TUESDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2012

Nicaragua News Bulletin (October 9, 2012)

1. Members of taxi coops freed after arrests for violent protest
2. Ortega congratulates Chavez; Montealegre laments victory
3. Ortega lambasts US and opposition
4. Political briefs
5. Economic briefs
6. Fifty-five women murdered in Nicaragua so far this year
7. Protection for turtle eggs
8. Charges filed 18 Mexicans in TELEVISA case

1. Members of taxi coops freed after arrests for violent protest

On Oct. 8, a Managua judge freed 39 of the 40 or 41 [depending on the news source] members of taxi cooperatives who had been arrested during a violent protest on Oct. 2. The taxi owner/drivers are demanding changes to the gasoline subsidy that they receive and a freeze on the number of licenses the local government issues for motorcycle taxis. One taxi driver remained in jail accused of running over a police officer. Five people (including four police officers) were injured during the Oct. 2 protest when members of several cooperatives closed off traffic at one of Managua's principle traffic circles. Leaders of the coops agreed to end the protest in exchange for the release of their members. Wives of the jailed taxi drivers held their own street protest complaining that, with their husbands not working, they had no food in their houses. The prosecutor's office said that the taxi drivers were being released for “social reasons.”

Managua authorities provide gasoline subsidy cards to 12,000 taxi drivers in the city. Protesting coop members want the subsidy increased and they want to receive it in cash rather than on the card saying that gas stations will only give them the discount if they buy at least US$25 worth of gasoline. The subsidy is currently US$3.50 for every five gallons of gasoline. Taxi cooperatives that did not join the protests were negotiating with Managua authorities. Also protesting were taxi owner/drivers in Masaya and Rivas, where the major grievance is over the number of motorcycle taxi licenses issued in their cities.

Informe Pastran, noting that “everything gets politicized in this country,” said that early last week when “a group of taxis paralyzed Managua and caused chaos in the streets… burned tires, confronted the police, damaged signs and other private property, besides breaking the windows and slashing the tires of taxi drivers who were still working, there was generalized repudiation of those actions and the media criticized them…. Today… those same taxi drivers, brought to court, are heroes and victims.” The lawyer for the taxi drivers accused the Police of violating their right to freely demonstrate. Alfredo Gutierrez, candidate for mayor of Managua for the Independent Liberal Party, said that, if he is elected, he will bring order to the finances of the Managua Transportation Institute and name a new director. It is still unclear whether, with the freeing of the detained drivers, the issues will now be resolved peacefully. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 8; La Prensa, Oct. 3, 8; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 2, 4, 6; Informe Pastran, Oct. 3, 4)

2. Ortega congratulates Chavez; Montealegre laments victory

President Daniel Ortega congratulated Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on his Oct. 7 reelection victory. Final results show that Chavez won by 11% with over 80% turn-out in Venezuela's largest election in history. “With the hat of Sandino held high, we salute the formidable victory of the Bolivarian people and our brother president,” said Ortega's message. Rosario Murillo, coordinator of the Council of Communication and Citizen Power said that Chavez is the indisputable leader and will continue the Latin American Revolution. By mid day Sunday, 51 Venezuelans living in Nicaragua had voted at their embassy. This compares to six who voted in Nicaragua during the last presidential election.

Opposition leader and US-backed 2006 presidential candidate, Eduardo Montealegre, called the Chavez victory “a great loss for all democrats in Latin America.” Montealegre wrote to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado [whose organization SUMATE was a major conduit of US funds designated to destabilize Venezuela] saying, “I accompany you in this difficult moment, much saddened by the result, not only for you, for Henrique Capriles, and for all the people of Venezuela, but also for Nicaraguans who had put our hopes in a victory for Henrique Capriles.” Capriles, the main Venezuelan opposition candidate, had said during the campaign that if elected he would end Venezuela's oil aid to poor nations. El Nuevo Diario put the amount of that aid to Nicaragua at US$2.231 billion. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 8; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 8; Informe Pastran, Oct. 8,)

3. Ortega lambasts US and opposition

President Daniel Ortega used the 100th anniversary of the death of national hero Benjamin Zeledon (who opposed US intervention in 1912) to excoriate the United States for failing to honor the 1986 World Court ruling that the US owed Nicaragua reparations for the illegal Contra War and the mining of Nicaragua's harbors. Total reparations were estimated then at US$17 billion which President Ortega noted would be “a lot more now.” He pointed out that Nicaragua continues to pay indemnities for properties confiscated under the Revolution. “We can say with all pride that we are a poor people, but honorable,” Ortega said. About the US he said, “It is rich but not honorable.” Ortega also criticized opposition politicians seeking US intervention in Nicaragua, likening them to collaborators with 19th century US filibusterer William Walker. “There are some bad Nicaraguans,” he said, “They are few, thank God, but there are some bad Nicaraguans who walk on their knees in these embassies, praying, seeking funding, looking for support, and above all asking that they punish the Nicaraguan people.” He said that their efforts would not work because “in all Latin America and the Caribbean, times have changed.” (Informe Pastran, Oct. 5)

4. Political briefs

Following the Catholic Bishops' Letter reported on last week, religious figures continued to speak out this week on issues related to the Nov. 4 municipal elections. Silvio Baez, auxiliary bishop of Managua, blasted both the government and the opposition in his Sunday sermon on Oct. 7. Among other things, he said, “Neither the government nor the politicians of the opposition are people in whom we can have confidence because the government is abusive and does not respect the law. We cannot trust the so-called opposition parties because they are people who are looking to enrich themselves, fighting for who gets more and not for who can give more to the people.”

Rene Sandigo, head of the Bishops' Conference that had blasted the government of President Daniel Ortega in its letter, said that he considered Nicaragua's priests to be “lovers of obedience.” However, several expressed their differences with the letter and even Sandigo had to admit that “there are some sheep who have wandered away from the flock.” One was Fr. Neguib Eslaquit who said that he will “vote to continue supporting the power of the people, the people's mayor, the people's president” using terms similar to those used by the Sandinista Party. Monsignor Bismarck Carballo differed with the bishops' letter which called the government “authoritarian” saying, “In this country there are freedoms, Nicaraguans can express their opinions; we have a margin for freedom of expression and citizen rights are guaranteed.” He added that there were many aspects of the government's policies that could be considered socialist, Christian and “in solidarity with the neediest.” (Informe Pastran, Oct. 2, 4, 8,)

In other election news, Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) magistrate Jose Luis Vallavicencio said that by Tuesday, Oct. 9, the printing of the last of five million ballots (half for mayor and half for council seats) would be completed. The general manager of Ardisa S.A., the printing company, said that on Oct. 4 his company had completed the printing of 1.268 million ballots for the Department of Managua. On Monday, Oct. 8, the company completed the printing of 1.892 million ballots with the remainder scheduled to be finished on Tuesday. Meanwhile, La Prensa accused the CSE of giving the contract for printing the ballots to Ardisa without a bidding process which they said was required except in certain special circumstances which it asserted did not apply in this case. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 8; La Prensa, Oct. 5)

Meanwhile, Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said that his organization hopes that, after the Nov. 4 municipal elections and before the current legislative session ends in mid-December, the National Assembly will elect the replacements for all the high level officials whose terms have run out, especially the magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Council but including also the justices of the Supreme Court. Before the Nov. 2011 presidential elections, no party or coalition had enough votes in the Assembly to elect or re-elect the officials and they have remained in their posts based on an executive order. In 2011, the Sandinista Party won an absolute majority of seats but party leaders have not yet moved to elect the officials. Opposition political parties say that they do not have faith in the impartiality of the magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Council. (Informe Pastran, Oct. 8,)

5. Economic briefs

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) predicted on Oct. 2 that Nicaragua would grow 5% in 2012 and again in 2013. That puts Nicaragua in the same category as Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, and Costa Rica, all with predicted growth rates of approximately 5% for both years. However, ECLAC predicted that the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole would achieve only 3.2% growth this year because of world economic instability. Hugo Beteta of ECLAC said that Nicaragua's growth was due to increased national and foreign investment, the expansion of the free trades zones, the growth of mining, dynamism in construction, and healthier public finances. (Informe Pastran, Oct. 2; La Prensa, Oct. 3; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 2; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 2)

The government announced that during the last five years the minimum wage in Nicaragua has increased an average of 146%. The sectors that have had the largest raises are construction, financial services, commerce, restaurants and hotels, mining, and fisheries. The report said that under the presidency of Daniel Ortega, “The agricultural sector saw an increase in 162% [in wages], improving the standard of living in rural areas.” Workers in the country's free trade zone assembly plants saw their wages increase by less than the average, only 128%, part of an effort to maintain Nicaragua's competitiveness in the world market. (Informe Pastran, Oct. 2)

The remittances that Nicaraguans living abroad send to their families in Nicaragua increased by 12.1% in the first eight months of 2012, according to the Central Bank. Last year a total of US$587.2 million entered Nicaragua from abroad during the first eight months of the year while this year that number rose to US$658. Economist Rene Vallecillo explained that currently more money in remittances comes from Costa Rica than from the United States. The figure will go higher in the last months of the year when relatives send the most money home so that families can celebrate the holidays. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 6)

6. Fifty-five women murdered in Nicaragua so far this year

A report released last week by the Network of Women Against Violence (RMCV) said that 55 women have been murdered in Nicaragua so far this year. Thirteen of the victims were women under 20 years old; 29 murders occurred in the homes of the victims and were committed by their husbands, boyfriends, former lovers, family members or acquaintances; 13 of the women were raped before being killed; and two were kidnapped children, whose bodies were found tortured and partially buried in vacant lots.

On June 22, the National Assembly passed the Comprehensive Act to Stop Violence against Women that specifically punishes violence against women and defines the murders of women and girls as "femicide." The law also punishes other types of abuse, such as physical, psychological, and sexual and imposes penalties of up to 30 years in prison, the maximum sentence in Nicaragua. Of the 55 women who have been murdered this year, 13 had previously reported their attackers to the Women's Police Stations of the National Police "where authorities failed to take the necessary precautionary measures to safeguard the lives of the victims," according to the RMCV report. Twenty-two men have been arrested for these murders, four committed suicide and the remaining perpetrators are still at large. Luz Marina Torres, coordinator of the RMCV, criticized the Police and judicial authorities stating they are in breach of Article 53 of Act 779, since they have not called on representatives of women's organizations to evaluate their effectiveness. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct 5; La Prensa, Oct 5; El Nuevo Diario, Oct 6)

7. Protection for turtle eggs

The endangered Olive Ridley turtles have begun arriving for their annual egg laying on the beach of the La Flor Wildlife Refuge near San Juan del Sur. The police, army, park rangers, ecologists from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA), university students, and even foreign tourists will work to protect the eggs from now until the last ones hatch in February 2013. Fewer than 10% of turtle hatchlings survive to adulthood so destruction of eggs for commercial purposes has been an important contributor to the declining turtle population. Close to 12,000 turtles have laid their eggs so far and many more will follow through the end of the year. Some of the eggs are collected by government ecologists and cared for until they hatch at six turtle nurseries in San Juan del Sur and Tola. They are then released into the sea. According to MARENA, over a million baby turtles made it to the sea last season.

While the eggs at La Flor are protected there is little security for the eggs of turtles that lay them outside of the refuge boundaries. The police have set up traffic stops on highways in the area to prevent looting on a commercial scale, but turtle eggs are considered a luxury and their sale can provide precious cash earnings for poor families. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 6; La Prensa, Oct. 8,)

8. Charges filed against 18 Mexicans in TELEVISA case

Managua prosecutor Ana Julia Guido said on Oct. 4 that she would ask for the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for the 18 Mexicans arrested in Nicaragua at the end of August and accused of drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering and that she had “abundant evidence” to achieve a conviction. She said that prosecutors in Nicaragua and Mexico were exchanging information about the last telephone calls that the accused made before they were arrested. She explained that Nicaraguan authorities were sending to Mexican authorities all the information they had about the six vans that were registered (possibly falsely) to the TELEVISA network because the crime of false registration was committed in Mexico. On Oct. 4, TELEVISA announced that the total number of vans registered, it said falsely, to its name was 13, including the six that have been confiscated in Nicaragua. Another question that is being consulted with Mexico is the true identity of the Mexicans now that it appears that at least seven of them were using false passports with false addresses. Guido noted, however, that the case against the 18 can proceed even if prosecutors are lacking their true names.

Armando Juarez, inspector general of the Public Ministry [public prosecutors], told the Mexican weekly Processo, “Basically, we want to determine if they are or are not employees of TELEVISA. If they are, we want to document that. If they are not, then the same thing. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 4, 7; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 4; Informe Pastran, Oct. 8,)
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