Nicaragua Network

1. Nicaraguans celebrate “La Purísima”
2. National Assembly approves “on first reading” package of constitutional amendments
3. Ortega opens door to dialogue with bishops
4. Ortega receives Honduras’ president elect in Managua
5. 2013 to end with many more homes electrified
6. New coffee law expected
7. Ortega congratulates Maduro on election victory
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1. Nicaraguans celebrate “La Purísima”

On the night of Dec. 7, in spite of rain in some areas (including downpours in Jinotega), Nicaraguans poured into the streets to sing hymns to the Virgin Mary at neighborhood altars and receive treats of sugar cane, sweet lemons, and traditional candies.  The Dec. 8th Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which celebrates the Catholic belief that Mary was born without the original sin of Adam in order to be a fit mother of Jesus, is a national holiday in Nicaragua. The eve of the holiday is known as the gritería or “shouting” because, after signing hymns, neighbors shout, “What is the cause of such happiness?” and householders answer “The conception of Mary!” before passing out the treats.

In Leon, where the gritería began 157 years ago, Bishop Cesar Bosco Vivas initiated the celebration which was accompanied in the streets by fireworks, drums, and the traditional giant puppets famous in that city.  Historian Jorge Eduardo Arellano pointed out in El Nuevo Diario that prayers to the Virgin Mary on Dec. 8 began in Granada in 1675 when the city was threatened by attacks by British and Dutch pirates.  The gritería began in Leon in 1856 at the time of another great threat—that of the U.S. filibusterer William Walker. Arellano states that the gritería is authentically Nicaraguan and marks a day when everyone is equal, children of the same mother, and therefore brothers and sisters.

Complaints were heard from sellers of fireworks that sales were down this year.  Richard Castillo, who sells fireworks at four stalls in Esteli, said that last year he sold US$120 to US$200 in fireworks at each stall but this year he had only sold about US$25.  This news was surely well received by the Ministry of Health which had released a statement hoping for no burn injuries during the Purisima and Christmas holidays and containing recommendations for safe handling of fireworks.  Sale of the explosives is prohibited to children and people under the influence of alcohol.  In the days before the feast, sellers of the traditional candies were, in contrast, doing a good business.  Juan Pascual, who makes several different candies from coconut, corn, molasses, peanuts and other ingredients, said, “Our sales have been super good because we have accessible prices and we sell to individuals and government ministries that celebrate the holiday.”

There were also reports in the Nicaraguan media of celebrations of the Purísima by Nicaraguans in Miami and Boston. (La Prensa, Dec. 6, 8; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 7; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 7)

2. National Assembly approves “on first reading” package of constitutional amendments

On Dec. 10 the National Assembly approved on first reading (that is, in general) by a vote of 64 to 26 the package of amendments to Nicaragua’s constitution proposed by President Daniel Ortega. Each amendment will be voted on separately in the next few days.  Sixty-three of the yes votes were from Sandinista deputies who were joined by opposition Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) Deputy Wilfredo Navarro.  Twenty-six other opposition members voted no.  The package of amendments must be voted on again in 2014 in order to go into effect.  During the debate, opposition deputies spoke against the amendments while outside about 100 people held a rally against the reforms.  Navarro was seriously questioned by his colleagues in the PLC which had proclaimed its “total opposition” to the amendments.  The Independent Liberal Party (PLI) had proclaimed its “clear repudiation” of the reform package and all PLI deputies voted against it.

Before the vote the members of the special committee made several last-minute changes as promised by President Ortega on Nov. 29.  The president will be able to issue decrees in “administrative matters” rather than “with force of law.” Members of the Army and Police will be able to hold office in the executive branch only “temporarily” for reasons of national need.  The model of alliance with the private sector (large, small and cooperative) was changed to eliminate the idea of “shared responsibility.” The earth will not be “venerated” but rather only “loved, cared for, and regenerated.” The phrase “direct democracy” was changed to say that the people will exercise power “in a direct form.” The phrase “family cabinets” was changed to “territorial assemblies”. While political parties were, in the first draft, assigned only to functions in the sphere of electoral processes, the change noted “their participation in the economic, political and social affairs of the country.” Telecommunications will not be controlled by the government but rather regulated, and data bases will not have to be in Nicaragua.  The earlier version stated that the nation’s airwaves would be the property of the state and that the communications media would have to use the national radio spectrum and satellite communications rather than foreign carriers. 

While the changes were viewed favorably by many, others said that they did not go far enough.  The president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), Jose Adan Aguerri, praised the telecommunications changes but said that other matters of concern were not addressed, among them the lack of term limits for the president which he said would not serve the country well.  Aguerri also said that, once this process of amending the constitution is finished, the country needs a new electoral law.  He stated, “Nicaragua needs to return credibility to the electoral system which it does not have today.  Also, we have been saying for the last three years that it is necessary to name the high officials whose terms have expired.”  (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 3, 5, 10; La Prensa, Dec. 4, 10; Informe Pastran, Dec. 4)

3. Ortega opens door to dialogue with bishops

On Dec. 3, President Daniel Ortega and First Lady and National Communications Coordinator Rosario Murillo attended a luncheon with the Nicaraguan Bishops Conference at the residence of the Papal Nuncio in Nicaragua, Bishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, which appears to have broken the ice for future dialogue between Ortega and the bishops.  The occasion was the visit to Nicaragua of Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez of the Dominican Republic, sent by Pope Francis as his representative at the celebration of the centennial of the Archdiocese of Managua which had taken place the previous day.  Bishop Rene Sandigo said upon leaving the three hour long luncheon, “It was an encounter, shall we say, to bring us closer together.  I believe that this can open the possibility that in the future we can all work [together] for the growth of the country.”  Cardinal Lopez had evidently invited all to dialogue and that was repeated by Ortega who, after apologizing for the confrontations with the Church in the 1980s, offered the bishops a new period of relations.  Esteli Bishop Abelardo Mata, normally a ferocious opponent of the government, said, “The atmosphere was one of great fraternity.”

Then Managua Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Baez said, speaking of Ortega’s offer of dialogue, “I want to believe the President of the Republic and the words he said at the end when we were leaving, very brief but substantial, I believe them….  I want to believe them because I want the best for my country that I love so much.  I want to believe that this dialogue that he offers us is true.  We have to prepare the road and it is a long process of establishing the conditions…, but it did come from him in an atmosphere that was not a work atmosphere but a happy one. We were friends.”

But La Prensa headlined: “Ortega seduces bishops with dialogue,” quoting Baez as saying the president and first lady were “charming” and “kind”.  But La Prensa then had to publish a “clarification” from the bishop in which Baez said, “I have not let myself be ‘seduced’ by dialogue with Ortega.  I have my own ideas and do not play both sides.  I only said that I want to believe in that possibility.  Nevertheless, I am not so ingenuous as to think that the possibility of dialogue with someone who we said in our letter [to the National Assembly committee on the constitutional amendments] governs in an ‘autocratic and abusive’ manner [will be easy]. But, why not leave the door open?”  Then Baez quoted from a July statement by Pope Francis saying, “Today, either we bet on dialogue and the culture of the encounter or we lose everything.”

Meanwhile, other groups said that they wanted to participate in dialogue with the president.  Assembly of God leader Saturnino Serrato said that his church had been asking Ortega for dialogue without success and now he urged the president to meet with the evangelical churches “so that there will be peace in the country, in the society.”  National Assembly Deputy Alberto Lacayo of the Independent Liberal Party said, that dialogue should begin immediately, adding that no one wants to go back to the conflicts of the 1980s. “He [Ortega] shouldn’t just sit down with the business leadership…he should listen to those who have less and form a national consensus so that the country will follow the path of democracy and liberty,” Lacayo said.  (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 3; Informe Pastran, Dec. 5, 6; La Prensa, Dec. 6)

4. Ortega receives Honduras’ president elect in Managua

On Dec. 4, President Daniel Ortega met with president elect of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez in Managua and sent back with him a greeting to the Honduran people, to outgoing President Porfirio Lobo and former President Manuel Zelaya with whom he noted that his Sandinista government had had the opportunity to work closely.  Ortega told Hernandez that the people of Nicaragua want to consolidate good relations with the people of neighboring countries, in particular with Honduras and to continue working for peace and for the integration of the Central American region.  He emphasized that a principal challenge is that of fighting poverty and, in order to do that, the scourge of drug trafficking and organized crime must be overcome.  Ortega said that he had also conversed with Hernandez about joint efforts to confront epidemics such as the current outbreak of dengue fever which has affected all of Central America.  “Let’s not limit ourselves to communication but rather implement actions also toward better protecting the lives of families in Honduras and Nicaragua.

Hernandez said that he was committed to joining forces toward eradicating drug trafficking and was especially interested in learning about the government social programs that have had such success in Nicaragua. He said he had spoken with Ortega about “best practices for attention to the most vulnerable sectors and about how we could share those things that could bring a good life to our societies.”

There were several analyzes of Ortega’s reasons for being among the first to recognize Hernandez’s election when in 2009 he had supported Zelaya after he was overthrown in a military coup and during the election campaign when he had expressed support for Xiomara Castro, the candidate of the LIBRE Party and Zelaya’s wife.  Former foreign minister Francisco Aguirre Sacasa said that Ortega has been portrayed in some foreign media as an international trouble maker because of the current conflicts with Colombia and Costa Rica and in this case he gains points as a good neighbor, a “Central Americanist,” and “assures good relations with the neighbor to the north for four more years.” Informe Pastran pointed out that Honduran media outlets emphasized that Ortega and Hernandez had spoken about trilateral cooperation in the Gulf of Fonseca (which borders Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador and where there are some points of conflict) and collaboration between municipalities along the shared Honduran-Nicaraguan border, two more reasons for promoting good relations with the man that Honduras’ Supreme Electoral Tribunal has recognized as winning the presidential election in spite of challenges from the opposition.  (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 4; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 3, 5; Informe Pastran, Dec. 6, 9)

5. 2013 to end with many more homes electrified

Engineer Salvador Mansell of the National Electrical Transmission Company (ENATREL) reported that by the end of 2013 more than 55,000 rural homes will have been newly provided with electricity. In addition, electricity is expected to arrive at 30 villages serving another 12,000 homes. He also reported that within the next few days two electrical substations will be installed in Boaco and Puerto Sandino. Substations will also be installed serving neighborhoods in Rivas, La Virgen, Malpaisillo, Mulukuku, Terrabona, Ocotal, Yali, and other zones. As reported last week, Nicaragua is one of 65 countries that made a commitment in 2012 to universal access to electricity for its population. Mansell said that the goal for 2014 is to electrify another 25,000 rural homes and to construct 300 kilometers of transmission cable in Bilwi and Waspam at a cost of US$30 million. Currently power in those regions is inefficient and unreliable with constant power outages.

Danilo Hernandez of the projects department of the Caribbean Coast Development Council reported that homes in Pearl Lagoon, in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region, now have electricity and that Set Net Point is scheduled to begin receiving electricity by Dec. 24. This is the first time either Afro-descended community has had access to electricity. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 3; La Prensa, Dec. 4)

6. New coffee law expected

Nicaraguan coffee producers and the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) expect and support the passage this week of a new Law of Coffee Cultivation which includes the creation of a Fund for Transformation and Development of Coffee Cultivation. Coffee is one of Nicaragua’s most important exports and areas of employment. The coffee industry has been hit hard by the coffee rust disease, low international prices, and low yields from aging coffee bushes.

The new law will insure that credit is available to replace diseased plants and for private and cooperative producers to modernize their production in sustainable ways. A new advisory board will include four representatives of private producers and cooperatives. The law includes a sliding scale fee per hundredweight of coffee based on international prices. The Center of Exports and Investments reported that through Dec. 5, Nicaraguan exports earned US$2.358 billion of which US$368 million was for coffee. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 9)

7. Ortega congratulates Maduro on election victory

President Daniel Ortega congratulated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) on its victory in the Sunday, Dec. 8 municipal elections. The PSUV won over 58% of the vote and 196 of 337 municipalities. The election was seen as a test of Maduro’s presidency which he won a year ago by a razor thin margin after the death of Hugo Chavez. Ortega’s statement referred to the fact that in two months Nicaragua will mark the 80^th anniversary of the assassination of Gen. Augusto C. Sandino “who so admired and was so inspired by Bolivar.” (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 9)