TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2011
Nicaragua News Bulletin (January 11, 2011)
1. World Court case on San Juan River opens; Nicaragua rejects Ramsar report2. Nicaragua did not apply for U.S. Millennium Challenge Fund monies
3. Sandinistas and allies elected to Assembly leadership posts; opposition disunity continues
4. Government guarantees school meals to students
5. Housing now ready for ex-banana workers affected by pesticides
6. Zero Hunger federation will mean more access to training and credit for women
7. Garment factory to reopen in Ciudad Sandino
8. Cigar industry employs 20,000 in Esteli
1. World Court case on San Juan River opens; Nicaragua rejects Ramsar report
On Jan. 11, arguments began at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (World Court) in the case of the border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, centered on a tiny piece of land at the mouth of the San Juan River. In the morning Costa Rica was to have three hours to present its arguments before the 19 judges followed by Nicaragua in the afternoon. On Jan. 12, the judges were set to hear 2 ½ hours of rebuttal from Costa Rica and on Jan. 13, the rebuttal from Nicaragua. The Court last ruled on the San Juan River border issue on July 13, 2009, when it confirmed Nicaragua's sovereignty over the entire river and Costa Rica's right to transit the river. The current dispute is over whether Nicaragua has the right to dredge a particular channel in order to for larger boats to travel the river. The Court will not make a final decision on the issue for months. However, Costa Rica will ask the Court to order Nicaragua to remove its military from the zone. The costs of the case for the governments of the two small countries could be above US$7 million each.
Meanwhile, the two countries are scheduled to hold bi-lateral talks on Jan 17 in Queretaro, Mexico, which are being sponsored by the governments of Mexico and Guatemala. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega wants the talks to begin without any conditions. Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla wants Nicaragua to suspend the dredging of the river and withdraw forces from the area before talks are held but has not yet ruled out attending the Queretaro meeting.
The Costa Rican Minister of Security, Jose Maria Tijerino, said on Jan. 9 that the reported construction of helicopter landing areas near the border with Nicaragua and the closing of three rivers to international travel are part of his government's defense strategy. Travel on the Colorado, San Carlos and Sarapiqui rivers will be regulated in daylight hours and prohibited at night. Tijerino said, “The government is firm in its decision to defend our territorial integrity.”
The Nicaraguan Army accused “radical sectors” linked to the drug trade in Costa Rica of plotting to provoke an incident on the border. Army spokesman Col. Juan Ramon Morales said these persons want to “generate an incident in their territorial waters that would justify the entry into our waters of their naval forces.” He added that Army chief Gen. Julio Cesar Aviles has ordered soldiers to act “with extreme caution” in order to avoid any escalation. Reports from the Nicaraguan side of the border note the increase in the presence of high-ranking Army officers. One young officer wearing a black beret stated that the soldiers had to maintain a high level of discipline adding, “We know what could happen if a shot should escape one of us by mistake.”
In related news, the Nicaraguan government rejected a report released by a team from the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands which visited Costa Rica in November. Vice Minister for the Environment Roberto Araquistain told Managua television that, “We do not accept that report, given the manner in which it was drawn up.” The team did not visit the zone in conflict and saw only documentation presented to them by Costa Rican officials in San Jose. Araquistain repeated his earlier invitation to Ramsar representatives to visit Nicaragua and the area in question. The Humboldt Center, the Young Environmentalists Club, the Friends of the San Juan River Foundation, and Fondo Natura joined the government in rejecting the report. National Assembly Deputy Edwin Castro said that it was a shame that the Ramsar team did not at least fly over the area and see the Costa Rican side of the river where the rain forest has been logged for miles and replaced with cattle pasture. (Radio La Primerisima, Jan. 7, 9, 10; El Nuevo Diario, Jan. 8; La Prensa, Jan. 8,)
2. Nicaragua did not apply for U.S. Millennium Challenge Fund monies
Robert Downes, U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in Managua, announced on Jan. 7 that “The government of Nicaragua decided not to apply for a second phase [of U.S. Millennium Challenge funding] and the indicators are going down a bit in governability and transparency…, this is not to say that Nicaragua will not receive funding from the Fund in the future, but for the moment the Board of the [Millennium Challenge] Corporation decided no.” He stated, “[A]s is well known, part of the funding here in the country was cancelled because of our concerns about the 2008 municipal elections and also [other] governability indicators.” Evidently, even though Nicaragua did not apply for the funding this year, the MCC did consider approving funds for the country because Downes said “The Board decided not to approve Nicaragua as an eligible country for now.”
Two months ago U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan said that Nicaragua could apply for a second program with the MCC because it had shown “advances” in the 17 indicators used by the program, including governability and economic sustainability and social indicators. Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said that it would be a task of his organization in the coming year to “insist on [Nicaragua] applying for a new program with the Fund.” (El Nuevo Diario, Jan. 6, 8,)
3. Sandinistas and allies elected to Assembly leadership posts; opposition disunity continues
On Jan. 9 the National Assembly elected its leadership for the 2011 session. Deputies from the Sandinista Party and allies of the Sandinistas in the Assembly were selected. Assembly President Sandinista Rene Nuñez was reelected. Elected to the other posts were another Sandinista, two deputies from the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), one from the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) and two from the Nicaraguan Unity Bench. The parties whose members were not elected to any office were the Nicaraguan Democratic Bench (BDN), a faction of the ALN, and the Sandinista Renovation Movement, which together hold 16 seats. The vote for the new leadership was 70 in favor out of 92 deputies in the Assembly. Deputies from the benches left out of the leadership said that, while the posts should be divided among all parties represented in the Assembly, only Sandinistas and those allied with them were elected.
Meanwhile, opposition attempts to unite behind one presidential candidate for the November elections were showing no progress. La Prensa reported on Jan. 6 that the opposition is divided in at least three groups that cannot agree on a presidential candidate, nor on a unity proposal, and not even on the type of meeting they should hold. Alejandro Bolaños Davis, president of the Conservative Party which is allied with the ALN and the Democratic Coalition, said that unity should center around the political parties that have legal recognition. “We in the political parties should unite and then try to bring the different currents of dissidents and independents together to support that unity,” he said, referring with the phrase “currents of dissidents” to the groups that surround Fabio Gadea Mantilla most of which are not recognized by the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE). The only exception is the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) which is in the midst of serious internal battles.
Constitutional Liberal Party candidate former President Arnoldo Aleman said on Jan. 4, “Never, never! ….I will never give up my candidacy,” when asked if he would resign in favor of Gadea Mantilla if he (Aleman) were able to choose the slate of candidates for the National Assembly for the alliance. Eduardo Montealegre of the “Let's Go with Eduardo” Movement said that “nothing is decided” with relation to the formation of alliances and the choice of presidential candidates, noting that it was not until March 1st that alliances had to be registered with the CSE. It was reported unofficially that the Sandinista Party will hold its party congress on Feb. 21 to choose candidates for the elections. (Radio La Primerisima, Jan. 9; El Nuevo Diario, Jan. 4, 8, 9; La Prensa, Jan. 6, 9)
4. Government guarantees school meals to students
For 900,000 students throughout Nicaragua this year, school supplies and a school meal will be guaranteed, according to Vice Minister of Education Marlon Siu. Siu announced that he would personally start to deliver school supply packets to all students whose parents are experiencing economic difficulties. These packets will include a backpack, notebooks, pencils and, when possible, shoes. Additionally, students will have a school meal consisting of rice, beans and oats [in the form of a beverage]. Siu said that good nutrition was necessary to create positive learning conditions.
Officials have been working since the end of the 2010 school year through pre-enrollment mechanisms, so that students who completed their classes last year will be sure to continue through the 2011 school year. They have also been working in rural and remote portions of the country to register children for school. Registration begins January 31st and classes will start on February 15th. Between the 31st and the 14th, all educational centers throughout the nation will open for the enrollment of an expected 1.5 million students for the 2011 school year. The primary objective of the government is that no child go uneducated. For this reason, administrators will not be able to turn away children who lack the full uniforms. Siu stated that this year the Ministry of Education will work more closely with parents to insure that students stay in school and do not drop out. (Radio La Primerisma, Jan. 5)
5. Housing now ready for ex-banana workers affected by pesticides
Seventy-two prefabricated homes (each 484 square feet) have been completed and are ready to be occupied by the more than 500 ex-banana workers affected by the pesticide, Nemagon. These banana workers worked in the Chinandega farms during the 1960s and 70s, and were exposed to the harmful pesticides Nemagon and Fugazone, by the international corporations that employed them. These chemicals have since caused the workers to suffer grave health problems. Even though the companies have lost law suits in Nicaragua and in the United States they have refused to compensate the workers.
For several years, the workers had camped in huts made of cardboard and trash bags in front of the National Assembly, demanding that their social and labor rights be recognized. Now the government has completed these prefabricated homes, in addition to its support for the ex-banana workers with health, education and nutrition programs, as well as access to legal consultation. The government-built homes include a good-sized living room and a bathroom. The buildings were solidly built with galvanized metal roofs and tile floors.
"This housing is a great blessing for us, because during this eighteen year struggle, many people lost their land and their housing. For us, this is like a dream-come-true, a miracle from God, that the government has agreed with us and given us dignified homes so that we can have dignified lives," said Guillermo Vivas, Vice President of the Nicaraguan Association for Ex-Banana Workers. (Radio La Primerisma, Jan. 5)
6. Zero Hunger federation will mean more access to training and credit for women
By March of this year, seventy-nine Zero Hunger women's cooperatives in the Department of Managua will have formed a new Federation of Managua Cooperatives in order to receive additional training and access to credit that will enable them to increase production and further improve the lives of their families. The Zero Hunger women's cooperatives have been formed of poor families who had land but were too impoverished to use it. Families received a pregnant cow and pig, chickens, seeds, building materials and training. The goal of the Federation is to train them to be able to participate better in the marketplace and to give them greater access to credit. According to Alberto Alvarez, departmental delegate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the federation is the second stage of deepening the program put in place by the Sandinista government to raise out of poverty those who were ignored by 16 years of neoliberal governments. (Radio La Primerisima, Jan 8,)
7. Garment factory to reopen in Ciudad Sandino
Secretary of the National Free Trade Zone Commission Alvaro Baltodano and industry association executive director Dean Garcia confirmed rumors that Cone Denim, a US-owned garment assembly factory which closed its doors in March 2009, will reopen in the coming weeks with US$100 million in new investment creating 700 jobs in the Ciudad Sandino Free Trade Zone. “There are a couple of things still to work out,” said Baltodano, “but we are convinced that they will open this year.” The company, which closed because the global financial crisis dried up its orders, has obtained new customers in the US and is possibly benefitting from Nicaragua's negotiations with Venezuela to sell 10 million pairs of blue jeans to that country. Currently many residents of Ciudad Sandino work in factories in the Saratoga Industrial Park several kilometers outside the town. Cone Denim, which is located in the center of the city, is a better option for workers and is expected to increase commercial activity in that area. (Radio La Primerisima, Jan. 6; La Prensa, Jan. 6)
8. Cigar industry employs 20,000 in Esteli
Nestor Plasencia, president of the Nicaraguan Cigar Association and manager of Plasencia Cigars, said on Jan. 8 that the cigar industry employs 20,000 people in the Department of Esteli, not including those employed on the tobacco farms, and he expects that number to rise in 2011. Erasmo Jarquin Zelaya, an analyst with the Ministry of Labor (MITRAB) in Esteli said that while some factories closed, others opened and employed even more people. In the past, the cigar factories were the source of many complaints of labor violations related to minimum wage, mandated benefits, etc. But according to MITRAB departmental delegate Mario Rugana, those problems have been overcome and the factories are paying minimum wage, making payments to Social Security for the workers, etc. Tobacco factory workers are classified as Free Trade Zone workers because most of their product is exported. They earn a minimum wage of US$130 per month.
Plasencia also said that in 2010 Nicaragua was one of the only countries that was not severely affected by a rise in the import tax imposed by the United States on cigars and it was able to increase its exports to the U.S. by 8%. Beginning in April 2009, the U.S. import tax increased from five cents per cigar to 40 cents. But Nicaragua was able to increase the quantity of cigars exported to the U.S. and thus did not “feel” the tax, according to Plasencia. (Radio La Primerisima, Jan. 8; La Prensa, Jan. 8,)
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