Nicaragua Network

1. Sandinistas win in Caribbean Coast elections
2. Earthquake of 6.4 on Richter scale in Pacific causes no damage or injuries
3. Cardinal Brenes welcomed home by a healthy Ortega and large crowds
4. Demands grow for expulsion of illegal colonizers in the Bosawas
5. Costa Rica files new claim in World Court
6. Russia considering a base in Nicaragua?
7. US accuses Nicaragua of “human rights abuses”
 

1. Sandinistas win in Caribbean Coast elections

On Mar. 3, the Supreme Electoral Council announced the results of the previous day’s regional elections in the North and South Atlantic Autonomous Regions (RAAN and RAAS).  Up for election for a period of five years were 90 seats on the regional councils of the RAAN and RAAS.  The CSE said that, with 92% of the votes counted, the Sandinista Party had received 52.46% of the votes in RAAN and 50.33% in the RAAS.  In the north, the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) received 19.86% of the vote, the indigenous party YATAMA 19.82%, and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) 4.44%.  In the south, the PLC received 18.38%, the PLI 15.7% and YATAMA 6.64%.  The results have been challenged in one precinct in the north.  According to CSE President Roberto Rivas, 48% of registered voters participated in the elections, higher than the percentage of 2010.

Nery Gonzalez, president of the Regional Electoral Council in the RAAN, said that while abstention was notable in Siuna, voting was massive and tranquil in Bilwi and Waspam.  She added that some of the 675 precincts in the north opened early because lines had formed outside the polling places.  There were incidents where members of the PLI and YATAMA demanded to be allowed to vote in precincts where they were not on the voter rolls.  In some places they were allowed to vote and in others not.  In Yaoya, in the RAAN, some PLI members were allowed to vote without being on the list when they pressured the local electoral board. The head of the municipal electoral board, however, said that it was illegal to let them vote.  CSE President Rivas said called on YATAMA leader Brooklyn Rivera to follow the law after Rivera mobilized some citizens to demand to vote in precincts where they were not registered.  Rivas said that the CSE had been tolerant but that a party could lose its legal status by this type of action. Rivera answered that hundreds of people had been taken off the rolls. Rivas countered that the voter rolls included a list of active voters and also a list of those who had not voted recently (passive voters) which should include all registered voters in the precinct. In the RAAS, five people were killed in the municipality of El Tortuguero, before the polls opened on election day.  Rivas blamed for the murders a YATAMA radio station which he said issued “calls for violence and disorder.”

La Prensa reported instances where members of opposition political parties alleged voter fraud.  YATAMA poll watcher Loyda Castellon said that, in precinct 703 in Bilwi, Sandinista Party volunteers were taking note of Sandinistas who voted and giving each one a nacatamal and promising payment for their votes. Others alleged some Sandinistas did not have their fingers stained and could therefore vote twice. The PLI said that there was “institutional fraud” because the Sandinista Party used the resources of the government to advance its cause. Groups observing the elections (called accompaniers) reported no problems. Observers from the Center for Human, Citizen, and Autonomous Rights (CEDEHCA), the National Council of Universities (CNU), the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN), the Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University (BICU), and the governmental office of the Human Rights Ombudsman all said on Mar. 2 that the elections were proceeding well.

Some who abstained from voting said that the regional council members were known for their enthusiasm for cashing their monthly paychecks rather than for the development projects they sponsored. But El Nuevo Diario quoted Jadder M. Lewis, an expert in indigenous and environmental policies, as saying that the elections would have value if the winning candidates went on to build a true multicultural citizenship in the country, respecting the particular characteristics of the autonomous regions and their individual and collective rights. 

On Mar. 4, national PLI leaders expressed satisfaction at their gains in the elections.  PLI spokesman Said Zavala said that while in 2010 PLI candidates (running in alliance with the National Liberal Alliance) had received 4.2% of the vote in the north and 13% in the south, this time those numbers had risen to almost 20% and almost 16%, making the PLI the second political force in the Caribbean region. (El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 1, 2, 3; Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 3; La Prensa, Mar. 2; Informe Pastran, Mar. 4)

2. Earthquake of 6.4 on Richter scale in Pacific causes no damage or injuries

The earthquake which hit at 3:37am on Sunday, Mar. 2 woke residents of the western half of Nicaragua but apparently caused no injuries or damage.  The quake, measured at 6.4 on the Richter scale, was centered in the Pacific Ocean 41 kilometers to the southwest of the beach town of Boca del Padre Ramos in the Department of Chinandega at a depth of 63 kilometers.  Four minutes later the region was shaken again by a 5.5 trembler also in the Pacific Ocean.  One Chinandega resident said, “We older adults are the ones who are the most frightened because we remember 1972.”  The 1972 earthquake that destroyed Managua was centered under the city.

Angelica Muñoz, director of seismology at the Institute for Territorial Studies, told a midday press conference that in the immediate aftermath the region was hit by a total of 34 low-level after shocks. She said that all the tremblers were a result of the movement against each other of the Coco and Caribbean tectonic plates.  The Civil Defense chief for Chinandega, Major Carlos Caceres, said that if the quake had been centered near a city such as Chinandega or Leon, “today there would be ruins.”

Meanwhile, the government announced an evacuation plan in the case of eruption of any of Nicaragua’s active volcanoes.  Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, director of the National System for Attention to Disasters (SINAPRED), said that the plan includes the communities near the Telica, San Cristobal, Cerro Negro, and Momotombo volcanoes, all located in the Departments of Leon and Chinandega. He said that evacuation routes and shelters are being prepared for use in the case of an eruption of any of the volcanoes. There are 19 communities near San Cristobal, seven near Telica, eight communities near Cerro Negro, as well as 700 people who live at the foot of Momotombo.  Between Feb. 22 and 23, there were 13 recorded quakes under San Cristobal, ranging between 1.9 and 4.1 on the Richter scale. (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 24, Mar. 3; Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 2, 3; La Prensa, Mar. 2)

3. Cardinal Brenes welcomed back to Nicaragua by a healthy Ortega and large crowds

Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes was welcomed back from Rome on Monday night, Mar. 3, by thousands of Catholic faithful along with members of the Sandinista Youth Organization. On Feb. 22, Pope Francis had made Managua Archbishop Brenes and 18 others cardinals in the Catholic Church. The crowds gathered at the airport and along the North Highway into Managua to the cathedral while, inside the airport, Brenes was greeted by his family, President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo, the Apostolic Nuncio Fortunatus Nwanchukwu, Cardinal Miguel Obando, and other bishops and priests. 

Ortega welcomed Brenes saying that rumors had had him dead but here he was alive and welcoming the Cardinal back to Nicaragua.  Brenes gave effusive greetings to Cardinal Miguel Obando. Obando is now over 80 and retired as archbishop of Managua and also unable, because of age restrictions, to vote in papal elections. Ortega told Brenes that he was at his service for whatever he needed for the people of Nicaragua.  Brenes thanked him and conveyed greetings from Pope Francis, who he described as a close friend.  He joked that Ortega seemed very healthy to him.  Before leaving for a procession to the Cathedral, Brenes spoke to reporters and gave thanks to God, to the Virgin Mary, and to Pope Francis for having called him to the College of Cardinals.  He also thanked President Ortega and the others who had come to welcome him, noting that 28 years and nine month ago, Obando had been welcomed back from Rome in the same manner after being made cardinal. 

Cardinal Brenes rode into Managua in a “cardinalmobile” donated by a parishioner from Matagalpa.  It is 1940 Jeep Willys painted blue with the seal of the Archbishop of Managua that had been given to Brenes several years ago but was used for the first time on Mar. 3. [It differs from the popemobile in that it has no bulletproof glass.]  Father Jose Montoya said that 200 busses had brought Catholics to the airport to welcome the Cardinal back to Nicaragua. At the cathedral, Brenes thanked the faithful and said that it had been a wonderful experience to spend the past days at the Holy See. 

Meanwhile, Ortega’s appearance at the airport put to rest wild rumors of his death that had spread through Nicaragua and even abroad. The president had appeared well at the event commemorating the 80^th anniversary of the assassination of Augusto Sandino on Feb. 21 even joining in singing Sandinista songs.  But when a visit to Nicaragua of Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa was postponed at the request of Managua, and Ortega failed to appear at an event remembering the death in combat of his brother Camilo in Masaya 36 years ago, the rumors began to fly, especially in the opposition media.  The rumors spread to outlets as far away as Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Spain and the United States.  But they were proven to have no basis in reality when Ortega appeared, driving his own Mercedes Benz SUV, at the Managua airport to greet Cardinal Brenes.  (Informe Pastran, Mar. 3; El Nuevo Diario, Mar. 3; La Prensa, Feb. 28, Mar. 3; Radio Primerisima, Mar. 3)

4. Demands grow for expulsion of illegal colonizers in the Bosawas

The Young Environmentalists and representatives of Mayagna Indigenous Territorial Governments protested Saturday in front of the National Assembly demanding that the national government remove 100 mestizo settler families from indigenous territory in the Bosawas Nature Reserve. Danilo Rosales, president of the Sauni Bu indigenous government said that six of the 17 Mayagna communities in the Bosawas have been totally invaded by heavily armed colonizers who are deforesting the land and advancing the agricultural frontier into the heart of the Bosawas. The Bosawas was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1997. Two Mayagna members have been killed in land confrontations in the past two years.

While the Sandinista government has stepped up enforcement against illegal land colonization in recent months, the problem is longstanding and the 21,000 sq. km. reserve, which is 14% of the national territory, is difficult to police. Twenty-seven illegal colonizers have been prosecuted as have some 30 lawyers who issued bogus titles, but the Bosawas continues to lose forest and the Army’s Environmental Brigade continues to turn back settlers and seize cattle and vehicles at checkpoints in the reserve. In 2013, the Cerro Saslaya National Park, within the reserve and considered the “heart” of the protected area, lost 15.2% of its forest to mestizo colonizers.

To complicate matters further, some illegal settlers are growing marijuana for the drug cartels and small planes are transporting it from the area. This was confirmed by Chief of Military Operations, Gen. Bayardo Rodriguez in a Dec. 2013 interview with La Prensa. Gen. Rodriguez said that in a 600 km. area from Bocay to Siksa Yari on the Rio Coco below Raiti and San Carlos to Waspam “we have serious problems with the presence of armed groups of drug traffickers.”

International celebrity Bianca Jagger, who heads a human rights foundation, also weighed in on the issue in a statement demanding the “Government of President Ortega and the powers of the Nicaraguan State take drastic and effective actions to stop the illegal invasions of indigenous territories and proceed to the saneamiento [a term meaning reorganization or stabilization and used in this case to mean the removal of those settlers who have moved into the region after 1987, the date the Autonomy Law went into effect] and the strengthening of the communities that today are seriously threatened.”  (La Prensa, Feb. 28; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 27; Radio La Primerisima, Mar. 1)

5. Costa Rica files new claim in World Court

The government of Costa Rica on Feb. 25 asked the International Court of Justice (World Court) to establish the maritime boundaries between it and Nicaragua in both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.  Costa Rica maintains that concessions for oil exploration that Nicaragua has given to international companies are in Costa Rican waters.  However, Nicaraguan Vice-President Omar Halleslevens said that the concessions are entirely within Nicaraguan waters and that Nicaragua “is respectful of international law and of neighboring countries.”  The World Court already has before it a case which combines a claim by Costa Rica of invasion of territory by Nicaragua at the mouth of the San Juan River and a claim by Nicaragua of environmental damage caused by a road built by Costa Rica along the River.

In related news, both of the candidates for president of Costa Rica reiterated their willingness to dialogue with President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua about the several disputes marring relations between the two countries.  However, both said that they would complete the infamous highway along the southern banks of the San Juan which has been eroding massive amounts of sediments into the river. (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 25; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 25, 27; Informe Pastran, Feb. 25, 27)

6. Russia considering a base in Nicaragua?

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last week that his government was talking with the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Seychelles and Singapore about establishing Russian military bases in their countries.  Informe Pastran noted that Article 92 of the recently amended Constitution says clearly that the establishment of foreign military bases is strictly forbidden.  Foreign military ships can dock for a time in Nicaragua with permission of the president and legislature for humanitarian or training reasons and both US and Russian ships have done so. Opposition politicians were alarmed and said that a Russian base would be unconstitutional and politically unacceptable. The Costa Rican government expressed “concern.” (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 26; Informe Pastran, Feb. 26, 27, 28; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 27; La Prensa, Feb. 28)

7. US accuses Nicaragua of “human rights abuses”

The US Department of State released its annual country reports giving Washington’s view of the state of human rights in other countries, including Nicaragua. The State Department report accuses Nicaragua of a variety of human rights violations, for example, it accuses Nicaragua of violations in 2013 through “significantly biased policies to promote single-party dominance; widespread corruption, including in the police, Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), and other government organs."  Informe Pastran says the charges are made without presenting any evidence or specific examples, citing only claims from unnamed “nongovernmental organizations.” On closer examination of the entire report, however, there are examples and the ones given are precisely those covered extensively in the press which the report claims is not free.  The State Department criticizes the continuing service of Aminta Granera as head of the National Police and accused the police of giving preference to FSLN supporters and, more ominously, of drug trafficking and money laundering. [Granera, a former nun, consistently ranks as one of the most popular public figures in opinion polls and Nicaragua, unlike Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, has largely kept drug cartels from gaining a foothold in the country.] The report alleges “generalized corruption” and an "erosion of freedom of speech and press, including government intimidation and harassment of journalists and independent media." It also claimed that the government has sought to close opposition radio stations and cancel opposition radio and television shows, “without saying which radio stations and which programs,” according to Informe Pastran. [Ed. Note: The freedom of the press charges appear to be a “cookie cutter” charge used against Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, all members of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) cooperative trade bloc.] (Informe Pastran, Feb. 27)