TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2009
Nicaragua Network Hotline (May 12, 2009)
1. Nicaraguan pig farmers impacted by imports of U.S. pork2. Nicaraguan government rejects State Department report
3. Opponents attack new Production Promotion Bank
4. Army and Church still differ on existence of armed bands
5. Biodiversity Center Funded; Vote for Ometepe!
Topic 1: Nicaraguan pig farmers impacted by imports of U.S. pork
In an outcome forewarned by opponents of US-sponsored “free trade” agreements, Nicaraguan pig farmers say that imports of pork from the United States are pushing them towards bankruptcy. Minister of Trade Orlando Solorzano said that nine importers, among them PriceSmart, Delicarne, and Delmor, have licenses to import pork into Nicaragua under the quotas established by the trade agreement with the United States known as the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Solorzano said that for this year there is a quota of 1400 tons that can enter with no import tariff and that the quota will grow each year by 100 tons until 2020. US-corporate agriculture is heavily subsidized by US taxpayers enabling transnational corporations to dump agricultural products in Mexico and Central America at prices with which local farmers cannot compete.
Solorzano said hog farmers should sit down with the Trade Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry, processors, and others to try to find a solution for the pork sector. But Jesus Bermudez, who is in charge of implementation of trade agreements at the Trade Ministry, was more pessimistic. He said that in order to resolve a problem related to quotas, there would have to be a renegotiation with the United States which would necessitate a concession on the part of Nicaragua. “The truth is that we have our hands tied as far as the legal route is concerned,” he added. Milton Arcia, of the National Association of Hog Farmers, said, “We are supposing that this government protects small farmers so we are hoping that they won't abandon us at this moment of crisis. What we are asking for is that they stop the pork imports temporarily, while the drop in consumption caused by the swine flu dissipates as has been done in other countries. If not, we will be ruined.”
Topic 2: Nicaraguan government rejects State Department report
The Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry released a communiqué on the night of May 4 rejecting an April 30 report by the US State Department which claimed that the Nicaraguan government maintains close relations with terrorists. The Foreign Ministry said “Nicaragua rejects any report that links us with terrorism. On the contrary, our political will to fight this evil is shown by our participation in all international legal covenants of the United Nations and of the inter-American community, including participating in the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism.” The response continued: “Nicaragua has its own view about the conduct of the United States government on the international level; however, based on a desire to respect all nations' sovereignty, we will abstain from stating those views.” The US report also criticized the Nicaraguan judicial system as “highly politicized, corrupt, and prone to manipulation.” The Foreign Ministry responded that the performance of the Nicaraguan court system is a matter for Nicaraguan authorities alone as a matter of national sovereignty and self-determination. In answer to the State Department's criticism of Nicaragua's granting visa-free entry to citizens of Iran, the Foreign Ministry added that Nicaragua has “the right to have diplomatic relations with all of the countries of the world without exception.”
The bulk of the State Department's Country Report on Nicaragua for 2008, released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, concerned the Nicaraguan government's relationship with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and the asylum the government gave to severely wounded victims of Colombia's March 1, 2008, cross border attack in Ecuador on the FARC base that was negotiating prisoner exchanges. That attack was condemned by nearly every country in Latin America. To read the State Department report, go to: http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2008/122435.htm
Topic 3: Opponents attack new Production Promotion Bank
The Production Promotion Bank (Banco Produzcamos), set to provide credit for small and medium farms and businesses, was approved last week with the votes of the Sandinista Party (FSLN), the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) and several other deputies from other parties. Opponents were quick with criticism that an amendment providing for the bank directors to be approved by a simple majority of 47 rather than a super majority of 56 meant that the bank's lending would be politicized. The Constitutional Liberal Party even expelled two deputies (Ana Julia Balladares and Carlos Olivas) who voted for the bill. Former presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre, a member of the Nicaraguan Democratic Bench, alleged, “This indicates that it [the bank] is totally politicized; later they will say that if you don't join the Sandinista Party, you won't get credit.” It is a common claim by opponents of the Ortega government that Sandinista supporters are the only beneficiaries of government poverty reduction programs. A January 2009 Nicaragua Network delegation found no evidence to confirm such a claim and one analyst pointed out that if the FSLN wants to improve on the 38% of the vote it received in the 2006 presidential election, is would be senseless to limit government programs to FSLN supporters.
PLC Deputy Wilfredo Navarro complained that the candidates for the Bank's board whose names have been put forward by the executive branch (Danilo Chavarria Aviles, Jorge Martinez Lopez, and Roberto Blanco Lopez) have all worked for the government-affiliated Rural Credit Fund (CARUNA) and, he said, “have not even presented us with copies of their university degrees.” PLC Deputy Freddy Torres said that the Bank should just be called “the FSLN Bank.” Sandinista deputy Walmaro Gutierrez defended the amendment saying that approval of nominees by a simple majority would foil the boycotts of assembly sessions by opposition deputies that have held up previous confirmations. Douglas Aleman (FSLN) added that it is “not a sin” to have worked for the Rural Credit Fund, which gets some of its funding through the Bolivarian Alternative for Our Americas (ALBA).
Jose Adan Aguerri, President of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said that his organization hopes that the Bank will have a democratic policy in the extension of credit because, “In Nicaragua, producers are of all ideologies; the small and medium size businesses are of all ideologies.” He added that the Union of Agricultural Producers of Nicaragua (UPANIC) hoped that one of its members would have a seat on the board of the Bank. UPANIC President Manuel Alvarez reiterated that hope and said that UPANIC had had a positive experience with the state run Rural Development Institute where one of the board members is from UPANIC and has helped members obtain fertilizer from Venezuela at favorable prices. He added that the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG) has also sent over to the National Assembly the name of the person it would like to see on the board.
Topic 4: Army and Church still differ on existence of armed bands
Julio Cesar Aviles, Nicaraguan Army Chief of Staff, said on May 8 that there are no armed bands in the Nicaraguan interior with political objectives, in spite of the declarations of some Catholic Church leaders that such bands exist. “We respect what they say but we can confirm based on the level of information that we have that there are no armed groups with political tendencies,” Aviles said. Head of the Army Omar Halleslevens added that the Army and the National Police expect to carry out joint operations to confront groups of common delinquents in the Departments of Jinotega, Matagalpa, the Mining Triangle and other areas who rob small rural stores and stop vehicles to rob the passengers.
Members of the First Regional Command of the Army accompanied a commission composed of members from the Police, the Nicaraguan Pro-Human Rights Association (ANPDH), [founded by the US government in the 1980s and is now funded by right-wing Catholic sources], and representatives of the Catholic Church hierarchy, on a mission into the mountains beginning on April 22. The commission visited Esteli, Madriz, Nueva Segovia, Matagalpa, Jinotega, and communities in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region. Brigade General Adolfo Zepeda said, “We saw no evidence that there were groups organized with political goals.” However, the ANPDH representative said that, although they did not see armed bands, they gathered information from peasants in the region who said that they had seen and talked to uniformed armed men who supposedly were recruiting people for an armed movement against the Sandinista government. According to Bishop Abelardo Mata of Esteli, the peasant farmers avoided speaking in front of the members of the military who accompanied the commission.
Topic 5: Biodiversity Center Funded; Vote for Ometepe!
The Nicaraguan government, with the help of the Spanish government, will create a Center for the Study of Biodiversity in the Biosphere Reserve, composed of seven protected areas in Southeastern Nicaragua. At the request of President Daniel Ortega, the Center will be named after presidential advisor and noted geographer and environmentalist Jaime Incer Barquero. Environmental Minister Juanita Argeñal said the center will create a new model of studies “in which we are able to give primary, secondary, and university students the benefit of courses and internships so that they get to know our lands, animals and plants.” The initial phase of the project is budgeted at US$5 million from Spain plus counterpart funds from the Nicaraguan government. Incer said, “This center will be a focus of attraction for world science in the areas of ecology and natural resources and very attractive from the point of view of ecotourism and development of the Rio San Jan and surrounding areas.” Incer said, “We know there are thousands of plants in that reserve that have medicinal properties and that future investigation could find them to be a cure for AIDS or cancer.” He added, “For the first time we are going to open nature's secrets to see how many of those secrets can be of use to the Nicaraguan people.”
In other environmental news, Minister of Tourism Mario Salinas has appealed to the population to vote on the internet for Ometepe Island to win in a competition for New Seven Wonders of Nature. "From 104th place we have risen to fourth in the Islands category behind Bora Bora (French Polynesia), Galápagos (Ecuador) and Cocos (Australia),” Salinas said in press conference. Ometepe Island is made up of two great volcanos in Lake Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua), the second largest lake in Latin America and unique in the world for its fresh water sharks. You can cast your vote at http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/nominees/northamerica . (In order for your vote to register you have to vote for seven wonders so an examination of the web page first is helpful to see what the other candidates are.) Voting will continue until July 6 when the government of Nicaragua hopes Ometepe will continue among 11 contestants into the third phase of the selection process.
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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