Nicaragua Network

1. Call issued for march to stop violence against women
2. SICA summit addresses child migration
3. Government details educational advances
4. New police law wins final passage
5. Washington, DC, forum highlights Nicaragua’s successes
6. Foreign military visits approved
 

1. Call issued for march to stop violence against women

Supreme Court President Alba Luz Ramos issued a call last week for a march in Managua on July 11 to demand an end to violence against women.  She urged the population to participate, saying that gender violence is not just women’s problem but a problem for public health and public safety. She was speaking at the closing of the third regional meeting of delegates from Central America and the Caribbean with the title, “For a region free of violence toward women.” Ramos said that in the first trimester of this year 3,300 complaints of offenses against women were brought before the Nicaragua justice system, with the most common being the refusal on the part of fathers to provide child support and the second most common being violence, threats of violence, and psychological abuse.

Elba Nuñez, regional coordinator of the Latin American Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM), said that in Central America as a whole the murder rate for women is two to three murders per year per 100,000 inhabitants. Guatemala has the highest murder rate, followed by Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, and Costa Rica, in that order. Guillermo Perez-Casaldo, chief judge of the Central American Court of Justice, said that the judges, government ministers and others meeting in Managua would prepare proposals for the next regional presidential summit.

In the case of Nicaragua, Nuñez said that, in spite of the passage of Law 779 against violence toward women, protection measures were still inadequate. Only 2,000 restraining orders have been issued since the law’s passage and without sufficient follow-up those orders are not sufficient, she said. “Even women who have gotten a restraining order can be murdered by their aggressors, so something is failing us.” She added that the common denominator in all the Central American countries was a patriarchal system that legitimated violence against women and therefore educational institutions and the communications media had a major role to play “without ignoring the principal role that the State must play.”

Meanwhile, the Network of Women against Violence announced that it would not participate in the march being organized by the government for July 11. National facilitator Reina Rodriguez said at a press conference that, instead of organizing marches, the government should dedicate funds for a campaign of education to prevent violence. A relative of a woman killed by her intimate partner in Bonanza spoke at the press conference and demanded that the authorities capture the perpetrator who remains at large. Rodriguez said that with this latest murder, the total of women killed this year in Nicaragua has reached 48. (Radio La Primerisima, June 28; El Nuevo Diario, June 28, 30; La Prensa, June 27)

2. SICA summit addresses child migration

In a declaration at the end of their summit meeting, the leaders of the members of the Central American Integration System (SICA) expressed their grave concern about the growing number of children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras who are traveling unaccompanied to the United States and urged that the issue be addressed from a humanitarian perspective. The summit was held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and was attended by the heads of state or government of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. Nicaragua was represented by Valdrack Jaentschke, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs.

In their closing declaration, the members of SICA recognized that the migration of the children has many causes, including a desire for family reunification and the lack of opportunity and problems of security in their home countries. The leaders asked for the collaboration of the government of the United States and stated that deportation of the minors should not be the first course of action if there are indications that return to their country of origin impedes family reunification or puts at risk the children’s security or their lives. The declaration also called on the home countries of the children to work together to reduce the incentives to migrate. A meeting called by Honduras for July 16-17 will further address the issues involved.

Newly inaugurated FMLN president of El Salvador, Salvador Sanchez Ceren urged the United States to respect the rights and dignity of the undocumented children when they are taken to shelters without accompaniment by their family. Informe Pastran reported that 90 unaccompanied children cross into the US each day with a total of 52,000 so far this year. To view a map showing the places of origin of the child migrants, click here. The Nicaragua Network has prepared talking points for letters to the editor on why Nicaraguan children are not fleeing to the United States. To view, click here. (La Prensa, June 27; Informe Pastran, June 27, 30; Radio La Primerisima, June 30)

3. Government details educational advances

When President Daniel Ortega took office in January 2007, his first act was to eliminate school fees. Thus began a process to recover the right to a public school education based on equality and quality from 17 years of neoliberal neglect. US and international financial institution-imposed structural adjustment policies required school fees, pricing education out of reach for tens of thousands of Nicaraguan families. School facilities fell into dangerous disrepair as neoliberal governments prioritized international debt payments. Free education returned in 2007 and is enshrined in the National Plan for Human Development 2012-2016.

According to a newly released government report, over 1.6 million students were enrolled in the nation’s public, private, and subsidized schools in 2013 from pre-school through secondary and including special education and teacher training. That was an 11% increase over 2012. Each year since 2007 has seen increases in the number of students enrolled. Over 90% have remained in school. [US dropout rate in 2011 was 11%.] The number of children enrolled in preschool increased 10.24% from 2006 to 2013, increasing the total number of 3-5 year olds in school to 59.3% of the population. This past year, the Sandinista government implemented an early education program (birth to 3) with the Love Program for Youngest Children.  Love Program is an interagency initiative including the ministries of Health and Education along with the Ministry of Family, Adolescents, and Children. It includes home visits to the homes of children up to six years old by community educators and teachers to help provide early stimulation and skills in preparation for the first grade.

In 2013, 92% of primary school children completed the school year, an increase of over five points from 2006, and 91% advanced to the next grade. [It is important to understand that these advances also include a much higher percentage of the school age population than in the 1990-2006 neoliberal period.] Over half a million students enrolled in secondary schools in 2013, a whopping 19.2% increase over 2006. Two thirds of secondary students were in regular schools and the remainder in Youth and Adult Secondary classes. 88% in regular secondary schools completed the school year, an increase of 7.9%. The percentage of young people in school has increased with 71% of secondary age youth now enrolled and attending school. These gains were achieved by prioritizing placement of teachers in rural schools and implementation of the Person, Family, and Community education model. Over 129,000 poor performing students are benefitting from the Solidarity Action Plan which involves over 18,000 teachers and over 83,000 student tutors. This program is helping 69% of academic underachievers.  Special education classes finished 2013 with all 2,946 students completing the school year; an outstanding record of success. An additional 11,570 students with special needs were enrolled in regular classes.

The National Literacy Campaign continued with 53,283people gaining literacy in 2013 in 13,519 locations involving 28,750 young volunteers. Over 103,000 youth and adults also completed continuing education courses in 2013 aimed at giving them the reading, writing and arithmetic skills needed to enter the workforce. Teacher training is also an important priority of the government’s education plan, both to turn out better trained new teachers and to improve the skills of those already teaching.  37,130 new and experienced teachers received further education and training in 2013. Six hundred new teaching positions were opened and teachers received an 11% raise.

The government’s education policies for 2012-2016 boil down to the achievement of free, universal education for both boys and girls as well as adults, seeing it as a human right to a quality education including adequate infrastructure for learning. Whereas US education policies focus on testing and economic punishment of underperforming schools and teachers, Nicaragua’s policies focus on Solidarity Programs to remove the impediments to learning. Chief among them is the school meal program which guarantees a good meal each day for each student. In urban poor neighborhoods and rural areas where food security is a major issue, the school meal program and the school garden program provide major incentives for families to keep their children in class.

Other solidarity programs include supportive educational packages (uniforms, backpacks, school supplies) solidarity bonus for promotion (graduation incentive), textbooks, and dignified school environments (infrastructure repair and improvement). The government provided 153,662,275 school meals in 2013 serving 1,037,539 students constituting 100% coverage of enrolled students. Meals were supplemented by 1,410 school gardens in 2013 maintained by parents organized into Committees of School Nutrition.

Supportive Education Packets were given to 404,400 poor students, up from a quarter million in 2012. Primary school children received 367,688 pairs of shoes; more than double that of previous years. For the third year in a row, 53,712 students received economic rewards for graduating. Teachers also received 790,721 “Christian, Socialist, and Solidarity Salary Supplements” in 2013 which are financed from preferential Venezuelan oil financing. Nearly a quarter million students benefitted from infrastructure improvements to 1,142 schools in cooperation with mayors, Councils of Citizen Power, youth volunteers, and community participation. This included the construction of 12 new learning centers, construction and repair of students’ and teachers’ desks, and installation of white boards.

The main challenges as reported by the government are to guarantee the right to free, universal, quality education with fair teacher pay in balance with other public spending priorities, to promote training and educational improvement at all levels. The government is also challenging itself to improve school environments and equipment while raising the educational level of teachers and increasing coverage of rural areas. The government aims to win “the battle for the sixth grade” of universal graduation from sixth grade by 2015 and to forge ahead with “the battle for the ninth grade.”  Finally the government plans to increase educational opportunities on the Caribbean Coast with respect for culture, languages, and customs. (Radio La Primerisima, June 25)

4. New police law wins final passage

On June 25, the National Assembly gave final passage to the New Law on the National Police, which Javier Maynar, Deputy Director of the Police, said would consolidate the professionalization of the national law enforcement institution. The new law extends the career of police officers to 40 years of service or 65 years of age and allows retired officers to return to service.  It allows the president to reappoint the head of the National Police for additional five year terms and allows police officers to serve in other government positions when it is in the national interest. The law also increased the quotas to be paid into the police retirement fund both by the government and the officers.  It establishes the legal basis for offices within the force that were set up after the last relevant legislation was passed in 2006, including the Women’s and Children’s Police Stations, Airport Security, Police Counter-Intelligence, Tourism Police, and others.

Wilfredo Navarro of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) moved to remove the article allowing the president to reappoint the head of the police to another term but his proposal lost to the Sandinista majority. At this point in the debate, the deputies of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) walked out of the chamber saying that the president could unduly influence the police chief. Navarro’s other amendment had better luck. The original version of the bill included a prohibition against “private investigations or other actions that could threaten constitutional rights, intimacy or the privacy of individuals.” The new language, as proposed by Navarro, would allow “activities of non-police investigation as well as investigative journalism, surveys and studies, as long as they do not violate constitutional rights or the privacy of persons.” It passed with 63 votes. This change appeared to meet with general public acceptance. Elvira Cuadra, director of the Institute for Strategic Studies (IEEP) said that the language clarified what kinds of investigations and research could be carried out by different institutions. “It seems good to us that the deputies took into account the concerns and different voices that sounded the alert about the way that language was written,” she added. (El Nuevo Diario, June 25, 26, 27; Informe Pastran, June 25; La Prensa, June 25)

5. Washington, DC, forum highlights Nicaragua’s successes

The New York-based Council of the Americas held a forum on Nicaragua at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, last week with a panel of government and business representatives that included Alvaro Baltodano, President Daniel Ortega’s delegate for investment promotion, Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), and Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, former foreign minister and former ambassador to the US. Baltodano explained Nicaragua’s government-business-labor dialogue model and said that Nicaragua has not registered levels of child migrants because it is safe, free of gangs, with policies of social inclusion focused on youth education. Aguerri said that Nicaragua has achieved the second highest rates of economic growth in the region (after Panama) and has a market economy in which the private sector invests and is open to dialogue with the government and all other sectors. Aguirre Sacasa said that while the country is advancing with the best levels of security in the region and increased use of renewable energy, there have been steps backward in terms of electoral democracy and he called for transparent elections in 2016.

From the audience, former US ambassador to Nicaragua John Maisto said that while it is true that Nicaragua is not perfect and does not have a US style democracy, it has achieved important economic advances and has levels of dialogue worthy of admiration.  A World Bank representative (unnamed in the Informe Pastran report) said that Nicaragua’s model has not been discussed enough and it is a success that should be replicated in the rest of Latin America. (Informe Pastran, June 25)

6. Foreign military visits approved

The National Assembly approved a presidential request to allow 300 soldiers, sailors, and airmen to enter Nicaragua for joint narco-trafficking and humanitarian operations during the last six months of 2014. The legislature approved 130 Russian, 64 US, 50 Venezuelan, 50 Cuban, and 40 Mexican soldiers to participate in naval and air exercises and joint humanitarian operations with the Nicaraguan army. The exercises will take place in Nicaraguan waters in the Pacific and Caribbean including the 90,000 sq. km. Caribbean waters awarded to Nicaragua by the World Court in 2012. The National Assembly also approved humanitarian visits by members of the military of France, Taiwan, Jamaica, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize as well as approved 180 Nicaraguan military members to go to Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, and Mexico. (El Nuevo Diario, June 24)