TUESDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2007
Nicaragua Network Hotline (October 9, 2007)
Topics covered in this hotline include:
1. Human Rights Watch: The devastating effect of the abortion ban
2. World Court rules on maritime boundary dispute
3. Funds urgently required to prevent famine in Waspam
4. Missiles for medical equipment negotiations between US and Nicaragua begin
5. IMF approves US$111.3 million loan for Nicaragua
Topic 1: Human Rights Watch: The devastating effect of the abortion ban
On Oct. 2 Human Rights Watch presented a critical report entitled "Over their dead bodies: the denial of access to emergency obstetric assistance and therapeutic abortion in Nicaragua." According to Human Rights Watch investigator Angela Heimburger, the decision to criminalize therapeutic abortion has had "devastating effects on the lives and health of women in Nicaragua." The investigation found that at least 80 women have died as a result of the abortion ban which came into force last October. "Many more women will die or become very ill," said Heimburger. Human Rights Watch made a call to President Daniel Ortega to take immediate action to mitigate the "disastrous effects of the prohibition, prioritizing access for pregnant women to emergency medical assistance."
Meanwhile civil society protests against the abortion ban continue with three clashes with police last week. On Sept. 30 a group of men and women from Catholic Women for the Right to Choose protested outside the Managua Cathedral before Sunday Mass. Some of the protesters attempted to attend mass to "pray for the victims of the criminalization of therapeutic abortion." Others were not permitted to enter by the National Police.
Monsignor Bismarck Conde refused to allow the protesters to take communion calling them "murderers, bad women who will burn in the fires of hell." Directly after his comments the protesters were forced to leave the cathedral by a number of parishioners and the cathedral staff. Protesters filed a complaint with the Nicaraguan Human Rights Center (CENIDH) that their right to practice their faith had been violated and condemned Monsignor Conde's actions. According to Maria Ochoa, leader of the group, a number of members of the group were hit in the face, pushed and insulted by parishioners. She said that Conde's words had "incited the violence."
On Oct. 3 the Autonomous Women's Movement and university students protested outside a lecture hall in the Central American University (UCA) where Sandinista Party National Assembly bench coordinator Edwin Castro was giving a lecture about constitutional rights. The protesters said that the idea of Castro giving a lecture about constitutional rights makes a mockery of the university's reputation given that he led and imposed the FSLN vote to maintain the therapeutic abortion ban. The protesters were not permitted to enter the lecture hall by university staff and members of the national police. Protesters claim to have been physically harmed by police officers.
On Oct. 4, another protest against the abortion ban was suppressed by the National Police. This time the Groups of Women Against Violence carried out a sit-in outside the Camino Real Hotel where the First Encounter of Regional and International Courts of World Justice was taking place. The women were protesting Managua Mayor Dionisio Marenco's reference to Managua as the "World Capital of Justice."After two hours the police forcibly broke up the protest. Again protesters said they had been physically harmed by the police.
On Oct. 5 the tragic story of a woman left to die by doctors afraid to carry out the necessary procedures during an obstetric emergency was reported. Socorro Jiron Valverde was left to bleed to death in the Santiago Regional Hospital in Jinotepe, according to her husband Miguel Alberto Pavon Lopez. Pavon said that doctors refused to induce Jiron's labor despite confirming that the unborn child was already dead. So far the authorities of the hospital have refused to speak to the press about the case.
Topic 2: World Court rules on maritime boundary dispute
On Oct. 8 the International Court of Justice in the Hague finally announced its decision in the maritime border dispute between Honduras and Nicaragua over 130,000 square kilometers in the Caribbean. In 1999 Nicaraguan requested the International Court intervene in the dispute after Honduras ratified a Border Treaty with Colombia that conflicted with Nicaraguan claims of fishing and mineral rights.
The International Court did not rule in favor of either of the two countries' border proposals, instead creating a new border which incorporates parts of both countries' proposals. Previous to the announcement of the sentence at 9am local time on Oct. 8 both President Ortega and Honduran President Manuel Zelaya had promised to heed the Court's ruling, thus bringing an end to the historical dispute.
Four days earlier the presidents of Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador settled a longstanding dispute over the Gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific side of the isthmus declaring it a zone of peace and development. The declaration was signed in Managua, where the three presidents were taking part in the First Encounter of Regional and International Courts of World Justice. The agreement sets up a tripartite commission to "reduce the vulnerability of the ecosystems in the Gulf and create innovative bi- or tri- national projects and companies with an emphasis on sustainable development and regional planning." It was announced that the Nicaraguan, Honduran and Salvadoran fishing industries would enjoy free access to the Gulf, a provision that has the Nicaraguan fishing industry worried and demanding representation on the commission.
Topic 3: Funds urgently required to prevent famine in Waspam
Money is urgently required in order to avoid "imminent famine" in Waspam, according to Jose Dolores Lechado, representative of Christian Medical Action. Christian Medical Action and Oxfam Spain have been distributing food aid in 37 Miskito communities in the municipality of Waspam in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) which was devastated by Hurricane Felix, a category five storm on Sept. 4. It is estimated that in 108 Miskito communities 80% of crops were destroyed while in the remaining 44 communities 100% of crops were destroyed.
Lechado explained that the food supply in these communities will run out in two weeks and it is essential that the regional authorities and international organizations send enough food aid for the next three months, by which time the first bean harvests will be ready. In order for the local people to sow crops they need "seeds, chainsaws, machetes, and, above all, gasoline to remove the fallen trees from the fields and prepare the soil," said Lechado. And all this must be done by mid-October when the beans should be planted.
UN Representative in Nicaragua Alfredo Missair announced on Oct. 2 that the first US$9 million of the money raised as part of the UN Emergency Appeal will be sent to Nicaragua. Part of the money will be incorporated into the local government's Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Plan while the rest will be used by the World Food Program, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Pan American Health Organization.
You can contribute to either the Nicaragua Network's Hurricane Felix emergency aid project (100% of all donations will be sent to Nicaragua) or to Accion Medica Cristiana's Waspam project by clicking on the following link to a secure donations page on the web. http://w ww.nicanet.org/donate_afgj.htm
Topic 4: Missiles for medical equipment negotiations between US and Nicaragua begin
On Oct. 2 representatives of the US government and armed forces and representatives of the Nicaraguan government and armed forces met in Managua to discuss the proposed exchange of 651 SAM-7 missiles for medical equipment. The meeting was attended by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Vice Minister of Health Leonel Gonzalez, Head of the Nicaraguan Army Omar Halleslevens, Nicaraguan Ambassador in Washington Arturo Cruz, the special adviser to the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs Giovanni Snidle, US Ambassador Paul Trivelli, and others representatives of the armed forces of both nations.
Halleslevens said that during the meeting the Nicaraguan proposal had been received by the delegation from Washington which has taken it back to the US to analyze it further. Halleslevens said "We are expecting further meetings to take place during the coming days or weeks."
According to the head of the Nicaraguan Armed forces the proposal put forward by the Nicaraguan authorities is "significant." He did not give many details about the proposal other than to say that the medical products and equipment requested in return for the destruction of 651 SAM-7 missiles would increase the national health service's capacity to treat patients in intensive care among other things.
Initially Ortega had said the remaining 400 missiles would be "untouchable." According to members of the US delegation, however, the Nicaraguan president said during the meeting that it may be possible to negotiate the destruction of the last missiles for airplanes, helicopters, radars and other military equipment. Trivelli said he hoped that all the missiles could be destroyed because "Nicaragua's persistent position not to destroy [the missiles] has been an obstacle to more abundant military assistance."
Halleslevens did not confirm whether Ortega had suggested the possibility of the destruction of all the 1,051 SAM-7 missiles currently in possession of the Nicaraguan Army.
Topic 5: IMF approves US$111.3 million loan for Nicaragua
The Executive Council of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a US$111.3 million loan for Nicaragua on Oct. 5. The funds will be made available over the next three years, with US$18.5 million available immediately. The loan program and conditions correspond to the formal request made by the Nicaraguan government in a letter sent to the IMF in late August. The Nicaraguan government is only obliged to pay interest (of 0.5%) for the first five and a half years, after which the government will have ten years to pay off the loan.
According to a press statement signed by Murilo Portugal, member of the IMF Executive Council, the program creates the possibility to increase social spending and invest in key sectors such as energy, water and sanitation, education and health." The agreement anticipates an increase in social spending in 2008 followed by a gradual reduction of the countries' debt over the following years. Also as part of the agreement the government is committed to improve the financial situation of the Central Bank.
"The funds to combat poverty will increase," reads the statement, "but the authorities also recognize the importance of making public spending more efficient and have committed themselves to do so." The government has also committed itself to provide transparent audits of the spending of all aid received and improve the planning and spending of investments.
This hotline is prepared from the Nicaragua News Service and other sources. To receive a more extensive weekly summary of the news from Nicaragua by e-mail or postal service, send a check for $60.00 to Nicaragua Network, 1247 E St., SE, Washington, DC 20003. We can be reached by phone at 202-544-9355. Our web site is: www.nicanet.org. To subscribe to the Hotline, send an e-mail to nicanet@afgj.org.
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