TUESDAY, MARCH 06, 2012
Nicaragua News Bulletin (March 6, 2012)
1. Bridge project begun; canal again on the table2. Costa Rica rejects PARLACEN mediation
3. Conflict between indigenous and mestizos unresolved
4. Women's programs highlighted
5. Minimum wage talks continue
6. Coffee exports fall
7. Unions to propose fairer tax structure
8. Heifer Project helps farmers diversify
1. Bridge project begun; canal again on the table
President Daniel Ortega, accompanied by Japan's Ambassador to Nicaragua Jiro Shibasak, laid the first stone of the Santa Fe Bridge which will cross the San Juan River near where it begins its flow to the Atlantic at the southeast corner of Lake Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua). Initial work has been going on for seven months at the site of the bridge which is entirely inside Nicaraguan territory but will be connected to highways in both Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Japan is financing the construction of the bridge which will be 262 meters in length, 40 meters high, and have four traffic lanes.
Ortega called for a moment of silence to remember the Japanese citizens who lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami one year ago and praised the ability of the Japanese people to recover from such a disaster, saying that it was a lesson for the people of Nicaragua. He sent wishes for a prompt recovery to Emperor Akihito who is recovering from heart surgery. Ambassador Shibasak said, “This work will widely benefit the Nicaraguan people and we hope that the benefit will transcend borders, governments and generations.” The bridge is expected to be finished in April of 2014.
Nicaraguan environmentalists noted that an environmental impact survey of the project was carried out by a team that, according to Kamilo Lara, included experts on the local flora and fauna. He also noted that the construction conforms to international environmental standards.
Meanwhile, the possible construction of a canal across Nicaragua was again in the news as President Ortega followed up on recent announcements of such a project by naming Manuel Coronel Kautz, vice-minister of foreign affairs, to head up the study of possible routes and the search for investors. Several routes are under consideration with the most likely route not involving the San Juan River at all. The river, which was historically assumed to be part of any canal project (back to the first feasibility study by King Philip of Spain in 1587), no longer has the depth for modern ships of the massive post-Panamax generation (meaning larger than the ships of 120,000 tons that the enlarged Panama Canal will allow). Kautz said that a proposal to set up the legal framework for an Inter-Oceanic Canal Authority is being prepared for consideration by the National Assembly. After that, Kautz said, studies will be carried out on 1) economic feasibility, 2) environmental impact, 3) socio-economic impact, and 4) risk analysis.
Reaction was generally positive with El Nuevo Diario headlining “Canal Is Feasible” and saying, “There is only one factor working against it becoming reality: Nicaragua would need to bring together financing of almost US$18 billion.” The possibility of constructing either what Nicaraguans called a “wet canal” or a “dry canal” [a railroad] was last under consideration in the late 1990s and early 2000s but nothing came of it. Last week some still felt that it was a long term vision. Jose Adan Aguerri of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) said, “The expectation of the private sector is to consolidate the Monkey Point project [port and trans-isthmian railroad with possible oil pipeline] because it is a medium term project and the canal is a project of much greater dimensions and longer time.” (Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 1; El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 1, 5; Informe Pastran, Feb. 29; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 28, 29; La Prensa, Feb. 29)
2. Costa Rica rejects PARLACEN mediation
The president of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) last week offered to mediate between Nicaragua and Costa Rica in their conflict over the San Juan River. Manolo Pichardo said, “We call on the leaders of both countries to renew bilateral meetings to seek a negotiated political settlement to their differences, talks in which the two develop actions oriented toward strengthening the process of integration and toward higher levels of cooperation among the states in the [Central American] system.” He said that the Central American Parliament offered the political space for both sides to present their positions and, if they agreed, a special commission could be formed to contribute to a solution.
Earlier the Parliament had passed a resolution backing the jurisdiction of the Central American Court of Justice in the case of the highway Costa Rica is building along the southern banks of the San Juan, a highway that Nicaragua says will cause environmental damage to the river. The Court asked Costa Rica to stop construction on the road.
However, Costa Rican Vice-Foreign Minister Carlos Roverssi immediately criticized the Parliament's resolution and dismissed the offer of mediation accusing PARLACEN of bias and reiterating Costa Rica's refusal to join the parliament. He said, “We are not surprised because it is an organism like the Central American Court of Justice that Costa Rica has refused to recognize for legal, historical and national interest reasons.” PARLACEN was created in 1992 its members are Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. The Central American Court was formed in 1991 and has judges from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Guatemala is about to name its representatives while Costa Rica and Panama do not recognize the court.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica's Foreign Minister Enrique Castillo told the newspaper ABC of Spain that the Sandinista government of Nicaragua had invaded Costa Rica. He said that his government would accept mediation from any friendly country if Nicaragua would follow the dispositions of the World Court but that Costa Rica would not halt construction of the river bank highway. [There is a dispute between the two countries pending before the World Court to settle a boundary dispute over a tiny piece of land at the mouth of the river where Nicaragua was dredging a channel that had filled with silt. The river in its entirety belongs to Nicaragua.] Castillo said that if Nicaragua did not abide by the interim precautionary measures of the World Court, Costa Rica would go to the Security Council of the United Nations. He called “a pretext” Nicaragua's justification of fighting drug trafficking for a troop presence in the disputed area. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 28; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 28; Informe Pastran, Feb. 28, Mar. 5; La Prensa, Feb. 28)
3. Conflict between indigenous and mestizos unresolved
A commission of religious leaders returned to Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas) from a trip to the indigenous community of Lapan in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) on Mar. 1 without the 18 mestizos taken hostage by the members of the communities of Lapan and Supkatin. Leaders of the commission said that they were able to verify that the hostages (local police officers and civilians) are in good health after nearly a month in indigenous custody. A communiqué from the family members of the hostages said, “We demand the immediate turning over [of our family members]. You cannot demand acceleration of the land titling of Llano Sur and Tasba Pri by using as a pressure tactic kidnapping and putting at risk the lives of members of our communities.” The statement added that they would not be responsible for what might happen if the hostages were not released.
That same day, indigenous leader of Twi Waupasa, Simon McDavis said that mestizos had burned three indigenous houses in the community of Acawasito, among them the community center of the indigenous Miskito in the village. McDavis insisted that the mestizo colonizers had come into the nature reserve zone and in a short time had destroyed a large part of the forest which his community conserved so that they would always have it. He denied that any indigenous had sold land titles to the mestizos, noting that communal lands cannot be sold or mortgaged.
The council of elders of Lapan released a statement rejecting violence and calling for a solution that would end the destruction of flora and fauna by colonizers. The elders recognized that the actions of the National Police and the Army had been prudent and expressed the hope that they would continue to act in the same way.
On Feb. 28, leaders of 22 indigenous communities sent the government a request for the cleaning up of the land title register of the indigenous areas by the Superintendent of Property, the Attorney General's Office and the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry. The proposal said that the effort should conform to the Law on Communal Property of the Indigenous and Ethnic Communities. That law gave rights to individuals who held titles from before 1987 when the Autonomy Law for the communities of the Atlantic Coast was passed. But, the proposal urged, colonizers who came after 1987, the vast majority, should have to leave indigenous lands. Brooklyn Rivera, chair of the National Assembly Committee on Ethnic, Autonomous, and Indigenous Community Affairs, said that the titles to communal land issued by the government are not worth anything if they cannot be enforced by the owners, namely the members of the indigenous communities. (El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 1; La Prensa, Feb. 28, Mar. 1)
4. Women's programs highlighted
The Sandinista government is using March 8, International Women's Day, to advance and highlight government programs to benefit women and to elevate them to a position of equal participation in society. The government announced that 2,526 women, organized into 447 groups in 43 municipalities, will receive low interest, easy payment loans to facilitate their productive capacity. All month, but especially on March 8, the government will have special days to raise consciousness about the need for gender equality in the country.
Hospitals and health centers will promote their free services for cervical and breast cancer screening as well as HIV/AIDS screening. Presidential Communications Director Rosario Murillo also announced that the government will continue to give preference to women for its Food Production Package, also known as the Zero Hunger Program. That is the program that provides pregnant cows and pigs, a flock of chickens and a rooster, seeds and training to women. Over 100,000 families have been raised from abject poverty under this program. Murillo said, “We are advancing with our programs to put women forward, recovering our potential, our skills, for all our undertakings, for all that it represents in progress and in the improvement of our lives.”
The FSLN has introduced a bill in the National Assembly that would amend the Law on Municipalities to require every political party to put forward slates for mayor and city council in which half the candidates are women. (Municipal elections are scheduled for Nov. 2012.) That bill will be considered in committee on Mar. 6 and is expected to be debated and passed in the full Assembly on March 8. Wilfredo Navarro of the opposition Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) said that the proposal was just and “although in the parties there are some with macho attitudes, it is a law that should have been passed long ago.” But other members of the opposition said that it belonged under the Electoral Law and should apply to all elected offices. (Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 5; Informe Pastran, Mar. 5; La Prensa, Mar. 3)
5. Minimum wage talks continue
The fifth round of tripartite talks on raising the minimum wage for different sectors of the economy finished last week with no progress. Government, labor and business representatives could come to no agreement and media outlets were reporting more points of division than of agreement. The employers are offering a 10% raise for all sectors while union representatives want a 16% raise for urban workers and a 30% increase for rural workers. Union leader Luis Barbosa threatened a general work stoppage at private businesses if an agreement is not reached. Freddy Blandon of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) accused the unions of being inflexible and of wanting the employers to increase wages retroactively under the threat of “a pistol to the head.” Labor Minister Jeannette Chavez said the goal continued to be a tripartite agreement but she did not discard the possibility of an accord between just the government and labor. (Informe Pastran, Mar. 1; Radio La Primerima, Mar. 1)
6. Coffee exports fall
Compared to the same period of the previous year, Nicaraguan coffee exports fell precipitously in the first four months of the current coffee season which began October 1, 2011, although the shortfall was moderated by higher prices on the international market. Still, coffee exports brought in only US$67.1 million compared to US$105.6 million in the same period of the previous year. This represents an income drop of 36.4% and a volume drop of 45.4% according to the Center for Export Analysis (CETREX). CETREX attributed the drop to less productivity of the land where coffee is grown. [But the production of coffee plants is also known to go in cycles.] Fortunately the price per hundredweight grew from US$191.30 to $US234.50 this year. The US ranks first among importers of Nicaraguan coffee followed by Venezuela, Finland, Belgium, and Germany. Last year Nicaragua exported a total of 1.94 million hundredweights of coffee. Total income for the 2010-2011 season grew 36.6% over the previous year but it appears that the gains made last year may be substantially erased in the current year. (Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 3)
7. Unions to propose fairer tax structure
As work begins on Nicaragua's long-promised tax reform, the National Workers Front (FNT) announced that it will propose to the government amendments to the tax structure that will provide more fairness and increased revenues for the government to be used for social programs and infrastructure, according to labor leader Luis Barbosa. The proposal will include a review of the tax breaks for big businesses which, Barbosa said, often do not achieve the social and economic benefit which they are intended to produce. He said the government needs that money to invest in infrastructure projects, roads, schools, and to buy medicines. The FNT proposal will also include raising individual income taxes while raising the exemptions for low income workers (to exclude from paying taxes those with monthly incomes below US$444, up from US$280). National Coordinator of the FNT, Gustavo Porras, said the FNT would accompany the administration of President Daniel Ortega in the construction of a “Christian, Socialist, and Solidarity” model for national development, which was an Ortega re-election campaign slogan. Porras called for continuing dialogue to develop labor-business alliances and institutionality that respects worker's rights norms and laws. On Feb. 8 the National Assembly approved an amendment to the Law of Fiscal Equality that lowered the tax on regular and flavored milk and on rice in order to “stabilize” the prices for the population. (Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 1)
8. Heifer Project helps farmers diversify
The Heifer Project is investing US$667,449 to help 836 families, members of five cooperatives of the Multifunctional Union of Organic Coffee Producers (UCPCO) in the municipalities of San Juan del Rio Coco, Telpaneca, and Quilali. The money is to enable the families to diversify their production to include food crops, pigs and poultry and provide tanks to store rain water for irrigation and seedlings for reforestation. Participants in the projects are not expected to repay the grants but are expected to grant to another family an equal value of seeds, breeding animals, etc. so that the program continues to reach more families. Heifer Project International-Nicaragua supports 25 projects that benefit more than 4,600 poor families in 10 municipalities in the Pacific and central parts of the country. (La Prensa, Feb. 28)
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