Nicaragua Network

1. Officers involved in Las Jagüitas operation plead guilty, ask for forgiveness
2. Managua begins celebration of its patron Santo Domingo with an environmental theme
3. International briefs: property waiver, new ambassador, creativity index, IMF, anniversaries
4. Economic briefs: Moody’s rating, cattle smuggling, drought, FTZs, tourism
5. Social issues briefs: diabetes, gender-based violence, human trafficking, birth registration, technical education

1. Officers involved in Las Jagüitas operation plead guilty, ask for forgiveness

The nine police officers involved in the Managua drug operation that went disastrously wrong on July 11^th pleaded guilty on July 23 to a list of charges. In the incident, the police, who were on the lookout for a particular vehicle transporting cocaine in the Las Jagüitas neighborhood, shot into a similar car carrying a family returning from a religious service, killing two children and one adult and wounding two children.

Four, including the officer in charge of the operation, were charged with reckless homicide. Other charges included reckless injury, exposing persons to danger, and material damages. The prosecution asked for four years for each victim for reckless homicide, three years for each victim of reckless injury, two years for each case of exposing persons to danger, plus other penalties for damages. The defense asked for the minimum sentences that would be six months to a year for each offense. Because the officers pleaded guilty, there will be no trial and they will be sentenced on July 29. The proceeding is being held in a local court at which level the maximum penalty can be only five years per count. Lawyers for family members asked for the sentences to be served consecutively rather than concurrently.

Each of the officers involved spoke and accepted his guilt saying that the operation was an error and that they did not intend to kill the victims. They asked for forgiveness from the family and the public. Capitan Zacarias Salgado, who was the officer in charge, said the National Police was set up to protect the citizens and not to cause them damage. However, Yelka Ramirez, mother of the two children and sister of the woman who were killed, said, “If they believe that by asking for forgiveness they can return my children and my sister to me, no! I want the maximum penalty for them…. They have to pay!”  

Meanwhile, Miriam Guzman, the five year old girl who was severely wounded in the incident, is recovering satisfactorily from a delicate operation on her intestines, according to doctors at La Mascota Children’s Hospital. Dr. Felix Sanchez said that she is being constantly monitored to be sure that there is no post-operative complication from the surgery. (El Nuevo Diario, July 22, 23, 24; Informe Pastran, July 22, 23)

2. Managua begins celebration of its patron Santo Domingo with an environmental theme

Residents of Managua began celebrations of the city’s patron saint, Saint Dominick of Guzman (Santo Domingo de Guzman), with the naming of Managua Mayor Daysi Torres as the overseer of the celebration and the traditional “cleaning of the route” that the tiny statue of the saint will travel from the Sierras de Managua into the city. On July 22, Fr. Boanerges Carballo, pastor of the Church of Santo Domingo de las Sierritas, gave Mayor Torres a copy of Pope Francis’ recent encyclical Laudato Si in which he reiterates the responsibility to protect the earth, which he calls our common home. Carballo said that the cleaning of the route on July 26 has an ecological meaning in that we should keep the city free of garbage and care for the environment. Torres said that Pope Francis “invites us to remember that God gave us this house for us to take care of it, for us to love one another, and to have faith, hope and love.”

The statue of the saint will be carried out of the church just past eight in the morning on Aug. 1^st on a float covered with flowers. Jose Alarcon, president of the Committee of Traditional Carriers St. Dominick, said that 150 men and women will rotate in carrying the image down to Managua. “We maintain the tradition whatever happens, whether it be wind, rain, or sun,” he said, “because that is our devotion.” He has helped carry the statue for 44 years.

Some historians say that the devotion to St. Dominick and the various customs surrounding his feast day began in 1885 but others say that there are records of these celebrations as far back as 1852. The Red Cross announced that it had 120 volunteers and 12 ambulances ready for the crowds that will attend the various celebrations between now and August 10^th when the statue will be returned from the city to its home in the Sierritas de Managua. (El Nuevo Diario, July 23, 27; La Prensa, July 22)

3. International briefs: property waiver, new ambassador, creativity index, IMF, anniversaries

The announcement by the US Department of State of the issuing of the so-called “property waiver” for Nicaragua is expected by the end of this week. The waiver, which has been issued each year since 1996, states that progress has been made in resolving property disputes from the 1980s concerning US citizens and allows assistance to Nicaragua from the US to continue. [For background on this issue, read an interview with Nicaragua Network co-coordinator Chuck Kaufman in the Sept.-Oct. 2009 Nicaragua Monitor here:  http://www.nicanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/160-property-web.pdf] This year a high level mission from the State Department visited Managua and met with high level Nicaraguan government officials. Members of the mission expressed satisfaction with the advances made toward a resolution of the pending cases and said they hoped to be able to end the entire process in the near future. (Informe Pastran, July 22)

Meanwhile, Informe Pastran reports that the new US Ambassador to Nicaragua, Laura Farnsworth Dogu will arrive in Managua in September and that at the same time a number of other high level posts at the Embassy will be filled by new officers. The report goes on to say that, “This has generated speculation in the diplomatic corps that there will be a change in signals in the relationship between Washington and Managua with more accommodation and understanding.” (Informe Pastran, July 22)

The Global Creativity Index 2015 prepared by the University of Toronto and published on July 22, ranked Nicaragua as the most creative country in Central America and number 32 worldwide. Australia is the top ranked country, followed by the United States, New Zealand, Canada, and Denmark and Finland (tied for fifth place). The parameters of the study include talent (percentage of university graduates), technology (creation of new patents and investment in research and development) and tolerance (respect for ethnic and sexual diversity). The Global Creativity Index 2015 said creativity is closely related to economic development, competitiveness and prosperity of the countries covered in the study. (Nicaragua News, July 23; Informe Pastran, July 27; http://martinprosperity.org/content/the-global-creativity-index-2015/)

The International Monetary Fund said last week that conditions in Central America were “much better” but Mitsuhiro Furusawa said that, “The region must register faster growth and share income in a more equitable fashion.” The IMF noted that, in 2014, Nicaragua attracted the most private investment in the region and that the country maintained adequate reserves of international currencies, a good level of foreign direct investment and foreign remittances while presenting no fiscal risks. The analysis noted that only 5% of Nicaraguans express fears for their security while that number rises to 21% of Costa Ricans, 46% of Guatemalans, 48% of Hondurans, and 65% of Salvadorans. But the IMF said that Nicaragua must improve in the areas of payment of taxes, the ease of starting a business, protection of minority investors, and improvements in the banking system. The country that grew the most in Central America in 2014 was Panama at 6.1%, followed by Nicaragua at 4.5%. The annual growth rate for the Central American region as a whole was 3.7%. (Informe Pastran, July 24)

President Daniel Ortega sent greetings to Cuban leader Fidel Castro and President Raul Castro on the occasion of the 62^nd anniversary of the attack on the Moncada barracks which marked the beginning of the Cuban revolution. Ortega said, “With the examples of Fidel and Raul and that great people… we greet you on this July 26^th, when Cuba is writing new important pages of victories.” Nicaragua also marked the 232^nd anniversary of the birth of Liberator Simon Bolivar with ceremonies attended by the diplomatic corps accredited in Nicaragua along with Sandinista youth and high level Nicaraguan officials. Communications Coordinator Rosario Murillo also announced that, beginning on July 28, the Nicaraguan government would begin a series of activities to commemorate the birthday of the late president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. (El Nuevo Diario, July 24; Informe Pastran, July 24, 27)

4. Economic briefs: Moody’s rating, cattle smuggling, drought, FTZs, tourism

On July 10 Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Nicaragua’s ratings from B3 to B2 saying that, “given gradual but continuing positive changes in Nicaragua’s economy, the impact on its balance of payments and fiscal accounts, of even an extreme scenario in which loans under Petrocaribe agreement are no longer available, is more manageable.” Moody’s assumes that the likelihood of a disappearance of Petrocaribe loans (which Nicaragua uses for social spending and investments in small producers) is low and states that Nicaragua’s vulnerability to such an occurrence has diminished due in part to an upward trend in other foreign direct investment. The report also notes that Nicaragua’s “fiscal deficit is moderate in absolute and relative terms coming to 1.6% of GDP, with central government debt of 30.2% of GDP.” (Informe Pastran, July 23, 27; Moody’s Investors Service, https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-upgrades-Nicaraguas-ratings-to-B2-from-B3-with-a--PR_329831)

A cattle smuggling mystery has emerged in Nicaragua. Informe Pastran calls for Sherlock Holmes, but more appropriate might be Marshall Mat Dillon. The price of beef has risen precipitously and slaughterhouses blame it on a shortage of cattle for slaughter because so many heads of cattle are being illegally transported across the border for sale in Honduras. Meanwhile, cattle ranchers say they are being paid too little for their cattle and are refusing to sell to the slaughterhouses thus raising the price of beef even higher. Vice-President Omar Halleslevens said last week that the National Police, the Army and the Customs Service were all investigating the accusations. The Nicaraguan Chamber of Beef Exporters put paid ads in the daily newspapers saying that by its count 290,422 heads of cattle left Nicaragua as contraband in the past year. However, Informe Pastran notes that that would mean 33 steers per hour, 24 hours a day crossing the border which it notes is unlikely if not impossible. The government believes that such massive operations are probably not happening and that this dispute between the ranchers and the slaughterhouses and exporters should be resolved in talks between the private sector groups with the help of information provided by the authorities who are investigating the issue. (La Prensa, July 23; Informe Pastran, July 23, 24)

Agriculture Minister Eduardo Centeno said on July 27 that Nicaragua had an inventory of basic food products sufficient to last three months in case the current drought continues or another disaster occurs and that the amount of food is enough to prevent serious rises in the prices of basic products. He said that the country is going through its second consecutive year of drought which has particularly affected the most productive zones although the impact so far this season has been light. Denis Melendez of the National Risk Management Roundtable said that soils have a deficit in moisture because of 30 months of drought with only a few intervals of precipitation and that the next El Niño is predicted to be more severe. Drought affects more farmers in Nicaragua because only 4% have irrigation systems. Agriculture, besides feeding the population, represents 18% of Gross Domestic Product. (El Nuevo Diario, July 27; Informe Pastran, July 23; El Nuevo Diario, July 26)

The Nicaraguan government expects investment in the country’s Free Trade Zones to increase this year by US$300 million, a figure that is similar to increases in investment in previous years, according to Alvaro Baltodano, presidential delegate for investment. He said that textiles and garments, car chassis, medical equipment, and shoes continued to show dynamism. While textiles and garment assembly dropped last year by 5% after the loss of Trade Preference Levels (TPL) from the United States, Hansae recently announced it will increase its investment and Price Denim is developing thread production which will help to make up for the TPL loss. [TPL permitted Nicaragua to export to the US garments made with cloth or thread from outside the countries that were party to the DR-CAFTA trade agreement of 2005 duty free until December 31, 2014.] Yasaki is also increasing car chassis production. (El Nuevo Diario, July 26)

According to Leonardo Torres, president of Nicaraguan Chamber of Micro, Small and Medium Tourism Businesses, Nicaragua will have difficulty reaching its goals for this year in earnings from tourism. He explained that the Central Bank recently published a study that showed that the expenditures by tourists in the first quarter of this year fell by 4.1% when compared to the fourth quarter of last year. He said, “Last year we closed the year with US$445.5 million in earnings from tourism but this year I don’t know if we can reach US$450 million and we had hoped for US$500 million but if the expenditures per day continue like this and tourism drops, I see it as difficult.” (El Nuevo Diario, July 26)

5. Social issues briefs: diabetes, gender-based violence, human trafficking, birth registration, technical education

It appears that the contents of a bill in the National Assembly to address the spreading epidemic of diabetes will be incorporated into a more general law on all aspects of health. According to Liberal Deputy Wilfredo Navarro, the diabetes bill, if passed into law, would oblige the government to combat diabetes in a number of ways including forbidding the sale of sugary drinks and candy in the public schools. He would like to see it as a separate bill but Deputy Armando Herrera said that “It is almost a sure thing” that the diabetes measure will be part of the more general bill that will be discussed when members return from a recess. (El Nuevo Diario, July 22)

The Nicaragua Supreme Court and the National Police inaugurated a Gender Focused Forensic Research Course with support from the European Union. EU Cooperation Adviser Constanzo Bisogni, said there is a close working relationship with Nicaragua to strengthen prevention plans against gender based violence. "Interest on the part of government officials has been high. We are pleased with the successes achieved and we want to continue supporting the efforts by Nicaragua to deal with gender based violence" Bisogni said. (Nicaragua News, July 27)

JudgeAngela Davila of the Managua Criminal Court of Appeals said that judicial facilitators are being trained to properly administer the nation’s Comprehensive Anti-Human Trafficking Law. “We are strengthening capabilities to deal with this crime and provide comprehensive care and attention to victims,” she said. She also noted that facilitators will be working in marketplaces and neighborhoods, promoting greater awareness among the people about the importance of reporting this crime in its various manifestations. (Nicaragua News, July 24)

The Nicaragua government, with support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is implementing the “I exist (Yo existo) Campaign” to promote birth registrations at the government civil registrar offices. Philippe Barragne-Bigot, UNICEF representative in Nicaragua, stated that the campaign is contributing to the protection of children from child abuse, exploitation and human trafficking. In 2015, more than 7,000 children of the Northern Caribbean Autonomous Region had their births registered thanks to the campaign. (http://www.unicef.org/lac/media_30354.htm; Nicaragua News, July 23)

Telemaco Talavera, President of the National Council of Universities (CNU), said technical education in Nicaragua is a key component for inclusive economic development of the country. He added that the universities, the Ministry of Education, and municipal governments are working together to strengthen technical education nationwide. In recent years the number of Nicaraguan graduates in technical careers has grown from 17,000 to 27,000. (Nicaragua News, July 24)