TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009
Nicaragua Network Hotline (May 19, 2009)
1. Future of Millennium Challenge money and budget support funds to be decided soon2. Abortion ruling postponed; Catholic bishops meet in Managua
3. Political “map” of National Assembly changes
4. Jerez and Aleman, again!
5. Former Pellas sugar workers: two months of struggle in Managua
Topic 1: Future of Millennium Challenge money and budget support funds to be decided soon
President Daniel Ortega, said at a ceremony on May 15 where he received 130 busses donated by the Russian government, that he did not expect the United States to renew Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) funding that was suspended after accusations of fraud during the Nov. 2008 municipal elections. He said that US Ambassador Robert Callahan had communicated to Foreign Minister Samuel Santos that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said the funds would not be renewed unless the election results were revised. Ortega said, “Thank God that, just as today the Russian Federation has given us these buses without conditions, we also have my dear brother Chavez who made the decision that the ALBA [Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas] will assume the burden of the suspended programs.”
The US Embassy released a statement on May 16 saying that the MCA funds had not been cancelled. The letter did say that the lack of response from the Ortega government about concerns over the elections would make more difficult the renewal of the aid when the MCA board meets June 10. At the present time projects valued at US$110 million are moving forward; it is the US$64 million in projects that have not yet been contracted that would be lost if the aid were not renewed. You can send an email to the MCA making the point that only the poor will be hurt by a cut-off in aid at http://www.mcc.gov/contact/index.php. For more info, visit: http://www.nicanet.org/?p=594
In a related matter, Callahan said during ceremonies handing over four boats and four trucks and other equipment to Nicaragua's Naval Force, that the US is moving forward with a plan to donate US$5 million to repair the La Mascota Children's Hospital and to provide it with medical equipment in exchange for the destruction of 651 SAM-7 missiles, evidently as part of a plan originally suggested by President Daniel Ortega.
Ortega government officials also met last week with European counterparts to discuss European budget support suspended after the November municipal elections. Budget support funding is important because it can be used in any area where it is needed. After the meeting Mendel Goldstein, head of the European Commission Delegation for Central America and Panama said, “Here we are on the subject of governability. Within that subject there are several themes. The donors have expressed their concerns; what we think is that there has to be change in the future.” He said that the European Commission respects Nicaraguan sovereignty and for that reason “we cannot force change.” However, he said that the countries he represents “have good memories.”
By the weekend there were rumors that the government would revisit the cancellation of legal recognition of two political parties, the Conservative Party (PC) and the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), which lost their legal existence before the 2008 elections due to failure to field the legally required number of candidates by the PC, and failure to file required reports by the MRS. MRS leader Dora Maria Tellez said that the strategy would be to revive the PC and the party of dissident Sandinistas before the meeting of the Millennium Challenge Board on June 10 and the Budget Support Group on June 11.
Topic 2: Abortion ruling postponed; Catholic bishops meet in Managua
Supreme Court Justice Rafael Solis said that within the Supreme Court there has been a change with respect to the possibility of an imminent ruling on the issue of the constitutionality of the 2006 criminalization of therapeutic abortion when a woman's life and health are at risk. Solis said that the issue is not going to be resolved at this time. He confirmed that relations between the Ortega government and the Catholic Church have improved and after Catholic leaders meet with officials of the executive branch, the Supreme Court will receive them to converse about the suspension of the ruling on abortion.
The announcement was timed to coincide with a meeting of 60 Latin American Catholic bishops meeting at their 32nd assembly. Gone from their pronouncements were Vatican II concerns about economic human rights. Instead they expressed concern about moves toward popular democracy which they described as a “certain disenchantment with democracy that has led to the search for new political models mixed with populism,” apparently targeting countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. They noted that the global economic crisis has caused a resurgence of poverty in a number of countries. They condemned a “fragility” in many states when it comes to fully guaranteeing human rights, which they blamed on a “secularist current that silences religious and moral values.” The closing document spoke in support of those who have been “persecuted” or have been “objects of slander, discredit and even of violence.” Observers took that to be a message of solidarity with Nicaraguan clerics who were recently accused of corruption in a letter posted to a government listserve but later denied by the government.
Spokesman Hector Gutierrez said that relations between the Catholic Church and the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia were tense, while in contrast, relations with Cuba were improving
Topic 3: Political “map” of National Assembly changes
The alignment of Deputies in the National Assembly has changed considerably since the 2006 presidential and legislative election. Then, the breakdown was 38 Sandinista Front (FSLN), 25 Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), 24 Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN), and five Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) deputies.
The Nicaraguan press continues to report that there are 38 Sandinista deputies; however, it appears there are now 41 members unless there are other errors in the media's breakdown of 92 member National Assembly. Benches are what we might call caucuses in the US. A bench receives staff and a budget if it has a minimum of four members. The ALN has been particularly decimated by defections and is now down to only five members. The PLC has lost six members, several of whom were expelled for taking positions opposed by the party leadership. The MRS has only held on to its status as a bench when remaining members Enrique Saenz and Victor Hugo Tinoco were joined by two former contras who switched explicitly so that the dissident Sandinista bench would not lose its status.
A new bench in the National Assembly with seven members has taken the name Nicaraguan Unity Bench (BUN). Observers noted that if, as expected, the members of the bench vote with the FSLN, and the ALN continues its frequent alliance with the FSLN, their combined 12 votes bring the Sandinistas close to the 56 vote super majority needed to make constitutional changes. These include moving from a presidential to a parliamentary system and allowing consecutive re-election of the president and prime-minister as well as other elected officials.
Monica Baltodano who recently left the MRS because of its increasing alliance with the rightwing including urging voters to support PLC Alliance candidates in the municipal elections of Nov. 2008, is now the only independent in the Assembly. Former President Enrique Bolaños (2002-2007) also has a seat in the Assembly under the constitution, but he does not occupy it. The Nicaraguan Democratic Bench (BDN) is now the third largest bench in the Assembly with 14 members. Last week all BDN deputies announced that they would sign letters of resignation that they would give to Managua Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes for safe-keeping. The letters would go into effect if they voted for constitutional changes that would allow presidential re-election. This came after members of the PLC signed a document the previous week promising not to support those changes.
Topic 4: Jerez and Aleman, again!
The week's news was dominated by developments in the long-running stories about the corruption charges against former President Arnoldo Aleman and his former head of Internal Revenue Byron Jerez. Judge Margarita Romero of the Fifth District Civil Court of Managua last week ordered the Ministry of the Treasury to pay Jerez more than US$600,000 in compensation plus interest for the 25 vehicles seized from him in a corruption case in which he was finally exonerated by a jury in 2004. Former Prosecutor General Alberto Novoa said that the mere idea that Jerez would be compensated for “fraud, embezzlement, customs fraud and other related crimes…is abominable.”
Meanwhile, current Prosecutor General Hernan Estrada, noted last week that there were four cases against Aleman pending in the First District Criminal Court of Managua. Aleman was exonerated in January from a 20 year fraud sentence. Within hours Aleman said he would be open to considering amendments to the constitution, although he maintained that he did not favor consecutive presidential reelection or a change in the country's political system which his Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) has vowed to oppose. Aleman insisted that there were no cases pending against him and that there were merely threats to get him to support the amendments that the Sandinista Party wants.
Topic 5: Former Pellas sugar workers: two months of struggle in Managua
Former sugar workers suffering from Chronic Renal Insufficiency have been camped in Managua since March 9. They belong to the Nicaraguan Association of Those Affected by Chronic Renal Insufficiency (ANAIRC) which is affiliated with the International Union of Food Workers (UITA). They are demanding compensation from Nicaragua Sugar Estates, Ltd., which owns the San Antonio Sugar Mill and is part of the Pellas Group, Nicaragua's wealthiest corporation, for damage to their health caused by indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals and water contamination.
Carmen Rios, president of ANAIRC, said that they have advanced “in terms of presenting our demands at a national and international level and in pressuring the Pellas Group to listen to us.” She went on to say, “We have received support from some national organizations, from university students, and from a group that is promoting a boycott of Flor de Caña rum. At the international level, solidarity support has been great and I want to thank especially UITA and the Italy-Nicaragua Association for the support they are offering us.” Rios said that a very important aspect of the struggle has been the experience that members have gained advocating for their rights.
She lamented the limited attention given to their struggle by the Nicaraguan media while noting that the struggle has been covered in the international media. “But,” she emphasized, “we never tire of explaining to people who we are and what we want: justice and fair compensation for what they did to us.”
The former sugar workers arrived in Managua with only hammocks and pots to cook with. With the arrival of the rainy season, Rios said that the Food Workers Union has provided them with black plastic tarps for protection from the elements. Protestors who become ill return home to Chichigalpa to visit the health center and recuperate in order to come back to Managua. Rios said they have also had a death. “Yesterday we buried Pedro Tercero a former sugar worker who had to return home because he was very ill. He sent us his son to continue the fight,” she said.
Rios told about days when “we were afraid for our lives and there were rumors that workers of the company were going to come to attack us with the excuse that our objective was to close the San Antonio Sugar Mill and the liquor plant, which is totally false.” She went on to say, “We went to Chichigalpa and talked with people so that they no longer believe all those lies and now they understand our fight.” Rios said that the workers have sent many unanswered letters to Carlos Pellas, owner of the Pellas Group, asking for dialogue. She stated, “To date 3,326 people have died and that means thousands of family members have been left without support. The only thing we ask is to begin a dialogue.”
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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