TUESDAY, JANUARY 04, 2011
Nicaragua News Bulletin (January 4, 2011)
1. Nicaraguans celebrate Christmas and New Years2. Nicaraguan ambassador responds to Post editorial
3. Four hundred houses completed for flood victims
4. Program Love attends to 15,000 children
5. New process eliminates need for mercury in artisan gold mining
6. Granada judges free nine drug traffickers
7. Mestizo peasant farmers demand land titles in the RAAN
8. Bank of Production reports on first eight months
1. Nicaraguans celebrate Christmas and New Years
Nicaraguans celebrated the Christmas and New Year's holidays with the traditional stuffed chicken or turkey dinner, toys, fireworks, and, for over 100,000 Nicaraguans, a short visit to their families from jobs in Costa Rica. Eleven people died of unnatural causes, mainly traffic accidents, on December 31 and the wee hours of January 1, up from eight last year. And 16 people died over the Christmas weekend from accidents and homicides, up from 12 last year. Police spokeswoman Vilma Reyes said that alcohol was involved in all the deaths. But fewer children and adults suffered burns from the fireworks traditionally set off at midnight on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.
According to the Costa Rican Security Ministry, 118,304 Nicaraguans left Costa Rica to spend Christmas with their families in different parts of Nicaragua. This was well over the expected 75,000. Many made the return trip before the arrival of the New Year and the border crossings were crowded on Dec. 31.
Sellers of fireworks to bring in the New Year reported satisfaction with good sales, noting that the ones producing light displays were bigger sellers than loud firecrackers this year. Pre-Christmas sales of toys and other gifts were reported better than last year. Alcides Altamirano, head of the Corporation of Markets of Managua (CONMEMA), said that the uptick reflected the improvement in the economy, including an increase in hiring in the free trade zones and the monthly “solidarity payments” to low-salaried government workers.
On New Year's Day, thousands of Catholics marched from Christ the King School to the Managua cathedral where Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes said the now traditional mass for peace. Noting that this year Nicaraguans will elect the president and National Assembly deputies, Brenes in his homily called for “a moment of reflection on the part of each of us to elect the ideal people who can lead the destiny of our homeland.” He went on to say, “[T]he electoral campaign doesn't have to be one of violence and accusations, but rather it can be a time for the presentation of good projects to benefit our country.”
By the week before Christmas half a million children and adults had visited the Happy Children Park that the government set up in Managua and expectations were that by the end of the holidays the total would top one million. President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo visited the shelters in Managua where flood victims are still housed to distribute 2,500 food packets with ingredients for a traditional holiday dinner. One hundred nineteen women serving sentences in the National Penitentiary System spent the afternoon of Christmas Eve with their families at a celebration organized by the government that included dinner, music, dancing, piñatas and candy.
On Christmas Eve, police seized 334 kilos of cocaine hidden in a shipment of toys from the Works of the Holy Spirit Foundation in Costa Rica and destined for the Archdiocese of Managua. Major Esteban Guido, of the government's anti-drug directorate, said, “We found no connections between those who sent the drugs and those who sent the toys,” and added that the drugs appeared to be from a Guatemalan cartel. Monsignor Rolando Alvarez of the Managua Archbishop's office said that this was the fifth year that they had received the shipment of toys from the Costa Rican organization to be distributed at the cathedral to local children. (La Prensa, Jan. 1; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 21, 24, 26; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 27)
2. Nicaraguan ambassador responds to Post editorial
The Washington Post's Christmas Day gift to Nicaragua was to publish an inflammatory and inaccurate editorial accusing the Obama administration of being “Soft on Nicaragua.” The editorial invoked favorably Ronald Reagan's war against Nicaragua which cost 40,000 Nicaraguan, mostly civilian, casualties. The editorial accused Nicaragua of “invading” Costa Rica and said that the Obama administration's response was “an invitation to apply for foreign aid.”
We print here in its entirety, Nicaraguan Ambassador Francisco Campbell's response which was printed three days later in the Post along with a rebuttal of the editorial from Daniel Yohannes, chief executive of the Millennium Challenge Corp. which administers the US Millennium Challenge Fund.
Nicaragua's progress - or lack of it Thursday, December 30, 2010; 8:20 PM
Regarding the Dec. 26 editorial "Soft on Nicaragua":
The portrayal of the dispute with Costa Rica that arose after Nicaragua undertook a cleaning operation of the San Juan River as an invasion of a neighbor was inaccurate. Nicaragua's sovereignty over the San Juan River is clearly recognized in the relevant treaties and the International Court of Justice's ruling of July 13, 2009. The border with Costa Rica begins on the southern bank of the river. Sovereign right carries with it the responsibility to safeguard, protect and maintain orderly and fluent navigation along the course of the river, which is exactly what Nicaragua has been doing.
To describe the presence of Nicaragua security forces on an island in the San Juan River as an invasion of Costa Rican territory is baseless and absurd, for Costa Rica has no territory in the San Juan River. Likewise, Nicaragua, from the outset, has stated its openness to bilateral discussions with Costa Rican counterparts to address any concern they may have about the Nicaragua operation in and along the river, including our efforts against drug trafficking and organized crime. This offer still stands, even though the dispute is now before the International Court of Justice where it should have been taken in the first place, rather than the Organization of American States, which has no mandate to deal with territorial disputes between states. Nicaragua has full confidence in the International Court of Justice and has always respected its rulings. Our response to whatever decision the court may take on the dispute with Costa Rica will not be an exception.
Francisco Campbell, Washington The writer is Nicaragua's ambassador to the United States.
(Radio La Primerísima, Dec. 28; La Prensa, Dec. 28; Washington Post, Dec. 25, 28)
3. Four hundred houses completed for flood victims
The government of President Daniel Ortega has completed 400 houses for poor families made homeless by flooding during the past year's extraordinary rainy season and has nearly completed another 300 homes. In total, 4,000 homes will be built for flood victims on farm land donated by the National Agrarian University in Managua, despite some grumbling by students. Funding for the project is through Albanisa, the company formed to direct Venezuelan oil aid into poverty reduction projects. Each 6x6 meter house will have two bedrooms, a living room, patio, and bathroom. The new community will also have a communal area with a school, health center, day care center, police station, park equipped for children to play, bus terminal and community market. The new urban community will also be connected to the electricity, potable water, and sewer systems. In addition to construction workers, youth Solidarity Promoters are helping to clear the land, lay foundations, patios and streets for the new community.
Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, head of the government Reconciliation, Peace and Justice Commission praised the Sandinista government's successes in 2010 in its poverty reduction programs such as Zero Usury, Zero Hunger, and Solidarity Housing. Obando's Commission administers “Plan Roof” which he reported had distributed 854,000 sheets of galvanized metal roofing and 168,000 pounds of nails to 85,400 families throughout the country so that they could improve the quality of their homes. More than half of the roofing materials went to families of demobilized Contras.
In other news, the government reported that the housing industry has recovered from the global recession with new housing completions increasing by nearly a third from last year, with the vast majority of new construction taking place in Managua. (La Prensa, Dec. 28; Radio La Primerísima, Dec. 24, 27, 29)
4. Program Love attends to 15,000 children
In 2010 the government assisted 15,000 vulnerable children through the Ministry of Family's Program Love. The program works to put at risk children and youth in school, and was able to obtain an 80% completion rate this school year. The 20% who were unable to pass their courses are still receiving assistance through the program in order to strengthen their study skills so that they may continue to advance. Another important aspect of the program focuses on facilitating adoptions. Through 16 years of neoliberal governments, the issues of adoption and vulnerable youth were neglected. Children who had been abandoned by their parents were abandoned by the state as well. Through Program Love, the government is working to improve the lives of these children and when possible place them with an adoptive family. The Ministry intends to strengthen the project in order to assist more vulnerable children in 2011. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 25)
5. New process eliminates need for mercury in artisan gold mining
Over 2,000 small, independent gold miners in Nicaragua's Mining Triangle in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region are benefiting from a new process that separates gold from unprocessed ore without the use of highly toxic mercury. The new machinery, owned by Vesmisa, a company formed by a small miners' collective with the assistance of Hemco mining company, carries out the same process the miners did by hand but without the danger to their health from the handling of mercury. The machinery has the capacity to process 60 tons of rock a day. Indigenous miner Atelston Genaro Nathy said that the new machinery serves the needs of 2,000 independent miners in the Bonanza region. Miner safety and health are expected to dramatically improve with the new process. The international price of gold stands at US$1,386 a troy ounce, making gold mining one of the major engines of the Nicaraguan economy. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 28)
6. Granada judges free nine drug traffickers
On Dec. 22, Attorney General Julio Centeno Gomez said that on Dec. 17 his office had asked for the reversal of a decision by three appeals court judges in Granada to free nine men convicted of drug trafficking. The judges said they based their decision on what they ruled was lack of evidence. Centeno said, “In all these cases there are fabulous amounts of money and that is a very harmful element.” He said that when these instances occur, the disappointment of the prosecutors who have worked on the cases is great. The same Granada judges also ordered a new trial for a convicted cartel leader and allowed him to go free.
Isolda Ibarra, public prosecutor for the Department of Rivas, said that the police had everything together, “the drugs, the money, the means of transportation, the weapons; there were the buyers, the sellers, and the transporters. For that reason we believe that it is necessary to appeal to the Supreme Court the verdict of the honorable judges of Granada.” Iveth Toruño, the Rivas judge who condemned the men in the first instance, said, “It is a higher court and I must respect its decisions, but in the public oral case it was all proven…. That was my judgment and I continue to hold it.”
The judges' decision was also lamented by Supreme Court President Alba Luz Ramos and Hernan Estrada, whose post is also translated into English as Attorney General but who has different functions from those of Julio Centeno. The release of drug traffickers is a particularly delicate issue at the moment following the release by Wikileaks of memos accusing President Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista Party of receiving money from drug traffickers in exchange for their freedom. In general, Nicaragua has been praised for preventing the cartels from gaining a foothold in Nicaragua. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 22; La Prensa, Dec. 21; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 23)
7. Mestizo peasant farmers demand land titles in the RAAN
In a communiqué sent from the banks of the Kukalaya River, representatives of 5,000 mestizo peasant farmers threatened to stop traffic on the major roads of the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) beginning on Jan. 1 if they were not promised property titles to farmland in the area for 2,549 families. The communiqué said the farmers were concerned about recent statements by Attorney General Hernan Estrada saying that because the mestizo farmers are squatting in an indigenous area, they cannot buy land to cultivate, but can only lease it.
Peasant leader Vicente Zuñiga Soto said that Law 445 “On the Property of Indigenous and Afro-Descendent Peoples of the Atlantic Coast” is discriminatory because it denies the right of mestizos to possess “a little patch” of land. He said that ranchers from outside the area have illegally bought land from indigenous leaders and he demanded that mestizos born in the area be given a right to land. He suggested that the government work out a type of agrarian reform where the indigenous peoples whose land is occupied by squatters be compensated and that each mestizo peasant farmer be given a parcel of 85 acres or more. He said that mestizos from around the RAAN were ready to join in the protest if their demands were not met. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 25)
8. Bank of Production reports on first eight months
General Manager Joaquin Lovo Tellez reported that the state owned Bank of Production, in its first eight months of existence, had loaned US$14.3 million to 4,423 clients in all sectors of the economy with 58% going to farming, cattle ranching, and fishing. Lovo said that in 2011 the Bank expects to loan out US$54.5 million while offering more banking services to its customers. He explained that loans vary in amount from US$1,000 to a small farmer to US$100,000 to an agro-industrial enterprise.
The Bank also makes micro-credit loans of as little as US$150 to small farmers planting an acre of land. For the smallest farm loans, borrowers have only to show that they have the land, present two letters declaring that they are farmers and, in some cases, receive the visit of an inspector. But Lovo said that some small farmers were denied loans for the recent third planting because they did not have even those few documents in order. He added that the Bank has a strategy for helping those farmers into the formal credit sector.
The Bank expects financing from the Inter-American Development Bank in the amount of US$20 million in 2011, pending only the approval of the loan by the Nicaraguan National Assembly. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 30)
Labels: Archives