Nicaragua Network

1. Government decides not to declare emergency for drought
2. Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras sign development accord for Gulf of Fonseca
3. Gallup rates Nicaragua and Panama highest in “perceived security”
4. Nicaragua called a “green energy powerhouse”
5. Tumarin & Boboke hydroelectric plants confirmed
6. Nicaragua may send medical brigade to Gaza
7. Earthquake alert issued for Chinandega
8. Casa Maternas to benefit from Healthy Yards
 

1. Government decides not to declare emergency for drought

The government of President Daniel Ortega has decided not to declare a national state of emergency because of the drought affecting wide sectors of Nicaragua. Bayardo Arce, presidential advisor on economic issues, said that there are areas of the country where agricultural production is continuing at a normal pace and that the next harvest of the year which matures during the time of greatest rainfall is expected to be better than the first. “There are problems in the dry corridor and that is where we are helping out,” he said. At the beginning of the month the government announced that it is requesting additional funds from the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

Meanwhile, government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said that the government was providing food packets to the families in the dry corridor with malnourished children and pregnant mothers. She said that 85,000 children had been weighed so far with a finding of 4% suffering from malnutrition. She said that, while that was a substantial improvement from 2007 when the Ortega government took office, the authorities are not satisfied. She also said that the government had asked the Pan-American Health Organization to verify the numbers reported in the study. In other news, beans have dropped in price this week to US$0.96 per pound from a high of US$1.23 a few days ago. Merchants in Managua’s Eastern Market said that the harvest is coming in from parts of the country not affected by the drought. Last week the government was selling beans at US$0.85 at “people’s markets.”

Justo Pastor Mairena of the Union of Farmers and Ranchers in the Department of Matagalpa said that the small farmers with between one and ten head of cattle are suffering because there is not enough pasture for the cattle and the farmers’ bean crops, which could have been sold to purchase feed for the cattle, failed. Large ranchers are in zones outside the drought area or have moved their cattle there, he said, adding that UNAG is putting a program together under which the government and farmers groups will help small farmers plant protein-rich pasture to allow them save their cattle. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 21, 22; Informe Pastran, Aug. 25)

2. Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras sign development accord for Gulf of Fonseca

After a long session of negotiations in Managua, Presidents Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Salvador Sanchez Cerén of El Salvador, and Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras on Aug. 25 agreed to a series of cooperative proposals, read by Ortega, for the Gulf of Fonseca, a body of water shared by the three countries. Sanchez Cerén said, “We are now moving to work on development projects that will impact the fight against poverty, generate more opportunities for the population, and guarantee security.” The projects include tourism, infrastructure, agroindustry, renewable energy, and transportation. A ferry is planned that would visit the ports of the three countries in or near the Gulf and the three presidents said that they would contact international financial institutions to obtain financing for the various development projects and also include the private sector. Hernandez said that, “From today on, with this declaration, instead of the Gulf being a focus of conflict, it is a place of union.”

While La Prensa headlined that it was just another meeting to plan “more castles in the air,” environmentalist Jaime Incer Barquero said that it could bring further development of tourism, transportation and trade. Incer said that the Gulf of Fonseca is an area that is very rich in biodiversity, including migratory song birds which visit in the northern winter, and other resources, including fisheries, which need to be managed to benefit the population of the zone. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug.26; La Prensa, Aug. 26)

3. Gallup rates Nicaragua and Panama highest in “perceived security”

On Aug. 19, Gallup released its annual Law and Order Index which rated Nicaragua and Panama with the highest levels of perceived security in Latin America, followed by Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Jamaica. Three indicators are measured in the poll: number of thefts, perceived security, and confidence in the police. That was the good news for Nicaragua and Panama. The bad news was that residents of Latin America and the Caribbean were the least likely among all global regions in 2013 to feel secure in their communities. [Strangely, Syrians, where a civil war has raged for several years, felt more secure than Bolivians, reflecting obviously differing standards of “security.”] Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, DC, said that in Nicaragua, in spite it of being one of the poorest countries in the region, the local authorities are well respected for maintaining order. He noted that Ecuador had shown the most improvement while Panama was an example of an economy producing an increasing number of jobs. Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa attributed his country’s improvement to “success in fighting crime, gun control, judicial autonomy and campaigns to jail the most dangerous criminals.” According to the Regional Human Development Report of the UN Development Program (UNDP), Nicaragua now has one of the lowest homicide rates in the region with 8.7 murders per 100,000 people.

Meanwhile the National Police reported that so far this year, 66,818 crimes have been reported in Nicaragua, including 358 violent deaths. Commissioner Francisco Diaz said that in 63 of Nicaragua’s 153 municipalities no violent deaths were reported at all. He stated that crime levels had declined compared to this time last year when 73,470 crimes had been reported. However, La Prensa highlighted thefts from tourists in San Juan del Sur and noted that the Ministry of Tourism has scheduled a meeting this week of the police, the mayor’s office, and tourism businesses to address the issue. Minister of Tourism Mayra Salinas said that businesspeople are proposing increasing the number of tourism police officers as well as training more volunteer police. (Gallup World, Aug. 19, http://www.gallup.com/poll/175082/latin-america-scores-lowest-security.aspx; El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 22; Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 22, 25; La Prensa, Aug. 22)

4. Nicaragua called a “green energy powerhouse;” rural energy promoted

On Aug. 22, McClatchy news service published an article on what it called “Nicaragua’s latest revolution” noting that the country was “becoming a green energy powerhouse.” The article, by Tim Johnson, begins by asking, “How quickly can a nation wean itself from fossil fuels and move toward reliance on renewable energy?” and answers the question by saying, “In the case of Nicaragua, it can move very, very fast.” The article calls “breathtaking” the speed at which Nicaragua embraced private renewable energy plants and emerged in less than a decade from an energy crisis of constant half day blackouts. The country tapped its geographical advantages, the article notes, adding, “It is a land of steady winds, huge lakes, tropical sun and rumbling volcanoes.” In 2005, the National Assembly passed a measure permitting giving a tax holiday to renewable energy companies and permitting them to import equipment and machinery duty free. Then, Johnson writes, “Private capital poured in. Wind parks mushroomed. Sugar producers built plants to turn sugarcane stalks into fuel. U.S. and Canadian companies explored heat reservoirs around volcanoes.”  He quotes Lal Marandin, a French renewable energy consultant as noting that private companies with the tax incentives “pushed hard and the leftist government of Sandinista President Daniel Ortega did not get in the way. Indeed, perhaps concerned over the nation’s reliance on Venezuelan oil, the Ortega government opened doors further.” Lizeth Zuniga, director of the Renewable Energy Association of Nicaragua, said, “Other countries evolved gradually. Nicaragua just leaped ahead.”

Ram Power of Canada is investing US$1.5 billion in the San Jacinto geothermal plant between the Telica and Rota volcanoes. It now produces 10% of the country’s energy needs and if it reaches its full capacity of 72 megawatts of electricity it will save 889,551 barrels of oil annually along with 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions that would have gone into the atmosphere. “The whole point of geothermal is that it’s, like, zero footprint,” said Steven Scott of Ram Power. Another 15% of Nicaragua’s energy now comes from wind power. Cesar Zamora of IC Power, which operates two wind parks in Nicaragua, said “The quality of the wind is one of the best in the world. It’s not turbulent. It is constant and stable.” Hydroelectric and biomass are also moving quickly. Sergio Dayan Rios of MLR, which is building a hydro plant near Matagalpa, said, “You’ve been creating an investment snowball. Every year, there’s more and more investment. He added that new projects bring up-to-date technology. Two large plants using biomass waste from the country’s sugar cane processing plants have come on line and two more are in the works, according to Marandin. “It’s going to overtake wind,” he said. Javier Chamorro of Pro Nicaragua, the government’s investment promotion agency, told Johnson that last year Nicaragua generated 51% of its electricity from renewables. That figure is 13% for the United States. (McClatchy, Aug. 22: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/08/22/237408/nicaraguas-latest-revolution-becoming.html)

Meanwhile, the National Assembly authorized the executive branch to negotiate a loan from the European Investment Bank for €10.8 million (US$14.3 million) to develop energy projects in 3,000 rural communities of the country, including the Caribbean Coast. Jenny Martinez, chair of the Infrastructure Committee, said that 301,000 households would benefit from the effort which would elevate the percentage of rural households with electricity from 64% to 86%. (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 20)

Also last week, the VI Latin American and Caribbean Seminar on Energy Efficiency, held in Managua, brought together government officials and private industry representatives from the 27 countries that are members of the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) to exchange experiences relative to the saving of energy. Among the measures discussed were use of low watt light bulbs and energy efficient public transportation vehicles along with opportunities for financing national energy efficiency measures. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 21; La Prensa, Aug. 20)

5. Tumarin & Boboke hydroelectric plants confirmed

In other energy news, the government announced that the consortium of Brazilian companies known as CHN will finally begin work on the Tumarin hydroelectric project on the Rio Grande de Matagalpa and will increase their investment by US$245 million to also build a dam and electricity generating plant at Boboke on the Tuma River, bringing the total investment to US$1,345 million for both projects. The planning for a hydroelectric plant at Tumarin dates back to the Somoza years when the project was known as Copalar. During the years of the Sandinista Revolution, socialist bloc countries were interested but the contra war in that part of the country caused the suspension of the project. Under President Enrique Bolaños it was taken up again but did not have support in the National Assembly. In 2007, President Daniel Ortega first approached Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who sent a technical team to do a feasibility study and the project has appeared ready to lift off several times since then.

Signing the new agreement were Nicaraguan government representatives, representatives of the Brazilian companies Queiroz Galvao and Electrobras, a representative of the Brazilian embassy, and a representative of the Spanish electricity distribution company Disnorte-Dissur. Ortega said the construction of Tumarin would begin in 2015 and be completed in 2019 and supply 21% of Nicaragua’s electricity. He said that discussions with the affected households about purchase of their property would begin now. He promised that they would have a better life in their new communities and that the surrounding area would be reforested. Financing for the project comes from Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) in the form of a US$342 million loan and from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) with a US$252 million loan. Funding is also being sought from the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 23; Informe Pastran, Aug. 22, 25)

6. Nicaragua may send medical brigade to Gaza

President Daniel Ortega announced Tuesday during the 35^th anniversary celebration of the formation of the Army Medical Corps, that he is considering sending a small medical brigade to Gaza to provide treatment for Palestinians injured by Israeli attacks. “I believe we can arrange a medical brigade that can enter Gaza through Egypt and provide medical service as a sign of the solidarity of the Nicaraguan people with the people of Palestine,” Ortega said. He said that both the Palestinian and Israeli people have rights, “we know that; we recognize that.” He described Israel’s latest attack as “part of the Third World War denounced by Pope Francis on Monday. “ The president said, “The Pope is right. The third world war that we have seen, that we are suffering, is happening in all these countries. The paths of dialogue, negotiation, of respect for institutions have not been sought, but [the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq] were launched as an adventure, believing that it was going to go easy, that they would have under control all these countries.”

The Alliance for Global Justice has launched Friends of the Palestine Red Crescent Society to provide a legal, tax-deductible way for US residents to contribute emergency medical aid, refugee services and rebuilding of medical infrastructure destroyed by Israel’s attack on Gaza. Go to http://friendsprcs.org/#/en. (Radio La Primerisima, Aug. 19; La Prensa, Aug. 20; Informe Pastran, Aug. 20)

7. Earthquake alert issued for Chinandega

The government issued an earthquake alert for Estero Real, Chinandega, which lies between the San Cristobal and Cosigüina volcanos. Light tremors between 1.2 and 3.7 on the Richter scale have been happening recently. Tremblers in Managua between the Apoyeque and Momotombo volcanos measuring less than 2.0, and a 1.7 Richter quake 4.2 kilometers deep between the Nindiri and Masaya volcanos have triggered increased vigilance. INETER scientist Wilfried Strauch attributed the quakes to subterranean movements of magma. He urged the residents of Chinandega to prepare for a possible major quake. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said that seismic activity is normal around Mateare, Momotombo, Masaya and Astillero, but that the government is following the situation closely. Russia has donated a US$6 million mobile center of operations for disaster relief which includes medical and communications equipment to respond to natural disasters. (Informe Pastran, Aug. 25)

8. Casa Maternas to benefit from Healthy Yards

The Sandinista government last week launched the “Healthy Yard” program at all the government run casas maternas (maternity waiting homes) in the country. To provide needed nutrition to casa materna residents, the gardens will include fruits and vegetables including spinach, onions, beets, eggplant, papaya, ginger, etc. and some casa materna’s gardens will include medicinal herbs to promote natural medicine. The Ministries of Health and Family Economy have already launched Healthy Yards at casas maternas in Tipitapa, Boaco, Mateare, and Leon.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized casas maternas as a factor in the reduction of maternal mortality in Nicaragua. In 2005 maternal mortality was 85 per 100,000 live births. That number fell to 50.6 in 2012. In 2005 only 34.7% of pregnant women received prenatal care, a figure that topped 55.8% in 2012. Women can live in the casa materna for two weeks days prior to delivery. They have access to doctors as well as training in nutrition and hygiene for themselves and their infants. There are currently 107 maternity waiting homes in Nicaragua, most of them government-run. (El Nuevo Diario, Aug. 25; Informe Pastran, Aug. 19, 25)