TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 02, 2008
Nicaragua Network Hotline (September 2, 2008)
1. Nicaragua signs IMF letter2. President Ortega receives US Ambassador Callahan; IRI investigated
3. Poll finds Nicaraguans dissatisfied with leaders and institutions.
4. Ernesto Cardenal fined by judge; defended by international response
5. Campaign registers births of tens of thousands on Atlantic Coast
6. Bill to protect Bosawas Reserve moving forward in National Assembly
Topic 1: Nicaragua signs IMF letter
On August 28, the Nicaraguan government signed a letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund in which it commits leaders to promote macroeconomic stability to guarantee development in the country. Antenor Rosales, president of the Central Bank, and Treasury Minister Alberto Guevara signed the letter which was handed to IMF representative in Nicaragua Humberto Arbulú. This finalizes a long process in which the government of President Daniel Ortega, through tough negotiations, made the IMF back down and support Sandinista poverty reduction measures, free education and health care, and subsidized food. Previous governments signed IMF agreements implementing draconian structural adjustment policies that increased poverty and misery for poor Nicaraguans. The program will go to the directors of the IMF on Sept. 10.
Rosales said that the government confirmed that the Gross Domestic Product would grow by between three and four percent. He added that the government expects to finish the year with an 18.1% inflation rate and he expected international reserves to total US$1.23 billion, which is equal to three months of imports.
In other economic news, Rosales announced that as of Sept. 1, the Central Bank will publish on its web page month by month all information about international aid received from all sources including Venezuela and aid distributed through non-governmental organizations. Some analysts estimate that Nicaragua receives at least US$1 billion annually in foreign assistance, including loans and grants. According to Rosales, the posting of information on the web page will answer a public demand for access to information about all foreign assistance and how it is handled.
Topic 2: President Ortega receives US Ambassador Callahan; IRI investigated
On August 27, the new US Ambassador to Nicaragua, Robert Callahan, presented his credentials to President Daniel Ortega. Callahan was a top assistant to John Negroponte in the 1980s when Negroponte was ambassador to Honduras and a primary architect of the contra war against Nicaragua. Ortega called Callahan a “brother” and then said, “Some will ask, ‘Daniel, how can you say brother to the yanquis?' Yes, we are brothers. All who live on this planet are brothers. We have differences and we don't hide them. But we have said from the first days of the revolution in 1979 that we want a respectful relationship with the United States.” When someone called out a question to Ortega about the Democratic candidate for President, Barack Obama, Ortega used the opportunity to say, “Look, we don't get involved in the U.S. elections because we don't like it when they get involved in ours. We have to respect each other.” La Prensa asked Callahan about the case of the SAM-7 missiles and the new ambassador replied that he hopes to reopen the negotiations for their destruction.
Meanwhile, Julio Acuña, director of the Office of Attention to Political Parties, filed a denunciation with the office of Attorney General Julio Centeno against the International Republican Institute (IRI) saying that the organization “brought to the country a foreign lecturer who denounced the branches of government and gave instructions to the population on how they should vote.” Acuña said that former Mexican President Vicente Fox violated several articles of the Nicaraguan constitution during his IRI-sponsored visit. The Attorney General has 20 days to respond to the accusation.
Fox visited Nicaragua on August 12 and gave a speech in which he said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Nicaraguan President Ortega had the same policies and the same intentions. “Believe me,” Fox said, “this is my viewpoint, this model is proven and it doesn't work.” The newspaper El Nuevo Diario said that its reporters tried to contact the IRI representative in Nicaragua, Sergio Garcia, but he did not answer his cell phone.
Topic 3: Poll finds Nicaraguans dissatisfied with leaders and institutions
A new poll found large majorities of Nicaraguans unhappy with political leaders and institutions of government. The exception was Sandinista mayor of Managua, Dionisio Marenco who scored an incredible 90.4% approval rating for his governing of the capital city. The polling firm M & R Consultants conducted the poll from Aug. 14-19, interviewing 1,600 randomly selected urban, semi-urban and rural residents. The poll has a 2.5% margin of error.
The government of President Daniel Ortega slightly increased its approval rating over that found in a similar poll in June. Just over 24% think that the government is “going in the right direction” while 53.3% think Ortega is leading in a “mistaken direction.” Three months ago 60.6% thought Ortega was leading in a “mistaken direction.” Raul Obregon, owner of the polling firm, noted that Ortega had recovered some of his lost approval among Sandinistas due to the Zero Hunger and Zero Usury campaigns, the response to the fire in the Eastern Market, and the celebration of July 19. He also said that he noticed a small movement among independents into the “undecided” category. However, Ortega's support is still below the 38% of votes he won in the 2006 election.
Other Nicaraguan politicians and leaders fared poorly in the public opinion poll as well with “no one” winning 34,4% of the survey question asking who could best lead the political opposition. Eduardo Montealegre, who is the Constitutional Liberal Party Alliance candidate for mayor of Managua followed with 22.3% while 14.4% didn't answer and 9.9% favored former president and convicted felon Arnoldo Aleman. Mayor Marenco was named by 8.8% while former presidential candidate for the Sandinista Renovation Movement, Edmundo Jarquin was the choice of 2.2%. Even Cardinal Obando y Bravo did not fare well in the poll with 55.8% disapproving of his work on the Verification, Reconciliation, Peace and Justice Commission while only 21.1% approved.
The institutions of government are not held in high esteem by Nicaraguans either with 93.1% responding that they do not feel represented by the National Assembly. Concerning the judiciary, only 23.1% believe that the courts respond to the interests of the citizens, and the Supreme Electoral Council, which is responsible for elections, is held in “no confidence” by 47.2% of those polled while only 9.3% expressed “great confidence.”
Topic 4: Ernesto Cardenal fined by judge; defended by international response
On August 26, Judge David Rojas revived a case of slander against internationally recognized Nicaraguan poet Father Ernesto Cardenal and ordered him to pay a fine of about US$1,000. The accusation of slander came from Immanuel Zerger, the owner of Solentiname Tours, who with his wife Nubia Arcia, has been involved in a dispute of many years with Cardenal over management of a hotel in the Solentiname Archipelago in Lake Cocibolca (Nicaragua) that belongs to the Development Association of Solentiname. Arcia was director of the Institute of Tourism for a time in the current Ortega government leading to charges that the suit is politically motivated.
In 2005, Cardenal was absolved by a lower court. Last week Judge Rojas reversed the previous judge's decision ordering Cardenal to pay a fine before Friday or face a penalty that could include jail had the judge not eliminated that possibility due to Cardenal's age. Cardenal replied in a public letter that the revival of the case, on which he said the statute of limitations had run out, was a purely political reaction to declarations he made in Paraguay when attending the inauguration of President Fernando Lugo. Cardenal did not appear in court on Friday and on Monday a new judge, Ronaldo Moran, took over the case, Moran said he was studying the case and expected to issue a ruling on Wed. Sept. 3.
Cardenal, one of the best known living poets in the Spanish language, was Minister of Culture in the first government of Daniel Ortega (1979-1990) but he broke with Ortega over how he was running the Sandinista Party after 1990 and became one of Ortega's fiercest critics. Nicaraguan and international intellectuals immediately came forward in support of Cardenal. Portuguese Nobel Literature Prize winner Jose Saramago wrote a letter of solidarity with Cardenal which was signed by over 50 poets and writers from the Western Hemisphere and Spain. Revolutionary Cuban academic Celia Hart wrote that while she did not have a problem with closing down a political party, as occurred recently with the MRS, “You, Ernesto Cardenal, are not a political party. Your name and your actions are linked to the best times of revolutionary Nicaragua and you merit much more consideration and reverence. You have received the Jose Marti medal and other decorations of the Cuban Revolution and are thus a little piece of it.”
Cardenal said he had planned to travel this week to the US to read his poetry at six universities and that if he was not allowed to go, he would make clear to them the reason why he was not able to appear.
Topic 5: Campaign registers births of tens of thousands on Atlantic Coast
About 250,000 indigenous children and adolescents in Nicaragua who had not had not been registered are obtaining their birth certificates, a step towards basic human rights. The campaign, called “Right to Name and Nationality,” has registered 97,000 children and adolescents in the North Atlantic Region (RAAN) over four years. The campaign began this year in the South Atlantic (RAAS) with the goal of registering 150,000 more.
Susana Marley, Miskito community leader in Waspam, RAAN, said, “There were communities where not even the parents were registered, much less their descendents, and we had to bring together the whole community to help remember dates, last names, addresses and other information about relatives.” Marley said that there were people who traveled five days on the Coco River to register their children.
Topic 6: Bill to protect Bosawas Reserve moving forward in National Assembly
The Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources approved a bill entitled “Conservation of the Soil in the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve Affected by Hurricane Felix” and sent it to the entire National Assembly for its approval. The goal of the bill is to protect the zone from the extension of the agricultural frontier, extensive cattle grazing and illegal logging. According to the bill's supporters, these are the causes of the loss of 50% of Nicaragua's forests over the last 25 years. Bosawas is important, according to supporters of the legislation, because it includes within its boundaries species of both North and South American plants and animals. The reserve covers 2,900 square miles including the headwaters of nine of Nicaragua's most important rivers.
About 8 million acres of the reserve were affected by Hurricane Felix. The legislation would allow for only natural regeneration and reforestation projects in the affected areas. Only the indigenous inhabitants of the area would be allowed to exploit natural resources in the reserve, demonstrating that they are maintaining the environmental balance.
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