Nicaragua Network

1. Thirty-fifth anniversary of repliege commemorated
2. Some rain falls but drought persists
3. Government and businesses concerned about elimination of tariffs under DR-CAFTA
4. Economic Briefs: geo-tourism, gold mining, Walmart, and banking growth
5. Climate Briefs: evaluation, risk management, and energy transformation
6. Nicaragua prepares for new mosquito-borne virus
7. Nicaraguan-born player makes key goal for Costa Rica in World Cup
 

1. Thirty-fifth anniversary of repliege commemorated

The reenactment of the June 27, 1979, overnight walk of thousands of civilians and militants from Managua to Masaya in the midst of the final offensive of the revolution to overthrow the dictator Somoza was held on June 20 this year and was led, as usual, by President Daniel Ortega. This 35^th anniversary commemoration of the “tactical retreat” also included a marathon on June 22 in which runners from Germany, Spain, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, among other nations, participated.

In his speech before beginning the walk to Masaya, Ortega remembered that the struggle for Managua in June of 1979 was cruel with Somoza’s planes bombing the civilian population indiscriminately. In the face of that bombing, comandantes Carlos Nuñez, William Ramirez, and Joaquin Cuadra decided to organize a retreat from the eastern neighborhoods of Managua to the city of Masaya. Ortega said, “Those were the circumstances at the end of the month of June, on the 27^th day, that produced the tactical retreat, a tactical retreat that was a step back in order to later make ten steps forward with much greater strength.” He added that, “The repliegue was an organized action, one of great discipline, an enormous responsibility, in which the people participated and in which the determining factor was that participation of the people.” And a few weeks later on July 19^th the Somoza dictatorship fell, he remembered.

Ortega said that Nicaragua was moving forward with programs in health care, education, and economic development, but he added that the nation was being challenged at this moment by drought which he urged Nicaraguans to confront with their usual high morale. He announced that the government is importing red beans in an effort to combat speculation and will be distributing those beans to neighborhood markets to be sold at “solidarity” prices. He also assured his listeners that black beans, which Nicaraguans grow for export but prefer not to eat, were also “a very good food.” At the same time, Ortega urged citizens to follow instructions of the Health Ministry to prevent a possible epidemic of Chikungunya fever, which he characterized as “more violent than dengue and which can cause damage to the joints.”

More than 800 people ran in the 18^th International Repliegue Run, which Xiomara Larios, president of the Nicaraguan Athletics Federation, called a success.  The international race was 30 kilometers long with a 15 kilometer race for youth and seniors. And there was also a marathon of the traditional 42 kilometer length (26 miles) along with special sections for children, wheelchair participants, and blind participants. The annual race was suspended at some point in the 1990’s and resumed again in 2007. Principal streets in Managua were closed from 6:00 am on Sunday until the end of the race. (Radio La Primerisima, June 20, 23; El Nuevo Diario, June 21)

2. Some rain falls but drought persists

With rainfall on the Caribbean side of the country and in other zones throughout the country early last week, many Nicaraguan farmers began to plant their crops with some reservations. Evenor Valdivia of Jalapa in the Department of Nueva Segovia said that enough rain had fallen for farmers in that area to begin to plant what he hoped would be some 4,000 acres of upland rice. But Rene Navas in the Department of Carazo, while happy with the rains that had fallen, recommended caution.  “Normally,” he said, “farmers plant corn at the end of May to harvest in September and then use the land for the second planting. But if you plant corn too late and the harvest is late, you can lose the chance to plant for the second harvest. You have to be cautious with corn.” Cattle ranchers in the Department of Leon said that cattle were suffering because of lack of rain in the pastures. Odel Gutierrez, member of the Cattle Ranchers’ Association of Leon, said that farmers’ reserves of silage had run out and they were seeing premature deliveries of calves, miscarriages, and death of cattle. Rancher Julia Toruña of the community of Los Zarzales called for “immediate actions” by the government to address the situation.

At a meeting of small and medium farmers, including the National Federation of Cooperatives (FENACOOP), Denis Melendez, facilitator of the National Risk Management Roundtable (MNGR), said that according to the experts the lack of precipitation will worsen in the coming months and that will cause serious damage to the most vulnerable farming sector. He called on the government to include representatives of the small and medium farmers in the meetings it holds with the owners of large export farms. He noted that 94% of Nicaragua’s 308,332 agricultural producers were small and medium farmers. In his opinion, the time to plant for the first harvest had already passed considering that the “little dry season of San Juan” (coinciding with the feast of St. John the Baptist on June 24) was at hand. Following soon after that is the dry period that often extends for a month between July 15 and August 15, known as the canicula. Melendez went on to say that, while El Niño doesn’t mean a total absence of water, it means not enough rain for the proper development of crops, high temperatures, high prices for basic foods, and resulting hunger.

On June 23, the weather bureau said that a tropical depression was moving in with “rains in most all of the country although we do not expect accumulations of more than an inch.” In her daily report on Monday, government spokesperson Rosario Murillo said Nicaraguans were thankful for the rains that had begun to fall in several parts of the country.  She said that the red beans that the government has imported had been sold at “solidarity prices” in Managua, Carazo and Rivas over the weekend and the “mobile market stands” were heading for villages and barrios in the Departments of Granada and Masaya. (El Nuevo Diario, June 17, 22, 23; Informe Pastran, June 23)

3. Government and businesses concerned about elimination of tariffs under DR-CAFTA

The Nicaraguan government and private sector are analyzing the impact on the local market of the beginning of the elimination of tariffs on 32 products from the United States in 2015 as stipulated in the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). The list of products that will be able to enter Nicaragua without paying import duties includes wood furniture, home appliances, autos, and a number of agricultural products.

Juan Sebastian Chamorro, executive director of the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUNIDES), said, “On January 1, 2015, DR-CAFTA has its tenth birthday and there is a calendar for elimination of tariffs for a series of products and we have been working out which of these are the most sensitive and what impact [the loss of tariff protection] could cause.” Leonardo Torres, vice-president of the Nicaraguan Council of Micro, Small, and Medium Businesses (CONIMIPYME), said that, while the furniture imported from the United States is usually made of engineered woods [melamine, plywood, particle board, etc.] which Nicaraguans do not like very much, “if it can enter at cheaper prices it could be real competition for our wood shops.”

Presidential economic advisor Bayardo Arce and Enrique Zamora, president of the Nicaraguan Association of Producers and Exporters (APEN), met in Washington, DC, with Walter Bastian, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere at the US Commerce Department, to express Nicaragua’s concern about the removal of tariffs for US products under DR-CAFTA as well as a possible change in US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules to allow beef from specific Brazilian states to enter the US.  [Brazilian beef has not been able to enter the US because of the existence of foot and mouth disease in cattle there. The rule changes are still under consideration.] The Nicaraguan mission asked Bastian for an increase of Nicaragua’s quota of beef exports to the US under DR-CAFTA.

In the case of peanuts, Arce and Zamora expressed Nicaragua’s concern about the US peanut subsidy. The US subsidy to peanut growers [which continues in the new farm bill approved in February] means that US peanuts can be sold cheaply, lowering the world market price and putting Nicaraguan peanut farmers at a disadvantage especially in Mexico, Nicaragua’s principal market. Over 20,000 Nicaraguans are employed in the production of peanuts in the western part of the country where they are grown in fields where for a half century cotton was planted. Arce and Zamora also asked Bastian for an extension of soon-to-expire tariff preference levels (TPL) to continue to allow access to US markets for garments made in Nicaragua with cloth or thread that did not originate in any of the DR-CAFTA countries. (La Prensa, June 20; El Nuevo Diario, June 21, 22; Informe Pastran, June 19)

4. Economic Briefs: geo-tourism, gold mining, Walmart, and banking growth

San Jacinto, Leon, in the shadow of the Telica volcano, has become a new “community tourism” destination with the help of development aid from Europe. The community offers a number of volcanic craters, including Telica, a 1,061 meter [3,280 ft.] high volcano, one of Nicaragua’s most active, along with bubbling mud fields, hot beds where tourists can walk and feel the heat, and noises from the caldera that sound like “jet turbines” and “shotguns shooting.”  (Informe Pastran, June 23)

Colombian mining company MINEROS President Beatriz Uribe said the company is prioritizing its US$95 million HEMCO mine in the North Caribbean Autonomous Region this year with an investment of US$30 million to expand, train personnel and explore for gold. She said HEMCO has the potential to produce 250,000 ounces of gold per year, double its current production. (Informe Pastran, June 23)

Walmart will open a US$6 million store in Managua’s Santa Ana neighborhood. The Maxi-Pali store will be 3,115 sq. meters and have 82 parking spaces, making it the biggest store in Managua. Construction will generate 90 jobs and once it is open the store will create 79 permanent jobs. The giant transnational corporation [known for its violations of labor rights and elimination of small businesses around the world] now has 82 establishments in Nicaragua: 64 Pali stores, 10 Maxi-Pali stores, and eight La Union supermarkets. (Radio La Primerisima, June 22)

The National Financial System report released by the Central Bank on June 20 showed continued good economic growth through April with an annual growth in the country’s loan portfolio of 20.9% and in bank deposits of 14.4%. While less than last year’s growth, the report said it was “consistent with the process of credit normalization after the expansive years of 2012 and 2013.” Commercial credit accounted for about half of new loans while consumer and industrial credit split the rest. (El Nuevo Diario, June 21)

5. Climate Briefs: evaluation, risk management, and energy transformation

The Humboldt Center and the Embassy of France partnered to present an evaluation of climate change as it affects Nicaragua in preparation for the UN climate talks to be held in December 2014 in Peru and the following year in France. [Alliance for Global Justice is leading a delegation to Peru during the talks. For information send an email to James@AFGJ.org.] French Ambassador Antoine Joly said that France is in the process of converting its economy to “green energy” and of changing the habits of its citizens. Victor Campos, deputy director of the Humboldt Center, said that although Nicaragua is not a large emitter of greenhouse gases, it is one of the countries at highest risk of natural disasters from climate change. That is why “it is necessary to popularize knowledge on this subject.” Both Campos and Joly agreed on the necessity for global dialogue and for discussion of compensation for countries that are not contributors to the effects but suffer from them. (La Prensa, June 18)

President of the Nicaraguan Federation of Cooperatives Sinforiano Caceres called for the creation of a national risk management plan to confront climate change which is manifesting itself in repeated droughts.  A national roundtable to analyze measures to cope with “El Niño” which will affect Nicaragua this year was held on June 17. Caceres emphasized the need to manage water resources. “We should be working under a proactive logic, seeking to remedy the causes and not just the effects of the drought,” he said.  Abdel Garcia, risk management officer at the Humboldt Center, called for an early warning system and contingency plans and mechanisms to support municipalities in their efforts to reduce the impact of drought. (Radio La Primerisima, June 17)

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Alberto Moreno singled out Nicaragua as a green energy model for the region at the UN-sponsored Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) forum. “Nicaragua is experiencing an energy transformation without precedent that serves as an example of the transformation of our region in the last 50 years,” Moreno said. “With the leadership of the Nicaraguan government, the IDB and seven other multilateral organizations are planning to increase electricity access from 73% of the population in 2012 to 85% in 2017, while at the same time increasing renewable energy production to 93% by 2026,” he stressed. Nicaragua suffered electricity shortages and daily blackouts when the Sandinista government came into power in 2007. Last year it was able to export US$5 million worth of electricity into the regional Central American grid. (Informe Pastran, June 17)

6. Nicaragua prepares for new mosquito-borne virus

Nicaragua is preparing for the inevitable appearance of Chikungunya virus which first appeared in Tanzania in 1952 and in the Caribbean in 2013. Transmitted by mosquitoes, symptoms include fever and joint pain, headache, muscle pain, swelling and rash. While not often fatal, symptoms can be severe and disabling. Its symptoms are similar to Dengue Fever. Cuba, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean islands have reported cases as well as French Guyana, Venezuela and Panama in South America. El Salvador has reported more than 1,300 cases although it is unclear whether they were infected in El Salvador or abroad. Nicaraguan Director of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Heath, Dr. Carlos Saenz, said the ministry has increased its vigilance at ports and border crossings as well as at the international airport to detect persons with symptoms. Medical personnel are also being trained to recognize and treat the virus. Nicaragua already has a robust mosquito abatement program in urban areas to combat malaria and dengue. (El Nuevo Diario, June 21; Radio La Primerisima, June 18)

7. Nicaraguan-born player makes key goal for Costa Rica in World Cup

Informe Pastran noted that sports achieved what the politicians had been unable to do which was unite Nicaragua and Costa Rica in support for one effort—namely Costa Rica’s June 20 victory over Italy in the World Cup in Brazil.  The reason was Oscar Duarte, a member of the Costa Rican team who was born in Catarina in the Department of Masaya, Nicaragua, and whose family immigrated to Costa Rica when he was a child. The excitement began when Duarte made the second goal that helped Costa Rica win 3-0 over Uruguay on June 14. As Informe Pastran noted, Duarte was the first soccer player born in Nicaragua to participate in a World Cup, the first to score a goal, and the first (with the 1-0 victory over Italy) to move into the finals. For the game against Italy, in Catarina, a giant screen was set up in the town’s central plaza; the red shirts of the Costa Rican team and the blue and white flag of Nicaragua were evident everywhere. (Informe Pastran, June 20; El Nuevo Diario, June 14, 20; La Prensa, June 22)