TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2009

Nicaragua Network Hotline (July 21, 2009)

1. Thirtieth anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution celebrated
2. Attorney General Estrada travels to U.S. to push for waiver
3. IMF review postponed until September
4. Poll shows support for government in rural areas
5. Nicaraguan Government demanding Pearl Cays be returned to local communities
6. US admits no significant Iranian presence in Nicaragua

Topic 1: Thirtieth anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution celebrated

Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans filled the Plaza of the Revolution on the morning of July 19 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution which overthrew the 43 year Somoza family dictatorship in 1979. Representatives from political parties and social movements from more than 20 countries were also present.

First Lady and Communications Council Coordinator Rosario Murillo told the crowd, “We celebrate this day not only thinking of what this revolution has been for all of us but, above all, committed to new victories for the Nicaraguan people.” She said that, in the two and one half years the Ortega administration has achieved more in social services than in the 16 years of neo-liberal governments that preceded it. She said that the Sandinista Party now has a membership of 1.1 million Nicaraguans who are ready to defend those advances.

Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchú said, “It is difficult to achieve victory, but even harder is to sustain it.” She asked for solidarity with those who struggle to protect the “health of Mother Earth” against mining companies and lauded Nicaragua's youth who participate in social and environmental programs when many young people around the world feel they have no ideals to defend. She said, “Long live the [Sandinista] Front and the women who have made possible the revolution and who struggle for social justice and to change structures of humiliation and racism.”

In his hour long speech, Ortega remembered the important Nicaraguan figures who have died in recent weeks, including champion boxer and Managua Mayor Alexis Argüello, song writer Camilo Zapata, and Conservative politician Rafael Cordoba Rivas. Ortega demanded the return of constitutional government in Honduras, but said “We don't want blue helmets in our countries; it is the people who must restore their president.” He also called for amending the Nicaraguan constitution to allow for the re-election of the president and mayors.

The Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) gathered in a Managua hotel on July 18 to celebrate the day. Among those present were Henry Ruiz, Dora Maria Tellez, Victor Hugo Tinoco, Hugo Torres, Gioconda Belli, and Edmundo Jarquin. Ruiz said in reply to a reporter's question, “The figures of Daniel and Rosario are portrayed as godlike…. You know what it is to manipulate consciousness; but honesty and ethics should impede it. The FSLN has no ethics. The workers and exploited continue to be their reference point but that is used to deceive.”

Topic 2: Poll shows support for government in rural areas

For the first time a poll shows President Daniel Ortega's government with a majority support in rural areas of Nicaragua according to an announcement by the Institute for Development and Democracy (IPADE). The poll sampled 1,200 rural residents in 73 municipalities in all 15 departments and the two autonomous regions. It showed that 52% had a positive view of government programs. Free health and education were recognized by 30.8% as the most positive program. Zero Hunger was put at the top by 4.1%, highway construction by 2.3%, and the Councils of Citizen Power at 1.8%. The top negative for the government was the increase in the cost of the basic basket of goods, mentioned by 49.3% of those polled, followed by lack of jobs at 12.7%.

Topic 3: Attorney General Estrada travels to U.S. to push for waiver

Nicaraguan Attorney General Hernan Estrada spent the week of July 12 in Washington, DC, in an effort to convince the US to grant the 16th consecutive waiver to the US law that requires cutting off US aid if a country confiscates the property of US citizens. In 1994 the Helms-Gonzalez amendment made that law apply to people who weren't US citizens at the time their property was confiscated but became citizens later, allowing former members of the Somoza dictatorship and brutal National Guard to demand the return of their ill-gotten properties in Nicaragua. The law provides that the president can grant a waiver if it is in the US interest. The US has demanded “progress” on resolving property claims as the condition to granting the annual July 28 waiver. This year, the Obama administration has not yet said that it will grant the waiver.

Estrada said that Nicaragua has paid out US$1.228 billion in compensation over the years for confiscated property. He noted that up until July, the Ortega administration has resolved 44 cases, which is more than last year at 41 cases, and above the number resolved during the last year of the Bolaños administration, which was 34. “The cases that remain are more complex,” Estrada said, adding, “Of the 269 remaining claimants, only 17 were born in the United States; the rest are former members of the National Guard of the Somoza regime that not even previous governments have considered paying.”

Estrada said that he had found a “positive atmosphere” in his visits to the offices of members of the House of Representatives and of Senators, both Democratic and Republican. He met with aides to Senators Mel Martinez, Richard Lugar, Evan Bayh, and Patrick Leahy and with Rep. Eliot Engel, chair of the Western Hemisphere Sub-Committee. On Wednesday, he met with Dan Restrepo, President Barack Obama's advisor on hemispheric security. Estrada also met with officials at the State Department and with civil society groups, including Chuck Kaufman of the Nicaragua Network.

On July 14, U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Robert Callahan expressed optimism about the extension of the waiver but said that “I can't say with 100% certainty” that it will be granted. About the process of compensation to U.S. citizens, he said, “It's not perfect, but it's going pretty well.” The Nicaragua Network urges people to call the Nicaragua desk at the State Department at (202) 647-1510 to demand that the waiver be granted by July 28. The Nicaragua Network is launching a yearlong campaign to get Nicaragua out from under the waiver requirements.

Topic 4: IMF review postponed until September

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) postponed until September the next evaluation of Nicaragua in order to give time to the government to fulfill pending requirements, according to Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), who was part of a delegation of private sector and government officials that traveled to Washington for meetings with IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The delegation was led by Central Bank President Antenor Rosales.

The second and third disbursements of funds for Nicaragua were delayed by the IMF, which demanded an end to tax exempt status for non-productive sectors including the communications media and reportedly even churches and non-governmental organizations. Another requirement was the elimination of automatic annual increases in social security pension payments.

Economist Alejandro Arauz said that, even though it is not a good idea according to economic theory to do this type of tax reform in a recession, Nicaragua has no other choice. He added, “I estimate that next year the assistance from the European Union will be reduced about 40%.” That made the loans of the IMF even more important for the money itself and because those loans open the door to other financial assistance from the donor community. He noted that Venezuelan aid, “as important as it is, is not fresh aid and doesn't contribute to macro-economic stability.”

Economist Adolfo Acevedo said that the government should seek a “true national consensus” in order to continue in the IMF economic program while at the same time preserving the tax exempt status of non-profit groups and protecting the pensions of retired citizens. He said that these requirements by the IMF could mean “the return by the IMF to its much criticized mandates of the past.”

Topic 5: Nicaraguan Government demanding Pearl Cays be returned to local communities

Attorney General Hernán Estrada said that the government hopes that the Supreme Court will reverse the ruling of a Bluefields appeals court that ceded seven of the Pearl Cays to US citizen Peter Tsokos. He went on to say, “We expect that these little islands will become the property of the local communities, who are the historic owners of these cays and those who have historically benefitted from their use.”
He explained that the interest of the State in these islands is based on environmental and sovereignty issues. “We are talking about an act of sovereignty and a rights claim of the autonomous communities of the RAAS [South Atlantic Autonomous Region],” he said. The islands are located off the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. Nine of the 18 cays have been sold in the last ten years to foreign investors by companies that offer them over the internet.

The business began in 1997 when Tsokos gained, from members of indigenous groups of the area, titles that he registered at the property registrar's office of Bluefields. The sellers held supposed royal titles that the British had given out before turning the territory over to the Nicaraguan government by means of the Harrison-Altamirano Treaty of 1905. The Nicaraguan constitution recognizes the islands as national patrimony that cannot be bought or sold, and the 1987 Autonomy Law recognizes them as collectively owned property of the indigenous people who have used them from time immemorial. Important for environmentalists is the fact that there are Hawksbill Turtle nesting sites on the islands. The Hawksbill is a seriously endangered sea turtle.

Topic 6: US admits no significant Iranian presence in Nicaragua

The government of the United States admitted “there is no significant presence” of Iran in Nicaragua, after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke recently of “worry” about the presence of Iran in Latin America. On May 1 Clinton claimed in a meeting with members of the US Foreign Service that “Iranians are constructing a large embassy in Managua,” adding “One can only imagine what it is for.” Questioned about Clinton's assertion, State Department spokesperson, Ian Kelly, had to admit, “Actually there is no significant Iranian presence in Nicaragua.”

The Washington Post raised doubt about the Clinton claim when it reported in an article from Managua that “no one in Nicaragua is able to find any super-embassy,” and quoted the Ernesto Porta, head of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce denying the existence of an Iranian diplomatic mission.

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.
Labels: Archives Hotline