Nicaragua Network

1. Hundreds of thousands celebrate 35^th anniversary of revolution; return home marred by attacks
2. Five people killed when buses attacked after July 19 celebrations; several persons detained
3. Canal Commission and HKND Group begin consultations with communities
4. Women protest at Supreme Court in Managua; Opposition groups protest at Electoral Council
5. Nicaraguan team wins Pan American “little league” defeating US
6. UN official tours Nicaragua’s small-scale agricultural sector
7. Family remittances continue to grow
8. San Juan del Sur anticipates sea turtle arrivals

1. Hundreds of thousands celebrate 35^th anniversary of revolution; return home marred by attacks

Hundreds of thousands of people from all over Nicaragua gathered at a plaza on Lake Xolotlan (Lake Managua) on July 19^th to celebrate the 35^th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution. However, the return home was marred by two separate attacks on buses in the Department of Matagalpa (see story below) in which five people were killed. Several heads of state from other nations spoke at the rally at the Plaza de la Fe, among them President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, President Salvador Sanchez Ceren of El Salvador, and President Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras along with Cuban Vice-President Ramiro Valdes, and the president of the Ecuadoran legislature Gabriela Rivadeneira. Also present were three former heads of state, Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, Vinicio Cerezo of Guatemala, and Martín Torrijos of Panamá. Five Costa Rican legislators from the left Broad Front Party also attended which caused controversy with one conservative legislator condemning the visit saying it demonstrated that the Broad Front “had relationships with leftist parties” in the region. Jorge Arguedas countered that he had participated in the struggle against Somoza when he was young, adding. “I carry that revolution in my soul.”

Cardinal Miguel Obando offered a prayer for those who gave their lives 35 years ago in the struggle for liberation. President Sanchez of El Salvador noted that Nicaragua had the most dynamic economy in Central America where “happiness for children, for the family, and for the Nicaraguan people is being built.” President Maduro of Venezuela said that Augusto Sandino was the builder of a dream that was taken up by Nicaraguan youth in the insurrections of the 1970s and that Nicaragua had become a leader in the anti-imperialist struggle in the Western Hemisphere.

In his speech, President Daniel Ortega said that, in this “second stage of the revolution,” many advances had been made but, “We still have many greater challenges ahead and we shouldn’t wait for this canal, but instead we have to continue fighting the battles to develop the productive capacities of our country in the agricultural and industrial areas.” He noted advances in the fight against poverty and malnutrition, for improvements in health and education, in the building of roads, and in popular participation, but he said that currently agriculture faced a major challenge with the drought.  “The economy is moving in a positive direction,” he said, “but when this type of situation occurs we have negatives.”

More than 20,000 people from the Department of Matagalpa had gathered to board buses to Managua, more than there were buses and trucks to transport them. All police officers, from traffic cops to top officers, were mobilized to provide security. But so many vehicles filled the highways coming into Managua from the north that not all were able to get on the streets to the plaza. Some of those buses had to return to the north without seeing the celebration and without a security escort.  It is believed that among them was the first to be attacked on the highway near Ciudad Dario. [See next story below.] (Radio La Primerisima, July 20; El Nuevo Diario, July 19; La Prensa, July 18)

2. Five people killed when buses attacked after July 19 celebrations; several persons detained

Five people were killed and 19 wounded in two separate attacks on buses returning from the July 19 celebration in Managua. The first was at kilometer 75 of the Managua-Matagalpa highway near Ciudad Dario and the second on the road from San Ramon to El Jobo, both in the Department of Matagalpa. Those killed in the first attack were Vilma Gómez Benavides, 48; Ester Libia Gómez, 28; Jader Francisco Sáenz, 22; and Germán Adrián Martínez, 24. In the second, Yeltzin Talavera, 20, lost his life. Vilma and Ester Gomez were buried in San Juan de Limay on July 21 accompanied by multitudes of mourners from Limay, Esteli, and Condega.  On July 20, National Police head Aminta Granera announced that the Police had detained four people. A visibly angry Granera said, “The Police make a public commitment to all Nicaraguans to follow the orders of the president to resolve this lamentable crime as soon as possible. We will not allow a few to deprive the people of peace.” The next day Police announced that one person, a minor, had been released.

Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo thanked all those who had sent messages of solidarity with the people of Nicaragua, including Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes for the Archdiocese of Managua, leaders of political parties and social groups, the business community, the governments of Germany, the United States, Venezuela, Cuba, El Salvador, and others. She said, “All of this in these hours that we have recently lived show us that love is stronger than hate. Hate should have no place in our country.” The Nicaragua Network sent a letter of condolence to President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo which can be read here: http://www.nicanet.org/

Opposition political parties condemned that attack but some managed to denounce the Ortega government at the same time. The Independent Liberal Party (PLI) said it “profoundly laments the shedding of blood” but asserted that “these violent actions… are the consequence of the accelerated closure of democratic spaces, [and] of the repeated violations of the constitution and the laws by Daniel Ortega….” The PLI statement called on the president “to renounce his dictatorial pretentions.”

Groups called the Nicaraguan Democratic Forces (FDN) and the Armed Forces of National Salvation (FASN-EP) claimed responsibility on the Facebook page of the FDN [search for Fuerzas Democraticas Nicaragüenses] saying “The FASN-EP, in conjunction with the FDN, take responsibility for the action at km 76 of the Pan American highway …. This is just a sample of the operations that we have coordinated at a national level.” On July 17, a dozen men in camouflage uniforms, who identified themselves as belonging to the FDN, had set up a roadblock at km. 215 of the Pan American highway, painted the initials FDN on the vehicles they stopped and shot into the chassis of a car that refused to stop. But, National Assembly Deputy Elida Galeano, who is a member of a group of former contras allied with the Sandinista Party, called the attackers delinquents who want to destabilize the country. She condemned the actions of July 19 and said, “Those of us who fought never want another war.”  (Radio La Primerisima, July 20, 21; El Nuevo Diario, July 21; La Prensa, July 18, 20; Informe Pastran, July 21; Radio Corporacion, July 21)

3. Canal Commission and HKND Group begin consultations with communities

The Nicaraguan Canal Commission and the HKND Group have begun consultations in the communities along the route chosen for the trans-isthmian shipping canal for which feasibility studies are currently under way. Speaking at a gathering at a local university in Rivas, Telemaco Talavera, president of the National Council of Universities and a member of the Commission, said that construction would begin at Brito, which is in the Department of Rivas. He answered numerous questions from members of the community about the project, noting that at each place where the canal crosses the route of a highway, a bridge will be built to carry traffic. Other questions included whether the zone on either side of the canal would be Chinese territory or Nicaraguan territory, whether salt water would contaminate Lake Nicaragua, and how property owner along the route would be compensated.  Talavera and HKND representatives clarified that the territory was and would always be Nicaraguan; that the locks would prevent salt water from entering the lake; and that land owners would be fairly compensated. The commission members next traveled to Bluefields for a gathering at the Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University.

Wilfredo Sanchez, a leader in the Veracruz de Zapotal indigenous community in the municipality of Rivas, said that law says that the government has to meet with the indigenous peoples for consent to exploit the natural resources on their land and establish a just indemnification. Otherwise, he said the indigenous end up losing their resources and their historical patrimony.

Talavera said that the commission and HKND would next visit the small communities of San Miguelito, communities on the island of Ometepe and in Nueva Guinea, and Punta Gorda on the Caribbean. He said that it was the beginning of an intense project in which an inventory would be compiled, “house by house, community by community, business by business along the route so that they can achieve the best possible result from the canal.” (La Prensa, July 16; Informe Pastran, July 17; El Nuevo Diario, July 15; Radio La Primerisima, July 17)

4. Women protest at Supreme Court in Managua; Opposition groups protest at Electoral Council

About 300 women from different women’s groups last week demonstrated in front of the Nicaraguan Supreme Court demanding that the Court declare unconstitutional the 2007 penal code changes that criminalized therapeutic abortion, previously legal for over a century in Nicaragua. Magally Quintana told reporters, “We are here to protest the deaths of 23 women who would have been able to save their lives if they had been able to have a therapeutic abortion and also to tell the Court that there have been 48 femicides in Nicaragua this year and not 18.” The women said that the Court interpreted Law 779 “Against Violence Toward Women” incorrectly in saying that only some murders of women were femicides. Supreme Court President Alba Ramos had said that if a woman was killed during a robbery it was homicide, not femicide [a hate crime against women], but the demonstrators said that with statements like that “this government opens the doors to more murders of women.” (Informe Pastran, July 16; El Nuevo Diario, July 15; La Prensa, July 16)

Another smaller protest took place at the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) where about 15 people gathered on July 17 with signs saying that there was nothing to celebrate on July 19 and demanding transparent elections. The protest would not have elicited much news coverage except that some Sandinista supporters on motorcycles drove by the march.  When the opposition protestors began to take photos of them, call them “mobs” and demand that they take off their helmets, the cyclists knocked the cameras out of the hands of the reporters from the opposition press that was covering the event and things deteriorated from there.  Wendy Puerto of the Christian Democratic Union said that people were kicked and hit and someone tried to pull off her clothes. Marcos Carmona of the Permanent Commission on Human Rights (CPDH) said that he would take the incident to international forums. Gonzalo Carrion of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) said that the Police had acted passively instead of forcefully against the Sandinista bikers. Presidential advisor Bayardo Arce said the actions of the motorcyclists were “to be condemned, but [the protesters] are mistaken if they believe the Sandinista leadership approves this type of action.”  (Informe Pastran, July 17, 18; La Prensa, July 18)

5. Nicaraguan team wins Pan American “little league” defeating US

Defeating the boys from the United States 5 to 4, the Nicaraguan team won first place in the Pan America Children’s AA Tournament in Mazatlan, Mexico, last week.  This was the first time Nicaraguan children had won this tournament. Nicaraguan pitcher Samuel Mendoza was chosen best pitcher and his teammate Ronny Perera was most valuable player. In the final game against the United States, Nicaragua made six hits with two errors while the boys from the US had four hits and five errors. The Nicaraguans won eight games, losing only to the team from Mexico who they defeated in a second game. The team was scheduled to be welcomed home on July 21. (La Prensa, July 21)

6. UN official tours Nicaragua’s small-scale agricultural sector

The President of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Kanayo Nwanze, wrapped up an extensive visit to Nicaragua on July 16. He visited both the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the country focusing on small-scale agricultural producers and cooperatives. He also met with President Daniel Ortega and Vice-President Omar Halleslevens. IFAD made a total of US$250 million in grants to Nicaragua between 1980-2012 and the National Assembly approved receipt of another US$24.8 million in December 2013 for the project “Adaptation to Market Changes and Climate Change.” Nwanze praised the leadership of women in Nicaragua’s small-scale agriculture sector. He also urged Nicaragua to work on its image concerning the quality of its exports. He said that image for many is stuck in the 1980s war period. “I didn’t know,” he said, “that Nicaragua has some of the best coffee in the world, together with Colombia and other countries that are famous [for their coffee].” (El Nuevo Diario, July 17)

7. Family remittances continue to grow

Remittances to Nicaraguans from family members living abroad increased 5.9% in the first five months of 2014 compared to the same period last year. And, according to the Central Bank, remittances in 2013 were 6.2% higher than 2012. In 2014 through May, US$466.8 million was sent back to Nicaragua, primarily from the US and Costa Rica. In 2013, remittances accounted for 9.6% of the Gross Domestic Product. Of the total US$1.078 billion in remittances in 2013, US$629.4 million was sent by family members in the United States and US$241.9 million from Costa Rica. In the region, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras receive more in remittances than Nicaragua. (Radio La Primerisima, July 15; Informe Pastran, July 15; El Nuevo Diario, July 15)

8. San Juan del Sur anticipates sea turtle arrivals

The San Juan del Sur tourist industry is anticipating the arrival of the first Olive Ridley endangered sea turtles this week in their annual pilgrimage to Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast beaches to lay their eggs. The 2014-2015 egg laying season typically begins now and runs through January. The Army has also increased its presence in the La Flor nature preserve, 22 km. south of the city, to protect against illegal turtle egg poaching. According to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, last year 107,804 Olive Ridley turtles, 14 Galapagos green turtles, and two Leatherback turtles nested at La Flor, only about two-thirds the number that nested the year before. It is estimated that, on all of Nicaragua’s protected nesting locations including La Flor, Chacocente, Juan Venado, Poneloya and Padre Ramos, a total of 1.47 million baby turtles hatched last year.

One group of women, who used to illegally harvest turtle eggs which are considered a delicacy by many, have turned to a new way to make money since understanding that poaching eggs risked extinction for the endangered turtles. They now collect and recycle plastic bags that litter the beaches. The plastic bags, which asphyxiate baby turtles, are sent to a recycling center where they are cleaned and processed into thread which the women use to make earrings, bracelets, handbags and belts to sell to tourists. (El Nuevo Diario, July 17, 18; Radio La Primerisima, July 17)