TUESDAY, APRIL 06, 2010

Nicaragua News Bulletin (April 6, 2010)

1. Sixty-five die during Holy Week
2. Cattle ranchers expect growth with help from new Development Bank
3. PLC announces date for primary election of presidential candidate
4. Nicaragua has potential to produce 800 megawatts of electricity from wind
5. Army joins forest fire and trafficking prevention campaign
6. Women to benefit from improvements at the Lewites market
7. Businesses and unions reject accord with European Union

1. Sixty-five die during Holy Week

At least 65 people died unnatural deaths in Nicaragua in the period between Palm Sunday and Easter, a time when many families travel to the nation's beaches and some enter the water after drinking alcohol and without knowing how to swim. According to National Police spokeswoman Vilma Reyes, the dead included 25 who died in traffic accidents, 16 drownings, 18 homicides, and 6 (including two police officers) who were killed in an encounter between police and delinquents. Another report said there were 22 drownings. Among those who drowned were six children under 16. Life guards were able to rescue 179 people from the water. A force of 11,000 police patrolled the nation's highways, particularly those leading to the beaches and other vacation areas, in an attempt to prevent accidents. National Police Chief Aminta Granera said that at least 200,000 people traveled during Holy Week. That included 30,000 people who returned home from jobs in Costa Rica to spend the week with their families. The Red Cross deployed 2,139 lifeguards at 139 beaches.

The worst accident by far was one that occurred in the Department of Rivas on the Pan American Highway on Saturday at 4:40am which killed 12 young people between the ages of 16 and 27. A car, a pickup and a bus were involved in the accident but all who died were in the back of the pickup. They were returning from a “Rabanes” concert in the beach town of San Juan del Sur. Observers said the driver evidently had been drinking. Jose del Carmen Muñoz said that he lost all of his four children in the accident.

In fact, however, venders at the beaches reported that tourism was down from previous years, evidently a result of the international financial crisis, and townspeople reported that churches were full for Holy Week services given that people were remaining at home over the holiday. Temperatures, always high this time of year, were approaching records with meteorologists predicting 102 degrees F. in the western part of the country as the week came to a close and a virtually unheard of 90 degrees F. in the mountain city of Jinotega. Strong breezes made the heat bearable in some areas.

Archbishop of Managua Leopoldo Brenes used the Holy Week services to criticize the government of President Daniel Ortega saying during the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, “It weighs on the Lord to think that only those of one group, one political party, one clan is correct.” Brenes also used words interpreted by El Nuevo Diario as support for Pope Benedict XVI in the crisis over priest sexual abuse. He said at the Holy Thursday service, “The forces of evil cannot undermine the pillars of the Church who are the Pope, Benedict XVI, the bishops and the priests.” He urged the clergy of the archdiocese not to be distracted by the circumstances that the Church is experiencing. La Prensa and Radio La Primerisima emphasized, however, that he called on priests to avoid temptation and to “serve only Jesus.” (Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 30, Apr. 1, 5; El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 4; La Prensa, Apr. 1)

2. Cattle ranchers expect growth with help from new Development Bank

Rene Blandon, president of the National Commission of Cattle Ranchers (CONAGAN), said that this year cattle sector exports could produce 8% more of the nation's foreign exchange than they did in 2009. He explained that in 2009 US$234 million was earned by Nicaraguan cattle exports [beef, cattle on the hoof, and dairy products]. He expects that figure to rise to US$253 million in 2010. However, he said this expansion will only be possible if the long awaited National Development Bank fully supports the cattle sector from the US$120 million it will have available for agriculture. He said that small ranchers have not been able to access credit from the country's major bank and that 50,000 small farmers were awaiting the Development Bank. Also necessary would be the support of private banks and the micro credit institutions, he emphasized.

Blandon added that CONAGAN had signed an agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support the Nicaraguan dairy industry. USAID has received US$4 million for the Farmer to Farmer Program which will benefit farmers in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guyana and Nicaragua for three years. Blandon said, “We believe that through the Farmer to Farmer Program, professionals and farmers in the cattle sector of the United States and Nicaragua will be able to interchange knowledge and experience to benefit our sector, the dairy industry, and the economy of the country since we will generate more foreign exchange and more jobs that Nicaragua needs.” (El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 31; Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 30)

3. PLC announces date for primary election of presidential candidate

The Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) announced on April 3 that it will elect its candidate for president in a party primary on July 4, 2010, and will confirm that selection at the national party convention on July 11. PLC leaders had promised that the party would join with other Liberal parties to elect one Liberal candidate for president to run in November 2011 against the Sandinista Party [FSLN] candidate who is expected to be President Daniel Ortega. PLC spokesman Leonel Teller said in the communiqué that “The new PLC statutes permit the participation in the primary election of any Nicaraguan citizen who aspires to be a candidate for the presidency of the republic as long as that person fulfills the qualifications established in the constitution.” Long-time PLC leader and former President Arnoldo Aleman has said he will run. Teller rejected the proposal that the non-governmental organization “Hagamos Democracia” [“Let's Make Democracy”] organize one primary election for all the parties in opposition to the FSLN, noting that the president of that NGO was related by marriage to another possible Liberal candidate Eduardo Montealegre and therefore the group would not be unbiased. [Hagamos Democracia is one of a number of Nicaraguan NGOs involved in elections which accepts money from the US National Endowment for Democracy and US Agency for International Development, both of which have interfered in Nicaragua's past elections.] (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 4)

4. Nicaragua has potential to produce 800 megawatts of electricity from wind

A year ago Nicaragua inaugurated its first wind farm, Amayo, in Rivas, with a capacity to generate 40 megawatts of electricity. It currently supplies about 5% of Nicaragua's electricity needs. When fully on-line it will supply 7-9%. The second phase of the Amayo wind park should be completed by mid-2010 with the addition of 11 wind turbines generating 2.1 megawatts each for an additional total of 23.

Three other wind energy projects are in various states of study and development. ALBANISA, the joint Nicaragua-Venezuela company, has received a license to determine the wind energy potential of an additional wind farm in Rivas with 40 windmills each producing 2 megawatts of electricity.

With Nicaragua's domestic electricity demand of 300 megawatts already met (following severe shortages during the two years before the Ortega government came to power in 2007), new construction to increase electricity generation will likely await completion of SIEPAC, a project to connect the countries from Panama to Guatemala with transmission lines to form a regional grid. Studies have shown that Nicaragua has the potential to produce 800 megawatts of electricity from the wind.

It is estimated that electricity demand in the region will increase from the current 7,000 megawatts to 12,000-14,000 megawatts over the next 10 years. Nicaragua is seen as having the greatest potential in the region to produce electricity from wind. (Radio La Primerisma, Apr. 3)

5. Army joins forest fire and trafficking prevention campaign

Forty soldiers of the Second Region Military Command coordinated by the Civil Defense Authority are working to control forest fires and trafficking in timber and animals in the forest reserves Padre Ramos, Estero Real, Cosiguina Volcano, San Cristobal Volcano, and Apacunca-Jicote.

Maj. Carlos Caceres, chief of Civil Defense in the Department of Chinandega announced that the army will join the Ministry of Environment and Mines (MARENA), the National Forest Institute (INAFOR), environmental groups, municipal firefighters and volunteer brigades, to monitor, patrol, fire-watch, and participate in controlling forest fires that damage plants and animals.

Many fires are deliberately or accidentally set by traffickers in illegal logging and hunters of exotic species. Part of the army's mission will be to crack down on illegal trafficking in animals. “We are going to prevent and control the forest fires with strong action against those who take trees and traffic in timber and animals,” Caceres said. The army will coordinate with other agencies to transmit educational messages to honey extractors and hunters, among others, not to start forest fires so that the environment is protected and future generations do not inherit a desert. He said that in Chinandega in January fires burned more than 600 acres and in February 2,800 acres raising concern among environmentalists and highlighting the need for surveillance, which Caceres said will become a 24 hour a day mission for the authorities.

Meanwhile MARENA announced that through April 1 it had transmitted a message of solidarity with Mother Earth to more than 11,000 Nicaraguans who have visited the nation's beaches. At the same time it has worked with mayors, volunteer work brigades, and the Guardabarranco Movement of Young Environmentalists to clean more than 55 cubic meters of trash, broken glass, plastic, pieces of cloth and metal from the oceans, rivers, lakes, and lagoons. Eight fires have been fought by brigades from the Civil Defense authorities, fire departments, and others including fires in the Cosigüina Volcano Nature Reserve, the Tepesomoto-La Pataste Nature Reserve and the Apante Mountain Nature Reserve. (El Nuevo Diario, Apr. 4; Radio La Primerisima, Apr. 1, 3)

6. Women to benefit from improvements at the Lewites market

Some 150 retailers, the majority of whom are women, will benefit from the improvements being made by the new Corporation of Municipal Markets (COMMEMA) at the Israel Lewites market.

COMMEMA is constructing a large building 246 ft. long by 48 ft. wide, with a 20 ft. high ceiling so that vendors selling dairy, meat and other products will work under better condition and sell a safer product. The women will no longer have to work in the hot sun or rain, nor will those who have small eateries have to endure the smoke from their cooking fires. They will also have easy access to water and new restrooms.

"This project is going to improve our situation because before, the smoke was trapped inside and now with the new roof that they will be putting up, we are going to be much better off," said Maria Hernandez, a food vendor. Gloria González, a clothing vendor, said that these projects would improve the image of the market and give the women much better working conditions. "This is major progress, because it will improve the cleanliness and hygiene of the market and we will be able to give our clients better service," Gonzalez said.

The manager of the Israel Lewites Market, Javier Herrera, explained that the investment in this project would be about US$150,000. (Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 30)

7. Businesses and unions reject accord with European Union

The Central American Business Committee (CECA) meeting in Managua announced on Mar. 30 that it may oppose the Association Accord with the European Union because negotiators “have ceded too much” in opening borders and if a number of sensitive products are not protected the private sector would be forced to reject the accord. The sensitive products include meat, coffee, sugar, rum, rice and garments assembled in free trade zone factories. Coffee and free trade zone products compose 70% of traded goods between Central America and Europe.

Meanwhile, Luis Barbosa, president of the Jose Benito Escobar Sandinista Workers Central, said that workers continue their opposition to the accord with the E.U. He called on the government of Nicaragua to hold a consultation with the general population about the agreement on International Workers Day, May 1. Barboso said that the accord does not recognize the rights of immigrants and underfunds the so-called Compensation Fund which would help to level the playing field between Central America and Europe.

Barbosa said, “The government should not sign it at this time because it is not going to bring any benefits, but rather only damage just as happened with the free trade agreement with the United States [DR-CAFTA].”

The commissions negotiating the agreement will meet in Brussels on April 19 and negotiators hope to sign the accord in May. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama participate in the talks which were interrupted for several months after the June 2009 coup d'état in Honduras. (Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 30)
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