TUESDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2010
Nicaragua News Bulletin (December 7, 2010)
1. Ortega sends three defense bills to National Assembly2. Wikileaks releases cables on Nicaragua
3. Costa Rica gains little support at Ibero-American Summit in Argentina
4. Rep. Berman calls for ‘kinder, gentler' interference in Nicaraguan elections
5. Inter-American Development Bank loans US$30 million for potable water
6. World AIDS Day observed with marches
7. Nicaragua one of countries showing greatest reduction in inequality
1. Ortega sends three defense bills to National Assembly
On Nov. 26, President Daniel Ortega sent three defense related bills to the National Assembly but it was not until Nov. 30 that information appeared in the press about the bills, the Law of National Defense, the Law of National Security, and the Law on the Border Legal System. The President requested that they be debated and passed “urgently” without being sent to committee in the Assembly.
El Nuevo Diario called them “explosive bills” and said that they included the possibilities of a return to a military draft, expropriation of property and militarization of civilian employees during emergencies, and would give authority over civilian institutions to the military and allow for centralization of power in the person of the president.
Ortega defended the bills saying, “The military draft was eliminated by the constitution. Those laws do not speak about a military draft… and we do not see any reason to call for it.” He added, “Those who are tearing their clothes are reincarnations of the same traitors who want to damage Nicaragua but we hope that these laws will be passed by the deputies in a patriotic, national and rational way.”
Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), called for consensus through a broad consultation with different sectors. “There must be a balance between civil and military powers,” he said. Some civil society organizations rejected the three bills out-of-hand. Luisa Molina spokeswoman for the Civil Coordinator asked the National Assembly to vote down the legislation.
On Dec. 3 and 4, National Assembly deputies from the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN), the Nicaraguan Unity Bench (BUN), and the Sandinista Party (FSLN) met with military representatives to examine possible changes to the bills. PLC Deputy Jose Pallais reported that agreement had been reached to delay debate in the Assembly on the bills from Dec. 6 to Dec. 13. He said, “We have concluded a review of the Defense Law, and included all of the motions of the opposition benches plus others. [T]he article that could permit the possibility of installing a military draft was omitted.” He added, “We eliminated the article that said that, in emergency situations, all public officials and all the population would be under the control of the army … because that gave military power primacy over civilian power.” Pallais added that representatives of the business sector were expected to participate in discussions about the Borders Law.
Members of the Nicaraguan Democratic Bench (BDN) and Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) bench did not attend the sessions. Deputies Victor Hugo Tinoco and Hugo Torres (both MRS) criticized the bills and also the government's rush to bring them to a vote in the Assembly. They and BDN Deputy Adolfo Martinez Cole agreed that the bills, if passed, would do nothing to help Nicaragua in the current crisis with Costa Rica and they insisted that the bills should be sent to the Committee on Peace, Defense, Government and Human Rights for full consideration.
El Nuevo Diario called the changes made by the National Assembly deputies and the military representatives “a retouching job” which left some serious problems in the National Defense Bill unresolved including what the media outlet sees as a threat to freedom of information and to the freedom of civil society groups at the time of a national emergency.
Col. Juan Ramon Morales, Army spokesman, said, “These laws are to modernize and bring up-to-date our legislation in the area of defense and national security in accord with our constitution.” He added that all political parties had expressed interest at different times in passing similar laws believing they were needed for the defense and territorial integrity of the country. (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 30, Dec. 2, 4; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 2; La Prensa, Dec. 3, 4)
2. Wikileaks releases cables on Nicaragua
On Nov. 30, Radio La Primerisima reported that Wikileaks had in its possession 1,264 cables sent by the United States Embassy in Managua to the State Department in Washington between April 1988 and February 2010 and would be releasing them over the coming months. Of those, only one was from 1988, most were dated between 2004 and 2010 and 42 were sent during the first months of this year.
On Dec. 6, La Prensa reported that the Spanish newspaper El Pais had published cables sent by current US Ambassador Robert Callahan and his predecessor Paul Trivelli to Washington in the recent past. The cables reported what sources in Nicaragua had told the ambassadors. Callahan wrote that a source had told him that President Daniel Ortega was “completely crazy” and that some high officials lived in “an atmosphere of terror.” Cables sent by Trivelli quoted sources as telling him that Nicaraguan government officials brought money back from Venezuela to finance the Councils of Citizen Power and Sandinista election campaigns. Among what Trivelli calls the “supposed horrors” of the Sandinistas as told to him by his sources, was the accusation that Ortega received money from drug traffickers to finance his campaign in 2006 based on the promise that Sandinista judges would let imprisoned traffickers go free. [Nicaragua Network note: There was a scandal a few years ago about traffickers who were released, but Nicaragua has been recognized as among the best in the hemisphere at combating the drug cartels.]
Referring to the release of Wikileaks documents, Ortega condemned those who were trying to “divide humanity which today more than ever is coming together in support of peace, [of fair use] of natural resources, and in defense of the environment.” (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 30, Dec 2; La Prensa, Dec. 6)
3. Costa Rica gains little support at Ibero-American Summit in Argentina
At the 20th Ibero-American Summit, held last week in Mar del Plata Argentina, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla called on the governments of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America to support her country against what she called military invasions, violations of Costa Rica's sovereignty, and “ecocide” by Nicaragua. She said, “The governments of Ibero-America cannot close their eyes in the face of such facts. We are speaking of a flagrant military occupation and environmental devastation in the territory of a nation without an army, and devoted to nature, and a member of this honorable community.” The conflict began in October with Nicaragua's dredging of the San Juan River, the southern banks of which form the boundary between the two countries.
Nicaragua was represented by Supreme Court President Alba Luz Ramos who referred only briefly to the conflict saying, “This is a legal problem and should be at the International Court of Justice at The Hague (the World Court) as has been done at the initiative of Costa Rica itself and we are pleased that the case is where it should be.” She said that the territory supposedly invaded by Nicaragua is a small area (2.7 sq. kilometers) of sedimentation in the river, adding that it would not be good to prejudge the decision of the Court. She then gave a summary of the accomplishments of the government of President Daniel Ortega in the field of education, the supposed subject of the summit.
None of the other governments spoke in support of the Costa Rican position, but King Juan Carlos of Spain offered to serve as a mediator in the dispute.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 30, President Daniel Ortega announced that the dredging of the channel at Harbour Head (the area in controversy with Costa Rica) had been completed and he reiterated his willingness to enter into a dialogue with President Chinchilla. He said that San Juan River water now flows into a lagoon which drains directly into the Caribbean allowing a small ship to sail in the area and tourism to expand. He said that Nicaragua intended to recuperate the historic flow of the San Juan but that the Rio Colorado which flows through Costa Rica would not be affected, as some have predicted. Since Costa Rica carried out dredging operations in the 1960s, much of the San Juan flow of water has traveled to the sea via the Rio Colorado. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 6; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 30)
4. Berman calls for ‘kinder, gentler' interference in Nicaraguan elections
Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Nov. 22, 2010, urging her to promote “robust, long-term election observation” for Nicaragua's 2011 presidential election. In the letter Berman said that he believed President Daniel Ortega had “stolen” the 2008 municipal elections. He said he was prepared to denounce the 2011 election as well.
La Prensa published the first page of Berman's letter to Clinton on its web page. Berman described the US history with Nicaragua as one of “vastly over-reacting” which he said has “given the Ortega camp ammunition to rally their voters and worse, to rile Sandinista shock troops.” While Berman admits that US credibility is “eviscerated,” he nevertheless calls for Clinton to push hard for international observation. He says that “we must get out of the business of taking sides in Nicaragua's election. We should instead be supporting the institutions and safeguards that permit democracy to function and to flourish.” He stated that he supported observation by the OAS, European Union, and Carter Center, saying that the last time there was effective international observation was in 2006 when Ortega won.
The Nicaragua Network notes that Berman failed to point out that the same international groups that observed in 2006 certified deeply flawed elections in 1990, 1996, and 2001. In 1990, the US spent more per Nicaraguan voter than the US presidential candidates combined spent in the 1988 election won by George H. W. Bush. Fraud in 1996 was more blatant than that alleged in the 2008 municipal elections but Ortega has stated that former US President Jimmy Carter told him he had to accept the results. In the meantime, the US has damaged the domestic credibility of Nicaraguan groups such as Ethics and Transparency by funding them through the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID. This co-optation of domestic groups has taken place not only in Nicaragua but throughout Latin America leading to a widespread distrust of election monitoring.
The Nicaragua Network will send a delegation to Nicaragua in June to investigate US interference in the presidential election slated for November 2011. If you are interested in participating, send an email to nicanet@AFGJ.org. (La Prensa, Dec. 2)
5. Inter-American Development Bank loans US$30 million for potable water
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) just approved a US$30 million loan to Nicaragua for water purification projects that will benefit at least 20 neighborhoods in Managua. The project will be carried out by the Nicaraguan Water and Sewerage Company (ENACAL). According to the water company's figures, the new system will benefit 300,000 individuals living in the southeast and western portions of the city. Currently, Managua has a population of approximately 1.8 million people in 600 neighborhoods. Many of these have popped up in recent years in the periphery of the city, and lack public services such as potable water.
ENACAL will also put an energy efficiency plan into action to reduce the consumption of energy and to maintain the networks and water pump installations. This plan will include increasing distribution capacities for 50 well systems, extending distribution systems by 34 miles and adding 23 miles of sewer lines.
Maria Esperanza Acevedo, Executive President of Enacal, said the funds will also be invested in modernizing water distribution systems that had been installed in an ad hoc manner by communities and in bringing water and sewer lines to neighborhoods that did not have them. She added that the company will seek additional funding from other institutions, such as the World Bank, in order to pursue similar projects in 27 additional Managua neighborhoods. This US$30 million project is just one of the US$170 million in projects the Nicaraguan government proposed to the IDB for loans in 2011 according to Federico Basañes of the IDB. Basañes added that the Bank expects to extend loans of US$1.2 billion for water projects in Latin America and the Caribbean this year. (La Prensa, Dec. 2; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 30)
6. World AIDS Day observed with marches
A United Nations report dated November 23 reports a world-wide drop in the number of new HIV infections in 2009 of 19%. In Nicaragua, cases reported continue to grow, but the country continues to have the lowest rate of infection in the region. Nevertheless, Dr. Leonel Arguello, director of epidemiology for the Ministry of Health is concerned that Nicaraguans think they are “immune” to the deadly disease and many are reluctant to be tested.
The Nicaraguan Family Well-Being Association (PROFAMILIA) and the music group Via Libre last week initiated a two-day prevention campaign among youth 16-26 years old, the population most affected by HIV/AIDS. The organization reported that Nicaragua currently has 5,376 people with confirmed HIV/AIDS. Via Libre has a song promoting the use of condoms.
On Dec. 1, the World Day of Struggle Against AIDS, Nicaraguan government and non-governmental organizations working to prevent spread of the pandemic held a number of rallies and other events to build awareness and to show solidarity with sufferers from the illness. Sandinista Youth (JS19J) participated with red and black flags flying. In the afternoon, over 600 members of the gay community and sex workers held their third annual march while handing out condoms and pamphlets on how to avoid becoming infected. Sexual Diversity Ombudswoman Samira Montiel said, “As an institution we have to demonstrate the promise of human rights in the search to eliminate the stigma and discrimination against people who have the illness.” The Ministry of Health has administered 150,000 HIV tests this year in 153 municipalities. (La Prensa, Nov. 30; Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 1, 2; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 2)
7. Nicaragua one of countries showing greatest reduction in inequality
Nicaragua, along with Argentina and Bolivia, are the countries that have shown the greatest decrease in inequality in the past decade according to the United Nations Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Other countries that have shown improvement are Venezuela and Brazil. On Nov. 30, ECLAC officials presented the organization's most recent report, entitled, “The Hour of Equality,” at a seminar organized by the Ministry of Housing. The ECLAC report noted that during the 1990s, inequality increased in the region, but the situation has begun to improve in this decade. The report also included recommendations on improving health, education and social security without increasing the tax burden on wages. The report called for changing the tax structure to reduce indirect taxes and replacing them with direct taxes as well as reducing tax credits and subsidies for big businesses. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 1)
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