TUESDAY, OCTOBER 05, 2010
Nicaragua News Bulletin (October 5, 2010)
1. Donate to help flood victims! Death total reaches 66 with loss of five Red Cross workers under continuing rain2. Supreme Court confirms decision allowing consecutive reelection of president; other election news
3. Ortega says behind Ecuadoran coup were “most reactionary sectors of the United States”
4. Marchers deliver pro-therapeutic abortion signatures
5. Five hundred young people to study leadership and political management funded by NED
6. Gold mine controversies continue
7. Tens of thousands of sea turtles laying eggs at the La Flor wildlife sanctuary
1. Donate to help flood victims! Death total reaches 66 with loss of five Red Cross workers under continuing rain
On Sept. 28, President Daniel Ortega put Nicaragua on alert due to the damage from the continuing rains. He also thanked the countries and organizations that have provided aid for victims, including the World Food Program and the government of Spain which has donated half a million dollars, much of which has already arrived in Nicaragua. He said that the money received from donations will be distributed by the National System of Prevention, Mitigation and Attention to Disasters (SINAPRED).
You can make a donation to help flood victims by going to the Nicaragua Network web page at http://www.nicanet.org/?page_id=341 . Mark other and write in “Nicaraguan floods.” The total value of your donation will be sent to Nicaragua.
On the afternoon of Oct. 1, a truck and an ambulance of the Red Cross returning from distributing supplies to flood victims were carried away by the Tecolostote River in the Department of Boaco. Five passengers were able to make it to safety, but five Red Cross volunteers and workers and one journalist didn't make it. Reports said that the river at the ford appeared passable but the ambulance got stuck. When the truck that had already crossed went back in to pull it out, the river rose rapidly, pushing the vehicles together. Five of those who were outside the vehicles survived. Among the dead was Lucrecia Mendez, director of the Boaco Red Cross. The body of a volunteer from Managua was found five miles downriver.
The Office of Civil Defense said there were 9,621 people in 212 shelters and noted that Lake Xolotlan (Lake Managua) on Oct. 3 reached 42.72 meters, moving ever closer to the record of 43.33 dating from 1933. Managua continues to be the most vulnerable municipality with 5,123 people in 16 shelters. [Managua is located in the direct route between the Sierras de Managua and Lake Xolotlan.]
Herminio Escoto, head of the government run Nicaraguan Basic Foods Company (ENABAS), said that his institution has enough beans, both red and black to supply all 3,200 ENABAS distribution centers around the country. He said that the government has been able to maintain a low price for beans, rice and sugar, and is trying to provide a better price for cooking oil. He said that as much as 40% of the first bean harvest had been lost and 60% of what was harvested was lost to high humidity. He noted that some business owners were speculating and raising the price of beans. He announced that in the next few days ENABAS will be buying rice in large quantities at a fair price in the mining region where an excellent harvest is about to begin.
Meanwhile, the Inter-American Development Bank issued a report on disaster preparedness which ranked Nicaragua as the best prepared in Central America. Only Colombia, Barbados and Jamaica in Latin America and the Caribbean out ranked Nicaragua. However, none of the countries reached a score of 50 out of 100 which the IDB considered satisfactory. Nicaragua's score was 41. Nicaragua and Honduras were rated the most vulnerable to natural disasters. The report noted that Nicaragua had suffered losses of US$2 billion over the past 30 years from such events. [The 1972 Managua earthquake was almost 38 years ago and would not have been included.] At the same time, the Bank announced approval of two loans for a total of US$10 million to reduce the vulnerability of rural communities in Nicaragua to climate change. (El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 28, Oct. 3; Radio La Primerisima, Sept. 28, Sept. 30, Oct. 4; La Prensa, Oct. 4)
2. Supreme Court confirms decision allowing consecutive reelection of president; other election news
On Sept. 30, the Supreme Court confirmed the decision of its Constitutional Panel last year saying that the article of the constitution prohibiting the consecutive reelection of the president and the limiting of any president to a total of two terms was “inapplicable” because it violated citizen rights. The Constitutional Panel had said the decision applied only to President Daniel Ortega and the 110 mayors who had brought the suit, but the full court said that it applied to all citizens who might run for office. Radio La Primerisima noted that, similarly, the Supreme Court of Costa Rica had ruled that Oscar Arias could run for a second consecutive presidential term and a total of three terms as president of that country. Supreme Court spokesman Roberto Larios said that the Constitution of 1987 had no prohibition on reelection. That prohibition was added by the amendments of 1995.
Opposition members of the National Assembly criticized the decision saying that the presence on the court of justices whose terms had expired and of alternate justices made the ruling invalid. The terms of many of the justices (as well as the terms of many other high-level officials) have expired but the National Assembly has been unable to name their replacements. So justices allied with the Sandinista Party have stayed on in their posts (based on a decree by President Ortega) and called on alternates to replace those sympathetic to the Liberal Party (who either have stepped down when their terms have ended or who are boycotting the Court sessions). Chair of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Jose Pallais said, “They are ruling as the full court about a decision that had faults. It can't be validated by a court that has the same faults; it's just deepening the illegality and illegitimacy of the government and its institutions.”
In other news related to the elections of Nov. 2011, Christian Lüth, the representative of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Nicaragua, met with broadcaster Fabio Gadea Mantilla (the so-called “consensus” candidate being promoted by former presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre and others) and said, “We believe that the goal is that you go [to the elections] united. It is necessary that there be just one opposition candidate [to Ortega].” Radio La Primerisima noted that “The Friedrich Naumann Foundation depends on the German Liberal Democratic Party and its participation in the destabilization of people's governments around the world is well documented.”
Reporting on a new survey, CID-Gallup Latinoamerica said that 36% of those polled said they had “some” or substantial possibility of voting for Ortega while 41% said “no possibility” and 15% said “very little possibility.” When presented with two alternatives, those polled chose Ortega over Constitutional Liberal Party candidate Arnoldo Aleman 34% to 27% with 39% undecided and Ortega over Fabio Gadea 36% to 31% with 33% undecided. The most popular figure among possible candidates, according to the poll, was former Sandinista Mayor of Managua, Dionisio Marenco who had a favorable rating of 53%. He was followed by Ortega with 39%, Eduardo Montealegre with 35%; Fabio Gadea with 33%; Sandinista Tomas Borge with 31%; First Lady Rosario Murillo with 31% and Arnoldo Aleman with 28%. CID-Gallup interviewed 1,100 voting age people throughout the country between Sept. 1 and Sept. 6. The poll had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 2.9%. (Radio La Primerisima, Sept. 30, Oct. 1; El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 30, Oct. 2; La Prensa, Sept. 30)
3. Ortega says behind Ecuadoran coup were “most reactionary sectors of the United States”
On Sept. 30, President Daniel Ortega said at a press conference that the attempted coup in Ecuador was promoted by “right wing forces of Ecuador cheered on by the most reactionary sectors of the United States.” He indicated it was part of wider actions against governments that are members of the Bolivarian Alliance for Our Americas (ALBA). The US embassy in Managua reacted immediately with a statement that read, “Any suggestion that the United States supported the occurrences in Ecuador is without basis in fact and any suggestion that the US promotes coups in Nicaragua or in any other place is also without merit.”
Opposition figures in Nicaragua spoke up immediately. Edmundo Jarquin said that while it was appropriate for governments of the left or right such as Brazil or Colombia to denounce what occurred in Ecuador (which he said was a riot by police), it was not credible for a president like Daniel Ortega, “who has overthrown democracy from within the state,” to denounce it as a coup. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 1)
4. Marchers deliver pro-therapeutic abortion signatures
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) and the Strategic Group for the Decriminalization of Therapeutic Abortion led a march to deliver 37,000 signatures and a sample of 6,000 postcards collected internationally by Amnesty International to the home of President Daniel Ortega on Sept. 28. The group demanded a meeting with Pres. Ortega. Four members of the group were allowed entry where they turned over the signatures to a functionary. Bayardo Izaba, head of CENIDH, called directly on Pres. Ortega to show some understanding that therapeutic abortion is a human right of women. “Only four countries criminalize therapeutic abortion. One of them is ours and that is unjust,” Izaba said. Therapeutic abortion was criminalized late in the administration of Pres. Enrique Bolaños and confirmed when a new penal code was passed under Pres. Ortega. The case has been in the Supreme Court for three years without a decision being emitted. (El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 28; La Prensa, Sept. 28)
5. Five hundred young people to study leadership and political management funded by NED
Five hundred out of 1,840 youthful applicants have been selected to study for a “Diploma in Leadership and Political Management” promoted by American University (UAM), the Regional Autonomous University of the Caribbean Coast (URACCAN), the Graduate School of Political Management of George Washington University in Washington, DC, the Institute for Development and Democracy (IPADE), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). NDI is a core group of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded by the US Congress. IPADE also receives US funding through NED. The press release about the selection of applicants states that the selection was made on the basis of personal qualification without regard to party or other affiliation. If true, that would be a first for an NED program in Nicaragua where funding and training have been aimed at building a more effective opposition to the Sandinista Party. The previous NDI political leadership training in 2009 included no Sandinista youth and the graduation program featured the top three right-wing political leaders who the students greeted with a chant of “Unity, unity, unity.” (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 1)
6. Gold mine controversies continue
The Costa Rican Second Circuit Court began a hearing this week on the legality of a concession for a controversial open pit gold mine awarded to the Canadian company Infinito Gold which environmentalists charge threatens biodiversity and water quality near the Rio San Juan. The hearing is expected to run all week. The stakes are high as Infinito Gold projects that it will mine one million ounces of gold at the site. Environmentalists say the mine threatens the quality of surface waters and an aquifer that feed into the Rio San Juan. The area also supports 129 species of birds, 70 species of amphibians, and 70 species of mammals, some of which are endangered. There are also 250 species of trees, some as old as 250 years, that are 50 meters tall and 80 centimeters in diameter. Infinito Gold counters that it is its ownership of the concession for the past 17 years that has kept the area from being deforested and says that it has a good environmental record. The two sides also differ on the benefits and costs to the local population. If the court rules against Infinito Gold, the company is likely to sue Costa Rica for “lost profits” under free trade agreements.
In Nicaragua, where gold recently surpassed sugar as the third highest export, Triton Minera, a subsidiary of the Canadian transnational B2Gold, wants to build a tailing dam at El Limon, for which it has received a permit from the Ministry of Labor and Natural Resources (MARENA). Residents fear that the springs which they rely on for their water supply will be contaminated by cyanide, arsenic and lead as a result of the dam. MARENA granted the company a permit to build the tailings dam in March based on an environmental impact study that showed seven locations where a dam could be built without polluting surface and ground water. The permit was granted despite the fact that Triton Minera had previously been fined US$2,500 for polluting the water. Residents and the Humboldt Center brought the case to the Supreme Court where it has languished due to the political logjam over appointments. They now plan to bring it to the National Assembly in hopes of blocking construction. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 2, 3)
7. Tens of thousands of sea turtles laying eggs at the La Flor wildlife sanctuary
South of San Juan del Sur, the beaches of the La Flor Wildlife Sanctuary are receiving visits from thousands Olive Ridley sea turtles. The eggs that the turtles are depositing in the sand will help to guarantee the survival of the species which, although the most abundant of sea turtle varieties, is still listed as threatened.
Mario Jose Rodriguez, a delegate of the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA-Rivas), said that turtles began arriving this year in July and will keep coming until January. "But during the months of September and October the turtles come out of the sea in massive numbers to lay their eggs." According to Rodriguez, on the nights of Sept. 28 and 29 alone, nearly 69,000 turtles arrived to lay their eggs with thousands more expected on Sept. 30.
In order to guarantee the safety of the turtles and their eggs, the wildlife refuge has placed five additional park rangers and 15 military troops in the area supplemented by Police and volunteers for the nights of greatest turtle presence. Volunteers from the communities earn about US$38 as an incentive to prevent them from taking the eggs to sell. Rodriguez said, “We have to create alternatives for the residents of the communities and improve the infrastructure of the zone with, for example, guest houses, tours, foot paths, etc. and that will help decrease the [illegal] taking of the eggs.”
Last year 121,000 turtles laid their eggs and nearly 400,000 baby turtles hatched. The presence of the turtles has drawn interest from tourists and the scientific community alike. One Colombian scientist is working to tag 7,000 turtles in order to track them and see if they return to lay their eggs in coming years. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 2; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 2)
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