Nicaragua Network

(This Bulletin covers two weeks—from Dec. 23 through Jan. 5.)

1. Confrontation between canal protesters and police on Christmas Eve leaves 21 injured
2. Nicaraguans celebrate Christmas and the New Year
3. Central Bank gives preliminary report on economic progress in 2014
4. Felipe Urrutia, singer, songwriter, and collector of Nicaragua’s traditional music dies
5. Electrification and affordable housing make gains in 2014
6. Indigenous Mayangna highlight continued threat to Bosawas Reserve
7. Nicaragua is a leader in green energy production
8. Cecocafen’s 17 years of service celebrated
9. Fortieth anniversary of Operation Victorious December marked

1. Confrontation between canal protesters and police on Christmas Eve leaves 21 injured

Violence broke out at dawn on Christmas Eve when police ordered anti canal protesters to leave the roadway they had blocked for several days at El Tule, kilometer 260 on the Managua-San Carlos highway. When the protesters refused to leave, the police began to remove them by force. In the face of tear gas, the majority disbursed but about 100 persons regrouped and attacked the police with firearms, machetes, stones and sticks injuring one police officer critically with a bullet in his right lung. Police responded with more tear gas and rubber bullets, arresting 33 people [later reports said 44]. A total of 21 people were injured, 15 of whom were police officers and six were protesters.

The protesters said they opposed selling their properties along the route of the planned shipping canal across Nicaragua. Denis Baez of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) said that the peasant farmers had stopped traffic peacefully while explaining to travelers the reasons for their protest. Auxiliary Bishop of Managua Silvio Baez said on Twitter, “As a sign of good will on the night Jesus was born, those detained for protesting against the canal should be freed.” Protesters did spend Christmas Day in jail but groups were freed beginning Dec. 26 with the last ones gaining their freedom on Dec. 30.

Several days earlier, on Dec. 21, Belgian photographer and filmmaker Michele Sennesael was arrested at El Tule where she was taking photographs of the protests. The next day she was deported. She said that authorities took her cameras, computer, and telephone which she valued at €10,000. She spent the night in detention and was taken to the airport where she was met by the head of the General Directorate of Migration who said he did not know why she was being deported.

On Dec. 24, Wang Jing, president of the HKND Group which holds the concession to build the canal, when asked which investors would finance the project, said that they would be revealed when HKND was open to investment on a stock market which he said would “not necessarily be in China because we are in a global financial market.” He said that he had already spent US$200 million of his own funds on the project. That same day, Bayardo Arce, economic advisor to President Daniel Ortega, said he recognized that there was fear on the part of some that the canal could be started but not finished. But, he reasoned, “In the hypothetical case that they only build the ports and the roads, that in itself would be an enormous gain for the country.”

On Dec. 27 and 28, Telemaco Talavera, spokesperson for the Grand Canal Commission, met with communities on or near the canal route. On Saturday, Dec. 27, he met with residents of a number of communities at La Fonseca in the municipality of Nueva Guinea and the next day with the communities of Puerto Principe and La Union. At La Fonseca Talavera was given a petition with 25,000 signatures that leaders said were from the inhabitants of thirty communities where people believe they will be negatively affected by the canal. Talavera said at La Fonseca that the canal route is planned for two kilometers south of the area which would mean that it would not be affected. However, he said that any person who had property on the canal route would be paid a just price for that property adding, “There will be no confiscations.” He listened to complaints and questions for three hours and accepted blame on the part of the Commission and the government for the lack of information. He said that he was willing to come and listen as many times as were necessary to answer all questions. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 24; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 24, 26, 28, 31; La Prensa, Dec. 28, Jan 3)

2. Nicaraguans celebrate Christmas and the New Year

For many people, Nicaraguan and foreigners, the holiday season was a time for travel. Nicaragua’s Directorate of Migration reported that between Dec. 20, 2014, and Jan. 1, 2015, there were a total of 198,000 border crossings into and out of Nicaragua, 48% of which were made by foreigners. By Dec. 23, the office reported that 50,000 Nicaraguans working in Costa Rica had returned home to spend the holidays with their families. The Ministry of Health reported that, over both Christmas and New Year’s, 168 people were burned by fireworks, most of them children. The National Police reported that fifteen people had died from unnatural causes over Christmas (including eight homicides, six traffic fatalities, and one death in a house fire). The celebrations of the New Year resulted in one homicide, one traffic fatality, and 25 people arrested for various crimes.

Government spokesperson and First Lady Rosario Murillo said that she and President Daniel Ortega hoped for Nicaraguan “brothers and sisters to celebrate this Christmas with thanksgiving in our hearts for the blessing that have been given to our land, our homes, and our families and the firm conviction that these blessings will continue to flow … with actions taken with a good heart, for the common good with love, Christianity, socialism, and solidarity.”

On the Sunday after Christmas, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua, married 80 couples in a two hour ceremony at the cathedral following mass. On Jan.1, thousands of Catholics participated in a traditional procession for peace led by Cardinal Brenes. In his sermon, Brenes called on all Nicaraguans to contribute their grains of salt to build peace, noting that it is not with violence that men and women bring stability to their nations. He said that the Church does not approve social inequalities and mistreatment of the poor and he criticized those who persecute immigrants.

The custom of “burning the old year” in the form of large dolls dressed in old clothes has spread around Nicaragua beginning about 50 years ago, apparently arriving from Ecuador. Many dolls are homemade but Mercedes Martinez was selling about 35 different dolls made in the Subtiaba neighborhood in Leon at her Managua market stall with the cheapest going for US$27 while the ones filled with fireworks were selling for US$33. (La Prensa, Dec. 23, Jan. 5; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 24, 28, Jan 1; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 27, 31, Jan. 1, 2)

3. Central Bank gives preliminary report on economic progress in 2014

The Central Bank reported on Dec. 31 that Nicaragua maintained a rhythm of positive economic growth during 2014 and even greater dynamism is expected for 2015. Bank President Ovidio Reyes said that Nicaraguan producers responded to increased foreign demand and improved terms of trade and that agricultural exports grew along with the country’s manufacturing industries. Exports through the third quarter reached US$2.2 billion while imports totaled US$4.4 billion marking a 3.4% drop in the country’s balance of trade deficit. Free trade zone exports, which occupy a separate category, grew to US$2 billion by the end of the third quarter, an increase of 8.7% over 2013 with the principal growth in garments and car chassis assembly. Reyes pointed out that the economy in 2014 was affected by the earthquakes of April and the severe drought during the first half of the rainy season. He said that the final growth figure for 2014 is expected to be between 4.0 and 4.5% with an inflation rate of between 6.5 and 7.5%.

Meanwhile tax revenues grew during 2014 compared to 2013. According to the Central Bank, third quarter tax revenues were 13.5% greater than at the same time last year. Remittances sent to families in Nicaragua by Nicaraguans working abroad totaled just over US$1billion by Nov. 30, an increase of 5.4% from the same time last year. Reyes said that he expected the end of year total to reach US$1.15 billion, for an increase of 6%. That is 9.6% of the country’s GDP, which is expected to reach US$11.255 billion for 2014.

Nicaragua’s international currency reserves reached US$2.276 billion by the end of the year, up from US$1.99 billion in 2013. This is enough to cover 4.8 months of imports and “contributes to financial and macroeconomic stability,” according to the Central Bank. Meanwhile, the country’s foreign debt reached US$10.16 billion at the end of the third quarter, which represents 85.9% of GDP, according to the Central Bank. [The world average is 97.4%.] The public foreign debt to GDP ratio is 39.9%. However, the Bank stated, “If you deduct the pending relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC), the public debt to GDP drops to 32.3%.” Through the third quarter, Nicaragua had paid US$447.9 million on public and private debt and received US$604.2 million in new loans. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 31; La Prensa, Dec. 28, Jan. 2; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 31)

4. Felipe Urrutia, singer, songwriter, and collector of Nicaragua’s traditional music dies

The father of northern Nicaraguan folk music, Felipe Urrutia, died on Dec. 26 at his home in El Limon in the Department of Esteli just a month before his 97^th birthday.  While Don Felipe wrote some songs of his own, he was best known for recovering, singing, and recording traditional folk melodies including songs sung by the followers of Augusto Sandino in the north of Nicaragua in the 1920s and 30s. The name of his group, Don Felipe y Sus Cachorros (Don Felipe and his Pups), was first used by Carlos Mejia Godoy—who introduced him at a program which was recorded in 1984—because the group was composed of his sons, grandsons, nephews, grandsons, and later great grandsons. Mejia Godoy said Urrutia was “A man who carried the people in his heart.”

The National Assembly adopted a resolution honoring Urrutia for the cultural legacy that he left to his country and First Lady Rosario Murillo highlighted his musical contribution and his humble origins and called him a “tireless fighter for the Sandinista cause.” “We are all Don Felipe’s pups; we grew up hearing his voice,” she said. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 26, 27, 28; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 27, 28; La Prensa, Dec. 28, Jan. 1)

5. Electrification and affordable housing make gains in 2014

Presidential spokeswoman Rosario Murillo announced on her daily television show that 1,400 communities will receive electricity in 2015 and 2016, raising to 90% the number of Nicaraguans with access to electricity. When the government of President Daniel Ortega took office in 2007, only 54% of Nicaraguans had electricity. At the end of 2014, that percentage stood at 80.42% thanks to the National Program of Electrification put into place by the Sandinista government.

Meanwhile, in 2014, 5,000 families who lived in dangerous areas, health workers, other government employees, and others received homes from the government. An additional 2,000 homes were built for families whose houses were damaged or destroyed by the earthquakes and floods of 2014. Also, changes in the affordable housing law allowing government subsidies for mortgage interest rates for slightly more costly homes contributed to the dynamism of the economy of the country with the building of more homes for families, according to Judith Silva, president of the Urban and Rural Housing Institute. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 30, Jan. 3)

6. Indigenous Mayangna highlight continued threat to Bosawas Reserve

Leaders of several indigenous Mayangna communities reiterated their call for help to save the rain forests of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve from the depredations of armed invaders. Dani Taylor of a community on the Pis Pis River within the Bosawas said that 1,000 outsiders had invaded the reserve during this past year. He said that the invaders come armed, refuse to dialogue, and always threaten them. He said that they are destroying a zone that the indigenous inherited from their ancestors who taught them not to chop down the trees and to only satisfy their basic needs through hunting, fishing, and planting. The Bosawas Reserve (including the core of the Reserve and the buffer zone) covers 19,926 square kilometers, 15.25% of Nicaragua’s total land area. Forty thousand indigenous Miskitu and Mayangna live in the Reserve in 75 communities.

Francisco Castro of the Mayangna Matumbak Indigenous Territorial Government said that the government has sent police for several months at a time but then they leave and while “the Army supports us they need to increase the size of the Ecological Battalion to defend these natural riches.”

Denis Benitez of the Mayagna Sauni Arungka said that the indigenous feel thankful to the government for having given them the titles to their ancestral lands but he lamented that the colonizers have not been moved out. He said that two years ago they tried to sit down with some colonizers but came to no agreement. “They told us, ‘You have the titles but we have the land,’” Benitez explained. He continued, “Many [settlers] have lived here for years. If they respect the indigenous cosmovision they can stay but only if they reduce their land holdings and take care of our nature.”

One year ago, in the community of El Pantanal in the buffer zone of the Reserve, members of 134 families of colonizers sat down with Mayangna leaders to talk. Juan Angel Siles said, “We sat down to negotiate because for us it is better to live in peace and we know that the indigenous are the true owners of these lands.” These heads of households are demobilized combatants from the war of the 1980s who have left lands to the west that became unproductive. Siles said that the indigenous “have made us promise to protect the land and not exploit it without thinking of tomorrow.” Eliseo Taylor of the Tuahka Indigenous Territorial Government said that El Pantanal community shows that “indigenous and mestizos can live in peace.” He added, “Coexistence has been the best alternative with the people of this community who had occupied some of our land without permission but who know that they have to abide by our rules.” However, Epifania Soza, who received a parcel of land from the indigenous community, had her little house burned down last year by armed men who came through saying that the land now belonged to them. [The Nicaragua Network took a delegation in 2014 to visit the indigenous lands and the Bosawas Reserve. To read the report, go here: http://www.nicanet.org/?page=blog&id=26487 ] (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 26, 27)

7. Nicaragua is a leader in green energy production

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), in a December report, named Nicaragua as one of the seven leaders in “green energy” in Latin America. The report said, “Nicaragua is a renewable energy paradise in Central America.” ProNicaragua, the Nicaraguan agency for the promotion of investments and exports, highlighted that WWF cited Nicaragua for its transformation of electricity generation from oil to renewable sources. The report stated, “Its abundant resources allow this small country to boast great potential for hydropower, geothermal electricity and wind power. And it is already being exploited.” When the Sandinistas took office in 2007 renewable energy generation stood at 25%. In 2013 it surpassed 52%. Sixteen percent of Nicaragua’s electricity is provided by wind power, primarily in the area of Rivas on the Pacific. Fifteen percent is generated from geothermal activity at the San Jacinto Tizate and Momotombo plants, and 14% hydro electrical. Another 7% is produced by burning biomass left over from sugar production. The WWF called geothermal electricity production “the big success story” for Nicaragua since 20 years ago it was an untapped resource. It is projected that in 2017, Nicaragua will produce 90% of its electricity from renewable sources, further reducing its dependence on oil. Informe Climascopio 2013 ranked Nicaragua third behind Brazil and Chile as most attractive countries for clean energy investment. (El Nuevo, Dec. 31; Radio La Primerisima, Jan. 2; http://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/greenenergyleaders_final_online_version.pdf, p. 33)

8. Cecocafen’s 17 years of service celebrated

Cecocafen, the Coffee Cooperatives Central of the North, was celebrated for its 17 years of marketing service and promotion of coffee for peasant cooperatives in Matagalpa, Jinotega, and other northern departments. Many international solidarity delegations have visited its offices over the years. Cecocafen has helped small producers gain access to international markets and better prices which they keep rather than giving them to the middlemen who previously received the benefits. Last year, members of the 11 organic certified cooperatives comprising Cecocafen received US$679,000 in extra payments for their fair trade and organic coffee.

Citing Cecocafen’s commitment to the economic, social, and environmental health of the family, general manager Ivan Zelaya said, “The person and the family are the center of development.”  Cecocafen founder Pedro Haslam Mendoza said it has all been part of a process of building a permanent cooperative model in Nicaragua through which 3,000 small farmers in the north of the country have worked together to improve the quality of life in their rural communities. Ariel Bucardo, president of the National Commission of Cooperatives spoke at the celebration saying that cooperatives have overcome obstacles to the point where there are 1,100 in the country with a membership of 285,000 families. He pointed out that the sector has become a major generator of jobs. The manager of the Bank of Production (Banpro) branch in Matagalpa also spoke, saying that Cecocafen is one of the best organized cooperative federations in Nicaragua and the bank’s best client in the Department of Matagalpa. (El Nuevo Diario, Jan. 4)

9. Fortieth anniversary of Operation Victorious December marked

Dec. 27, 2014, marked the 40^th anniversary of the 1974 Sandinista action that gave Nicaraguans hope that the dictatorship of the Somoza family could eventually be overthrown. The action, formally named Diciembre Victorioso but usually known as “the taking of the house of Chema Castillo,” involved 13 guerrilla fighters who occupied the home of Dr. Jose Maria Castillo during a party for the US ambassador. The ambassador had already left the party but the group took hostage important Somoza government officials and relatives of the dictator in order to exchange them for political prisoners and money to finance the Sandinista struggle. Among the Sandinistas involved were three who later became heads of the Army: Joaquin Cuadra, Javier Carrion, and Omar Halleslevens, who now serves as vice-president. Among the prisoners freed was President Daniel Ortega.

The action marked the end of a period referred to as a time of “accumulation of forces” after serious losses beginning with the battle of Pancasan in 1967. Halleslevens said that the action was planned to break with the earlier period and directly confront the dictatorship. “Some say that with the action of Dec. 27, the society lost its fear,” he added.  Managua Archbishop (not yet cardinal) Miguel Obando served as mediator to negotiate the release of the hostages and the political prisoners and the departure of all the Sandinistas on a flight to Cuba. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 28; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 26, 27)