TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

Nicaragua Network Hotline (April 28, 2009)

1. Los Angeles Judge throws out case against Dole
2. Ortega accuses United States of conspiring against his government
3. Nicaragua signs on to Plan Merida
5. Miskito army occupies YATAMA headquarters; Mayangna say they will not secede; Rama denounce colonists
4. Rosario Murillo could be Sandinista candidate for president in 2011

Topic 1: Los Angeles Judge throws out case against Dole

Last week Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney threw out two consolidated lawsuits (Mejia vs. Dole Food and Rivera vs. Dole Food) by Nicaraguan banana workers after the Dole Food Company accused two lawyers of recruiting clients to give false testimony that the pesticide DBCP (Nemagon) used by the company had made them sterile while working in its banana fields in Nicaragua. Dole said that only one of the Nicaraguans party to the case had actually worked for banana companies and that the men were paid and trained by attorney Juan Dominguez and his colleague in Nicaragua Antonio Hernandez. Judge Chaney said that the court was "profoundly concerned about the possibility that fraud could have occurred and that this could extend to all the Nicaraguan cases pending before this court." In November of 2007, a jury awarded US$6 million to six of twelve Nicaraguan banana workers (in Tellez vs. Dole) who said that they were rendered sterile by the pesticide. Dole appealed the verdict. Judge Chaney held three days of hearings last week to explore the allegations of fraud and issued her ruling in favor of Dole at the end of those hearings.

In Chinandega, attorney Antonio Hernandez responded to the accusations of fraud and conspiracy saying that if anyone prepared a conspiracy, it was Dole and not he nor any of his colleagues who are defending the affected farm workers. Hernandez said that Dole orchestrated a conspiracy using two Mexicans and a Costa Rican to offer a few Nicaraguan banana workers money, houses, and U.S. visas to testify against the plaintiffs, their former comrades, and destroy the case that they had been working on for seven years. Hernandez said, "Judge Chaney judged Juan Jose Dominguez and me, sentenced us and sent us to the electric chair without hearing us." He noted that Nicaraguan Judge Socorro Toruo, who was cited by Judge Chaney as having acted incorrectly in a banana worker case, has never ruled in such a case. He said that he was surprised by the change in Judge Chaney who had issued a ruling favorable to six workers in the Tellez vs. Dole Foods case.

According to the Bloomberg news service, "at least 16,000 Latin American workers sued in the U.S. in the past two decades seeking damages from chemical companies that made the pesticide." Michael Axline, the lawyer who currently represents the Nicaraguan plaintiffs, said, "We are shocked and saddened at the allegations against third parties in this case, including our former co-counsel [referring to Dominguez]."

Topic 2: Ortega accuses United States of conspiring against his government

On Apr. 22, during an appearance on the Cuban television program "Round Table," Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said that functionaries of the United States Embassy in Managua are conspiring against his government and that Nicaraguan officials have "all the information" about the conspiracy which they have not yet wanted to make public. "They class us as a dictatorship," he said adding that Embassy officials have been meeting with opposition figures and offering opposition groups funding to unite against his government, even while they maintain respectful relations with the government.

Ortega said that no one had been expelled because he is taking US President Barack Obama at his word when Obama said that he would not permit interventionist policies. "Let's see if the attitude of all the personnel of the yanqui embassy in Nicaragua, who are always conspiring, is going to change," he added. Ortega reminded viewers that Ambassador Robert Callahan was the right hand man of John Negroponte [in Honduras] during the US-funded contra war against his first administration in the 1980s.

For his part, Ambassador Callahan denied that he was involved in a conspiracy against the government. He said that all his activities were in accord with the Vienna Convention [a treaty regulating diplomatic relations between countries] which, he said, considers meeting with all sectors of society "a completely natural and acceptable thing." Callahan said that "It is true that we meet with all sectors of society in all parts of Nicaragua and this includes not only political leaders, but also from the churches, businesspeople and, in my case, baseball players. It is the way in which diplomats can understand the society in which they are working."

The Geneva Convention, however, does not give one country the right to fund the political opposition in another country which is standard operating procedure by the US through the National Endowment for Democracy and the US Agency for International Development.

Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said he was disappointed that Ortega continues to send "negative messages" which will have an effect on foreign investment in the country. "His speeches go in a different direction from showing understanding that the [economic] crisis is a reality from which we cannot escape. For investors, this represents instability and they will be fearful of putting capital into a country in which they have little confidence," Aguerri said.

FSLN National Assembly Deputy Alba Palacios said that US conspiracy, particularly against the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), has been constant in Nicaraguan life for many years. She remembered the war financed by the United States in the 1980s and then, during the 17 years the Sandinistas were out of office, at the time of each election, the US ambassador would openly support the candidate of the right. She also remembered the time several years ago when US Ambassador Barbara Moore met with the leaders of the parties of the right in the National Assembly to decide on the makeup of the leadership of the Assembly. She said that this type of conspiracy takes place also in El Salvador, Venezuela and Bolivia.

Topic 3: Nicaragua signs on to Plan Merida

On April 24, Nicaragua signed on to the U.S. sponsored Plan Merida which will provide the country's National Police with US$1.4 million to fight international organized crime. The document was signed by National Police Director Aminta Granera, Vice-Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke, and United States Ambassador Robert Callahan. Callahan said the signing represented "a concrete reaffirmation of the continuing commitment of the people of the United States to the security and welfare of the people of Nicaragua and at the same time to their own security." Under this plan, he said, the U.S. commits itself to work as a partner with the government of Nicaragua and of the other nations that are part of the Merida initiative-Mexico, the other Central American countries, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Granera said, "Thanks to this cooperation, we are going to improve our Central Criminal Laboratory, permitting us to capture fingerprints in a way that will allow us to compare them with those stored by other countries in the region. She said that the Police would be able to acquire other technical communication and transportation equipment that will assist in criminal investigations and in crime prevention.

Topic 4: Miskito army occupies YATAMA headquarters; Mayangna say they will not secede; Rama denounce colonists

The army of La Mosquitia, the new nation declared by the Miskito Council of Elders, occupied the party offices of the indigenous political party YATAMA in the city of Bilwi on Apr. 23. The army is made up of former combatants of YATAMA, which opposed the Sandinista revolution before negotiating peace in the 1980s. They said they were deceived by years of YATAMA alliance with the FSLN. They repudiated the leadership of Brooklyn Rivera, long-time YATAMA leader and now a deputy in the National Assembly allied with the government of President Daniel Ortega. The Council of Elders also sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asking for an international peace force "as soon as possible" to protect the Miskito people "from invasion" by Nicaraguan and Honduran "colonizers who advance each day destroying forests and indigenous territory."

Only a week after the declaration of independence of the Miskito, the Mayangna indigenous people of the same Caribbean Coast region, declared themselves the Indigenous Mayangna Nation of Nicaragua, but stated that they had no intention of seceding from the Republic of Nicaragua. They stated their declaration in terms of preserving their land, culture, and language. The Minister of the Caribbean Coast Development Council of the Ortega government promised to respect and support the Sumu-Mayangna indigenous nation.

In another indication that the other indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Coast do not support the Miskito declaration of an independent country, the Rama indigenous community of Tiktik Kaanu near Bluefields in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) asked President Daniel Ortega to suspend titling of land to colonists on indigenous lands. The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) confirmed violent incidents in the zone and also sent a letter to James Anaya, Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations.

The indigenous appealed to President Ortega to "instruct government functionaries to stop illegal titling of land and to publicly reiterate your promise to respect indigenous communal property." They also urged him to take effective measures to carry out the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and "to adopt the methods of protection for the life and physical integrity of the indigenous communities."

Topic 5: Rosario Murillo could be Sandinista candidate for president in 2011

On April 21, Supreme Court Justice Rafael Solis told a Managua media outlet that if amendments to the constitution that would allow Daniel Ortega to run for re-election are not approved by the National Assembly, First Lady Rosario Murillo could be the Sandinista candidate for president in the 2011 election. Solis is a member of a commission, which includes representatives of the Constitutional Liberal Party, pushing for changes to the Nicaraguan constitution that would allow consecutive re-election, which is not currently permitted. Murillo, 57, is coordinator of the Council of Social Communication and Citizenship, principal promoter of the Councils of Citizen Power (CPCs), which are neighborhood groups promoted by the Sandinista government as vehicles for citizen participation, and she shares power with her husband to a degree not seen before in Nicaragua. According to the M&R Consultants polling firm, Murillo has only 17.4% approval rating among the citizenry.

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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