Nicaragua Network

This News Bulletin covers two weeks

1. Ortega sends package of constitutional amendments to National Assembly
2. Travelers give report on trip to China
3. Russia and Nicaragua continue to strengthen relations
4. Coffee prices fall below production costs
5. Number of dengue fever victims hits almost 7,000
6. Two alliances and seven parties to participate in 2014 Caribbean Coast elections
7. Western Hemisphere communications experts meet in Managua
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1. Ortega sends package of constitutional amendments to National Assembly

On Nov. 1, the government of President Daniel Ortega sent to the National Assembly a package of amendments to Nicaragua’s constitution that would, if approved, incorporate the November 2012 ruling of the World Court which expanded Nicaragua’s territorial waters, formalize the Supreme Court decision that allowed presidential reelection, and establish mechanisms of direct democracy, among a number of other things.  The proposal was sent to a special committee which began consultations with different sectors of the population on Nov. 8. The committee is composed of four members of the Sandinista Party, two members of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) and one member of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC).  The measures will be voted on by the Assembly in December with another vote at the beginning of next year. With 62 votes in the 91 member Assembly, the Sandinista Party can approve the amendments without support from the opposition.

The proposal says, “The sovereignty, jurisdiction and rights of Nicaragua extend to its adjacent islands, cays, and banks as well as its respective interior waters, territorial waters, contiguous zone, continental platform, exclusive economic zone, and air space, in conformity with the law, the norms of international law, and with the rulings of the International Court of Justice.”  The government of Colombia, which refuses to recognize the World Court ruling because it lost waters it had claimed as its own, maintained a strict silence. 

Forms of participatory democracy, including referendums, plebiscites, sectoral councils, and family councils would be adopted allowing direct participation by workers and producers, including business federations, cooperatives, associations of family businesses, unions, and communities.  The amendments would obligate the state to “adopt patterns of production and consumption that guarantee the vitality and integrity of Mother Earth, social equity among peoples, …  and a good life in community.” The values of Christianity, the ideals of socialism and the practices of solidarity would be given constitutional rank but the article in the constitution which establishes Nicaragua as a secular state would not be changed.

A candidate for president would be able to win election on the first round with a simple plurality of votes rather than the more complicated formula in effect today.  The prohibitions on immediate reelection and election of someone who had already served two terms would be eliminated if the amendments pass.  The parts of the current constitution that had prohibited reelection were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2009 based on other articles in that same document that established the right to elect and to be elected. The terms of mayors and city council members would be extended by one year so as not to coincide with the next presidential and National Assembly elections.  Party slates of candidates for office would have to be half men and half women.  National Assembly deputies, elected on party slates, would lose their seats if they changed political parties after they were elected.

The amendments would establish that the nation’s airwaves are the property of the state and that the communications media must use the national radio spectrum and satellite communications rather than foreign carriers.  The amendments would also allow Army officers to occupy appointed civilian government posts but not run for elected office.  And appointed officials whose terms have run out would be mandated to stay at their posts until their replacements were named and approved by the National Assembly.  This would formalize a 2010 decree by President Ortega.

One of the proposed amendments would formally give the government authority to make contracts and extend concessions for public works that improve the economy of the country.  This is viewed as confirming the power to extend the concession President Ortega signed with the HKND Company in June to carry out studies for the building of a shipping canal across Nicaragua.  Another proposed amendment would formally change the name of the Atlantic Coast to the Caribbean Coast, and establish that Nicaragua’s east coast borders the Caribbean Sea rather than the Atlantic Ocean.

Reactions to the proposed amendments were, as expected, generally positive among supporters of the government and generally negative among members of the opposition with non-political sectors somewhere in between.  PLI deputies said that they planned on voting against the amendments in committee and on the floor of the Assembly but PLC Deputy Wilfredo Navarro proclaimed himself open to discussion of the proposals and was thus in danger of being expelled from his party, according to Informe Pastran.  The opposition newspaper La Prensa said in an editorial that the amendments proposed by Daniel Ortega would destroy the constitution “in the exact meaning of that verb because destroy means to break, rip to pieces, deteriorate.”  Opposition Deputy Alberto Lacayo said that the amendments would bring back the times of Somoza when “we fought not to have a corrupt family dynasty in power, not to be governed by the military, to have public liberties, not to have a permanent president.” He remarked that this could be worse, because Somoza only “had one kid while this president has nine.”

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference released a statement saying that the bishops would appear before the committee, not to take sides politically, but as a way “to participate in the construction of a just social order.”  The committee heard from the Army and the Police and this week will hear the views of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), the National Workers Front (FNT), members of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s office, the National Council of Law Faculties, and representatives of Protestant churches.  Some had offered their views beforehand.  FNT leader Gustavo Porras, who is also a Sandinista deputy, said that he considered the mandate that elected officials should be at least half women was “timid” and the rule should be applied to appointed offices as well.  Leaders of both business organizations, COSEP and AMCHAM (the American-Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce) expressed concern about the participation of members of the military in civilian government.  Jose Adan Aguerri of COSEP said that military involvement in civilian government should be limited and “they should not be involved at all in the administration of civilian justice.”  AMCHAM leader Diego Vargas said, “The private sector is a clear motor of the economy and the state has to facilitate this so we see as positive the inclusion of all sectors and for that reason we support consensus.” He added that it was important for the future of Nicaragua that the police and army remain non-partisan.  (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 2, 3, 11; Informe Pastran, Nov. 5, 6, 11; La Prensa, Nov. 3, 5; Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 1)

2. Travelers give report on trip to China

The 22 Nicaraguan business people, politicians, academics and others who traveled to China for ten days to meet with Chinese businessman Wang Jing and others involved in plans for a shipping canal across Nicaragua held a press conference on Oct. 30 to report on their trip.  Jose Adan Aguerri of the Superior Council on Private Enterprise (COSEP) said, “We saw on this trip that the Chinese firms have the technical capacity” to build the canal and that “the will exists to make the environmental impact study the factor that determines whether the canal will be built.” He added that COSEP is creating a special commission to follow the various studies—the economic feasibility study by McKinsey and Company, the environmental impact study by Environmental Resource Management (ERM), and the technical study by the China Railway Construction Company (CRCC).  Aguerri said that the Nicaraguan businesspeople told Wang Jing that they were concerned about what process would be used to expropriate land and compensate landowners in the path of a future canal and that they also insisted that, if the studies showed that the project was feasible, it had to be a national project that included all sectors of the nation.  He added that business leaders are discussing with the government how to incorporate all Nicaraguan economic sectors into the project.  He also stated that an announcement of the choice of the best route for the canal could come as early as December.

Telemaco Talavera, president of the National Council of Universities, said that he had confidence in HKND’s five year timeline for construction of the project.  “This is not theory,” he said, “we could see it in the Three Gorges Dam project where they did a complete restoration over a large area and natural resources were adequately treated.”  He said that companies involved in the Three Gorges project would be working on the Nicaraguan canal.

Environmentalist Kamilo Lara noted favorably the interest in preserving the environment expressed by Wang Jing’s HKND Company and by the other companies and said that they are companies with wide international recognition in their fields. “This gives us the tranquility of knowing that we are not dealing with just any companies but rather with those recognized worldwide as responsible,” he added.  Lara said that in June ERM met with Nicaraguan environmental organizations and experts.  Sixty Nicaraguan professionals are now working with fourteen ERM experts, he said; ten are studying possible impacts on plants, seven are studying birds, and eleven are studying possible impacts on mammals in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) and the rest of the southern part of Nicaragua that would be affected by a canal.  He said that according to the studies so far, the decision will likely be made between routes two and four.  Route two, he explained would use the Escondido River [thus appearing to bypass Rama Cay—unlike route three, now evidently discarded] while route four begins at Punta Gorda [where the Indio Maiz Reserve and the Punta Gorda Reserve meet] and follows the Tule River west.  Both routes use Lake Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua).  Lara later told Channel 4 that they were promised a fully funded reforestation plan for the area.

Diego Vargas, president of the Nicaraguan-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), said that world class companies in China expressed their commitment to work with other international firms on the canal project. But, he added that he thought that Wang Jing’s promises about dates were “too optimistic and ambitious” and that “it is difficult not to doubt the times that he mentions as goals for the start and finish of the project.”  He added, “The dates are around the corner and so we won’t have to wait long to know if this project has a future or if it will continue being only our dream.”

In an interview published on Nov. 1 in El Nuevo Diario, professor and diplomat Arturo Cruz said, “This trip was important for the Nicaraguan delegation because we breathed the price of China’s notable economic development—that is the enormous problems that they confront with environmental contamination.  There is a growing awareness of this among citizens and leaders in China.  In Xuzhou… we saw that the authorities are investing massively in the rehabilitation of abandoned mines, converting them into green areas.”  He added that one “shouldn’t forget that the international prestige of China is in play, although the government itself is not directly involved.  I think that the nationalism of the Chinese will motivate them to carry forward this much more complicated project than the Panama Canal demonstrating to the world… that they learned the great lesson of sustainable development, which has been the Achilles heel of the Chinese development model.”

On Nov. 5, AMCHAM leaders met with ambassadors to Nicaragua from the United States, Japan, Germany, Spain, South Korea, France, Brazil, Colombia and Taiwan along with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank to give them a report on the trip to China.  Diego Vargas said that there was agreement that, for the project to be successful, there should be participation of companies from North America, Europe, and Asia. 

On Nov. 7, the Inter-Oceanic Canal Commission announced that it would ask representatives of the private business sector, environmental organizations, and the universities to join the Commission, which up until that moment had been composed only of government officials.  The Commission also announced that Treasury Minister Ivan Acosta will represent the Nicaraguan government on the board of directors of the HKND Company.  (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 30, Nov. 7; Informe Pastran, Oct. 30, 31; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 31, Nov. 1; La Prensa, Nov. 1, 8)

3. Russia and Nicaragua continue to strengthen relations

Last week the second shipment of Russian wheat, 24,950 tons, arrived in the Port of Corinto. This is part of a Russian donation of 101,200 tons of wheat from an agreement signed by the two countries in September. This agreement extends the Russian wheat contribution that began in 2011. The value of the wheat exceeds US$30 million a year and benefits 40,000 workers in Nicaragua’s 3,850 bakeries, large and small.

Since President Daniel Ortega took office in 2007, relations between Nicaragua and Russia have steadily strengthened. Russian aid has helped finance rural electrification, health, transportation, including the replacement of Managua’s aging bus fleet, construction, tourism, education, culture, trade, investment and help for Nicaragua’s industrial sector. Nicaragua and Venezuela were among a small number of States that recognized the separatist states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia which won them Russia’s gratitude.

Further strengthening bilateral relations, on October 30, Nicaragua and Russia signed an agreement of cooperation on problems of international security. Secretary of the Russian Security Council Gen. Nikolay Patrushev and Commander of the Nicaraguan Army Gen. Julio Cesar Aviles signed the agreement. Gen. Patrushev expressed his “confidence” in the relationship during a meeting with President Ortega in Managua, calling it “permanent” and naming Nicaragua as an “important associate and friend of Russia in Latin America.”  Ortega said, “We have worked with and will continue to work with the Russian Federation for the security of our peoples.” Russia also donated to the Nicaraguan Army a field hospital for use in natural disasters and other emergencies. The 200 bed hospital, one of three the Russians will donate, also has 4 operating rooms and is capable of examining 1,300 people a day. It was installed in old central Managua at the headquarters of the General Command of the Army. (La Prensa, Nov. 6; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 30; Informe Pastran, Oct. 29)

4. Coffee prices fall below production costs

World coffee prices continue to fall with a hundredweight of beans now below US$103. It is predicted that the price could fall as low as US$85 a hundredweight in the coming months. Even heavy rains in Vietnam only caused the steadily falling price to pause for one day according to economist Raul Amador. Brazil is seeing a record harvest this year while demand is growing only 3% a year. It costs Nicaraguan coffee farmers US$125 to produce a hundredweight of coffee beans. The coffee harvest has already started in Carazo and it is forecast that the national production will be 1.8 million hundredweights this season, which usually ends in February.

The National Assembly is considering a “national salvation plan” for the nation’s coffee growers involving low interest loans and technical assistance which will provide US$70 million in financing this year and US$150 million over the next four years. On top of falling prices, 44,000 coffee producers are affected by Coffee Rust disease which has cut their production to between 8 and 11 hundredweights per manzana (1.7 acres) of land. The bill, proposed by the Sandinista government, aims for a replanting of the groves affected by coffee rust so that production can be raised to at least 20 hundredweights per manzana.

Some coffee producers are not happy with the national salvation plan which requires them to contribute US$1 per hundredweight this year to the plan to renew the country’s coffee farms. Their contribution will rise by a dollar each year until it reaches US$5. The National Alliance of Nicaraguan Coffee Producers complained in a press conference that the tough economic times would not enable them to make such a contribution.  (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 9; Informe Pastran, Oct. 29)

5. Number of dengue fever victims hits almost 7,000

The dengue fever epidemic continues to spread in Nicaragua despite “red alert” efforts at mosquito abatement. The toll this year has reached 6,998 confirmed cases. Hospitalizations have reached 1,450 with 31 in grave condition. There have been 17 fatalities with 70% of them people 20 years old or younger. Health Minister Sonia Castro explained that while it might appear that young people would have better defense against the disease, their bodies have a stronger inflammatory reaction and are thus more likely to become gravely ill and die.  This also commonly occurs in influenza epidemics.  Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo reported that over 70,000 acres have been fumigated and some 6 million standing water mosquito breeding pools have been eliminated. She also stated that many of the hospitalized patients were recovering. (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 11, El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 7)

6. Two alliances and seven parties to participate in 2014 Caribbean Coast elections

The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) announced that two political alliances and seven political parties had registered to run candidates for the March 2, 2014, elections for regional councils in the North and South Atlantic Autonomous Regions (RAAN and RAAS).  The alliances are the Independent Liberal Party Alliance composed of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) and the Citizen’s Action Party (PAC) and the United Nicaragua Triumphs Alliance led by the Sandinista Party joined by the Nationalist Liberal Party (PLN), the Christian Unity Party (MUC), Alternative for Change (AC), the Party of the Nicaraguan Resistance (PRN), the Christian Path Party (CCN), the Multi-Ethnic Indigenous Party (PIM), and Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Aslatakanka (YATAMA).  The parties that will run alone in the elections are the Conservative Party (PC), the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), the Coast Unity Movement (PMUC), the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN), the Alliance for the Republic (APRE), the Autonomous Liberal Party (PAL), and Myatamaran.  CSE President Roberto Rivas said that Yatama and the PIM would run in some jurisdictions in alliance with the Sandinista Party and in others alone.  This is permitted, he said, under the rules for the Autonomous Regions.

In the RAAN and the RAAS, there are 419 precincts with 270,000 active voters and 70,000 “passive voters”—described as those who have not voted in the past two elections.  In the RAAN, 7,105 new voters have registered and 4,105 voter identifications cards have been printed.  In the RAAS, 3,158 people have requested cards and 2,400 have been printed. Rivas called on voters to pick up their ID cards. (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 7; La Prensa, Nov. 6; Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 6)

7. Western Hemisphere communications experts meet in Managua

Some 200 communications ministers, vice-ministers, regulators, and experts from 35 countries met in Managua last week to analyze the situation of telecommunications in the Western Hemisphere at a meeting organized by the Organization of American States (OAS).  Governmental representatives discussed radio and television, mobile services, satellite systems and other topics including illegal and unregulated transmissions.

Officials said that the subject of spying was not on the agenda although Nicaraguan officials wanted to add it.  Orlando Castillo, director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services (TELCOR), said, “Some of us are seeing our communications affected by spying, as has been made public, and we will see if it can be covered [at the meeting].”  On Oct. 29, Wiki Leaks published a map with the names of numerous cities in Latin America where there are active US cyber spying operations and Managua was among them.

Hector Carril, alternate president of the permanent committee of the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL), congratulated Nicaragua for its projected launch into space in 2016 of its own communications satellite, Nica-Sat 1, saying, “The fact that a Central American country could have its own satellite is an occasion for pride for all Latin America.”  Castillo said that the satellite should reduce Nicaragua’s costs for communications by 50%.  The satellite is being built by the Great Wall of China Company for US$250 million. Castillo said that the government and people of Nicaragua are working to bridge the gap that exists in the field of information technology between the developed countries and those that are still developing. (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 4, 5; Radio La Primerisima, Oct 29, Nov. 5; La Prensa, Nov. 6; Informe Pastran, Nov. 4)