Nicaragua Network

1. Venezuelan President Maduro visits Nicaragua, confirms support
2. US Ambassador Powers highlights “solid relationship”
3. Struggle to protect forest and indigenous land continues
4. Program promotes farming with native seed
5. Nicaragua’s work against money laundering recognized
6. Tsunami drill 90% effective
7. Archeological excavations resume in Chontales
8. A push for more recycling
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1. Venezuelan President Maduro visits Nicaragua, confirms support

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited Nicaragua over the past weekend, confirmed Venezuelan support for Nicaragua, and signed several cooperation agreements with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.  Ortega said, “We receive with happiness tonight the delegation from the Bolivarian people of the sister Republic of Venezuela. …  They are children of Bolivar, children of Chavez, who come here to the land of Sandino to ratify our commitment to continue to struggle for liberty, for justice, for sovereignty, and above all for the unity of the Latin American and Caribbean peoples.  In particular [we struggle] for the peoples who are part of the historic project that was born from the genius of Fidel, of the genius of Chavez, and that is the ALBA [the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America] and that is Petrocaribe.”

The Nicaraguan opposition had predicted that Venezuelan economic support for Nicaragua would be cut after the death of President Hugo Chavez.  When asked if the relations between Nicaragua and Venezuela would change under his administration, Maduro said, “Yes, they will change because they will improve and deepen.  Now there will be more energy cooperation, more food cooperation, more financial cooperation, more social cooperation, more tourism cooperation.”  And, in fact, the first of the agreements between the two countries will promote improvement in education in both countries; the second will strengthen public health systems and train more doctors and nurses.  A third will promote cooperation between the two countries in forming production cooperatives, especially those involving women, in neighborhoods and rural areas.   Another agreement will partner projects to benefit youth in the two countries while still another will promote the cooperation of Nicaragua’s police with that of Venezuela.  [Nicaragua has been praised internationally for its work with youth and in policing.]

Maduro announced that, on June 29, Petrocaribe will hold its eighth summit in Managua where he will present plans for an economic zone within the framework of ALBA.  Also at that meeting, Honduras and Guatemala will join Petrocaribe and El Salvador will send an observer delegation.  The countries that are members of Petrocaribe pay Venezuela in cash or products within 90 days for half the value of the oil they purchase.  The other half is paid over 25 years with two years of grace and at an annual interest of 2%.

As might be expected, reaction from the Nicaraguan business community to Maduro’s visit was positive while the reaction from the political opposition was negative.  Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise, said that the support of the government of Venezuela for Nicaragua was clearly demonstrated.  He reiterated COSEP’s insistence that the governments of Nicaragua and Venezuela should sign an official trade agreement.  Opposition presidential candidate for the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) Alliance Fabio Gadea said, “More paper cooperation between Nicolas Maduro and Daniel Ortega.  More sacking by Nicolas of the Venezuelans and more money for the Ortega Murillo family.  Petro business, Alba business.”  Opposition National Assembly Deputy Eliseo Nuñez told Channel 14 news that Maduro came to pressure for more food.  “If Maduro is not able to supply the 650,000 tons of food that is in deficit, his government could fall.  It’s not a matter that can wait or be covered up.”  Nuñez said that is why the Ortega administration is pushing Nicaraguan farmers to plant more black beans and he predicted a shortage of the red beans that Nicaraguans prefer.

Both Ortega and Maduro denounced a statement by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos that Colombia was interested in possibly joining NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).  Ortega said, “I am at a loss to understand how the president of the sister republic of Colombia could have expressed the decision to join this NATO military organization… when we have defined Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace.”  For his part, Maduro said, “They want to place dynamite in the middle of the achievements toward unity of Latin America and the Caribbean… and impose models of domination rejected two centuries ago by our peoples.” [On June 4, Colombia’s defense minister apparently backed away from the proposal.]  (El Nuevo Diario, June 3; Informe Pastran, June 3; Radio La Primerisima, June 1, 2; Fox News, June 4)

2.  US Ambassador Powers highlights “solid relationship”

Speaking on May 29 at an event organized by the American-Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM)—funded as its name suggests by the US Chamber of Commerce, US Ambassador to Nicaragua Phyllis Powers said that Nicaragua and the United States have a “solid relationship.” She noted, “The growth in Nicaraguan exports to the United States as well as the growth of US exports to Nicaragua show the strong economic relationship that exists between our countries.  This is a relationship that we hope to continue developing.” 

Powers said that the US Department of Agriculture was working with Nicaragua’s Ministry of Agriculture in the training of 9,000 small farmers in good agricultural practices and pest management and through the Food for Peace program 500 technicians were being trained in pest management.  Peace Corps volunteers, she said, are working with the Ministry of Education to train high school students and local business people in basic business practices.  [The descriptions of the programs on the web pages of those offices are slightly different. According to its web pages, “The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) works to promote foreign market access for U.S. products,” and the Food for Progress program donates US agricultural commodities that “are often sold and the proceeds used to support agricultural, economic or infrastructure development programs.” ]

On the always touchy subject of “governability,” Powers quoted President Obama when he was in Costa Rica last month, saying, “We know that trade and investment flow toward areas where there are strong public institutions, clear reporting of spending, transparency, and efficient governments.”  She added that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) offers “aid and training to citizens’ groups and community organizations to improve citizen participation and strengthen democratic institutions in Nicaragua.”  She mentioned the leadership training for young people from all political parties and a program to strengthen municipal governments.  [A Nicaragua Network delegation to Nicaragua before the 2011 presidential elections found only one USAID funded program that included Sandinistas.  The others were overtly or subtly anti-Sandinista.  To read the press release and report of that delegation, visit http://www.nicanet.org/?page=blog&id=20857.] 

To finish, Powers said to the assembled businesspeople, “I exhort you to use your position and influence to speak against and change situations that are unjust, that negate equality before the law or damage the development of Nicaragua.”  (Informe Pastran, May 29; http://nicaragua.usembassy.gov/fas.html; http://foodaid.org/food-aid-programs/food-for-progress/ )

3. Struggle to protect forest and indigenous land continues

On June 3, riot control officers of the National Police removed a roadblock in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) that had been set up by traffickers in illegal timber from the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve.  Two people were injured and three were arrested.  The lumbermen said they were “tired” of the barriers to getting logs and cut lumber out of the area, alleging that “This is a legal business.”  However, the Ecological Battalion of the Army is holding 56 tractor-trailers loaded with precious hardwoods of different species totaling half a million board feet and valued at more than US$500,000 which had been illegally cut down and hauled out of the Reserve.  Col. Marvin Paniagua of the Ecological Battalion said that the traffickers documents presented “a series of inconsistencies.”

The Ecological Battalion maintains a check point on the Siuna-Rio Blanco road where troops routinely stop and return groups of people headed to Bosawas to set up farms.  Last week, for example a truck from Santa Rita with eleven people, horses, bicycles, beds, and other household goods was returned to its place of origin while a few days earlier a family of nine with animals and household goods was stopped and sent back as well.

In another area, two dead and two wounded were the result of an armed clash between Army and Police officers and colonizers in the Amasau indigenous territory in the RAAN.  Evidently, an attempt by members of the indigenous community to do a census of colonizers in the area was met by bullets.  “If we hadn’t been accompanied by members of the Ecological Battalion, several community members would have died,” said one indigenous census taker.  The dead were two of the colonizers and the wounded were from the Army and the Police.  (Radio La Primerisima, May 29, June 3; La Prensa, June 2)

4. Program promotes farming with native seed

Over 700 farmers in 26 communities in the municipality of Santa Maria de Pantasma, Jinotega, will specialize in the planting of native, or heritage, corn and bean seeds this year. They will plant native corn for the first harvest and beans for the second.  The project is funded by the European Union, the Nicaraguan government’s Institute for Agricultural Technology (INTA), and Action Aid Denmark.  The construction of 15 storage silos is planned to hold 7,000 hundredweights of basic grains. INTA’s “Seeds for Life” program was begun in 2011 and will run through 2014 at a cost of US$5.88 million. A total of 5,800 farmers will benefit over the life of the program which promotes the preservation of native seed stock over genetically modified seeds from Monsanto and other transnational seed companies. (El Nuevo Diario, May 28; Radio La Primerisima, May 28)

5. Nicaragua’s work against money laundering recognized

The Financial Action Group of the Caribbean (GAFIC), at its seventh plenary meeting, held in Managua, recognized Nicaragua’s advances against money laundering. The President of GAFIC, Cherno S. Jallow, praised Nicaragua before the meeting of the 29 member states, saying that the controls Nicaragua has put in place moved it from the “dark grey to light grey list.” He said, “We appreciate the tireless efforts and political commitment of the Government of Nicaragua with regard to reforms and strengthening the work of GAFIC.” He urged Nicaragua to continue with its commitments to overcome some of the outstanding issues of money laundering.

Nicaraguan Attorney General Hernan Estrada said, during the closing ceremonies, that the State and private institutions will work with “more hardness and firmness” against money laundering.  Nicaragua set up a financial analysis unit (UAF) in mid-2012, which requires reporting of large financial transfers from businesses such as banks, casinos, microfinance companies, gold vendors, auto importers and others. Jallow said this was a major reason that Nicaragua was upgraded in its status.  Denis Membreño, director of the UAF, stated that his unit had reported 500 possible money laundering violations since it began.  (La Prensa, May 31; Radio La Primerisima, May 31)

6. Tsunami drill 90% effective

The National System for Prevention, Mitigation and Attention to Disasters (SINAPRED), conducted a tsunami drill nearly 21 years after a tsunami that killed 170 people on the Pacific Coast and affected more than 40,000. SINAPRED Deputy Director Col. Nestor Solis said that the drill was 90% effective with only minor problems that will be corrected. The Sandinista government has installed 43 sirens in at-risk ocean front communities and set up a system to alert cell phone users. SINAPRED Director Guillermo Gonzalez said that in an event like the 1992 tsunami, national authorities have about a 45 minute warning. He said, “SINAPRED can use this time to save lives.”

The drill last week involved more than 20,000 people in 43 coastal communities in five departments: Leon, Chinandega, Managua, Carazo and Rivas. Army General Adolfo Zepeda said that in the case of an actual tsunami, the army would mobilize 2,200 troops, six air vehicles, 11 naval vessels and 90 heavy and light land transport vehicles. There was some disappointment that not more of the population participated in the drill considering the risk at which people living near the ocean are under. In Corinto only 650 people evacuated out of 10,000 who would be affected if a tsunami hit. (El Nuevo Diario, May 30)

7. Archeological excavations resume in Chontales

A team of archeologists from Leiden, The Netherlands, was able to resume its work last week in the municipality of Aguas Buenas in the Department of Chontales after obtaining permission from the municipal council of Juigalpa.  Excavation by Dr. Alex Geuros and his ten students had to stop digging on May 17 when the mayor’s office of Juigalpa said authorization from the Institute of Culture in Managua was not sufficient and that the municipal council had to give its permission as well.  The council mandated that the archeologists must always be accompanied by members of the council and the police and all artifacts must be turned over to the Archeological Museum of Juigalpa, noted for its collections of pre-Colombian treasures.   

Prof. Erwin de Castilla Urbina, director of the museum, said he was not in favor of the permission because the city did not yet have an overall policy to protect archeological discoveries and that there was a great deal of trafficking in ancient artifacts.  He said, “There are truckers who transport stone idols from El Ayote.  The Police should participate together with the Army because the traffic is enormous.  A great quantity of archeological riches is being taken out.”  He added, “This is not just a problem for Chontales but for all the archeological sites in Nicaragua.”  (El Nuevo Diario, May 28)

8. A push for more recycling

A group of environmentalists, businesses, and non-governmental organizations have banded together in the Alliance for Inclusive Recycling Development to collect and export recyclable trash. Edgard Bermudez, representative of the Avina Foundation stated that Nicaraguans recycle only 8% of available material which even so produces over US$40 million in export revenue. The group’s goal is to build awareness of the value of recycled metal, plastic, glass and other materials to overcome the culture of waste and cut down on the illegal dumping of trash by many individuals and businesses. Their plans include interesting investors in setting up a recycling plant to process the materials before export.  Group leaders estimate that 40% of the 5,200 tons of trash that Nicaraguans throw away daily is recyclable and a source of revenue for families and businesses. The allied groups are also pushing for a new law to encourage recycling. (El Nuevo Diario, June 3)