TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2008

Nicaragua Network (Nov. 4, 2008)

1. Reaction to MRS alliance with Liberals continues; violent incidents occur and are lamented
2. Ortega meets with NGOs
3. Free Trade Zone employment shrinks
4. Russia to help with mine removal
5. Nicaragua to fund forest preservation

Topic 1: Reaction to MRS alliance with Liberals continues; violent incidents occur and are condemned

Nicaragua's municipal elections will be this Sunday, Nov. 9. Carmen Garcia de Lewites, widow of 2006 Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) candidate Herty Lewites, who died during the campaign, released a statement last week criticizing the MRS decision to ally itself with the right wing Liberal Alliance headed by the Constitutional Liberal Party. She wrote, “Herty's slogan was happiness and progress for all and I believe that this alliance that they have so pompously launched contradicts Herty's efforts and dishonors his memory.” She went on to say, “If there is anything that characterized my husband it was not holding personal hatreds. None of his actions was motivated by hatred or rancor against anyone. Nevertheless this alliance is motivated by hatred and by vengeance and not by the goal of building and transforming.” Lewites brother, Saul, responded that more than once he heard his brother express his concern that Daniel Ortega could turn into the Somoza of the 21st century. He added that “without any doubt” his brother would support the political alliance against the president.

Leon leaders of the Sandinista Rescue Movement (MpRS), which had joined the MRS for the 2006 elections, asked followers to vote for Manuel Calderon, the Sandinista (FSLN) candidate for mayor of that city, rejecting Monica Baltodano's call for voters to cast null ballots. Rescue Movement leaders released a statement which listed the damage that “16 years of corrupt neo-liberal, anti-people governments” had done to Nicaragua and condemned the “dirty Aleman-Montealegre-Jarquin alliance.” In Esteli, local MRS leaders returned to the ranks of the FSLN in what they called “a ‘no' to Somocismo.” They said that they rejected the decision of Dora Maria Tellez, Victor Hugo Tinoco and Edmundo Jarquin to ally the party with the Liberal Alliance “without consultation with the base.”

There was sporadic violence last week. In one incident, three supporters of Managua Mayoral candidate Eduardo Montealegre were attacked by a group of Sandinista supporters near the Ruben Dario traffic circle in front of Metrocentro. The next day more people were injured when a battle between political factions broke out in the Quinta Nina neighborhood of Managua. La Prensa reported that the police were unable to control Sandinista sympathizers who threw stones at Liberal supporters who were waiting for Montealegre to make an appearance. Channel 2 Television showed two women bleeding from the head and a man who seemed to have a broken nose. When the police tried to bring order, both sides began to throw stones, baseball bats were swung, and a man and a woman, identified as Sandinistas, were injured.

President Ortega said on Nov. 1 that some groups are carrying out violent actions and trying to blame innocent people with the goal of staining the electoral process. At a ceremony turning over property titles to members of the indigenous community of Monimbo, Masaya, he said that he had given instructions to the police to guard traffic circles where he said groups of peasants have gathered to pray against hate but political parties have accused them of being aggressive. “The lies about these brothers and sisters by the members of the oligarchy and the political parties could be a prelude to violence against them,” said Ortega. He added that he was making a “call for non-violence and for respect for the electoral propaganda of all the political parties that participate in the elections.” Sandinista candidate for mayor of Managua Alexis Argüello also called for an end to violence while Liberal Alliance candidate Montealegre asked for the National Police head Aminta Granera to make a call for non-violence.

In other election news, the National Assembly approved by a vote of 77 to 6 a supplemental appropriation of US$3.5 million to complete the funding of the municipal elections. Language in the bill urged the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) to accredit national and international observers. Up until that moment, the CSE had not given official credentials to any international or national observer groups.

Topic 2: Ortega meets with NGOs

On Oct. 28, President Daniel Ortega met with a broad group of non-governmental organizations and said that the government must work “hand in hand” with NGOs for the benefit of the people. He added that the Ministry of Government, which has been investigating NGOs, should be “more flexible.” Ortega said, “In these moments, we must unite forces: the State, the Councils of Citizen Power, and NGOs,” adding, “We all want the welfare of the people, of all Nicaraguans without any ideological distinctions.” Ortega said that the government is putting together a procedures manual for Law 147, which regulates NGOSs, and will consult with NGOs about the manual. “We will not impose the rules,” he said. First Lady Rosario Murillo, coordinator of the Communications and Citizenship Council, emphasized that the role of the NGOs is important in countries that wish to develop. She said that their role “is important and valuable; they are a segment within society that is committed to service.” Minister of Government Ana Isabel Morales said that the government was drawing up a bill to improve regulation of NGOs. She said that there were 4,477 NGOs in the country; 3,983 national, and 494 foreign with 645 inactive.

The Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations (FONG) released a statement which described the government's meeting with NGOs as positive but at the same time the Federation demanded that the government suspend the investigation of people, social movements and organizations. Irvin Larios, president of the FONG, said, “Today we are sending a letter to the President, recognizing his initiative to move closer to the NGOs but other things must be done as well for us to advance and one of those is to end the legal procedures being carried out by the Prosecutor's Office. Larios expressed the willingness of his federation to work to resolve the problems of poverty, democracy and development in the country.

On Oct. 30, during the XVIII Ibero-American Summit held in San Salvador, the Nicaraguan government denounced “some European Union ambassadors” for carrying out a campaign to discredit and destabilize it. The document said that the EU campaign “attempts without success the destabilization and the overthrow of a legitimately constituted government.” It called on “representatives of friendly governments participating in the … Summit to support respect for Nicaragua's institutions.” Following the release of the statement, a European diplomatic source told El Nuevo Diario that “The accusation against the nations of the European Union is very grave.”

The European Union had, on Oct. 22, sent to Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos a communiqué critical of “actions of intimidation” against persons who criticized the government. Santos said later that he had refused to accept the communiqué. The Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry has delayed its approval of the new ambassador of the European Commission. However, the EU last week approved US$270 million aid package for social projects in Nicaragua.

Topic 3: Free Trade Zone employment shrinks

Decreased consumption in the US has caused textile factory orders in Nicaragua's Free Trade Zones (FTZs) to be cancelled resulting in the loss of around 15,000 jobs. Business sectors blame the job losses on the Ortega government-ordered rise in the minimum wage which owners had strongly opposed. At the same time that the National Commission of Free Trade Zones reported that the past year saw the highest employment level yet in Nicaragua's FTZs, putting the figure at 87,500 workers. Dean Garcia, president of the Nicaraguan Association of Textile Manufacturing (ANITEC), also stated that the textile assembly plants in the FTZs have recently reduced personnel, consolidated operations, and in some cases have closed their plants due to heavy losses. Garcia strongly condemned the increased minimum wage, which the Ortega government has raised by 50% in the past year and a half, which still leaves Nicaraguan workers with the lowest wages in Central America.

Garcia also criticized the government for enforcing labor laws against the ANNIC factory which fired 1,950 workers after the government cited the company for forcing workers to work 12 hour shifts four days a week. Garcia argued that ANNIC's practice allowed it to accelerate production and hire twice as many workers. The case has been appealed to the Nicaraguan Supreme Court.

Topic 4: Russia to help with mine removal

Russia will offer technical and humanitarian assistance to Nicaragua for the removal of 51 mine fields near old military and contra camps in the Honduran border region. Russia provided aid to the Sandinista Popular Army during the war of the 1980s, while the US organized and funded the contra guerrillas. The Army placed 135,000 mines and the contras are estimated to have placed 70,000. Despite the removal, since 1992, of 157,972 mines, deaths and injuries continue to be reported. Sources within the OAS Program of Demining Assistance stated in February that 24,000 peasants live within 5 kilometers of the 51 fields. According to official data, 50,000 Nicaraguans died, half a million were displaced, and 50,000 were disabled due to the contra war. It will cost US$5 million to clear the fields. The amount of Russian assistance was not announced. The military estimates that there are 17,000 mines that need to be removed. Their intent is to destroy 7,600 this year and the remainder in 2009. Russian Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov also said he and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos discussed economic cooperation in the areas of fish and agriculture, education, and culture, and new food aid in gratitude for Nicaragua's recognition of Abjasia and South Osetia following their recent independence from Georgia.

Topic 5: Nicaragua to fund forest preservation

Vice-Minister of the Environment Roberto Araquistain announced on Oct. 30 that the government has US$200,000 from international sources to carry out a national project of incentives to conserve forests. The project will provide data on the extent of Nicaragua's forests, its capacity to preserve and extend them, how many tons of carbon dioxide can be sequestered by the forests, and what will be paid the owners of the forests for their conservation. Deforestation has resulted in the loss of 50% of Nicaragua's forests over the last 50 years. Nicaragua is today losing between 70,000 and 180,000 hectares of forest each year. The initial evaluation step will be followed quickly, the vice-minister said, with pilot projects using US$1.8 million in World Bank funds that will confirm or correct data from the first phase of the project. After these two phases are completed, it will be easier for Nicaraguans to access payment for preventing deforestation, something that until now only large corporations with foreign contacts had been able to do.

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