Nicaragua Network

1. Hundreds of millions in aid announced in one week
2. Nicaragua ranks high in gender parity survey
3. Thirteen deaths from dengue fever
4. Nicaragua behind in petroleum payments to Venezuela
5. RAAS pushes to combat trash and promote recycling
6. Nicaragua joins nations in call for protection of the “high seas”
7. Business leaders call property claimants to mediation
8. Ometepe to celebrate 3^rd anniversary of Biosphere Reserve designation
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1. Hundreds of millions in aid announced in one week

Last week, the government of President Daniel Ortega received expressions of support in the form of multimillion dollar pledges from the United Nations Development Fund, the World Bank and the governments of Japan and Korea for programs to reduce poverty and build infrastructure.  The Informe Pastran noted that, even though the political opposition and some civil society organizations say the government is authoritarian and unconstitutional, “the multilateral organizations and governments seem to be more interested in the effective application of programs that attend to the needs of the poor and permit more Nicaraguans to gain access to free health care and education.”

In an announcement that Informe Pastran called “without precedent,” The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), said that it was allocating US$292.5 million to a fund for Nicaragua for the 2013-2017 period for poverty reduction (particularly in the Caribbean region), food security, health care, education and environmental protection. UNDP representative in Nicaragua Pablo Mandeville, speaking on the 68^th anniversary of the founding of the UNDP, said the allocation takes into account the economic and social advances Nicaragua has made since 2010 when the country joined the list of lower middle income countries which, he explained, have less access to soft loans and grants than low income countries. He said that US$114.6 million will come from UNDP funds and the remainder will have to be raised from UN member countries.  Mandeville added that, if Nicaragua were to be struck by a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster, the UNDP would be able to provide further assistance.

In the same week, the World Bank announced a guaranteed fund, which will be half grants and half soft loans, in the amount of US$400 million for the 2013-2017 period for 14 infrastructure and food security projects.  Hasan Tuluy, World Bank Vice-President for Latin America, said that Nicaragua was one of the best countries in Latin America in the execution of its portfolio of projects and that “the fruits of the work are notable.”  World Bank representative in Nicaragua Camille Nuamah stated, “When the Nicaraguan projects are successful, we are happy, because they are projects of the population of this country… and we congratulate all for what has been achieved.” Projects include rural telecommunications, electrification, and property titling. One strategy of the Bank and government is to link small farmers, especially indigenous and Afro-Nicaraguans on the Caribbean Coast, with the market and with agricultural technology to improve yields and raise living standards.

Also last week, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announced a loan of US$17.1 million to finance Nicaragua’s National Sustainable Energy and Electrification Project, including the building of four small hydroelectric dams.  Also a one million dollar fund to protect small farmers from price fluctuations was announced with funding from the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) [the part of the World Bank that works with middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries, a separate section from IDA, the International Development Association which provided financing for poor countries].  Three thousand small farmers are expected to benefit over the life of the two-year project.  Meanwhile, several infrastructure projects costing US$62 million funded by Japan will be completed in the next few months.  They are the Santa Fe bridge, a road linking Bluefields and the town of United Nations, another road between El Tortuguero and Wapi, along with three bridges at Tecolostote, Las Banderas, and La Tonga.  The 362 meter long Santa Fe bridge, which links Nicaragua and Costa Rica across the San Juan River, is 84% finished.  Japan’s ambassador to Nicaragua Hiroshi Takano said that the bridge would be completed in April of 2014 and would contribute to the economic and social development of the zone.

And finally, the government of South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding with Nicaragua with a commitment of a still unannounced sum to be invested in infrastructure projects.  The South Korean government has declared that Nicaragua is its “number one partner” in Latin America for development assistance.  Nicaragua’s Vice-Minister for Transportation and Infrastructure Pablo Martinez said that, “The Korean model is one of development and technology from which we have much to learn.”  South Korea first established an embassy in Nicaragua in 2007 and has financed US$100 million in projects in the country since then.(Informe Pastran, Oct. 22, 23, 24, 25; La Prensa, Oct. 22, 23, 24, 25; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 22, 24)

2. Nicaragua ranks high in gender parity survey

Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Ecuador are the countries that have advanced the most in gender equality among the 110 included in a new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF). Nicaragua was ranked tenth in the world after Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Philippines, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark and Switzerland.  According to the WEF, the gender gap in Latin America has closed by 70% since the survey began in 2006, a percentage higher than any other region in the world.  The gains are due to greater parity in political participation and economic equality. Nicaragua ranked fifth in the world in political participation by women. The areas in which achievement is measured are health and survival, education, political participation, and economic equality.  Cuba, which has the highest percentage of women in its legislature, advanced four positions to reach number 15 this year.  Mexico was in position 68 while Brazil occupied number 62.  Of the major industrialized countries, Germany ranked the highest at number 14, while of the rising economies, the so-called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), South Africa ranked highest at number 17.

However, Azahalea Solis of the Autonomous Women’s Movement (MAM) said that the classification was purely based on numbers, “a question of arithmetic,” and she insisted that although in Nicaragua there are many women in public office, “they are only a biological representation without real power.” She added that the leaders of all the major business organizations in the country were men. Haydee Castillo of the Nicaraguan Women’s Movement said that Nicaragua leads Latin America in adolescent births and is one of only six countries in the world that does not permit therapeutic abortion.  “With these figures, girls and women cannot be happy,” she said.

Government Communications Coordinator Rosario Murillo said that this was a recognition of the advances that Nicaragua has made in the area of women’s rights and participation.  She stated, “We feel happy and proud; we don’t feel completely satisfied [with our progress] but we know that we have been moving forward and we know that it is because we women are brave, determined, hard workers, capable, and responsible.”   (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 25; Informe Pastran, Oct. 23; La Prensa, Oct. 27)

3. Thirteen deaths from dengue fever

Government communications coordinator Rosario Murillo reported that Nicaragua has now registered 5,173 confirmed cases of dengue fever with 13 confirmed deaths from the illness, up from nine last week.  Murillo said that 762 people are hospitalized and suspected to have the disease with 22 in “grave but stable condition.” The 22 are in hospitals in Chinandega, Managua, and Pantasma.  Murillo explained that the number of confirmed cases had increased by 521 cases over the weekend because people were following recommendations to go to their local health centers and hospitals when they got sick. Chinandega reported overflowing hospitals and 76 new cases just over the weekend.  Murillo stated that over 200,000 homes were visited by mosquito abatement personnel over the weekend.  The country is under red alert and abatement programs are being carried out throughout the country.  Carlos Saenz, director of epidemiology at the Health Ministry, told Channel 4 News that, “We are carrying out the necessary actions to kill the adult mosquitoes which are the ones that spread the disease.”  In Chinandega 4,700 people fanned out over the department over the weekend, including members of the army and naval force. 

Meanwhile, as of Oct. 26, Guatemala reported 7,526 confirmed cases with six deaths, Honduras 30,818 cases with 26 deaths, Costa Rica 41,500 cases with one death, El Salvador 22,231 with three deaths.  According to Socorro Gross, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) representative, there are four serotypes of the dengue virus and it is serotype 2, which “has been very aggressive” and “produced a great number of cases throughout the [Central American] region.”  The number of cases in South America is much greater while the percentage that die from the illness is lower.  There have been 1.4 million cases and 456 deaths in Brazil and in Paraguay, a country of only 6.5 million people, there have been 140,787 cases of dengue with 210 deaths, up from 30,823 with 70 deaths last year. The World Health Organization said that the disease is endemic in 100 countries with between 50 and 100 million people taking ill from the disease each year and 22,000 deaths.   (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 28; Informe Pastran, Oct. 28; La Prensa, Oct. 26; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 26)

4. Nicaragua behind in petroleum payments to Venezuela

Last week La Prensa was full of news from a report leaked to the Miami Herald, apparently by members of the Venezuelan opposition, which stated that at the end of 2012 Nicaragua owed Venezuela US$2.7 billion in petroleum payments of which US$2.4 billion was past due.  The public-private partnership of ALBANISA and PETRONIC has bought petroleum from Venezuela with favorable payment conditions under Petrocaribe with half of the cost to be paid in 90 days and half over 25 years at 2% interest.  Much of the immediate payments have been made in food products such as beef, beans, and sugar, but the report asserts that the quantities have not been sufficient to cover the debt.  Of the other half, 50% goes into a fund to create the ALBA Fund used for poverty reduction assistance as aid from Venezuela. 

Some of this could be due to bookkeeping problems with figures from the two countries that do not match and while La Prensa emphasizes the cases where the Nicaraguan side shows more value in exports than the Venezuelan figures, that is not always the case.  In one case, Nicaragua’s Central Bank shows US$16.1 million more in black bean exports to Venezuela than the importing business in Venezuela (the Corporation for Agricultural Supplies and Services—CASA) shows.  But in another case, CASA has recorded a purchase of US$4.8 million more in liquid milk than Nicaraguan figures show.

Presidential economic advisor Bayardo Arce told Channel 12 News that the debt was being “paid down with our exports” and that there are dates laid out to make payments to Venezuela. He said the resources from the ALBA Fund have been used to make economic investments precisely to pay the debt.  He added that the government of Nicaragua is also evaluating the emission of bonds on the international market and that this has been discussed with the International Monetary Fund. 

Some of the funding from Venezuela has been used to convert the electricity generating capacity to renewable energy sources.  In fact, La Prensa reported that Nicaragua’s purchase of petroleum products had dropped so far this year by 6% compared to last year.

In other related news, Eudomar Tovar, president of Venezuela’s Central Bank, announced that Venezuela would continue to import food products from Nicaragua in spite of the decision of President Nicolas Maduro to open his country’s borders to imports from other South American countries.  Tovar said that Venezuela is confronting problems in supplying certain food products in sufficient quantities to satisfy demand and is attacking contraband and stimulating internal food production along with continuing to import from ALBA countries.  Nicaraguan cattle ranchers have reported that beef exports to Venezuela have dropped while exports to other Central American countries have risen.  (La Prensa, Oct. 24, 25, 26; Informe Pastran, Oct. 24; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 23)

5. RAAS pushes to combat trash and promote recycling

Bluefields, Rama Cay, and Corn Island, in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region, have launched a five year, US$1.7 million program to attack their trash and littering problem. Gerardo Bravo, director of the project said, “We are going to develop a series of consciousness raising actions to change the habits and conduct of the population related to solid waste; so that they dump it in the indicated sites and obtain the benefits of recycling.” He said that in areas where there are recycling businesses, the goal is to strengthen them and where they don’t exist, to encourage their formation with equipment and training.  He noted that cleaning up the communities will decrease the number of respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses.  Thirty percent of the funding will come from the municipalities and the remainder from the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 28)

6. Nicaragua joins nations in call for protection of the “high seas”

Nicaragua joined 14 other countries in signing a declaration last weekend affirming the commitment made in Japan in 2010 that by 2020 ten percent of the world’s oceans will be designated “protected marine areas.” Currently only 3% of the high seas are protected. The declaration was made during the third meeting of the World Congress of Protected Marine Areas which met from Oct. 21-27 in France. The ministerial level congress also agreed to complete negotiations by the end of 2014 on an international judicial instrument to protect biodiversity in what have become “wild west” oceans faced with massive commercial fishing and oil exploration. The US, Canada, Russia, Iceland, Norway and Japan (major fishery nations) were not present at the Congress and did not sign the declaration. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 28)

7. Business leaders call property claimants to mediation

The Nicaraguan-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and the Nicaraguan Attorney General’s office called those who have property compensation claims against Nicaragua to come to the Center for Mediation and Arbitration for a possible resolution of their conflict.  [During the revolution of the 1980s many people who lost property to foreclosure or confiscation became US citizens and then demanded compensation under US law.  Most of those claims have been resolved and most of the few remaining are difficult cases of human rights abusers under the Somoza dictatorship.]  Avil Ramirez, executive director of AmCham, said, “This is based on the agreement that AmCham signed with Attorney General Hernan Estrada in April.  He asked us to help with this call to the North American claimants so that they can have recourse to either of these two forms (mediation or arbitration) to finally resolve this business.” (Informe Pastran, Oct. 23)

8. Ometepe to celebrate 3^rd anniversary of Biosphere Reserve designation

The municipality of Altagracia on Ometepe Island will hold Eco-Efficiency 2013 next weekend, a festival celebrating the third anniversary of the designation of Ometepe as a Biosphere Reserve by the UN Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO). The public-private funded festival will feature green energy and recycling businesses and their economic benefits. Roger Solorzano, consultant for the Center for Cleaner Production (CPML) said the festival is an opportunity for local businesses to demonstrate the benefits of implementing environmental best practices, especially in the reduction of costs. He said the Island of Ometepe is the smallest biosphere reserve in Latin America and also one of the most densely populated. He said CPML in recent years has worked to teach local businesses to be productive while preserving the biosphere.  Installation of solar panels, recycling, and efficient refrigeration are some of the initiatives that will be on display this weekend in Altagracia. (La Prensa, Oct. 24)