Nicaragua Network

1. Snowden thanks Nicaragua; US threatens consequences; spying further exposed
2. Liberals celebrate July 11; Ortega rates high in another poll; Arturo Cruz dies
3. Canal briefs: chief engineer, reforestation, employment predictions
4. Violence against women continues; more special gender prosecutors needed
5. Program improves child health and nutrition on the Caribbean Coast
6. Well-regarded Esteli foundation threatened by land grabbers
7. Turtle protection measures in place
8. Nicaraguan student earns top US tennis rating
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1. Snowden thanks Nicaragua; US threatens consequences; spying further exposed

On July 12, former CIA staffer Edward Snowden met with human rights activists at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow where he said that Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia had his “gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful.”  He said that he was announcing his “formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum” that he had been offered.  He noted that “threats” from powerful nations made it impossible for him to travel to Latin America immediately and asked for “assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted.”  Meanwhile, members of the Defending Dissent Foundation visited the embassies of Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia in Washington, DC, last week to thank those countries for offering asylum to Snowden. After those visits they held a protest in front of the US Department of Justice.

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration was exerting diplomatic pressure at the highest levels on Latin America countries to try to prevent Snowden from achieving his goal of asylum in the region.  Informe Pastran quoted The New York Times as saying that Vice-President Joseph Biden had called Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa personally. And senior State Department officials have been contacting high level Latin American officials with the message that accepting Snowden in their country would have lasting negative consequences.  A senior State Department official said, “There is not a country in the hemisphere whose government does not understand our position at this point,” adding that helping Snowden gain asylum “would put relations in a very bad place for a long time to come.”

In related news, more information came out about the spying program of the National Security Agency in Latin America which, as we reported last week, includes Nicaragua along with many other countries in the region.  The Brazilian daily O Globo reported that the undersea fiber optic cable of the company Global Crossing connects South America, Central America and Mexico with the United States and, Informe Pastran summarizes, “permits rapid access by the National Security Agency (NSA) to all the data.” Nicaragua entered the information super-highway in 2002 by linking to the cable of the Americas Region Caribbean Optical-Ring System (ARCOS).  ARCOS links 14 countries (including Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, and the countries of Central America) with the United States and is one of the communications networks included in the Washington Post’s July 10 revelations about how the NSA accessed the information captured in its PRISM and Upstream operations.  State Department spokesperson Jennifer Psaki said that Washington was speaking with Latin American officials through diplomatic channels about the spying activities.  But, Carl Meacham at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that the reaction in Latin America will be, “See, the US hasn’t changed.  It doesn’t matter who is in the White House, the US is the same. The US is the big imperial power.”  (Informe Pastran, July 10, 11, 15; http://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Edward-Snowden-to.html, July 12; Radio La Primerisima, July 12; New York Times, July 11; Washington Post, July 10)

2. Liberals celebrate July 11; Ortega rates high in another poll; Arturo Cruz dies

In a Managua cemetery, in separate ceremonies a few hours apart, members of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) and the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) laid wreaths on the tomb of Liberal President Jose Santos Zelaya who governed Nicaragua from 1893 to 1909 [when he was overthrown in a coup supported by the US].  Liberals celebrated on July 11 the 120^th anniversary of the 1893 Liberal uprising in Leon against a Conservative government which resulted in Zelaya’s taking over the presidency later that month.  The PLC held its convention in Managua on July 11 where PLC president Maria Haydee Osuna said that the party’s elimination of qualifications for membership was a response to calls from the public for unity among Liberals.  Former President Arnoldo Aleman, who was the principal speaker, denounced the Sandinista government for giving up Nicaragua’s sovereignty by signing the shipping canal concession [a bit ironic considering that Zelaya sought a contract for a canal with Japan and Germany after the US chose Panama].  In a separate gathering, PLI leader Eliseo Nuñez Morales said that as long as Aleman insists in perpetuating his control and that of his family over the PLC, he will be an obstacle to Liberal unity. 

Meanwhile, the polling firm Borge y Asociados released another survey which showed President Daniel Ortega with an acceptance level of 76% which Director Victor Borge attributed to his government’s social programs including Plan Roof, Zero Hunger, Solidarity Housing, and food packets for the poor.  Borge said that these programs have been so successful that they are being adopted by the presidents of Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama.  He added that another factor has been the economic growth that the country has experienced.  “People note improvement and that helps,” he said.  As for the opposition, he said that while the leaders of the two Liberal factions—Aleman and former presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre—have negative popularity ratings, 40% of those polled said that the PLC and PLI should unite to make up an opposition party to the Sandinistas while 31% said that there should be a new opposition party.  But, Borge said, “First they have to decide what they want power for.  That is not clear.  They have no plan of government.  They have strong criticisms of the manner in which Daniel Ortega governs, but apart from the criticisms of the opposition, the people are in agreement with the way Daniel is governing.  The opposition must define what it wants to do as a government.”

In other news, Arturo Cruz Porras died on July 9 at age 90 in a Managua hospital.  Cruz spent a year as a political prisoner under dictator Anastasio Somoza Garcia after which he worked for some years for the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC.  He was one of the “Group of Twelve” notables who called for the resignation of Somoza Debayle in 1977 and served as president of the Central Bank under the first Government Junta after the Sandinistas took power in July of 1979.  He was a member of Junta for a year before being named ambassador to Washington.  In 1982, he broke with the Sandinistas and joined the counterrevolution. He ran briefly for president in 1984 but withdrew from the race. Laying aside political differences, the Ortega government declared three national days of mourning in recognition of Cruz’s role in Nicaraguan history.  (Informe Pastran, July 9. 10, 11; El Nuevo Diario, July 9, 11; La Prensa, July 12, 14)

3. Canal briefs: chief engineer, reforestation, employment predictions

The HKND Group announced on July 15 that Australian Neil Murchie Hodge had been hired as chief engineer for the proposed shipping canal through Nicaragua for which feasibility studies are underway.  According to the HKND communiqué, Hodge has 40 years of experience in the building of “important engineering projects throughout the world” including in China, Australia, India, Dubai, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Africa. The communiqué stated that he has “designed and led diverse civil engineering projects, including land and offshore constructions, highways and railroads, public services, petroleum, gas and marine projects” worth hundreds of billions of dollars. He has even designed and built refugee camps for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR).

The South China Morning Post reported that William Wild of HKND had told the Post that one of China’s largest state-owned companies, China Railway Construction Corporation, was carrying out the technical viability study for the canal. According to Wild, the company has built half of the railroads of China as well as highways in Algeria and the subway line in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. 

Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences held a forum on the canal at which geographer Jaime Incer Barquero, president of the Nicaraguan Foundation for Sustainable Development and environmental advisor to President Daniel Ortega, said that he recommends that before deciding on a route for the canal, the rivers that form the watershed that drains into Lake Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua) must be cleaned up and the watersheds reforested.  Incer said that agriculture must be regulated and the dumping of sewage in to waterways stopped so that the lake will be able to absorb the environmental impact of the dredging and finally the passage of the shipping fleets.   At the Third Annual Recycling Forum also held in Managua last week, National Assembly Deputy Edwin Castro said that the canal demands reforestation.  He said, “The trees are indispensible for the functioning of the canal.  The reforestation that they did in Panama was enormous and it is permanent.  So with this canal here we are going to reforest the country and make us green again.”

In related news, the executive branch on July 10 released a study of the expected impact of the canal on direct and indirect employment and on poverty.  Formal sector jobs are predicted to triple, from the current 600,000 workers paying into the social security system to 1.9 million in 2018.  If the canal were not to be built, the study predicts a growth in formal sector employment of only about 50% or 300,000 jobs by 2018.  The study also predicted that 350,000 people would be lifted out of extreme poverty and 400,000 would be lifted out of moderate poverty (meaning individuals living on less than US$1 and US$2 per day respectively).  However, La Prensa quoted economist Adolfo Acevedo as maintaining that is impossible to know or predict at this time what the employment impact of the canal could be. (Radio La Primerisima, July 11, 15; Informe Pastran, July 10, 11, 15; El Nuevo Diario, July 13; La Prensa, July 12)

4. Violence against women continues; more special gender prosecutors needed

At a Managua forum, Odette Leyton, a special prosecutor on gender at the Public Ministry, said while the Ministry has 24 special prosecutors on gender, it needs 60 more prosecutors and 200 forensic specialists to address the cases of violence against women and children and effectively apply Law 779, the Law against Violence toward Women, passed early in 2012. She said her office received 800 cases in 2012 and had received 487 by May of 2013, the majority of which were for psychological violence, including threats and intimidation.  The Network of Women against Violence reported that so far this year 43 women had been murdered in Nicaragua, eight more than the same period last year.  The Network said that 23 had never reported to the Women’s Police Stations that they were victims of domestic violence.  Three had reported domestic violence but accepted mediation with their attackers and ended up dead.  At least ten of the dead were under 18 years of age.  (El Nuevo Diario, July 15; Radio La Primerisima, July 15)

5. Program improves child health and nutrition on the Caribbean Coast

From March of last year to date, 33,000 children in 117 communities in the North and South Atlantic Autonomous Regions have benefitted from a children’s nutrition program financed by the World Bank and administered by the Ministry of Health and Save the Children. The program monitors the health and diets of children under five years old in primarily indigenous communities insuring that they are vaccinated and providing for their specialized dietary needs.

Dixmer Rivera Siles, national coordinator of health programs for Save the Children said that by taking care of the children the health and diet of the whole family improves. The program focuses on isolated communities with poor access to health and other services. He called the program’s result, “growing human capital.” Many of the communities are accessible only by water and are often cut off by drought or floods. The Ministry of Health (MINSA) is providing three pangas (motorized canoes) and four smaller boats to assist in regular visits to the communities. The program has trained 215 community health workers and equipped 117 clinics.

Berna Mendieta, project advisor, said that they have already seen a reduction in chronic child malnutrition, but the key goals are to strengthen MINSA’s capacity, train healthcare staff and community health brigades, and to provide resources to get the work done. (El Nuevo Diario, July 8, 15)

6. Well-regarded Esteli foundation threatened by land grabbers

The Christine King Cooperative and the SUPEREMOS Foundation, which many international delegations to Esteli have visited, is under threat from two local businessmen who are trying to seize the cooperative’s property on the north side of the Esteli River west of the Las Chanillas Bridge. Two local businessmen, Oscar Valdivia and Concepcion Rodriguez, developed a property without arranging access to the road and are now trying to snatch SUPEREMOS property through threats of violence and vandalism. The violence has forced the postponement of a SUPEREMOS project to reforest the riverbank and has forced the foundation to call the police twice when members of the 20 person Christine King cooperative were threatened and when armed relatives of the two businessmen occupied the property. The police have issued a restraining order against the two businessmen. SUPEREMOS has operated on the property for 15 years providing education and social services, including to domestic violence victims, and provides training and employment in a small ceramics enterprise and a bakery. The cooperative was named after an international solidarity activist who died in a car wreck. (Radio La Primerisima, July 13)

7. Turtle protection measures in place

The Nicaraguan Army has assigned 20 soldiers to assist police, park rangers, and volunteers in the preparation for the arrival of sea turtles which will lay their eggs at the La Flor-Chacocente Wildlife Reserve during the July 2013--January 2014 season.  The 800 hectare reserve in the Department of Rivas in the 2012-13 season saw eight waves of turtles totaling 153,399 that produced 1,038,096 hatchlings of the endangered Olive Ridley, Leatherback, and Hawksbill turtles. Turtle eggs are considered a delicacy and the Sandinista governments, including the revolutionary government from 1979-1990 have worked to protect sea turtle nesting grounds. Despite the efforts last year, 5,110 nests were looted and police seized 2,664 dozen eggs.  Turtle egg laying, and the subsequent hatchlings’ sprint to the sea, are a major tourist attraction. Foreign tourists pay between US$5-$10 and Nicaraguan nationals pay between two cents and US$4 to watch. (La Prensa, July 12; Radio La Primerisima, July 12; El Nuevo Diario, July 11)

8. Nicaraguan student earns top US tennis rating

Twenty year old Nicaraguan Esther Zuñiga learned to play tennis in Managua’s then dilapidated Luis Alfonso Velzsquez Park beginning when she was six years old where her father, a tennis teacher, taught her to play the sport.  Today she is a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All American Team in the US and national junior college player of the year.  She is a student at Florida State College at Jacksonville, a school not known nationally for women’s tennis. She won her first national tournament in Arizona on May 10.  Before going to the US for college Zuñiga twice won the Central American Championship at ages 15 and 16. (El Nuevo Diario, July 15)