TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2011
Nicaragua News Bulletin (December 20, 2011)
1. National Assembly closes one period and plans for the next2. Republicans want condemnation of Nicaragua in exchange for appointment
3. Court cases against San Juan River highway move forward
4. Drug money builds mansions? Ortega asks US to cut consumption
5. Foreign direct investment rises by 80% from 2010
6. Sexual identity workshop held
7. New doctors return from Cuba's ELAN medical school
8. Poor family wins Christmas lottery
1. National Assembly closes one period and plans for the next
The National Assembly held a closing session on Dec. 15 to end a five year period in which it approved 167 laws, 1,759 resolutions, and the stipulations for the reception of funds from international financial institutions and bilateral lenders in the amount of US$1.4 billion of which only US$160 million were donations, the rest being loans. Walmaro Gutierez, chair of the Economy Committee, said that the foreign funds were used principally in the areas of health care, education, infrastructure and credit to producers. The Assembly, however, did not approve the 2012 budget of US$1.8 billion before the holidays.
Edwin Castro, chief of the Sandinista bench, said that in spite of 2011 being an election year, the Assembly passed some important laws including regulation of the micro credit industry, a law establishing the Production Bank Produzcamos, protection for lobster divers, a migration law, a law on natural medicine, another on the treatment of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, a law protecting certain intellectual property, a law on municipal contractors, another on water, as well as a law on public information.
Discussion began about the selection of the members of the Assembly leadership body for the next period. Castro said that although the Sandinistas have a super majority (63 of 92 deputies) the party will negotiate with the opposition to elect a politically plural leadership. He said that Sandinista Rene Nuñez will continue to be the presiding officer but opposition deputies would hold other positions as well as chair some of the committees. He said that talks would likely begin over the holidays because the Assembly reconvenes on Jan. 9. He added that the agenda for 2012 would concentrate achieving consensus among the members and working on economic issues including “combating extreme poverty, improving the standard of living of the population, [while preserving] macroeconomic stability.”
Luis Callejas, who will be head of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) bench in the new period, said, “The law governing the National Assembly speaks of proportionality and pluralism and [based on that] we are going to negotiate the leadership positions.” He said that the PLI would like three of the seven positions and wants to chair five of the Assembly's standing committees. Members of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), which only won two seats in the Assembly, were demanding one of the leadership positions but PLI leaders said that, instead, the PLC deputies should join the PLI bench to enlarge the opposition block against the majority Sandinistas. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 15; Informe Pastran, Dec. 15; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 15; La Prensa, Dec. 15, 17)
2. Republicans want condemnation of Nicaragua in exchange for appointment
According to press reports in Nicaragua, the Republican minority in the United States Senate has agreed to remove its block on the Obama administration's nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte as US ambassador to El Salvador if the administration will condemn “attacks against democracy” they allege took place in Nicaragua's recent election. A vote in the full Senate on Aponte's nomination has been blocked since the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved her nomination on Nov. 29. Democrats accused Republicans of political discrimination because she is a Latina born in Puerto Rico. Her advancement within the State Department was damaged 20 years ago over allegations that she had a personal relationship with an accused Cuban spy.
Obama nominated Aponte in December 2009, but her nomination was blocked by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). Obama made her ambassador in a recess appointment but her term has now expired unless she receives Senate approval. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who opposes Aponte, said, “The most important objective is that the US make a clear and forceful declaration against the attack on democracy in Nicaragua.” He claimed that the State Department had agreed to make the statement and he “hoped they would.” (La Prensa, Dec. 17; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 17; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 19; Informe Pastran, Dec. 19)
3. Court cases against San Juan River highway move forward
On Dec. 19, the Central American Court of Justice accepted the claim against the government of Costa Rica entered by two Nicaraguan environmental organizations (the Nicaraguan Foundation for Sustainable Development and the National Recycling Organization). The suit is an attempt to stop Costa Rican construction of a highway along the San Juan River. The Court said that President Laura Chinchillla had six days to reply to the charges. Francisco Lobo, head of the Court, said that the Court would examine whether it would be feasible to order the halting of the road building and he did not discount the possibility of a visit to the site.
Costa Rican environmentalists asked their own Supreme Court for an injunction against the road building which media sources now say is 160 kilometers long [previous reports had said 120]. Alberto Cabezas, president of the “Let me live in peace” World Foundation, headquartered in San Jose, which brought the suit, said, “The damages to the ecosystem are not against one country or government, but against all humanity, because the environment does not have borders.” Environmental organizations from the two countries met on Dec. 18 to travel together to the River itself to further document the environmental damage caused by the road.
Speaking from a meeting in Strasburg, France, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos announced that Nicaragua will protest the road building before the International Court of Justice (World Court) at The Hague where a dispute over Nicaragua's dredging of a channel at the mouth of the River is pending. He said that the Nicaraguan government “is preparing the information about the damage that Costa Rica is causing” and will soon send it to the tribunal. He said the project is “tearing out many trees that are necessary along the banks of the River and contaminating the water.” Alba Marina Vargas, civil judge of the District of Rio San Juan, said that residents of border communities and dwellers along the River banks had testified for the documentation that she was preparing for the World Court, which she said composed 66 folios. (Informe Pastran, Dec. 16, 19; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 17, 19; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 18)
4. Drug money builds mansions? Ortega asks US to cut consumption
The houses are invisible behind walls five meters tall. They are recently built in exclusive neighborhoods outside Managua and are worth millions of dollars. Over them hangs a shadow of suspicion that they have built with laundered money from drug trafficking. Roberto Orozco, an expert in security at the Institute for Strategic and Public Policy Studies (IIEEPP), said that, “Nicaragua's financial system is the smallest in Central America and yet our private banks have US$4.5 billion in deposits.” He stated that suspicion “falls on unregulated areas of the economy such as construction, micro-credit, and others.”
The National Police revealed that the network disbanded at the beginning of December had invested in real estate and businesses including hotels, guest houses, farms, and transportation companies. This year, according to Glenda Zavala of the Police, authorities have confiscated 34 vehicles, 14 houses, four farms, eight hotels, a store and 596 head of cattle. But, Zavala said, “Nicaragua continues to be a stumbling block for organized crime.”
Meanwhile, President Daniel Ortega, speaking in San Salvador at the 28th Summit of the Central American Integration System (SICA), called on the United States to control drug consumption in order to stop drug trafficking which he said is “the major threat” confronting Central America. “If consumption is controlled,” Ortega said, “drug trafficking will automatically begin to disappear, and that would cause the disappearance of a source of financing for organized crime because organized crime gets its money and arms itself from the United States.” He cited cases of Central American judges and journalists threatened by drug traffickers if they do their jobs. He said that the Mexican cartel Los Zetas “has raised its head” in Nicaragua but, he said, “we have knocked them down.” He added, “That is the battle; they are going to continue to raise their heads as long as the consumption continues.” (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 16,18; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 17)
5. Foreign direct investment rises by 80% from 2010
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nicaragua in 2011was 80% higher than in 2010, according to Javier Chamorro, director of the government Agency for the Promotion of Investments in Nicaragua (ProNicaragua). While FDI did not reach the predicted US$1.039 billion, Chamorro said that the US$900 million invested “came very close to the original goal.” Foreign direct investment in 2010 was US$500 million. Nicaragua has promoted investment in energy, mining, telecommunications, tourism, and free trade zone plants including garment assembly and others. In August, ProNicaragua and the Superior Council on Private Enterprise (COSEP) held an investors meeting attended by 70 companies from North America, Europe and Asia and, in October, negotiated for further investments with 18 Spanish and 25 Italian companies. Chamorro said that of the US$3 billion in FDI in the last five years, US$500 million corresponds to investments from the group of ALBA nations, including the Supreme Dream of Bolivar oil refinery from Venezuela. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 18; Informe Pastran, Dec. 16)
6. Sexual identity workshop held
In order to educate public officials on sexual identity, the Sexual Diversity Ombudsperson and Redtrasex, a human rights group of transgendered people and sexual workers, held a workshop in Juigalpa on the theme. The event was meant to assist police, the military, the Ministry of the Family, the Health Ministry, and staff of the Human Rights Ombudsperson's office to truly understand the meaning of "sexual diversity" and see it as a human rights issue. Sexual Diversity Ombudsperson Samira Montiel said that this perspective can help move beyond mere acceptance to true respect and greater integration. She lauded the Ministry of Education for its publication of a new text on sexual rights which treats the subject for the first time in Nicaraguan education history.
Discrimination against LGBT groups continues to be a serious problem, leading to issues with finding employment and even staying in school. LGBT individuals are also the victims of violent hate crimes. For this reason, the groups holding the workshop wanted to educate government employees about the rights of this population to form and raise a family, to attend school, and to go to public health centers and receive respectful treatment. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 17)
7. New doctors return from Cuba's ELAN medical school
Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo announced that on Dec. 21 President Daniel Ortega will award 21 medical diplomas to graduates of the Latin America School of Medicine (ELAM) in Cuba. Cuba provides free medical education to students from every continent [including minority students from the US] who go home to their countries to provide medical services to those who would otherwise not receive them, including to those in isolated communities.
Nine additional doctors who have earned Masters in Genetics, studying nine months in Cuba, were part of 33 students returning from the ELAM. Murillo recounted that Cuban doctors had told her that it was the first time in Central American history a country has provided the resources for its doctors to earn a specialty in genetics. Murillo said that soon Nicaragua would develop its own specialists in other fields, and thanked Cuba for its friendship and solidarity.
The nine geneticists will join the Cuban/Nicaraguan medical brigade Voice for Everyone (Todos con Voz) that has done a census of Nicaragua's 150,000 disabled population and is providing medical attention to them and their families. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 18, 19; Informe Pastran, Dec. 19)
8. Poor family wins Christmas lottery
Adriana Blandon, who lives with her family in what La Prensa called a “mistreated” house on the outskirts of Condega because they lost their cattle and their house to the bank, won over US$50,000 in the “gordo” [big one] Christmas lottery on Friday. Blandon does laundry and makes nacatamales to cover expenses. Her 74 year old husband suffers from throat cancer and recently spent nine months in a Managua hospital. Blandon said that she would not stop making nacatamales but would use the money to improve her business and repair the house. She said happily, accompanied by the hand signals of her husband who can no longer talk, “My husband has been buying lottery tickets for half a century and we've never won anything,” (La Prensa, Dec. 17)
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