TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
Nicaragua Network Hotline (November 24, 2009)
1. Marches proceed without violence2. Controversy continues around visit of Liberal International president
3. Coffee harvest underway; Labor Ministry sets wages for pickers
4. Two million Nicaraguans have migrated in recent years
5. De Castilla discusses advances in the rights of children
Topic 1: Marches proceed without violence
President Daniel Ortega and Police Commissioner Aminta Granera received praise from all sides after the dual marches by opposition supporters and Sandinista government supporters on Nov. 21 proceeded without violence on separate routes and at different times. There had been fears that there would be violence in Managua along the march routes or during the rallies. One Sandinista supporter died in a clash near Ciudad Diario, 19 people were injured by mishandling homemade explosive devices, and a similar number were injured in other cities before and after the marches took place.
Marcos Carmona, leader of the Permanent Commission on Human Rights, said, “The call that President Ortega made the day before the march for his sympathizers to march in peace and his saying that he was going to control his partisans … avoided a blood bath.” Cirilo Otero, president of the Center for Environmental Policy Initiatives, said, “It seems to me to be an institutional success because the Police Force had the opportunity to show that it continues to be the institution that takes care of internal order in the country just as the constitution says.”
The sizes of the crowds in the two marches were difficult to estimate although the Sandinista march was several times the size of the opposition march. Sandinistas said 350,000 people joined their march and only 7,000 joined the opposition march. Opposition supporters said their march brought together 30,000 to 50,000 people. News outlets from each of the two sides showed views of their own march with big crowds and views of the other march that showed only a few stragglers.
There was a conflict within the opposition march between Violeta Granera of the Movement for Nicaragua, which was founded by the US International Republican Institute (IRI), who ordered Constitutional Liberal Party leader and former President Arnoldo Aleman to put his PLC T-shirt clad supporters at the end of the march. Political party symbols were forbidden. The IRI created the Movement during the 2006 presidential election to oppose Ortega and Aleman's candidate, Jose Rizo, hoping that would boost the prospects of US-favored candidate Eduardo Montealegre. The opposition marchers held signs protesting alleged fraud in the municipal elections of Nov. 2008, and the recent decision of the Supreme Court allowing consecutive presidential and mayoral reelection among other issues.
The Sandinista march was called to celebrate the victory in the municipal elections of Nov. 2008 and “the victories the country has achieved under the administration of President Daniel Ortega.” In his speech to the crowd, Ortega announced the appointment of Major General Julio César Avilés to a five year term as head of the Nicaraguan Army, replacing General Omar Halleslevens whose term expires Feb. 21. Ortega said that the country is “in a time of crisis” and he called for unity saying, “We aren't asking them to love us but to act with their heads. Instability and confrontation are not the best way.” He defended the Supreme Court's decision to allow reelection saying “Only the people can decide with their votes who will govern them in the future.”
Topic 2: Controversy continues around visit of Liberal International president
News reports revealed that Johannes van Baalen, president of the Liberal International (LI) and member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands, was forced by public opinion to withdraw his 1998 candidacy for parliament because he had belonged to a neo-Nazi student group and expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler. He also belonged the Dutch People's Union, an extreme right wing party that collapsed in the 1990s, before joining the Liberty and Democracy Party affiliated with the Liberal International. He had become president of the LI only three weeks before his visit to Nicaragua.
His visit to Nicaragua created controversy due to his statement that “Roberto Micheletti is the future of democracy in Honduras and Daniel Ortega should leave power in Nicaragua” and because he explored the possibility of a coup with the Nicaraguan army. Several days later Gen. Omar Halleslevens stated, “As you are probably bored from hearing, the Army of Nicaragua does not make incursions into, has no interest in, and gains no benefit from any participation in politics. If we had known about his [van Baalen's] intentions, we would have had to seriously review the situation [of the meeting].”
Topic 3: Coffee harvest underway; Labor Ministry sets wages for pickers
After coffee growers complained that the wage set for coffee pickers -- US$1.25 per standardized tin -- was too high, Minister of Labor Jeanette Chavez held a two day negotiating session that included growers, heads of other government ministries, and Association of Farm Workers (ATC) representatives. She lowered the wage to US$1.08 per can stating that would be a win-win level, but growers were still unhappy. Growers say they want to pay only US$1.00 per can, just 10 cents above last year's wage of US$0.90 and are demanding a further meeting with Chavez. Matagalpa grower Freddy Torrez said the amount “is beyond our capacity with the financing we have.” Lack of an Atlantic Coast port raises the cost of coffee exports because most of it must be shipped from Honduras.
Former Agriculture Minister Roberto Bendaña said that the government should not punish the coffee sector in order to retain Nicaraguan workers [who can earn US$1.25 per can in Costa Rica. The Nicaraguan harvest will need more than 200,000 pickers while Costa Rica needs around 160,000. According to Deryhan Muñoz of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute, Costa Rican coffee is harvested principally by Nicaraguan and indigenous Panamanian pickers.
Venezuela, Finland and the United States were the major purchasers of Nicaraguan coffee during October, the first month of this year's harvest, with Venezuela paying US$1.42 per pound, Finland US$1.43 per pound and the United States, US$1.37 per pound. The amount exported was down by 36% from October of last year according to the Center for Export Transactions (CETREX). Nicaragua expects to harvest 2 million hundredweights of coffee this year.
Approximately 32% of the coffee Nicaragua exports is “differentiated coffee” which means higher quality coffee that commands a higher price, while 62% of Costa Rica's coffee is “differentiated.” Nicaragua, however, has recently won the reputation for producing high quality coffee after winning a number of international prizes including the Cup of Excellence of 2007 with the second highest price ever at US$47 per pound. The additional price added to differentiated coffee depends on several factors, including the variety and whether or not it is organic. Normally top quality adds US$10 to US$50 over the international price for a hundredweight of coffee or 10 cents to 50 cents per pound.
Topic 4: Two million Nicaraguans have migrated in recent years
Around two million Nicaraguans have emigrated to Costa Rica, the United States and other nations in search of jobs and a better life, according to a report released by Nicaragua's National Assembly. The report estimates that one million Nicaraguans live in Costa Rica of which 700,000 are documented and 300,000 undocumented. The Nicaraguan migrants send an estimated US$250 million per year to their families in Nicaragua. Another half million Nicaraguans live in the United States, principally in Florida and California. A similar number live in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Spain, among other countries. The causes given by migrants for leaving Nicaragua, according to the document, are unemployment, underemployment, low salaries, poverty, marginalization and natural disasters.
Topic 5: De Castilla discusses advances in the rights of children
November 20, 2009, marked the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [ratified by every country except Somalia and the United States]. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the anniversary, Minister of Education Miguel De Castilla spoke about how changes in Nicaraguan law from 1989-2009 have made important advances in the rights of children and adolescents.
He pointed out as especially important the passage of the legal Code of Children and Adolescents and the creation of the Special Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents. In addition, he noted that the criminal justice system separates adolescents from adults and that juvenile correctional facilities include community-type socio-education measures. He also mentioned the creation of the National System for the Defense of Children and Adolescents.
De Castilla noted the reduction in infant mortality, development of a consciousness of the importance of registering births in the Civil Register, the absolute guarantee of education decreed by the Sandinista government on Jan. 10, 2007, which has permitted the growth in school enrollment and retention, and the Ministerial Accord which prohibits corporal punishment and humiliation of children in the schools, among other measures.
Likewise, as another important achievement, he identified the creation of the Love Program by the current Government. "This program...is dedicated to attending to the impoverished children of our homeland, returning to them the right to grow up under the care of family, the right of children of working mothers to have access to childcare, the right to receive a healthy meal, health and education," said De Castillo.
He said that all these actions have been very important for Nicaraguan children and that the 20th anniversary of the Convention serves as an opportunity for all Nicaraguans to renew their promises and projects in defense of the rights of children and adolescents. Maria Jesus Conde Zabala, representative of the UN Children's Education Fund (UNICEF) praised the Convention and said that it is important for national and international alliances to continue advances in defense of children's rights.
Seleka Rodriguez, representing children and adolescents during the celebration said, “I feel very happy that today marks 20 years that countries around the world ratified a law named the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which in our country was ratified on Sept. 2, 1990, and thanks to that, all the Nicaraguan children have rights. Also I am very happy to be active in getting the word out about our rights, of celebrating the 20th anniversary, and of knowing that our rights are valued and our free expression is respected.”
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