TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2011
Nicaragua News Bulletin (May 31, 2011)
1. Exports reach US$1 billion2. CID Gallup releases poll
3. Carter Center visits Nicaragua
4. Government to finance small farmers
5. Murders of women on the rise
6. Abortion law criticized
7. Tornado impacts Nueva Segovia
8. New law regulates casinos
9. Telica Volcano continues active
1. Exports reach US$1 billion
According to the Center for Export Processing (CETREX), on May 20, 2011, Nicaragua's exports passed the US$1 billion mark, a benchmark not exceeded in 2010 until June 30. This was an increase of 32.88% over last year and a record for the country. The increase was based almost entirely on the rise in prices on the world market for Nicaragua's exports because the volume of products exported increased only 1.15%. Nicaragua's principal exports are coffee, beef, gold, and sugar, and prices for all have increased with coffee and gold at record levels. The United States, Canada, Venezuela, and El Salvador continue this year to be the principal purchasers of Nicaraguan products.
Roberto Brenes, general manager of the Center for Exports and Investments, said that the “principal challenge is to increase the volume of exports.” He emphasized that Nicaragua should work to increase crop yields and to add value to the products it exports. Vice-Minister of Agriculture Benjamin Dixon said, “Definitely we are looking for a way [to increase production] without advancing the agricultural frontier; we want to promote planting on unused land and we're looking for ways to increase yields in those areas.”
Between January and May, Nicaragua exported US$285 million in coffee, US$148.5 million in beef, US$126 million in gold, US$97 million in sugar, and US$44.5 in peanuts. The increase in the value of coffee exported was due entirely to an increase from last year's price of US$149 per hundredweight to US$213 per hundredweight this year. In the case of gold, while the price went up substantially, the amount of gold exported doubled over last year. Nicaragua also increased the amount of beef exported by 16%. Exports of red beans dropped almost to nothing because of government restrictions on exports after much of the second planting last year was destroyed by flooding. The value of red beans exported during this period last year was US$24.7 million, while only US$729,000 has been exported so far this year.
Economist Francisco Mayorga said that the government has known how to take advantage of the good economic times using the benefits of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) to increase production at a time of record commodity prices. He added that private national and foreign investment and the government's social programs have also helped the economy. He noted that the effects of the improved economy can be seen in the most recent opinion poll figures (see below) which show the government with good approval ratings. (Radio La Primerisima, May 25, 27; La Prensa, May 24; El Nuevo Diario, May 26)
2. CID Gallup releases poll
The polling agency CID Gallup released its latest poll last week which showed that, if the November elections were held today, President Daniel Ortega would receive 38% of the votes, radio broadcaster Fabio Gadea 28%, and former President Arnoldo Aleman 14%. Under current law, Ortega would win reelection without a runoff because he would have more than 35% of the vote and have a five point advantage over the next candidate. The poll indicated that 17% had not yet decided who they would vote for or did not mark the polling ballot, down by eight points from January. Of those questioned, 74% said that their decision was firm, with Sandinistas being the most resolute. While 59% believe that Ortega will win reelection, only 25% believe that he can solve the country's problems. That said, 61% thought that their lives in general had improved under Ortega while only 30% said they were worse off.
Of those questioned, 74% would like for there to be [national or international] observation of the November elections, which so far has not been authorized by the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE). Meanwhile, 46% of those polled said they had confidence in the body that runs the country's elections, while 44% had little or no confidence in the CSE. 91% of those questioned said they had their voter identification cards [which are required for voting], but only 56% said that they were certain to vote on election day. CID Gallup polled 1,214 people over 16 years of age [voting age] randomly selected nationwide using a secret ballot that simulating voting, according to El Nuevo Diario. The poll had a margin of error of 2.81% with 95% confidence level. (El Nuevo Diario, May 26; La Prensa, May 25; Radio La Primerisima, May 26)
3. Carter Center visits Nicaragua
A delegation from the Carter Center is currently in Nicaragua according to US Ambassador Robert Callahan. He said, “They are here on their own account and they are talking with several sectors of Nicaraguan society…I imagine that they will be talking about the elections and I understand that they will speak with the government, civil society and some business organizations.” He added that the US government did not sponsor the visits of the Carter Center which is a private organization. He repeated earlier statements that urged national and international observers “for the elections to be recognized as credible.”
His statements came after President Daniel Ortega had accused the United States and the European Union of trying to intervene in Nicaragua's elections. Roberto Rivas, president of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), said last week that there had been 2,000 foreign and 20,000 national observers for the 2006 elections and “Nicaragua cannot continue with this level of intervention; we have to learn to confide in our own electoral system.” Rivas added that international “accompaniment” would be acceptable and that the CSE would shortly release the regulations for such accompaniment. Mendel Goldstein, head of the delegation of the European Commission for Central America said that the Nicaraguan government had invited the European Union to observe the elections. (El Nuevo Diario, May 26; La Prensa, May 24, 26)
4. Government to finance small farmers
The government of President Daniel Ortega will finance 100,000 small family-owned farms for the first planting season according to Ariel Bucardo, minister of agriculture and forestry. The amount of financing will depend on the crop grown, with rice being the most expensive of the three basic crops to produce. Corn and beans are the other two primary crops of small farmers. For the four years the Sandinista government has been in office, one of its primary goals has been to reinvigorate peasant agriculture, a sector that was ignored during the 17 years of neoliberal governments. Money for financing the purchase of seeds and agricultural inputs such as fertilizer will come from ALBA-CARUNA, a non-public corporation established to invest savings from concessionary oil sales from Venezuela in social spending. Farmers will repay the no interest loans with a portion of their crop. Bucardo said that the program will continue for the second and third plantings. (Radio La Primerisima, May 25)
5. Murders of women on the rise
The Network of Women against Violence last week called on Nicaraguan authorities and society in general to work to end murders of women. Maria Elena Dominguez, coordinator of the Network, said that between January and May of this year, 40 women had been murdered in Nicaragua, including four girls under ten years of age, a 53% increase over the same period last year. In a statement, the Network denounced “a system of justice that is inefficient and tolerant in the cases of violence against women and children.”
In the past week five women have been murdered, one in a Managua motel and another in the north who was found raped and strangled. Angry women protested in the streets of Jinotega on May 26 after a woman was found in a town garbage dump with a bullet in her head. There was also a murder-suicide in Rio San Juan and a husband murdered his wife with a screwdriver in Managua. Dominguez said that 22 murder suspects are fugitives from justice, 11 are behind bars, and only two have been convicted. She added that the authorities do not do enough to provide appropriate attention to victims of domestic violence which would prevent murders from taking place. The Network is also demanding legislation that would punish public officials who cover up crimes against women or who do not fulfill their responsibilities to apply the law equally.
Government prosecutor Odette Leyton said that, as part of the government's apparatus of justice, she is working to reduce the time taken to process [domestic violence] cases and working to provide greater accompaniment and representation in the criminal process for victims. She added, “We also need education campaigns to change the conduct of boys and girls so that violence is decreased. Women are not property.” (Radio La Primerisima, May 27; El Nuevo Diario, May 26)
6. Abortion law criticized
Speaking at a conference in Managua, Dr. Ana Maria Pizarro said that, from 2008-2010, 79 Nicaraguan women were charged with having abortions and three were convicted (one of whom was only 16 years old) according to National Police records. Nicaragua's prohibition of all abortions was criticized by Pizarro during the Second National Conference on Women's Health and Life. Pizarro, a gynecologist, said the anti-abortion policy was particularly cruel given the poverty of the majority of women, the lack of information about sexuality and reproduction, and the fact that Nicaragua has one of the highest levels of adolescent pregnancy in Latin America. Of the 79 women charged, nearly a third were under 18 years of age and over a third were unemployed.
In 2006, under the administration of President Enrique Bolaños, Nicaragua criminalized all abortion, including abortion to save the life of the woman. Early in the administration of President Daniel Ortega the measure was retained in the country's new penal code. The constitutionality of the law has remained before the Supreme Court during the Ortega presidency without a decision being announced. Vilma Nuñez, president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), pointed out that important international fora such as the UN's Universal Periodic Review and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have called on Nicaragua to revise its criminal law to stop punishing women. (El Nuevo Diario, May 26)
7. Tornado impacts Nueva Segovia
A tornado on May 25th affected nine communities in the municipality of El Jicaro, Nueva Segovia. Fifty-two family homes were damaged and five people were injured. Additionally, the tornado caused over a million US dollars in structural damage, affecting tobacco cooperatives, power lines and coffee plantations. Witnesses reported that the mountain had been "plucked" of coffee plants which were in full flower and the trees that provided shade for the plants were felled. In fact, one producer reported losing his entire crop, estimated at a US$50,000 value. A total of forty small producers lost over 1,000 acres of coffee plants in the hail storm, gale and tornado. Resident Manuela Zeledon marveled that no lives had been lost and said that in her 69 years she had seen nothing like this.
Officials of the National System for the Prevention and Mitigation of Disasters (SINAPRED) and Councils of Citizen Power have been working to supply relief. As an immediate response, Citizen Power Councils will distribute galvanized roofing and nails for the immediate repair of homes. (Radio La Primerisima, May 28; El Nuevo Diario, May 28)
8. New law regulates casinos
The Nicaragua National Assembly has passed a law regulating the presence of slot machines and other gaming activities in restaurants, markets, and businesses everywhere, including near schools. The law, according to Walmaro Guitierrez, chair of the Economics Committee of the Assembly, will go into effect in 150 days, at which time the police and the tourism institute will have the authority to close businesses and destroy machines that violate the law. Currently only 35% of businesses with gambling machines are paying required taxes. Gutierrez estimates that the new law will generate more than US$200,000 in tax revenue.
The law also establishes four categories of casinos with varying requirements, the minimum of which is to have at least 10 machines and to pay a bond of US$10,000. Gutierrez said that the new law, which also bans children under 18 from entering a casino, will “force casinos to legalize or disappear” and end the proliferation of slot machines in drug stores, barber shops and “any kind of business” in the country. The law prohibits elected and appointed officials from working for or having a financial interest in a casino. Nevertheless, dissident Sandinista Monica Baltodano and 11 other deputies voted “present” claiming that unnamed economic interests were behind the legislation and that casinos would become a source of campaign capital as they have elsewhere in the world. (Radio La Primerisima, May 26; La Prensa, May 24; El Nuevo Diario, May 26)
9. Telica Volcano continues active
Telica Volcano in the Department of Leon has been active since May 13 and continues expelling sand, ash and gas. According to Angelica Muñoz, director of geophysics at the government's Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER), the volcano has been expelling between 50 and 150 tons of sulfur dioxide each day since the current period of activity began and has the capability to expel as much as 500 tons of the gas in a day. Small quakes, detectable only by seismographs, are felt around the mountain, as many as 900 tremblors in a 12 hour period, with a few reaching 2.1 on the Richter scale. Muñoz said that movement inside the volcano could mean that the magma chamber in the depths of the crater is filling with lava and that, if activity intensifies, the lava could be expelled at any time.
Nicaraguan Civil Defense maintains readiness to evacuate if necessary some 3,700 families living in a number of small communities near the volcano.
The Nicaraguan Institute of Civil Aviation said on May 25 that it was evaluating the risks to aviation but that flights were operating normally at that time. The Institute said that, along with INETER, it keeps up a constant monitoring of the mountain to determine risk from columns of gases and ash. INETER explained that the columns of ash and gas rise to about 600 meters (1970 ft.) above the volcano and move to the southeast while rising to an altitude of about 1,500 meters (5,000 ft.). (La Prensa, May 24, 26, 27; Radio La Primerisima, May 25, 27)
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