Nicaragua Network

1. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon visits Nicaragua; praises government
2. United States extends property waiver for 2014-15
3. Investigations continue into July 19th killings
4. Census of communities and families on canal route planned
5. Pope Francis ends suspension of Fr. Miguel D’Escoto imposed by John Paul II

1. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon visits Nicaragua; praises government

Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, visited Nicaragua on July 29 and met with President Daniel Ortega, Vice-President Omar Halleslevens, and several government ministers. He also visited a wind energy farm in the Department of Rivas and listened to a presentation about the plans for a shipping canal across Nicaragua. It was Ban’s first visit to Nicaragua as Secretary General. On July 30 he travelled to Costa Rica, having visited Haiti and the Dominican Republic earlier in July.

Ban, accompanied by his wife, was met at the airport by Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo. His first words after stepping off the plane were to recognize that he was arriving at a time of crises in several parts of the world. He said, “I just came from intense negotiations on peace in the Middle East, South Sudan, Libya, and Ukraine. Referring to the war in Gaza, Ortega said, “Nicaragua asks for an end to the attacks and the bombings in order to move to dialogue and peace negotiations.”

Ban congratulated Nicaragua for its promotion of economic growth and social inclusion and praised the country’s progress toward achieving the United Nations Millennium Goals of reduction of poverty, food security, health care, and women’s rights. He also praised Nicaragua’s move toward renewable energy during a visit to the Camilo Ortega Saavedra Wind Farm where Salvador Mansell, president of the National Energy Enterprise (ENEL), explained that Nicaragua is now generating 58% of its electricity from renewable sources. Ban told Ortega, “You have set yourselves an ambitious goal, committing Nicaragua to getting most all of its energy from renewable sources by 2028. This is without precedent in the world and I hope that you will talk about this before the nations of the world when you come to New York [in September] so that others can take it as an example.”

Ban also met with Head of the National Police Aminta Granera to learn about Nicaragua’s model of community policing and later in the evening with youth at the House of the People. He asked the young people to be citizens of the world, saying, “Tonight more than one billion people will go to sleep with their stomachs empty, … there are 60 million students who are not able to go to school. Think about those young people without schooling, hungry and sick, and think about what you can do for them.”

In his presentation to Ban about the shipping canal, Ortega said that the technical and environmental studies were ongoing and meetings were being held with the affected population so that they understand what the impact of the canal will be on their regions. Ortega said that the canal should provide the resources to reforest in areas that have been deforested, resources that Nicaragua currently does not have.

When leaving, Ban remarked that President Ortega had driven him in his car and was a good driver, adding, “and just as he drove me around with such expertise, I am sure that he will be able to conduct this country and the people of Nicaragua toward even more sustainable growth, toward a better future with peace and security.”

The opposition Independent Liberal Party (PLI), however, said that the Secretary General’s visit was “manipulated as an exclusively governmental event with the doors closed to important sectors of Nicaraguan society.” An editorial in La Prensa said, “Lamentably the UN has degraded its founding principles and commitments since it began to fill up with nations that were not democratic. …. It is understandable that the secretary general wants to be on the good side of all but especially those which are not democratic but which make up the majority of the members of this international organization.” (El Nuevo Diario, July 29; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 2; Informe Pastran, July 31)

2. United States extends property waiver for 2014-15

In a press release from its embassy in Managua, the US State Department issued the required waiver for the period extending until the end of July 2015 to a US law that prohibits bilateral assistance (and mandates opposition to multilateral aid) to any country that has not compensated US citizens for confiscated property. The communiqué said that the waiver was based on the efforts by the Nicaraguan government this past year to resolve property claims, noting that 52 property claims of 28 US citizens had been resolved while 154 claims remain. Most of the claimants were Nicaraguan citizens when their property was taken in foreclosure or under agrarian reform or because of links with the Somoza dictatorship and only later did they become US citizens.

The communiqué promised to take into account cases resolved in the Nicaraguan courts or in mediation processes that have been recently set up. The Embassy communiqué urged the Nicaraguan government to resolve more recent (but unspecified) property disputes which have involved US citizens in order not to damage the confidence of investors. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 4; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 5)

3. Investigations continue into July 19th killings

Judicial proceedings against four men detained on suspicion of being involved in the killing of five people and the wounding of 19 after the celebrations on July 19 were set by a Matagalpa court for Sept. 23. The four, Walter Balmaceda, Erick Salgado and Juan and Gregorio Torres, are accused of conspiracy, organized crime, murder and grave injury. They are charged as accessories to the crime. Prosecutors said that Balmaceda drove the bus that deposited the other three at a spot where they could throw rocks and slow down another one of the caravan buses near Ciudad Dario so that shooters could attack it, killing four. No one has yet been accused of the shootings themselves, either at Dario or near San Ramon where one person was killed in a similar attack.

Carlos Baltodano, defense attorney for the four, said that due process is being violated because he has not been able to meet with his clients and the police are discovering new evidence without informing him. Media outlets learned that, on July 30, police discovered the weapons suspected of having been used in the attack. Two rifles and an AK47 were found in a sack on a farm near where the attack took place. Balmaceda said he was surprised that they found the weapons now when they could not find them in the thorough search that they made immediately after the attack.

The Independent Liberal Party issued a press release on Aug. 4 saying that there is a campaign of intimidation and terror against its members being carried out by the police and army who take people from their homes without a judge’s order, interrogate them and later, in most cases, let them go. Law professor Manuel Arauz said, “Like it or not, the actions of the National Police in this case are acting in accord with Law 735, the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedures, which give them these powers in the process of investigation of crimes [such as terrorism].” He added that the laws were passed by the National Assembly four years ago by Liberals and Sandinistas.

The PLI communiqué also stated that “In Somoto, Totogalpa, San Lucas, Ciudad Dario, there are people who were taken from their homes at dawn by unknown subjects with hoods and neither the police nor the army say they know where they are.” The communiqué named four local PLI leaders who it said have vanished. Opposition National Assembly Deputy Boanerges Matus said that ex-contra and Liberal activist Carlos Garcia, whose death has resonated in the social media, was killed out of vengeance by a sniper. He demanded justice for his murderer.

The Nicaraguan Catholic Bishops Conference issued a communiqué at the end of their annual meeting in Juigalpa, Chontales, in which they said they wished to bring words “of consolation to the country in these painful moments.” The bishops said, “We are equally pained and very concerned by the situation of persecution, unjust detentions, unexplained disappearances of persons, terror and death that has been unleashed in some municipalities of the country.” They added, “Let us not confuse the just punishment that the guilty must pay for the crimes they committed with hate and vengeance” and called on the police to treat suspects with professionalism and not to use intimidation and violence. However, Informe Pastran noted, “In no place in the communiqué did the bishops refer to those who were killed [on July 19], the wounded and the orphans and families of the dead who are also suffering because of these incidents; in fact they ignored them.” (Informe Pastran, July 31, Aug. 4; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 4; La Prensa, Aug. 2)

4. Census of communities and families on canal route planned

Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo announced that consultations about the planned shipping canal with a total of 10,000 citizens in San Miguelito, Bluefields, Nueva Guinea, Rivas, Ometepe and Managua had been completed and she congratulated those who participated for the seriousness of their questions and concerns and Telemaco Talavera of the National Council of Universities for his work leading the presentations about the canal plans. Talavera said that in the next few days a census will begin of all the communities and families that are located on the route of the canal. He added that there are legitimate concerns on the part of the population in two main areas—possible environmental damage and compensation for properties located on the canal route. He said that the route chosen was the one with the lowest environmental costs of the six originally proposed and that property owners would be justly compensated for their properties.

The island of Ometepe will be affected by the canal in two ways. First, the shipping channel will pass alongside the island and, second, the canal project includes four resorts on the island. Land owners had different opinions about the proposed resorts. Yelba Carvajal, who owns 60 acres in one of the resort areas shown on project maps, said Panamanian investors had offered her US$3.6 million and she was waiting to see what an offer from the canal company would be. Maria Salome Gonzalez owns six acres and is not willing to sell. “I received this land under agrarian reform,” she said, adding, “Here I have some horses and I plant corn, beans and millet…. These lands give me life. If I sell them, what do I do afterwards?”

Meanwhile eight groups sent a letter to the government and to the HKND Company that holds the concession for the canal in which they asked for copies of the technical, environmental and social impact studies for the project. The groups were the Humboldt Center, the Nicaraguan Foundation for Sustainable Development, Fundación del Rio, the Center for Legal Assistance for Indigenous Peoples (CALPI), the Ecological Bulletin, Red Local, and the Popol Na Foundation. Campos said the goal is to review the studies in order to “clarify and make contributions” and later to hold a “true public debate.” He also said, “The problem is not who is doing the studies; the problem is who is reviewing them for Nicaragua and what level of political autonomy they have to say that part of a study is not in accord with the country’s interests.”

Presidential economic advisor Bayardo Arce said that the Economic and Financial Program (PEF) for the coming year would not include any expected benefits from the canal project. He said, “We are longing for the canal … but the PEF is not based on dreams; it’s based on realities.” He continued, “We are excited because we see that the studies are moving forward but we still haven’t put one peso from the canal in the PEF. When something is approved and money is deposited for concrete investment programs, that’s when we’ll put it in the PEF.”

In related news, President Daniel Ortega told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that he worried about the ongoing destruction of Nicaragua’s forests but had had doubts about the canal. Those were relieved after a conversation with Brazilian theologian and environmentalist Leonardo Boff. Boff told him that he understood his concerns because he and others had first opposed a massive project in Brazil but later were brought on board finding that the well managed project had resulted in positive results for the forest. “That ended up convincing me,” Ortega told Ban, adding, “Leonardo Boff gave me confidence and for that I thank him.” (Informe Pastran, July 31, Aug. 4; Radio La Primerisima, July 29, 30; El Nuevo Diario, July 31, Aug. 3; La Prensa, July 30)

5. Pope Francis ends suspension of Fr. Miguel D’Escoto imposed by John Paul II

Pope Francis has lifted the suspension of Father Miguel D’Escoto imposed by Pope John Paul II in 1984 which barred him from saying mass and exercising other priestly functions. On Aug. 1, the Vatican said “The Holy Father has given his benevolent consent for Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann to be absolved from the canonic censors inflicted upon him.” John Paul II had ordered all the priests serving in the government during the Sandinista revolution of the 1980s to quit their posts. When D’Escoto, who served as foreign minister, and the two brothers Fernando and Ernesto Cardenal, who served as minister of education and minister of culture respectively, refused to resign, they were sanctioned.  D’Escoto, a Maryknoll priest ordained in the United States in 1961, served as foreign minister until the Sandinistas lost the 1990 elections. When Daniel Ortega was again elected to the presidency in 2006, D’Escoto joined his government as an advisor.  He served as president of the General Assembly of the United Nations from September 2008 to September 2009. Vatican Radio reported that Fr. D’Escoto had written the Pope saying that he wanted to be able to celebrate mass again before he died. He is 81 years old.

D’Escoto said he had received the orders from the Vatican to resign in early January 1985 while at The Hague involved in Nicaragua’s case against the United States at the World Court (which Nicaragua won in 1986), but that he could not obey because “that would have meant betraying the revolution.” Upon hearing the news from Pope Francis, D’Escoto said he wanted to celebrate his first mass with Cardinal Miguel Obando who had opposed the revolution in the 1980s and with whom he had exchanged harsh words. He said he had told the Cardinal (who is now 88), “If it happens one day before I die, I want to celebrate my first Eucharist with you and you’ll have to help me because I’m forgetting everything. Back then I said the mass in Latin.” (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 4; Informe Pastran, Aug. 4; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 4; Catholic News Service, Aug. 4)