Nicaragua Network

1. CELAC meets in Havana
2. Government cracks down on indigenous land traffickers
3. Central Managua sees a resurgence
4. Economic briefs: foreign debt, remittances, and gold mining
5. Hunger group studies coffee rust impact on families
6. Former National Guard colonel’s family sues Ortega in San Diego, CA
7. Program protects endangered Hawksbill Turtle
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1. CELAC meets in Havana

Thirty-three heads of state and government met in Havana last week for the second summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).  They were joined by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS).  All of the independent states of the Western Hemisphere are members of CELAC except the United States and Canada.  When asked by CNN in Spanish about the meeting, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roberta Jacobson said that there were many organizations in the hemisphere and that the US did not see CELAC as a threat to its interests.  She criticized CELAC, however, for meeting in Cuba “where the organizations of civil society are being threatened.”  She said that Insulza’s attendance at the summit had been “his own personal decision.”  Cuba was expelled from the OAS in 1962 but in 2009 the OAS repealed the expulsion.  Insulza told Reuters that, while the US continues to insist that Cuba must meet certain “standards” before returning, “There is reason to talk.”  He was invited to the meeting by Cuban President Raul Castro. 

At the summit, which was dedicated to peace and the struggle against poverty, the leaders first held a minute of silence for the late president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.  They then solidified agreements in the socio-economic, security, and energy areas. They declared Latin America a zone of peace where conflicts should be resolved through legal channels and by peaceful means.  The speeches of the leaders focused on unity among the Latin American and Caribbean countries and many speeches emphasized independence from the influence of the United States.

In his speech at the summit, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said that among Latin American countries there was still lacking the spirit of solidarity and complementarity necessary for the poorest countries to join the more developed Latin American countries as full economic subjects.  When fuller integration is achieved, he said, “The result will be that, as we eliminate asymmetries, we will have a more dynamic market in the entire region.”  Ortega also spoke of the problem of drug trafficking and organized crime in the hemisphere.  He said, “The big consumers, which are the developed countries, promised the Central American countries in 2011 in Guatemala a plan of action to provide the resources not to help the Central Americans but rather so that the Central Americans could help them.”  He called on the developed countries to fulfill their promise “to invest in our countries so that we can continue to defend them.”

Ortega, along with Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, met with former Cuban President Fidel Castro where they thanked him for Cuban hospitality at the summit and spoke about the need to work in a sustained fashion to reduce poverty, hunger and illiteracy.  Government spokesperson Rosario Murillo said that, responding to interest from Castro, Ortega told him about the progress of the feasibility studies for the shipping canal that Ortega hopes to build across Nicaragua beginning early next year. (Informe Pastran, Jan. 30, 31; ITN Source, Jan. 29; El Nuevo Diario, Jan. 30; Radio La Primerisima, Jan. 29)

2. Government cracks down on indigenous land traffickers

The Ecological Battalion of the Army and the National Police arrested three land traffickers who are accused of illegally selling indigenous land in the Bosawas Nature Reserve. The three were brought before a judge in Bonanza. The Bosawas is the largest protected rain and cloud forest in Central America and third largest in the world. It is the ancestral home of the Mayangna people whose leaders traveled to Managua a year ago and again last week to complain that colonists are invading their land and destroying the forest for grazing and cattle ranching. After the first visit, the government set up a committee to save the Bosawas composed of the army, police, and ministries with jurisdiction over natural resources.

The Supreme Court also began an investigation of notary publics [who are also lawyers in most of Latin America] with the result that so far two have had their licenses removed for certifying illegal titles for colonizers to land within the protected zone which has been communally titled to the Mayangna. The investigation has also revealed some illegal sales contracts signed by Mayangna, including members of the indigenous council. Supreme Court Justice Marvin Aguilar visited the area last week and met with indigenous leaders whom he urged to report land invasions “immediately, not after 40 manzanas of forest have already been destroyed.” Tiofilo Robin, leader of the Mayangna Zauni As territory directly blames the Sandinista government which he says refuses to remove the settlers after they have become established. He also said all the political parties promise indigenous land in exchange for votes. (La Prensa, Feb. 3)

3. Central Managua sees a resurgence

The local government has invested over US$5.2 million to turn “Old Managua”, the city center destroyed in the 1972 Christmas earthquake, into a vibrant city gathering place. Managua alone among major international cities had seen its city center remain a blighted and vacant wasteland for over 40 years. Now people eat and stroll along the Paseo de Bolivar, visit the unparalleled Children's Park, and partake of activities and entertainments familiar to all cities of the world. The old Bolivar Avenue was converted in 2013 with an investment by the Municipality of Managua of US$2.1 million into Paseo de Bolivar with a statue of the liberator mounted on his horse at the North end and a brightly lit monument to former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Southern end. Dozens of giant bright yellow “tree of life” statues line the promenade and police insure the safety as Managua residents recover the old practice of walking along Lake Managua in the old city.

The city government spent another US$3.1 million in 2013 to renovate and enlarge the Luis Alfonso Velasquez Park, once again a favorite destination for capital city residents. The park, which had become desolate and a refuge for criminals, saw 8,000 daily visitors in December. The park includes games for children and a full-size replica of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. The park also includes a children's baseball stadium, named after Puerto Rican baseball star Roberto Clemente who was killed in a plane crash bringing aid to the victims of the ‘72 earthquake. The renovation project also included lighting for the Central Park, the Plaza of the Republic, the old cathedral, the Ruben Dario monument, the Palace of Culture, and other nearby buildings.

Still to be constructed in 2014 is the Paseo Xolotlan to Lake Managua which will bring the city's investment to US$6.4 million. The promenade will have a classic design and include tourist facilities in front of the Ruben Dario National Theater, the Plaza of Faith, the Acoustic Bandshell, and the shore. This investment along with the national government's US$38 million investment to build Salvador Allende Port, is expected to serve 94,000 visitors a month, according to the National Port Company. In total, Nicaragua has invested US$44.4 million to reconstruct old Managua, which was built by the Spanish in 1819 over a pre-Colombian community and declared the national capital in 1852. The municipality of Managua has 2.2 million residents. (El Nuevo Diario – Feb. 1)

4. Economic briefs: foreign debt, remittances, and gold mining

Nicaragua’s foreign public debt grew to US$4.532 billion in 2013, up by 5.6% from 2012, according to a report from the Central Bank.  Of that amount, US$4.015 billion corresponds to medium and long term debt while US$517.3 million is short term debt. Of the total, US$2.502 billion is owed to the multilateral lending institutions, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.  The remainder is owed mainly to Latin American and European countries. In 2013, Nicaragua paid US$112.1 billion to its creditors.  (El Nuevo Diario, Jan. 28)

Nicaraguans living abroad sent home a record US$1.078 billion in remittances in 2013, up by 6.2% from 2012, according to figures released by the Central Bank.  Currently between 800,000 and one million Nicaraguans live abroad, the majority in the United States, Costa Rica and Spain. Economist Mario Arana said, “The remittances constitute an important source of income for many families in the country.  In most cases they go to purchase food, clothing, school supplies, and even a house.”  According to studies, families usually save 20% of the monthly amount received which averages about US$188 per month.  Family members living in the US send 59% of the total remittances; those living in Costa Rica 22%; Spain 13.6% and Panama 3%.  (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 1; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 1)

Gold was Nicaragua’s principal export in 2013, with a total value of US$435 million, surpassing the amount exported in 2012 by 20%.  Denis Lanzas, president of the Chamber of Mining, said that in 2014 he expects exports to reach 325 troy ounces of gold, a further increase of 10%. The principal buyers of Nicaraguan gold are the United States and Canada.  Beef was the country’s second export with a value of US$389 million while coffee slipped to third place with a total value of US$349 million.  (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 3)

Meanwhile, the Humboldt Center last week presented a report on the mining sector in Nicaragua and its social and environmental impacts.  The report states that during 2012 and 2013 the number of mining concessions in the country grew by 24 percent over 2011 and that currently 13.4% of the total land area of Nicaragua is under a concession for extraction, whether metal or non-metal. There are two applications pending for concessions in the watershed of the San Juan River.  The Humboldt Center noted that on Jan. 31 a group from Matagalpa was scheduled to turn over to the National Assembly 7,000 signatures from local communities demanding that further mining activity not be permitted in the Municipality of Rancho Grande in the Department of Matagalpa. The full report can be read at: http://humboldt.org.ni/blog/2014/01/31/estado-actual-del-sector-minero-y-sus-impactos-socioambientales-en-nicaragua  (La Prensa, Jan. 31)

5. Hunger group studies coffee rust impact on families

Action against Hunger-Spain and ACF International, with the support of the European Union, last week presented a report on the food security effects of the coffee rust plague on the families of the coffee pickers in the coffee-growing regions of the country.  The group interviewed 350 families in Jinotega, Nuevo Segovia and Madriz and predicted that in the current harvest, 90,000 jobs will be lost out of the usual 300,000.  The study revealed that 81% of the families normally involved in the harvest had stopped eating such protein-rich but expensive foods as meat and eggs. Alejandro Zurita, director of Action against Hunger for Central America, said that the families of many coffee pickers have dropped from poverty to extreme poverty.  “The government of Nicaragua is aware of the problem and is working hard on long term solutions that will mean coffee groves that are more resistant to the coffee rust plague,” he said. The Action against Hunger report proposes a plan with three phases.  In the first phase, food and even money would be distributed in the affected zones; in the second the families would be helped to keep reserves of basic food grains; and in the third families would be helped to diversify their sources of income so that they did not depend entirely on seasonal work in the coffee harvest.  (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 1)

6. Former National Guard colonel’s family sues Ortega in San Diego, CA

Two sons of Jose Ramon Silva Reyes, a colonel in the National Guard of Dictator Anastasio Somoza, have sued President Daniel Ortega, Col. (Ret.) Lenin Cerna, and the wife of the late Tomas Borge, who served as Minister of the Interior during the years of the Sandinista Revolution in the 1980’s, in a San Diego, CA, court for what they say was the torture and murder of their father.  An initial hearing was held before Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo on Jan. 17.

La Prensa does not include Col. Silva’s record while serving in the feared National Guard but only states that he took refuge in the Guatemalan Embassy at the time of the Sandinista victory in 1979 where he remained for several years waiting for a certificate of safe conduct to leave the country. This was at a time when many of his former comrades were organizing the brutal counterrevolutionaries known as contras in the mountains of Honduras.  In 1983, an Interior Ministry communiqué stated that he had fled the Embassy for parts unknown.  Ramon Silva, one of his sons, stated that in 1985 he was told by an officer of the Interior Ministry that his father was in the jail of the National Directorate of State Security.  This was the last the family heard of their father.  Ramon Silva, the other son, said that the family wants the state to tell them what happened to their father and where they can find his remains. 

The Nicaraguan officials and former officials are being defended by the Washington, DC-based Foley Hoag law firm, which includes attorney Paul Reichler.  Reichler has been part of Nicaragua’s team at the World Court in the current territorial disputes with Colombia and Costa Rica and also played a part in the 1986 case which Nicaragua won against the United States for sponsoring the contra war. (La Prensa, Jan. 29, 31)

7. Program protects endangered Hawksbill Turtle

Over a four year period Fauna and Flora International (FFI) has successfully built a program to protect the Hawksbill Turtle in the Padre Ramos Nature Reserve. With a 67% hatching success rate, FFI, working with local communities and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has produced 54,000 hatchlings in four years. Eduardo Altamirano, a technical assistant with the program, said that 60 members of the community are involved with the program.  FFI coordinator Velkiss Gadea said that the project has worked with locals to allow some limited extraction of turtle eggs, a valued delicacy in Nicaragua.  He explained, “We believe that we can work together with them and find a point of equilibrium where they can continue to make use of this resource but in a different way.”

One in 1,000 hatchlings survives to breed which they do starting at age 30 to 35. The Hawksbill Turtle can survive for 100-150 years but fishing, habitat destruction, and human egg predation have put the Hawksbill on the “red list” of 40 most endangered species in Nicaragua recently released by the Young Environmentalists and others. The Hawksbill has nesting grounds on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua.(La Prensa, Jan. 29)