TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012
Nicaragua News Bulletin (September 25, 2012)
1. Municipal election campaign begins; OAS confirms election observation2. Some retired workers to receive “solidarity bonus”
3. Police increase efforts to combat human trafficking
4. GDP is 30% higher than estimated
5. Cuba scientists arrive to study increased seismic activity
6. 100th anniversary of death of Gen. Benjamin Zeledon to be remembered
7. Economic briefs: Nicaraguan exports break record; US$135 million surplus allocated and more
1. Municipal election campaign begins; OAS confirms election observation
On Sept. 20, the campaign to elect local officials in Nicaragua's 153 municipalities on Nov. 4th officially opened. Each municipality includes a town or city and the surrounding rural area which may include small villages. The voters will elect mayors, deputy mayors, and municipal council members. Based on recent changes to the law, there will be many more members in each council and half of them will be women, the goal being to represent all sectors and neighborhoods of each municipality. Nationally there are a total of 900 candidates running for mayor and 30,000 running for the municipal council seats. The parties and alliances running candidates are the alliance headed by the Sandinista Party (FSLN), the alliance headed by the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), the Conservative Party, the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN), the Alliance for the Republic (APRE), and Yatama, a regional party of the Caribbean Coast. Opposition parties had wanted the National Assembly to elect new magistrates for the Supreme Electoral Council before these elections, but were not able to achieve that goal because it was not pushed in Assembly by the Sandinistas who have a large majority.
Alfredo Gutierrez, PLI candidate for mayor of Managua, said that the themes of his campaign would be youth issues, urban development, citizen security, small businesses, and the transformation of Managua into a tourism platform. ALN candidate Ramiro Silva said that his party platform for Managua included street repair, the building of small dams to prevent flooding in Managua neighborhoods, and resolving the garbage problem. PLC candidate Eduardo Fonseca said that he would offer a tax amnesty for the thousands of public market sellers who owe the local government money, build a “first world” city hall, and build highway overpasses to relieve traffic congestion in the city. The FSLN promised that candidates from all Nicaragua's towns would visit every neighborhood and village to learn their needs. Managua mayor Daisy Torres, who is running for reelection, began her campaign inaugurating 10 blocks of paved street in a neighborhood of the capital, noting that the FSLN offered its extensive “Streets for the People” projects in poor neighborhoods rather than the traffic circles and overpasses that had characterized previous administrations.
In other election news, the Organization of American States (OAS) confirmed that it would observe the November elections although it does not customarily observe local elections. OAS representative Ricardo Seitenfus said that an advance team would arrive in Nicaragua this week to begin the organizing for the observers' work. The advance team is scheduled to meet with the Foreign Relations Ministry and Supreme Electoral Council. President Daniel Ortega announced in August that he had taken advantage of the presence of OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza at the celebration of the 25 anniversary of the Esquipulas II accords earlier that month, to invite the OAS to accompany Nicaragua at the time of the elections. In reaction, opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre said that, while it was good that the OAS would observe the elections, “For us it is fundamental that national observer organizations participate and that they have no obstacles [to their work].” (El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 20, 22; Informe Pastran, Sept. 19, 20, 21, 24; Radio La Primerisima, Sept. 19, 20, 21)
2. Police increase efforts to combat human trafficking
Police Commissioner Esther Garcia said at a special forum held on Sept. 20 that the Department of Human Trafficking under the Women and Children's Police Stations will intensify its efforts to combat human trafficking. More training of police officers will be a vital component of this effort because the criminals make extensive use of new technologies and particularly social networks in order to find young people. On Sept. 23, Nicaragua will join the International Day Against Human Trafficking in coordination with other countries worldwide. Save the Children supports these efforts of Nicaragua and in 2011 documented the rescue of 178 victims of trafficking, ranging in age from six to 44 years old. So far this year, Garcia reported, the Trafficking Department has registered 24 cases involving 48 victims, most of whom are women and children.
Speaking at the same forum, Medardo Solis, head of the Office of Legal Support of Casa Alianza, said that "There have been great advances in [human trafficking] laws, and in overall care and prevention... but there still are pending issues, such as attitudes of authorities who re-victimize the survivor with their treatment and questioning of trafficking survivors, i.e. ‘What were you doing there?' or ‘Wasn't it your fault?'" Solis noted that trafficking is most common on the borders at Peñas Blancas, Rio San Juan, El Espino and El Guasaule.
A report released recently by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras were countries from which women were trafficked to Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. (Radio La Primerísima, Sept 20; El Nuevo Diario, Sept 20)
3. Some retired workers to receive “solidarity bonus”
Senior citizens, organized in the group National Union of Older Adults (UNAM), have been agitating for two years demanding partial pensions for retired workers in the formal sector who paid into social security but not for the 750 weeks (14 years, five months) needed to earn a full pension. Gustavo Porras, a Sandinista National Assembly Deputy and head of the National Workers Front (FNT), announced that the government will begin paying a “solidarity bonus” to qualifying retirees from the same Venezuelan aid that currently provides solidarity bonuses to public workers whose salaries it can't raise due to IMF restrictions. Retired workers with 250-450 weeks in social security will receive about US$65 a month. Those who worked from 451-600 weeks will receive about US$108, and those who worked from 601-749 weeks will receive about US$151.
Opposition legislators and the Nicaragua Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) criticized the plan because it is not being implemented under the social security law, but rather relying on Venezuelan aid. The Social Security law that dates from the years of the Sandinista Revolution contemplated partial pensions but under the imposition of neo-liberal economic measures in the 1990s, those pensions were discontinued. Porras described the solidarity bonus as a temporary measure while the government searches for a permanent solution. The IMF has pressured Nicaragua to raise the retirement age and the number of weeks required to earn a social security pension and has criticized it for providing subsidies to public sector workers. Nicaragua is preparing to negotiate a new three year agreement with the IMF and these measures will come under discussion. Porras said the solidarity bonus would benefit about 6,000 former workers but CENIDH says there are 15,000 who qualify. (El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 20; La Prensa, Sept. 21)
4. GDP is 30% higher than estimated
Nicaragua's Central Bank announced that the country's Gross Domestic Product for this year is 30% more than estimated, at US$9.3 billion. This does not mean that the economy has grown by that amount but rather that the contribution of each sector to the dynamism of the economy was not being fully studied, according to former Trade Minister Mario Arana. Central Bank President Alberto Guevara said that government statistics had improved, a statement supported by international financial agencies. Guevara added that these new figures logically show Nicaragua's national debt as a smaller percentage of its GDP. The higher GDP could have repercussions for Nicaragua's relationship with the international financial institutions as the country could soon move out of the category of lower middle income and into middle income, possibly qualifying for fewer concessional loans.
The Central Bank also announced that for 2012 the economy will have grown 4.1%, above the predictions of between 3.5% and 4%. Guevara said, “The country is growing faster than 4% and no other country in Central America is doing that.” He said that “Nicaragua has taken off” and for the first time in its history has the solid base for sustained growth over the long term. He added that a distinctive aspect of this take off is the contribution of Nicaraguan families who are producing at the grassroots level. He estimated that 44% of the value added in goods and services comes from home production. (El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 22; Radio La Primerisima, Sept. 21)
5. Cuba scientists arrive to study increased seismic activity
Four Cuban scientists, who are experts in earthquakes and volcanoes, arrived in Nicaragua on Sept. 22 to work with the National Center for Seismic Investigations and the Institute of Territorial Studies on a 10-day exploratory mission to study seismic and volcanic activity in the Pacific Coast region. Seismic and volcanic activity have increased in recent weeks along Central America's portion of the “Pacific Ring of Fire” including four earthquakes of between 3.6 and 4.3 on the Richter Scale in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Nicaragua on Sept. 19, 20, and 22. Managua has been devastated by major earthquakes approximately every 40 years since its founding. The last major earthquake, in December 1972, killed 10,000 people and destroyed the city center.
Tremblers and an increase in volcanic activity are being experienced from Costa Rica to El Salvador, and a major volcanic eruption (of the Fuego Volcano) is taking place near the Guatemalan city of Antigua. Three volcanoes in Nicaragua are showing signs of restlessness including San Cristobal, Nicaragua's highest volcano from which 1,500 people were evacuated after three explosions and the release of gas on Sept. 8. Telica, one of the country's most active volcanoes has had hundreds of micro-quakes and a rising temperature. Apoyeque, the 420 meter volcano in Managua itself has also shown signs of activity. Experts from Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, the United States, Mexico and the UN Education, Science, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) have also visited Nicaragua in recent days. One of the things the Cuban mission will study is the feasibility of installing a Schumann Resonator in Nicaragua to coordinate readings of the earth's interior with one already in place in Mexico. (El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 20, 22, 24; Radio La Primerisima, Sept. 19, 22)
6. 100th anniversary of death of Benjamin Zeledon to be remembered
Communications Coordinator Rosario Murillo announced that the government was organizing special events to commemorate the centennial of the death in battle of General Benjamin Zeledon who fought in 1912 against United States intervention in Nicaragua. She said that cultural and educational activities were planned to celebrate Zeledon's “indomitable spirit, his devotion, and his sacrifice for Nicaragua.” She said that he gave his life for a free, sovereign, and independent Nicaragua “such as the one we have today and where we continue to advance toward achieving economic independence.”
The United States had intervened to aid in the overthrow of Pres. Jose Santos Zelaya in 1909-10, and in 1912 more Marines landed in support of US control over the Nicaraguan government and its finances under President Adolfo Diaz. General Benjamin Zeledon joined the rebellion led by Diaz' Secretary of War Luis Mena against US intervention. On August 10, 1912, Zeledon wrote: "We want public finances to be managed by suitable and honorable people and not by foreigners. Finally and above all we want the national sovereignty symbolized by our blue and white flag to be true and not battered by interventionist winds." When Mena was overpowered by US Marines led my Maj. Smedley Butler and Col. Joseph Pendleton, he surrendered and left the country. Zeledon refused to surrender and fought the US Marines and Diaz' troops at the famous Coyotepe Hill battle, finally dying in Masaya on Oct. 4, 1912. Augusto Sandino, who finally drove the Marines out in 1933, was 17 when Zeledon was killed and always credited his resistance for inspiring his own anti-interventionist spirit. (Radio La Primerisima, Sept. 19; Informe Pastran, Sept. 19)
7. Economic briefs: Nicaraguan exports break record; US$135 million surplus allocated and more
On Sept. 19, Nicaraguan exports passed US$2 billion for the year, a 16.87% increase over the same period last year, and breaking a new record. The expected total for the entire year is US$2.7 billion Coffee, gold and beef led exports thanks to strong international market prices with the most growth seen in exports to Venezuela and Central America. Dairy products were also strong. Coffee declined in total value exported by 4.4%. Jorge Molina, director of the government export office, said that increasing sales and market diversification were well and good, but that Nicaragua needed to move from simply exporting commodities to adding value to its products in order to increase the income of its citizens. (Radio La Primerisima, Sept. 19, 23; El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 20; La Prensa, Sept. 23)
On Sept. 19, the National Assembly passed changes to the budget for this year allocating the over US$135 million that had come in from higher than expected tax receipts. Extra funds will go to the Health Ministry (US$14 million), local governments for infrastructure improvements including farm to market roads (US$11.3 million), and the school meal program (US$7.4 million). Treasury Minister Ivan Acosta said there were also funds for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and for the National Police. He said it was “excellent news for all of the citizens, for the whole population.” Among those benefiting from additional money will be programs to cut rates of maternal and infant mortality and community programs to fight HIV/AIDS. (Informe Pastran, Sept. 19, 21; Radio La Primerisima, Sept. 19)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that it is ready to begin negotiations for a new agreement with Nicaragua and is only awaiting word from the government. Gabriel Di Bella, IMF representative in Nicaragua, said that the first step would be to fix a date for the visit of an IMF team to Nicaragua to begin talks. An IMF program implies commitments in the area of national budget priorities in order to receive loans from the agency. Under the previous agreement (2007-2011), Nicaragua received loans amounting to US$111 million while at the same time insisting on prioritizing anti-poverty programs that in the past the IMF had vetoed. (La Prensa, Sept. 21; Informe Pastran, Sept. 20)
COSEP president Jose Adan Aguerri said that his institution is open to discussing all alternatives on the issue of reforms to the social security pension system. He said that while he thought that the retirement age could be raised from 60 to 65 to strengthen the system, he stated that he believed that “here the negotiation is between Nicaraguans; we should reach our agreement and that is what we should put out separate from the position of the IMF.” He added that the same applied to tax exemptions, saying that what is done should be what is best for Nicaraguans. COSEP is expected to meet this week with IMF representatives. (Informe Pastran, Sept. 19)
The government and the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) expect this week to approve a calendar for discussions on tax reform. Each economic sector would negotiate bilaterally with a government technical team. In July the government presented its proposal for discussions of tax reform that would establish more order in the system of tax exemptions, increase the base of tax payers, and provide incentives for increased production and employment, while diminishing tax evasion, which the government estimated at US$409 million in 2010. Bayardo Arce, economic advisor to President Daniel Ortega, said that with the tax reform measure, that could be passed by December by the National Assembly, the government wants to increase the tax base and improve tax equity. (El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 20)
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