuevo Diario Mar. 11)