TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2012
Nicaragua News Bulletin (February 14, 2012)
1. Negotiations under way for CSE magistrates2. US Senate holds hearings on Powers nomination
3. Nicaragua discusses participation in Bank of ALBA
4. Granada holds VIII International Poetry Festival
5. New homes for flood victims & teachers
6. Law to Stop Violence against Women passed
7. Government responds to high maternal deaths in RAAN
8. Nicaragua leads C.A. in water and sewer connections
9. Ometepe students all to receive laptops.
1. Negotiations under way for CSE magistrates
Political figures said last week that, while there is little hope of achieving amendments to the country's election law in the near future, negotiations between the Sandinista Party (FSLN) and the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) Alliance for magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) were beginning. The hope is that the process can be completed before the campaign begins for the municipal elections of Nov. 2012. Sandinista Edwin Castro said that negotiations were stalled while Eduardo Montealegre (usually seen as the PLI's principal leader) had heart surgery in the United States. But PLI National Assembly Deputy and head of the Democratic Bench (BDN) Luis Callejas said Montealegre had left a team in charge of talks which included him. Another member of the team, Eliseo Nuñez, said that the PLI would not veto the continuation of Roberto Rivas on the CSE but would demand changes in the regulations governing the naming of members of local and departmental electoral boards, and governing the accreditation of poll watchers and of election observers, among other measures. Pedro Joaquin Chamorro B., also a PLI deputy, said that the ideal would be for the Sandinistas to choose three magistrates; the BDN would choose another three and the seventh would be chosen by consensus. Some leaders of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), which joined the PLI Alliance for last year's elections, were critical of the decision to negotiate with the Sandinistas, but at the same time said they would participate in the local elections later this year if their party's legal status was restored.
Meanwhile, eleven non-governmental organizations called for new elections that were “respectful of the constitution.” Among them were the Permanent Commission for Human Rights (CPDH), the Civil Coordinator, Hagamos Democracia, the Movement for Nicaragua, and the Autonomous Women's Movement [several of which have received aid for “democracy promotion” from the US government]. The statement released by the groups said that they rejected any talk of municipal elections without resolving what they alleged was the “electoral fraud” of the Nov. 2011 presidential elections. However, the proposal was dismissed by business and political figures. Eliseo Nuñez, the PLI deputy, said, “What I don't see is people in the streets demanding this and it would depend a lot on how much support you had. You can't just put out a declaration.”
In other political news, discord over the manner in which Sandinista candidates for mayor are being chosen around the country continued with Sandinistas protesting in Chinandega, San Ramon and Tuma-La Dalia. Former Sandinista Mayor of Managua Dionisio Marenco said in response to a question after a talk at a Managua university that the FSLN should listen to the people who are protesting and find a good resolution. He said all political parties should try to use mechanisms for choosing candidates that allow for the greatest grassroots participation. A Sandinista source told the Informe Pastran that the decision of the FSLN was to survey satisfaction among the population about the candidates and that the protests were the result of a misinterpretation of the explanation by Nelson Artola, the party official in charge of the candidate selection for the party. A group of Sandinistas from Catarina, Masatepe, Nandasmo and San Juan de Oriente delivered a petition with 7,000 signatures to the FSLN headquarters in Managua asking that the candidates be chosen by consultation.
And finally, a new CID-Gallup poll shows President Daniel Ortega with high public support. Asked why Ortega won reelection, 56% said it was because he was the best candidate, 21% said because of disorganization within the opposition, 18% said because of a doubtful election process, and 5% said that they did not know. In evaluating his 2007-2011 term, 61% expressed approval and 28% disapproval. In terms of democracy, 38% thought Ortega had shown “much respect” for democracy; 32% that he had shown “some respect” for democracy; 10% that he had “somewhat ignored democracy; and 22% that he had “totally ignored” democracy. The poll was carried out between Jan. 25 and 28 among 1,200 households in the entire country. It has a margin of error of 2.81% with a confidence level of 95%. (La Prensa, Feb. 9; Informe Pastran, Feb. 7, 8, 9, 10, 13; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 7, 9; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 7)
2. Senate holds hearings on Powers
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on Feb. 7 on President Barack Obama's nomination of Phyllis Powers to be United States ambassador to Nicaragua along with the nominations of Jonathan Farrar to Panama, Julissa Reynoso to Uruguay and Larry Palmer to Barbados. In her testimony, Powers said that bilateral trade between the US and Nicaragua has grown by two-thirds in the last five years and more than 125 US companies are currently doing business in Nicaragua. She also said, however, that “There is a serious concern about the erosion of democracy in Nicaragua.” She added, “If confirmed, I will speak clearly and with conviction about the importance of protecting fundamental freedoms and democratic institutions, and stress the importance of an empowered civil society, independent media, informed citizenry, and effective local government and political party participation.” She said that she would meet with government representatives at all levels and also with civil society representatives and would work toward seeing that the recommendations of the Organization of American States electoral observation mission were put in place.
During the hearing, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that he would not block her confirmation. The earlier nomination of Jonathan Farrar to be ambassador to Nicaragua had been blocked by Republicans because they disapproved of his attitude toward Cuba. La Prensa reported that, after the hearing, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) urged Powers to prioritize the property claims of US citizens whose property was confiscated during the revolution of the 1980s. He said that of 3,193 original claims, there are still 418 pending. [These were Nicaraguan citizens who moved to the US and later became US citizens. They lost their property to foreclosure, because they were associates of the Somoza dictatorship, or to expropriation for land reform.] (La Prensa, Feb. 7; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 7; Informe Pastran, Feb. 7 http://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Phyllis_M_Powers_Testimony.pdf)
3. Nicaragua discusses participation in Bank of ALBA
President Daniel Ortega, speaking at a ceremony giving titles to 3,500 new property owners, said that participation in the new Bank of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) would give Nicaragua better opportunities to confront the international economic crisis. He said that he was working on a proposal to be sent to the National Assembly as part of the budget that would put US$4 million in the Bank of ALBA along with 1% of Nicaragua's international currency reserves (which total US$1.7 billion). Ortega explained that the currency reserves are deposited in twenty commercial banks around the world and sometimes earn 1% interest and sometimes earn nothing, while the banks “put the money to work and earn up to 7% interest.” He added that these banks could even go bankrupt as many banks have in recent years. Better, he said, to put Nicaragua's money in a bank with a sense of social justice and where Nicaragua and other countries will obtain loans for productive and social projects and not for speculation.
Reaction was mixed but generally positive. Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said that it should be seen not as an alternative to traditional institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank but rather as an opportunity to gain access to more resources. He added that the government should be sure that the transfer of funds would not affect the program the country has with the International Monetary Fund. Arturo Grigsby, however, said that the ALBA Bank was created as an alternative to the Inter-American Development Bank where, he noted, the United States has a veto. It was, he said, an attempt “to create an alternative institution so as not to have the political risk that they [the US] could veto your financing.”
Central Bank President Antenor Rosales said there were three elements that the law mandates that the Central Bank consider: liquidity, security, and yield. Based on these three, he said, the decision should be made on how much Nicaragua should deposit in any institution. Then, over the weekend, rumors arose that Rosales would resign his post. He is one of the high level officials whose terms have run out and who remain in office based on a presidential decree saying that the officials could stay at their posts until their replacements were named. His resignation was painted as a disagreement with the President Ortega over the Bank of ALBA but at no time did Rosales appear to disagree with the general principle of depositing some of Nicaragua's reserves in the bank. He even tentatively approved signing on to the ALBA currency, the Sucre, for some uses. Analysts point out that Rosales' resignation has been rumored several times in the past but has not happened. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb.9; La Prensa, Feb. 10; Informe Pastran, Feb. 10, 13; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 11)
4. Granada holds VIII International Poetry Festival
The colonial city of Granada has been converted into the “world capital of poetry” with the holding of the eighth annual International Poetry Festival, which began on Monday, Feb. 13. The festival includes poetry readings in plazas, parks, churches, and cultural centers along with a book festival, musical and dance events and the sale of Nicaraguan handicrafts. At least 120 poets from 54 countries were expected to attend, including Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott, poet and playwright from Saint Lucia, a small island country in the windward islands of the Caribbean. This year's festival is dedicated to the late Carlos Martinez Rivas (1924-1998), considered one of Nicaragua's greatest poets after Ruben Dario. The slogan this year is “Poetry is a solitary insurrection,” according to the president of the festival, poet Francisco de Asis Fernandez. Fernandez said that the collaboration of businesses and embassies makes possible the raising of the necessary funding for air fare for invited poets and their lodging and meals, a total cost that can reach US$1 million.
City officials worked to revive the grass and prune the trees and shrubs in the plazas while the police promised to keep pick-pockets at bay. Among the Nicaraguan musicians expected to sing and play their music at the festival are Katia Cardenal, Norma Helena Gadea, Carlos and Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy, and Phillip Montalban. Also 1,400 folk dancers will perform. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 13; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 13; La Prensa, Feb. 11)
5. New homes for flood victims & teachers
One hundred and ten families in shelters since the devastating rains of 2010 moved last week to the Virgin of Guadalupe Villa in District 2 of Managua where each received a furnished home free of charge. Fidel Moreno, general secretary of the Managua mayor's office said there are still 233 families remaining in the Fr. Fabreto and Gadala Maria shelters. Of the 806 families evacuated from the shores of Lake Managua due to record high water levels caused by 2010's unusually severe rainy season, 335 have now been housed in newly built communities by the government. Each home has two bedrooms and all the amenities including electricity, water and sewer.
The Ortega government has made a concerted effort to address Nicaragua's chronic housing shortage and the poor quality of many homes. In the last three years 767 teachers have been able to purchase newly built affordable housing on favorable credit terms. Jose Antonio Zepeda, secretary general of the teachers union ANDEN said 300 more houses for teachers will be constructed this year in Leon, Carazo, and Concordia (Jinotega). Twenty teachers' families recently moved into new homes in Sebaco in the Department of Matagalpa. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 7, 8; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 9)
6. Law to Stop Violence against Women passed
Speaking at a forum for health care workers last week, National Assembly Deputy Martha Marina Gonzalez explained aspects of the Law to Stop Violence against Women, passed by the Assembly on Jan. 26. Gonzalez, who chairs the Committee on Women, Youth, Children and Family, stated that the bill was discussed with citizens in forums around the country before it was introduced in the Assembly. She said that health professionals are likely to be among the first involved directly with the physical and psychological damage in cases of violence and she emphasized the need to train personnel, especially psychologists, to evaluate the different types of cases they can confront.
Supreme Court President Alba Luz Ramos said that the law will go into effect at the beginning of May. She emphasized that the law specifies, besides physical and sexual violence, psychological, economic and work place crimes against women that often are ignored. Those who witness such crimes are obliged by law to report them. The law establishes the crime of femicide consisting of the killing of a woman with hate against her for being a woman. The passage of the law was accompanied with amendments to the penal code related to the punishment of infractions. Liberal Party Deputy Jose Pallais said, “The logic behind the law is that we have to break with the culture of submission, of power relations, where the woman is subordinate.”
The Police Stations for Women, Adolescents, and Children are the entities where accusations of violations of the law will be received. Police Commissioner Mercedes Ampie said that the law establishes the defense of women's rights as a policy of the Nicaraguan state. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 7, 10; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 2)
7. Government responds to high maternal deaths in RAAN
Siuna holds an unfortunate position as one of the nation's cities with the highest maternal death rates. This is largely due to the number of women who give birth in their homes. Therefore, Minister of Health Sonia Castro said, the government is building more primary care hospitals in all the Caribbean region towns and encouraging women to go to the hospitals to receive proper medical care during childbirth.
Castro visited Siuna, one of the towns of the “mining triangle” of Siuna, Bonanza and Rosita, to announce the plans for a new regional Health Ministry office, known as a Local System of Integral Health Attention or SILAIS. Because of transportation issues, long-distances and communication challenges, "the government has … decided to reorganize the RAAN [North Atlantic Autonomous Region] SILAIS into two administrative structures, one that will attend to Bilwi and Waspam and the other that will be in charge of the mining triangle cities, along with Prinzapolka and Mulukuku," Castro said. (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 11)
8. Nicaragua leads C.A. in water and sewer connections
At a national level of 49%, Nicaragua leads Central America in the percentage of residences hooked up to water and sewage lines. A meeting of Central American experts called for more investment regionally as only 20% of homes in Central America as a whole are connected. Expansion of water and sewer lines and sewage treatment plants has received major investment from the Ortega government since it took office in 2007. The major Nicaraguan cities all have sewage treatment plants. In 2012, 27 Managua neighborhoods will be hooked into water and sewer lines according to Ervin Barreda, manager of the World Bank-funded Water and Sewer Program for Managua (PRASMA). That will add 120,000 residents to the system. Another 20 Managua neighborhoods will be hooked in during 2013. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 11; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 11)
9. Ometepe students all to receive laptops
On Feb. 29, Ometepe Island's 4,790 students will each receive an XO laptop computer making it the first “wired” island in Latin America according to the Zamora Teran Foundation which is spending $1.5 million on the laptops and two wireless internet nodes on the double volcano island, the largest volcanic lake island in the world. The foundation is the local group promoting the international One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. It began giving students in Nicaragua laptops in 2009 but this is its largest effort to date. Education Ministry delegate Byron Antonio Paizano gleefully reported that attendance goals have been met because “anticipation of receiving the computers was a motivating factor.” (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 9, La Prensa, Feb. 9)
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