Nicaragua Network

1. Case of July 19^th attackers moved to Managua
2. Colombia asks World Court to declare Nicaraguan claim “inadmissible”
3. Mining conference calls attention to Nicaragua’s success; protest march highlights problems
4. International media outlets discuss feasibility of Nicaraguan shipping canal
5. Jurists clarify Law 779 regulations; women’s groups protest changes to definition of “femicide”
6. End of US TPL could cost 30,000 Nicaraguan textile workers their jobs
7. Nicaragua celebrates navy anniversary amid moves to modernize
8. First large group of sea turtles arrives at Chacocente

1. Case of July 19th attackers moved to Managua

Based on evidence that the first conspiracy for the attack on the buses returning from the July 19^th celebration took place in the Department of Managua, the judicial proceedings were moved there from Matagalpa last week. The first attack, in which four people were killed, was near Ciudad Dario and the second, where one person died, was near San Ramon, both in the Department of Matagalpa. Nineteen people were wounded in the attacks. With the addition of Marvin Sequeira, who (along with Pablo Martinez) is still at large, there are now 14 men who have been accused of plotting and carrying out the crimes. The case will be heard by Judge Henry Morales of the Sixth District Criminal Court of Managua. At a preliminary hearing on Aug. 13, Judge Morales scheduled the trial for the accused for Oct. 3.

Human rights organizations said that the accused were detained for longer than the law allowed before being brought before a judge. The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) said in a communique that “the grave and reprehensible acts that occurred on July 19 do not justify the violation of rights.” (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 12; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 12; La Prensa, Aug. 13)

2. Colombia asks World Court to declare Nicaraguan claim “inadmissible”

On Aug. 14, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that his government had formally asked the International Court of Justice (World Court) at The Hague to declare the case brought by Nicaragua in Sept. 2013 outside the scope of the Court and therefore “inadmissible.” Santos said that the petition was prepared by “prestigious international law experts” and that “we did not leave any argument or opinion [on the case] without proper study.” Nicaragua has asked the Court for an extension of its maritime territory to include its continental shelf beyond 200 miles, something the Court had said in its Nov. 2012 ruling that it could do. In that ruling, the Court gave seven islands of the San Andres Archipelago to Colombia but gave most of the waters surrounding those islands to Nicaragua. Colombia has failed to recognize the ruling. According to a Bogotá radio station, “Colombia will pay any price to prevent the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) from recognizing an extended platform for Nicaragua.” Nicaragua has petitioned the CLCS to recognize that extension.

Nicaraguan international law expert Norman Miranda said the case is within the scope of the Court and although last year Colombia withdrew from the Pact of Bogotá, under which countries in Latin America accepted the jurisdiction of the World Court, Nicaragua’s claim was presented before that withdrawal would have taken effect. According to Miranda and Mauricio Herdocia, another expert, Colombia is fearful because the government knows that the decision will be technical and scientific, based on geography and, geologically speaking, Nicaragua has the right to a larger continental shelf because its platform extends well beyond 200 miles. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 14; Informe Pastran, Aug. 14, 18; La Prensa, Aug. 15)

3. Mining conference calls attention to Nicaragua’s success; protest march highlights problems

Over 300 participants from more than a dozen countries gathered in Managua for an international mining conference with the stated goal of using modern technology to improve production, protect the environment and worker health, including by eliminating mercury from the process used by small scale miners, and bring more benefits from mining to the surrounding populations. Denis Lanzas, vice-president of the Chamber of Mining of Nicaragua, said that other countries “want to know how [Nicaragua has] advanced; that in spite of conflicts in the past we have security and we have grown in an enviable fashion.” He said that conference attendees also would look at the experience of the Mexican State of Zacatecas and how it has developed the industry.

Sergio Rios, president of the Chamber of Mining, said that while mining was essential for Nicaragua’s continued development, it needed to be expanded in an “ordered, collegial, and responsible manner.” He said Nicaragua should learn from the experiences of countries that became too dependent on mining to make sure that the country could “grow with respect and sustainability.” Lanzas said that, even with a drop in the price of gold of 12% this year, he expected Nicaragua’s gold exports would approach those of last year, when the total was US$436 million. Nicaraguan Minister of Energy and Mines Emilio Rappaccioli said that the total so far in 2014 was over US$200 million. He went on to say that the mining sector has taken “very important steps to prevent a repetition of the collapse of dwellings [over old mines] as happened at Santa Pancha at the end of 2012.” He said that, “The big companies have built small plants where the small scale miners can have their ore processed and extract their gold without using mercury that contaminates local water sources.” Lanzas said that by 2015 it was expected that Bonanza and La Libertad could be declared “mercury free.”

According to World Business Report, Nicaragua has emerged as a principle destination for investors in mining and that the sector provides 4,500 direct jobs and generates 9,000 indirect jobs. Annual investment in Nicaragua’s mining sector has grown from US$43.9 million in 2009 to US$107.4 million in 2013. Javier Chamorro, director of ProNicaragua, the government agency that promotes investment, said that Nicaragua’s laws establish a series of guarantees for investors such as the freedom to repatriate capital and profits and the country offers economic stability and security. According to the Central Bank, in 2013, Nicaragua produced 276,800 troy ounces of gold, a growth of 23.3% over the previous year. It is the highest paid sector in the Nicaraguan economy with an average monthly salary of US$670.

In an interview published in El Nuevo Diario, Lanzas emphasized that the mining companies, besides assisting with the country’s development through the taxes they pay, were directly helping the development of the communities near the mines with projects in peasant agriculture, reforestation, health care, and road building. He noted that in Bonanza 2,500 hectares have been reforested out of a planned 7,500 while 14 Nicaraguan have completed their engineering training, paid for by the mining companies. Lanzas told El Nuevo Diario that, after two years of feasibility studies, it was expected that two new mines would be opened, India Gold in the western part of the country and San Albino in the north, with a total investment of US$230 million.

Four buses and three pickup trucks from Rancho Grande, Matagalpa, and four buses from Santo Domingo, Chontales, were stopped by police from traveling to Managua to join the march held by environmentalists against concessions to mining companies. “The government is trying to keep us from going to the capital to say that we are not in accord with mining exploitation because is contaminates our water; it brings destruction; it brings division in the community and in the family,” said Marvin Lopez of Rancho Grande. He said that 500 people were scheduled to travel to Managua to participate in the march. In a report from Mar. 2013, Leonel Siles said that the mining company at Rancho Grande had launched an offensive in the rural communities with economic giveaways and small social projects to “break the unity of resistance to mining.” (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 12, 13; La Prensa, Aug. 13, 14, Mar. 22, 2013; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 12)

4. International media outlets discuss feasibility of Nicaraguan shipping canal

Media outlets from Russia Radio Today to The Economist covered the proposed Nicaraguan shipping canal last week as reported in the Nicaraguan media. Russia Radio Today quoted several supporters of the canal, including presidential advisor Paul Oquist, executive secretary of the Canal Commission, who said, “The canal and its multiplier effect on the Nicaraguan economy will double our economy, double governmental revenue, cut extreme poverty from 14% to 7%, and take 25% of our population out of the informal sector” and into the formal sector. Laureano Ortega of ProNicaragua, a government agency that promotes investment, said that the canal was a challenge for Nicaragua because the country did not yet have the trained labor force that the canal will need but that the government is working closely with the universities to prepare students to participate in the building and the operation of the canal. Environmentalist Kamilo Lara, a member of the canal commission, said that the route recently finalized was chosen because it was the one that would cause the least environmental impact. He stated that the Atlanta artificial lake would be built in order to prevent the salinization of Lake Nicaragua. He added, “We think that this megaproject should be at the service of nature and not nature at the service of the canal; it is an opportunity for environmental restoration of degraded territory.” Engineer Telemaco Talavera of the National Council of Universities said that a ship sailing from the West Coast to the East Coast of the United States would save 900 kilometers by using the Nicaraguan canal rather than the Panama Canal, thus saving fuel and time.

In a report on the 100^th anniversary of the Panama Canal which fell on August 15, The Economist noted that just when Panama is confronting problems expanding its Canal, Egypt has announced a planned expansion of the Suez Canal and Nicaragua has approved plans for a canal even bigger than the expanded Panama waterway. The article states, “Nicaragua, once deemed too earthquake-prone for a big canal, is trying to rekindle its 19th-century dream. Many doubt the commitment of Wang Jing, a 41-year-old billionaire, to build a giant waterway through Nicaragua. But the pharaonic project, and the more recent interest of Chinese businessmen in expanding the Panama Canal, reflect the fact that China may want a say in the isthmus’s future.” There was speculation among analysts that the Chinese are weighing the relative costs and benefits of a fourth set of locks in Panama versus building a new173 mile, US$40 billion canal across Nicaragua. (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 14, 15; Informe Pastran, Aug. 14; http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21612185-it-was-good-investment-america-now-china-has-its-eye-canal-now-next-100)

5. Jurists clarify Law 779 regulations; women’s groups protest changes to definition of “femicide”

Supreme Court President Alba Luz Ramos said on Aug. 14 that the regulations for the implementation of Law 779 broaden prevention, sanctions, and attention to the victims of domestic violence and define the reparation due to the victims. She said that women may go to the Women’s Police Stations or arrange mediation through the neighborhood Family Councils but this is strictly voluntary. She said that the goal is to strengthen family ties and reunite families but no one can be required to go to the Family Councils. She explained that when the murder of a woman is a hate crime the judges will not classify it as a simple homicide with a lower sentence. In the recently released regulations, for the murder of a woman to be a femicide rather than a simple homicide, there must be a relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. The law originally seemed to call any killing of a woman a femicide.

The change was condemned by women’s groups who marched in front of the National Assembly on Aug. 14. Reyna Rodriguez of the Network of Women against Violence said that the international organizations that supported activities that had led to the passage of the law had been notified of the changes included in the regulations which she said constituted a “step backwards.” [In the United States, Congress has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.” Observers say that gender has not been included partly because the prevalence of violence against women would skew hate-crime statistics.] Meanwhile Judge Maria Fabiola Betancourt refused to lower the sentence from femicide to homicide of a man accused of murdering two women as had been requested by his lawyer even though there had been no relationship between the man and either of the two women. (Informe Pastran, Aug. 14; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 15, 16)

6. End of US TPL could cost 30,000 Nicaraguan textile workers their jobs

Nicaragua could lose as many as 30,000 textile industry jobs if the United States does not renew Tariff Preference Level (TPL) legislation, according to the government. The tariff preferences allow access to US markets for garments made in Nicaragua with cloth or thread that did not originate in any of the countries party to the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Trade preference legislation was passed in 2006 and is set to expire Dec. 31 of this year. Central Bank President Ovidio Reyes said at a meeting with the Nicaraguan-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) last week that the government of President Daniel Ortega is urging the United States to renew the TPL so as to improve Nicaragua’s ability to gradually adjust to CAFTA’s free trade provisions without disrupting the country’s economic growth and labor stability. The textile assembly sector is the principle employer in the country’s free trade zones which currently provide jobs for 108,000 Nicaraguans. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 12)

7. Nicaragua celebrates navy anniversary amid moves to modernize

During the celebration of the 34^th anniversary of the formation of the Naval Force of the Nicaraguan Army, President Daniel Ortega told the gathering that negotiations with Russia are taking place to acquire planes and boats “to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, provide disaster relief, and strengthen the peace and stability of the country.”  He recognized the aid also from the United States calling it “an investment, not a donation” because the aid is improving Nicaragua’s ability on the Caribbean Coast to deter drug trafficking which Ortega called a threat to youth in the US. US aid has provided swift boats and other equipment as well as docking and installations to support the naval patrols. Over the past year the Nicaraguan navy has launched 8,160 missions, sailed 108,062 nautical miles, and captured 618 kilos of cocaine, 151 kilos of marijuana, and 6.4 kilos of methamphetamines. On August 12 in the Pacific, a mission captured 570 kilos of cocaine and 6.4 kilos of methamphetamines while capturing three drug traffickers. Over the past year the navy has seized 10 boats and captured 22 traffickers. The navy also captured 34 illegal fishing boats and 189 crew members as well as rescuing 184 people. Army Chief Gen. Julio Cesar Aviles said that Nicaragua is modernizing its navy to better patrol newly acquired Caribbean waters. A 2012 World Court decision awarded these waters previously claimed by Colombia to Nicaragua. (Informe Pastran, Aug. 14; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 15)

8. First large group of sea turtles arrives at Chacocente

Over 2500 sea turtles arrived on the beach at the Rio Escalante-Chacocente Nature Reserve beginning Thursday, the first mass arrival of the egg laying season which runs until January. Officials had been concerned that only 1,363 solitary or small groups of turtles had arrived thus far in August. Officials hope for 8-10,000 arrivals this month. Chacocente is a Pacific Coast protected nesting beach in the department of Carazo, one of several protected sites in Nicaragua where wildlife officials expect to see 194,000 endangered turtles nest in 2014-15. A Nicaragua Network delegation visited Chacocente in early August and observed Olive Ridley hatchlings that had been gathered by Reserve personnel that morning for release at dusk when chances of surviving bird and fish predation is greatly improved. The delegation also visited a women’s collective that makes colorful tote bags from discarded plastic bags that they collect from area beaches. A common cause of adult turtle deaths is ingesting plastic bags which they mistake for jelly fish. The women’s motto is “one less bag, one more turtle.” (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 18; La Prensa, Aug. 13)