Nicaragua Network

1. Supreme Court rules Law against Violence toward Women constitutional
2. 35^th anniversary of takeover of National Palace commemorated
3. 33^rd anniversary of literacy campaign celebrated
4. Electoral Council announces Caribbean Coast elections; some opposition groups unite
5. FAO praises Nicaragua’s fight against hunger and announces lobster diver initiative
6. COSEP proposes three year minimum wage agreement; unions doubtful
7. Enforcement slowing deforestation in Bosawas Reserve
8. PAHO promises dengue fever vaccine by 2015
9. Climate change delays Olive Ridley turtle nesting
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1. Supreme Court rules Law against Violence toward Women constitutional

On Aug. 22, the Nicaraguan Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling declaring that Law 779, the Integral Law against Violence toward Women was constitutional.  The Court rejected four separate challenges saying that the law complied with all requirements in the constitution and other previous legislation on the subject.  The special courts created by the law had also been established in compliance with the constitution, the Supreme Court said.  National Assembly Deputy Carlos Emilio Lopez, vice-chair of the Committee on Women, Children and Family, praised the decision saying that it would help to “eradicate the delay in justice which has negatively affected women.” Those who had opposed the law said that it would continue to privilege women over men and violate the principle of equality before the law. 

At the same time, the Court proposed that mediation, not included in the law as originally passed by the National Assembly, be allowed for less serious violations and first offenders.  Law professor Arbel Medina said that he favored mediation, noting, “It is contradictory that the law permits mediation between people who do not know each other but not between couples who have shared a life together.”  However, the Network of Women against Violence immediately responded that mediation would put women in a position of vulnerability.  Johana Arcia of the Maria Elena Cuadra Women’s Movement said, “Mediation has been in many cases the anteroom to a woman becoming part of the statistics on femicide.”

On Aug. 26, the Supreme Court sent to the Assembly a proposal to amend Law 779, noting that it is not congruent with Law 260 which establishes the possibility of mediation.  The proposed amendment would allow mediation if the victim “freely agrees” in cases where there is no serious violence or intimidation.  Sandinista representative to the Central American Parliament Doris Tijerino, chief of the Sandinista Police in the 1980s, said that she opposed the amendment because it is difficult for a woman to go through mediation with the man who has been hitting her. 

Meanwhile, the National Police reported that 32 new women’s police stations had opened and government communications coordinator Rosario Murillo announced that by the end of October, there would be women’s police stations in all the country’s municipalities. (La Prensa, Aug. 23; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 24; Informe Pastran, Aug. 23; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 22, 26)

2. 35^th anniversary of takeover of National Palace commemorated

August 22 was the 35^th anniversary of the takeover of what was then the National Palace and among those gathered at the Plaza of the Revolution to remember the event were 12 of the original 25 members of the Sandinista commando.  The National Palace is now the Palace of Culture, home to an outstanding museum, but it will always be remembered for those days in August 1978 when a group of Sandinistas, dressed and equipped as members of Somoza’s National Guard, took over the building with the Chamber of Deputies in full session.  Among the legislators were a first cousin and a nephew of the dictator.  The Sandinistas held the Palace for two days finally achieving the release of political prisoners and an undisclosed amount of money.  In his speech, President Daniel Ortega said that the idea of taking over the National Palace had always been that of Eden Pastora, who became famous during the operation as Commander Zero.  Ortega told how, earlier in 1978, he and Pastora had explained the operation to Cuban President Fidel Castro and when they took their leave, Pastora said to Castro, “Fidel, in your name, in your honor, the assault on the Palace will go forward.”

Ortega said that eleven of the original members of the group had died while 14 were still living.  Of those, he said he did not hesitate to recognize two who were not present at the plaza, Hugo Torres and Dora Maria Tellez, [Commanders One and Two in the operation] who, he said, “decided to form another political movement; it was their right.”  He added that those are things that happen in all revolutions. But, he said, “Here they are all comandantes, all heroes, members of a heroic commando.”  Ortega also recognized the mediation of Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, then archbishop of Managua, who “was able to make [Anastasio] Somoza see that if he tried to take the Palace back it would be a bloodbath and the blame would fall on him.”  Finally, Ortega said, “We achieved the liberation of our comrades, and at the head was Tomas [Borge].” Borge died last year at the age of 81. (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 23; Informe Pastran, Aug. 23; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 24)

3. 33^rd anniversary of literacy campaign celebrated

On Aug. 23, the 33^rd anniversary of the end of the five month long literacy campaign was celebrated.  In his speech the night before, Ortega noted that thousands of young people had left from that same plaza and from plazas around the country to go into the countryside, into the mountains, into the villages and the neighborhoods to teach reading and writing and returned victorious on Aug. 23, 1980.  National Assembly President Rene Nuñez told journalists that Nicaragua was able to reduce illiteracy from 52% of the population to 12.9% and he noted that the second step was the creation of a vice-minister for adult education marking a first time emphasis on the continued teaching of adults.

Francisco Lacayo Parajon, former vice-minister of education and former director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) in Nicaragua, said that before beginning the campaign organizers studied the experiences of seven countries.  Cuba, Spain and UNESCO helped fund the effort which began only eight months after the 1979 victory over Somoza.  Lacayo remembered that there were problems at each step of the way, including obtaining eyeglasses for adult students and kerosene lamps for evening classes.  “We worked like crazy,” he said, “but it was a national effort that merited the many international awards we received.”  Juan Bautista Arrien, permanent secretary of UNESCO in Nicaragua, said that the government continues “to work with commitment” on adult literacy and education.  Arrien noted that in March of 2006, the “Yes, I Can” campaign began in cities and towns [with Sandinista mayors] around Nicaragua in which over 125,000 people learned how to read and by July 2009, after a major effort by the central Sandinista government, the literacy was lowered to 3.5%. (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 23; Informe Pastran, Aug. 23; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 24)

4. Electoral Council announces Caribbean Coast elections; some opposition groups unite

The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) announced on Aug. 23 that the election of regional council members and other officials in the North and South Atlantic Autonomous Regions (the RAAN and the RAAS) will be held on March 2, 2014.  CSE official Luis Alfonso Luna said that the political parties must present their lists of names for the regional electoral councils by Sept. 17 of this year and their provisional slates of candidates by Nov. 22. The campaign will begin on Jan. 16 and end on Feb. 26.  Provisional election results will be announced on Mar. 11, 2014, and three days after that parties may present challenges to the results.  The swearing in of the new regional authorities is scheduled for May 4.  Voters in the autonomous regions have until Dec. 1 to apply for new voter identification cards. 

Meanwhile, some opposition political parties and civil society organizations came together in a Managua hotel to form a coalition called United for the Republic, which will be known as UNIR.  Among those who signed the founding document were leaders of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), dissidents from the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), and representatives of other groups. Absent from the gathering were representatives from the Conservative Party or PLC leadership.  Victor Hugo Tinoco, National Assembly Deputy for the MRS, said, “This is a coalition that is not an electoral alliance at this moment, but rather a social-political coalition … that represents 95% of the vote that doesn’t support [President Daniel] Ortega.”  Carlos Tunnerman, also a dissident Sandinista, said that the coalition does not recognize the concession granted to Chinese businessman Wang Jing for the building of a shipping canal across Nicaragua.

Eduardo Montealegre, a PLI leader, said that the PLC shouldn’t remain outside the coalition, “but the PLC has to change” intimating that it had to rid itself of its leader, former President Arnoldo Aleman.  Montealegre admitted that he had differences with the MRS on a number of issues saying that he wouldn’t pretend that he could change them or they could change him.  He asserted that he felt the opposition should sit down with the Sandinista Party, which has a super majority in the National Assembly, and negotiate the selection of the high level officials whose terms have run out and who continue to occupy their posts based on a presidential decree.  He said that he would accept three Liberal magistrates out the seven who sit on the Supreme Electoral Council, all of whom have expired terms. He said, “I am of this opinion because I am pragmatic.”  (La Prensa, Aug. 21, 23; Informe Pastran, Aug. 20, 21, 22; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 22; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 22)

5. FAO praises Nicaragua’s fight against hunger and announces lobster diver initiative

UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director General Jose Graziano Da Silva praised the government of President Daniel Ortega for its progress in the fight against hunger and poverty during a tour of projects in the interior of the country. “Nicaragua is very advanced in its programs such as Zero Hunger and family agriculture, in its programs to promote fresh and healthy foods,” Graziano said. He said the FAO is thinking about ways to share Nicaragua’s programs with neighboring countries. Graziano also praised the Sandinista government’s school lunch program and its rapid advance in improving the nation’s food sovereignty and security.  He noted the creation by the government of markets for fresh products such as eggs, milk, cheese, vegetables, and legumes which have nutritional values far superior to traditional products such as cereals and the promotion of family agriculture to meet local demand. Pedro Haslam, Minister of Family and Community Economy stated that the FAO is also helping to strengthen the small scale fishing industry on the Caribbean Coast and the transformation of the coffee culture.

Expanding on the collaboration on the Caribbean Coast, Graziano stated that Nicaraguan lobster divers are being taken to Mexico to learn new ways of fishing for lobster that do not involve risks to their lives and health.  “We are taking the fishermen to visit a community and fish with the Mexicans, to learn those new techniques and we think that with this … little by little this new way of fishing will be transmitted and they will make the substitution,” Graziano said.  President Daniel Ortega said, “We have a law but it has been a challenge to put it into practice and now the FAO is accompanying us to comply with this law to the benefit of the population on the Coast.”  While diving is relatively well paid, hundreds of mainly Miskito Indian divers have died or been permanently incapacitated from the bends when ascending after dives. (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 22; Informe Pastran, Aug 23)

6. COSEP proposes three year minimum wage agreement; unions doubtful

Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council on Private Enterprise (COSEP), proposed last week that the government, the unions, and businesses negotiate the country’s minimum wage agreement for three years, as is done for workers in Free Trade Zones, instead of annually as has been the custom in recent years.  He said that in the face of slow growth in the world economy and the recent drop in prices on the international market for Nicaragua’s principal exports—coffee, gold, and sugar—a three year minimum wage agreement would help the country become “more productive and competitive.”  He asserted that the change would permit the private sector to stimulate more investment, generate stability and promote more employment.  But Luis Barbosa of the CST-JBE union confederation said workers would have to see what benefits the private sector was willing to put on the table for workers in exchange for accepting that plan.  “We can’t give the business people a blank check,” he said, adding, “Let’s see what they propose for after 2014, how many formal sector jobs they expect to generate and then we can see what possibilities there are for an agreement.” (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 22; Informe Pastran, Aug. 23)

7. Enforcement slowing deforestation in Bosawas Reserve

Environment and Natural Resources Vice-Minister Robert Araquistain, during a tour of Jinotega, said that the Environmental Brigade of the Army, bolstered by police, has slowed the deforestation of the northern part of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve. He lamented that at least 20% of the core area of the biosphere has been deforested by illegal settlers and loggers. “They have damaged the heart of this lung of Central America,” he said. He reported that about 30 lawyers are under investigation for creating fraudulent deeds and selling land in the reserve to mestizo settlers. There are an estimated 10,000 illegal settlers in the 20,000 sq. km. rainforest. Legal Mayangna and Miskito communities in the Reserve have complained for years about the encroachment of the agricultural frontier on their ancestral lands where 40,000 of them live in harmony with nature.  The Bosawas has more than 270 species of plants, more than 200 animals and some 200,000 insect species, which is 13% of known tropical biodiversity, according to Nicaraguan environmental organizations.

President Daniel Ortega, during a meeting with Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño said that a Canadian mining company wanted to exploit gold resources believed to be in the Bosawas.  Ortega said, “I told them it was, in practice, untouchable.” He said his government is investing in restoring the ecosystems in the Reserve. He also asked Patiño to convey to Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa Nicaragua’s solidarity with him in his struggle against transnational corporations that are trying to exploit Ecuador’s natural resources. (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 21, 26)

8. PAHO promises dengue fever vaccine by 2015

The new representative of Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) in Nicaragua, Dr. Socorro Gross, said that PAHO expects that a vaccine against dengue fever will be on the market by 2015 and Nicaragua will be one of the first countries to receive it through PAHO. “It’s in the final testing stage,” she said. Gross noted that Nicaragua has a 30 year relationship with PAHO for medicine and vaccines and praised Nicaragua for its public health programs. She also met with Rene Nuñez, president of the National Assembly to discuss changes to Nicaragua’s General Health Law to regulate organ transplants and other needed changes. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 22; La Prensa, Aug. 21)

9. Climate change delays Olive Ridley turtle nesting

Environmental authorities are concerned over the late arrival of endangered Olive Ridley turtles to their nesting grounds on the beach of the La Flor Wildlife Refuge. Typically 150,000 sea turtles lay their eggs at La Flor between July and January. Environmental scientist Jaime Incer Barquero, as well as other environmentalists, speculated that the late arrival is due to climate change. “The water is warmer than normal,” Incer said. Incer stated that when the water temperatures fell to normal he expected the turtles to arrive. Indeed, on Aug. 22, a group of 2,626 Olive Ridley turtles arrived at La Flor according to Col. Giovanny Perez, chief the Army’s Fourth Regional Command.  Turtles normally arrive in groups of 3,000-5,000. (La Prensa, Aug. 23, 25; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 26; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 23)