TUESDAY, JUNE 03, 2008

Nicaragua Network Hotline (June 3, 2008)

1. Tropical storm Alma kills at least two and causes widespread damage
2. US interference in Nicaragua's November municipal elections revealed.
3. National Assembly returns to work
4. Nicaragua has the resources to guarantee food production this year
5. Government and Union Fenosa sign agreement for partial nationalization

Topic 1: Tropical storm Alma kills at least two and causes widespread damage

Tropical storm Alma smashed into Nicaragua on May 28 but caused less damage than feared. The first named storm of the Pacific hurricane season made landfall in the departments of Leon and Chinandega but caused floods and landslides from Costa Rica to Guatemala. For several hours Thursday, Alma was a category one hurricane with winds higher than 80 miles per hour according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Officially two people were killed by fallen electrical wires but media reports indicate a third person may have died and another missing after their car was swept away in a swollen stream.

The military reported that 4,036 people were evacuated in the departments of Estelí, Chinandega and Leon, Managua, Masaya and Rivas, and Boaco. Civil defense asked for 30 tons of food for victims in the different shelters, as well as potable water, medicine and galvanized metal roofing for 472 families. With resources stretched to the limit still dealing with recovery from last year's Hurricane Felix on the Caribbean Coast, even dealing with the less than expected damage on the Pacific Coast further strains the system. If you would like to make a donation to Tropical Storm Alma and Hurricane Felix recovery, the Nicaragua Network will send 100% of it to Nicaragua. Send a check or donate online at http://nicanet.org/?page_id=341. Under Other, write Alma and Felix.

Alma destroyed or damaged over 470 houses, many losing their roofs while an additional 222 homes were flooded. In addition, the winds damaged the baseball stadium in Leon, and a telephone relay tower in Puerto Sandino. By Thursday the area was returning to normal with most of the shelters in Chinandega and Leon closing as people returned to their homes. Emergency committees in each locality have provided families in the shelters with three day's food and plastic to cover damaged roofs until metal roofing is available.

On Thursday Leon only had 50 percent of its municipal water supply running and its sewage system was damaged. Crews from the state water company ENACAL were working around the clock to restore the system as were multiple electrical and telephone crews working to restore electricity and telephones to the affected area. Volunteer health brigades spread across the zone making recommendations to the population on what to do to prevent epidemics. ENACAL director Ruth Herrera reported that leased water trucks were supplying water in areas where well pumps were not working. In related news she reported that in the past 12 months ENACAL has spent US$6.176 million on new wells and that now 72% of urban residents have access to potable water. This is one more example of what can be done for the population when there is a political will to make policies that benefit people rather than corporations.

Topic 2: US interference in Nicaragua's November municipal elections revealed.

The United States Agency of International Development (USAID) is giving 16 unidentified Nicaraguan non-governmental organizations US$320,000 for programs promoting “citizen participation” in the municipal elections next November. The agreement was signed May 27 in the presence of outgoing US Ambassador Paul Trivelli. Trivelli coordinated the US government efforts to stop the election of Sandinista Daniel Ortega in the 2006 presidential election.

According to Trivelli, the funds will be used for cultural activities, radio and television announcements that will try to reduce voter abstention, support young people so that they present their desires and concerns to the candidates in the municipalities, and develop the participation of first-time voters. Nicaraguan voter turnout greatly exceeds that in the US, and the so-called “youth participation” projects are a common US intervention tactic to organize opposition youth. That is a tactic we witnessed in both Nicaragua and Venezuela in 2006. The US is targetting elections in Bluefields, Chinandega, Granada, Estelí, Jinotega, Jinotepe, Juigalpa, Leon, Managua, Masaya, Matagalpa, Nagarote, Ocotal, Bilwi/Puerto Cabezas, Rivas and Sébaco in order to reduce the majority of the population that now lives in towns with Sandinista mayors.

Sandinista deputies threatened to review the legal status of several organizations that are receiving US government funds for civic-electoral activities. National Assembly President René Núñez questioned the performance of some of these groups, but did not name them individually. The opposition dominated press did not name the 16 organizations either. If the NGOs act in ways that are “completely opposed to the way they have traditionally acted, and it appears that they are financed by the United States, everyone will draw their own conclusions,” Núñez warned. Trivelli said that the agreement does not mean the US is interfering in Nicaraguan affairs and he added that the money will not finance political propaganda in favor of or against candidates or parties. Trivelli called the agreement “an expression of democracy.” These are the same arguments he made when he was virtually the campaign manager for US-backed presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre.

On Monday the Nicaraguan government questioned the civil organizations that received the money. According to government advisor Orlando Núñez, the US agreement tries to “finance Sandinista adversaries,” using media tactics to create “ideological harassment” against the FSLN government. The agreement's “agenda is to create chaos in Nicaragua” when the municipal elections take place in November, he said.

Topic 3: National Assembly returns to work

Last week the National Assembly returned to work after more than a month of paralysis by opposition parties over the postponement of elections in three municipalities of the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) affected by Hurricane Felix last September. National Assembly deputies from the Sandinista Party (FSLN) and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) formed a majority to move the election date and members of a special committee were chosen to report back with amendments to the Electoral Law that would change the date.

The Assembly also approved a total of US$52 million in loans from international financial agencies including the Inter-American Development Bank. Most of the money will go to highway construction and Hurricane Felix recovery. The FSLN-PLC majority also created a committee nominate eight justices to Supreme Court. Based on an agreement between the FSLN and the PLC, each party will choose four candidates as they have divided appointed positions in State institutions now for a number of years. This is what their detractors call the “pact.” FSLN deputy Jose Pallais said, “This is an agreement that permits us to arrive at the 56 votes necessary [to approve the justices].” No party has a majority in the National Assembly.

Topic 4: Nicaragua has the resources to guarantee food production this year

Ariel Bucardo, Minister of Agriculture, said in Matagalpa on June 1 that Nicaragua has the resources to guarantee food production for this year. He spoke as part of the March against Hunger, an event held simultaneously in 70 countries, organized by the U.N. World Food Program. He told local radio stations that the country has US$230 million in government and private funds to provide incentives for food production this year, US$70 million of which will come from the Sandinista government and will be destined for 177,000 small and medium farmers. The rest will consist of financing from private banks. Bucardo said that he was participating in the march in Matagalpa to express his rejection of the free market policies that had brought the world to this situation where so many people live in extreme poverty and food prices are disproportionately high. According to Agriculture Ministry predictions Nicaragua will produce 650,000 tons of corn, 245,000 tons of rice, 230,000 tons of beans, 120,000 tons of sorghum and 188 million gallons of milk this year.

Thousands people marched in Matagalpa, including local and national politicians, diplomats, civil society representatives, businesspeople, U.N. officials and 1,000 students from 27 Matagalpa area schools many of which receive meals through the Ministry of Education and the World Food Program. The Program's representative in Nicaragua, William Hart, said, “Walking against hunger is a way of expressing our willingness to support the efforts that are being made in Nicaragua to end hunger and malnutrition.” Last year the march raised US$12,000 from local efforts and organizers hoped that this year, with increased awareness of the world food problem, the amount collected from donations and the sale of T-shirts would be even more. People in over 70 countries participated on Sunday in marches organized by the World Food Program.

In other food related news, the presidents of the countries of Central America will meet in Managua during the week of June 2 with the board of directors of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) to analyze the allocation of funds to finance a basic grains program for the region. [The president of the BCIE, Nicaraguan Harry Brautigan was killed in a plane crash last week at the Tegucigalpa airport.] The presidents agreed to meet during a recent meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In April, the region's agriculture ministers approved a fund of US$560 million to finance an emergency plan for basic grains production but the fund is US$160 million short and officials may ask for international assistance.

The government announced that import tariffs on a number of basic food products, including beans, oats, barley and different types of cooking oil have been reduced or eliminated. The goal is to prevent shortages in the months just before the harvest of August-September 2008. Government officials said that they expect to import about 20,000 tons of small red beans, the kind preferred by the Nicaraguan consumer, to prevent the price of that staple of the local diet from skyrocketing as it did last year.

Topic 5: Government and Union Fenosa sign agreement for partial nationalization

After weeks of delays, postponements and warring press releases, a “protocol of technical understanding” which will define the future of the Spanish electricity distribution company in Nicaragua was finally signed by high government officials and the first vice-president of Union Fenosa Internacional, Honorato Lopez. President Daniel Ortega will send the agreement to the National Assembly for its approval. It includes the provision that the Nicaraguan government will own 16% of stock of the Nicaraguan branch of the company. Signing for the Nicaraguan government were Minister of Energy and Mines Emilio Rappaccioli and presidential economic advisor Bayardo Arce.

As a result of the signing and approval of this agreement, Union Fenosa will put an end to its claim before the MIGA, a body connected to the World Bank, which demanded that Nicaragua pay the company US$150 million because the investments of the company were allegedly put at risk. INE will also end its claim from 2006 against the company for failing to fulfill its investment plan. According to the agreement, Union Fenosa recommitted itself to invest US$33 million between now and 2011.

The 16% of the stock the government will own will be purchased with US$11.5 million which was the amount in the government's favor after a mutual cancellation of debts that Union Fenosa and entities of the Nicaraguan state owed each other up to a cut-off date of March 31, 2008.

Lopez, Fenosa's representative, said that the most positive aspect will be the presence on the board of a representative of the Nicaraguan government. He said, “We got married and we are getting along very well; at least we have good intentions.”

Arce said that the Nicaraguan government representative on the board of the Nicaraguan branch of the company will try to reduce and then eliminate the loss of electricity because of aging cables. He added also that “We cannot give ourselves the luxury of having the big electricity consumers stealing electricity and having the state pay by taxing the poor who pay their bills.” This problem would be addressed by passage of the Electricity Fraud Act which has been introduced in the National Assembly.

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
Labels: Archives Hotline