Nicaragua Network

1. National Assembly passes 2015 budget
2. Canal briefs: Wang Jing visits, bidding for roads vacated, canal supporters march, bishop speaks
3. Women march against violence in Managua
4. Four artisanal miners die in mine collapse
5. World AIDS Day marked in Nicaragua
6. Nicaragua to keep working to renew TPL
7. Economic briefs: roads, seafood, cattle and cruise ships
8. 1972 earthquake buildings inhabitants finally get homes of their own
9. Drought devastated farmers capture tarantulas for export

1. National Assembly passes 2015 budget

The National Assembly on Nov. 26 passed the budget for 2015 with only the 62 votes from the majority Sandinista deputies and the opposition voting “no”. The budget stipulates expenditures of US$2.3 billion, compared to US2.15 billion in 2014. Revenues for 2015 are expected to be US$2.12 billion, up from US$2 billion last year. The expected deficit for 2015 is US$220 million, up from US$142 million in 2014. The Ministry of Health will receive US$416 million, the Ministry of Education US$400 million and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure US$169 million, in each case an increase from 2014.

Opposition deputies said that there had not been enough consultation on the budget bill and that the Ortega government was prioritizing paying down the debt over health and education. However, Sandinista Deputy Walmaro Gutierrez said that, since the Sandinistas returned to power in 2007, the health and education sectors have seen their budgets increase significantly. He noted that teachers will receive a salary increase of 9%, health workers of 7% with a 5% raise for other government workers. One thousand new teachers, 600 health care workers and 600 police officers will be hired. The government electricity and transportation subsidies will continue. (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 27; Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 26; La Prensa, Nov. 26)

2. Canal briefs: Wang Jing visits, bidding for roads vacated, canal supporters march, bishop speaks

Chinese businessman Wang Jing, president of the HKND Company, which holds the concession for the inter-oceanic shipping canal planned for Nicaragua, visited Nicaragua last week and met with President Daniel Ortega. Government spokesperson Rosario Murillo confirmed the meeting saying that Wang Jing had come to “finalize details” for the beginning of construction of the canal. Also last week, Bill Wild, chief project advisor for HKND, held a press conference for the national and international media at which he said that the construction would begin simultaneously on the roads and ports on the Pacific and Caribbean Coasts. Wild, an Australian engineer, said that the project is one of the greatest challenges to engineering due to its dimensions, with locks twice the size of those of the Panama Canal, and its location. Referring to the latter, he said, “We confront great technical challenges, earthquakes, volcanoes, salinity, and lake levels.”

In related news, the bidding process for the roads on the Pacific and Caribbean sides of the canal route was declared void but it was speculated that HKND was negotiating with one of the bidders or that the description of the project had changed. Benjamin Lanzas, president of the Chamber of Construction, said that HKND could have decided to simply expand the existing roads to be able to handle the massive construction equipment scheduled to be used. Five Nicaraguan companies had submitted bids.

Supporters of the canal, including historic combatants of the FSLN, marched in the rain on Nov. 27 in Rivas. Professor Francisco Cuendis said that the canal can be the answer to poverty in Nicaragua. He called on those who live on the canal route to support the project because they will be beneficiaries of the jobs and development it will bring.

Since the Nov. 20 update on canal plans by HKND, there have been several articles on the subject in the international media. The article in the Daily Beast was hysterical, headlining “China’s Nicaragua Canal Could Spark a New Central America Revolution” while the article on the web page of the Smithsonian magazine highlighted environmental concerns, including: “Losses to endangered species such as Baird’s tapirs, spider monkeys, jaguars, harpy eagles and nesting sea turtles and water contamination in Lake Nicaragua.”

Bishop of Granada Jorge Solorzano said that the canal is causing both hope and worry and presents the danger that it may respond more to international interests than to national concerns. He stated, “Those who support the project see it as a possibility to help the country move out of poverty; those who oppose it, especially those who will be directly affected, see it as a threat to their land, their property, their families, and their future.” He added that, if the project does not give just remuneration for expropriated property or if the ecological damage is greater than the economic benefits, the Church will oppose it. But, if it leads to socioeconomic development, is positive for the country, and permits thousands of Nicaraguans move out of poverty while favoring technological development, then it will have the support of the Church, he said. (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 26; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 27, 28; La Prensa, Nov. 26, 30; Confidencial, Nov. 28; http://www.smithsonianmag.com/; http://www.thedailybeast.com/)

3. Women march against violence in Managua

Nicaraguan women marked the UN-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Nov. 25 with a march in Managua. Hundreds of women joined the march with signs that said “Not one death more!” and “Justice for women!” while other signs were painted with the names of women murdered during 2014. The march was organized to promote “the right of women to lives free from violence.” According to the National Police, 30 women have been murdered in Nicaragua so far this year but the organization Catholics for the Right to Choose put the figure at 61. The marchers issued a press release which accused the criminal justice system of not fully publishing information about violence against women and of complicity with the aggressors. They also condemned the regulations (issued in late July of this year) to Law 779 on violence against women which stipulated that for the murder of a women to be classified as a femicide [a hate crime against women] there had to exist a relationship between the victim and the aggressor. The women also said that the criminalization of therapeutic abortion condemned women and girls to continuing pregnancies that had often been the product of violence.

One day after the march two men were sentenced to long prison terms for femicide. (The maximum sentence in Nicaragua is 30 years.) Douglas Diaz was sentenced to 28 years for the murder of Claudia Davila and the wounding of Magaly Mercado in Ticuantepe. Norwin Miranda was sentenced to 25 years for the murder of his aunt Mercedes Reyes. (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 25; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 25, 27; La Prensa, Nov. 26)

4. Four artisanal miners die in mine collapse

Four artisanal miners died on Nov. 24 when a mine in the municipality of Chinandega collapsed on them. Nine small-scale miners had entered the mine looking for gold but, after they had made a cut into the side of the mine, tons of earth fell on four of the nine. The surviving miners were able to pull one of the four bodies out and the other three were removed later by heavy equipment. The dead were Victor Garcia, age 20; Felipe Corrales, 23; Freddy Escorcia, 22; and Ernest Salazar, 24. Fourteen lives have been lost this year in three separate mine collapses. Government spokesperson Rosario Murillo said that the government was working to find more possibilities for young people to earn a living with dignity without taking these risks in dangerous abandoned mines. (La Prensa, Nov. 26; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 26; Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 25)

5. World AIDS Day marked in Nicaragua

Nearly 500 people marched on Dec. 1 to mark World AIDS Day. They marched from Plaza de las Victorias to the National Engineering University where an AIDS awareness fair gave free tests for HIV and educated youth from Managua high schools and universities. According to the Ministry of Health, there have been 9,470 diagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS since the first victim in 1987 and 2,446 people with HIV are currently receiving treatment. In the first half of 2014, 577 new cases of HIV were diagnosed.  Expanded health services in the last six years and the global development of new treatments for those with HIV antibodies or full blown AIDS, have meant that many people with the illness are now living much longer with a better quality of life according to Dr. Guillermo Porras Cortes, president of the Nicaraguan Federation of Infectious Diseases. Fifty-two percent of new cases are men, 35% women, and 13% transsexuals. On the other hand, Porras criticized “timid” campaigns to educate the public about the disease and called for a more aggressive public education effort and free testing for the disease. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 1)

6. Nicaragua to keep working for TPL renewal

Presidential delegate for investments Alvaro Baltodano said last week that Nicaragua will not rest until the government of the United States approves a renewal of tariff preference level (TPL) legislation which permits Nicaragua to export duty free to the US garments made with cloth or thread from outside the countries party to the DR-CAFTA trade agreement of 2005. The preferences were set up to last ten years and will end on Dec. 31 of this year. The Nicaraguan Textile Industry Association estimates that 7,000 jobs could be lost in the free trade zone sector. Baltodano said that, while the subject may not come up in December, “next year they will be discussing these areas and the trade preference levels could come up then.” He said he would continue to work with local businesspeople and US factory owners to keep up the pressure on the US congress. He added that a total growth of between 10 and 20% in exports from the country’s free trade zones is expected for 2014 along with an increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country to US$1.5 billion for 2014 compared to US$1.43 billion last year.

Meanwhile, the Sandinista Workers Central (CST) announced on Nov. 26 that it had reached an agreement with garment assembly factories to reduce the number of jobs lost with the expiration of the TPL. CST leader Roberto Gonzalez said, “We have worked with these companies and we have agreed to protect … between 4,000 and 5,000 jobs of those that we believe could have been lost.” Some workers will be placed in different jobs, some production lines will be increased, and “we will take advantage of new investment,” he said. (La Prensa, Nov. 26; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 29)

7. Economic briefs: roads, seafood, cattle and cruise ships

The Inter-American Development Bank approved financing in the amount of US$61.5 million for the completion of the paved road that will unite the Pacific and Caribbean sides of the country. Government spokesperson Rosario Murillo said, “In all our history as an independent country, no government has been able to unify our country with a paved highway.” The funds will finance the completion of the final part of the highway from the village of Naciones Unidas to Bluefields, both in the South Caribbean Autonomous Region. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Pablo Martinez said that bids will open for 45 days and “in March and April we will hopefully be mobilizing machinery.” He said the road should be completed in 2017. (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 26; La Prensa, Nov 28)

In the Department of Nueva Segovia, which during most years produces 230,000 hundredweights of coffee, growers are complaining that the bad condition of the rural roads means that they have to pay to get their coffee out by oxcart or on the backs of mules.  This delays by several days the arrival at the processing plants of the coffee, with the beans still in the fruit, causing deterioration in its quality. Coffee cooperative member Pablo Medina said that Jalapa Mayor Alicia Andino and growers of the area recently met and decided that each would put in their part to repair the road to Buena Vista Chiquita. The municipality of Jalapa produces yearly 90,000 hundredweights of coffee on 9,500 acres. Meanwhile, grower Salvador Herrera of San Fernando said that if the mayor of that municipality doesn’t repair the roads there, “a lot of coffee will not get to market.”  Nicaragua is the Central American country with the fewest kilometers of roads: a total of 23,897 of which only 3,282 are paved. (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 26)

Nicaragua’s production of seafood increased this year by 34% over last year with seafood exports reaching over 69 million pounds, up 24% from last year with a value of over US$270 million.  Lobster production is up by 20% over last year; wild shrimp is up by 70%; farmed shrimp production up by 35%; and sea cucumber production increased by 76%. (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 29)

The beef and dairy industry grew this year by between 13 and 14%, according to Salvador Castillo, president of the Federation of Cattle Ranchers’ Associations (FAGANIC). He said that the country exports cattle on the hoof, beef, cheese, cream, leather, and other products with an expected total value this year of US$770 million, up from US$655 last year. He also reported that this year there has been a significant decline in cattle theft. (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 26)

Eight cruise ships have visited Nicaragua in the first two months of the 2014-2015 cruise season, up from six last year, according to Rodrigo Jerez, operations manager for Careli Tours. A total of 36 cruise ships are expected in the ports of Corinto and San Juan del Sur this season. The numbers have declined since 2011 when 48 ships visited Nicaragua. But the number of total cruise passenger visits has grown by 48% since 2007. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 1)

8. 1972 earthquake buildings inhabitants finally get homes of their own

On November 30, 450 families, who have lived for many years in buildings damaged by the 1972 earthquake in central Managua, received the keys to their new homes in the new Managua neighborhood of Ciudad Belen.  Four hundred more homes will be ready for occupancy by the end of the year with a total of 1,650 homes to be occupied by families by February 28. Dictator Anastasio Somoza’s theft of international aid money following the 1972 earthquake was the turning point when the middle class and international community began to turn against him leading to the Sandinista Revolution seven years later. Since his return to the presidency in 2007, President Daniel Ortega has been paying residents of the dangerous and unsightly buildings to tear them down in exchange for small, dignified homes of their own. Now, visitors to Managua, who were accustomed to the derelict buildings, are surprised by central Managua’s new skyline. (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 26, Dec. 1)

9. Drought devastated farmers capture tarantulas for export

After losing his entire harvest to the drought that affected Nicaragua from May to September, 27 year old Leonel, along with his aunt Sonia and cousin Juan, captured some 400 tarantulas in the forests of Terranoba in the Department of Matagalpa. They were able to sell the giant spiders to a breeder in Managua for a little over US$1 each, the price of a kilo of rice or a liter of milk. Leonel said, “The first time we went searching for tarantulas, we were a little afraid, but we were encouraged to capture them because of the drought to help us buy a little grain to eat.” They transported the spiders over 100 kilometers to Managua where, with the encouragement of the Environmental Ministry, an exotic animal exporter is breeding 7000 tarantulas for export. Owner Eduardo Lacayo said, “We think we can sell them at a better price than the boa constrictors” which sell for US$8 each.  (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 25)