Nicaragua Network

1. Poverty rates continue to decline
2. Violence at El Limon leaves one police officer dead; blockade continues
3. Rancho Grande gold mining concession cancelled based on environmental impact
4. Former sugar cane workers protest violently in Chichigalpa
5. New US ambassador Laura Dogu presents credentials
6. Day of Indigenous and Black Resistance celebrated
7. Remittances and GDP poised to set new records
8. Government to build new sports complex

1. Poverty rates continue to decline

The Nicaraguan Central Bank and the World Bank presented the results of the 2014 Household Study to Measure Standard of Living which showed that Nicaragua’s poverty rates continue to decline. The study, carried out by the National Institute for Development Information with the assistance of the World Bank, indicated that moderate poverty had declined from 42.5% of households in 2009 to 29.6% of households in 2014, while extreme poverty had declined from 14.6% of households in 2009 to 8.3% of households in 2014. Managua had the lowest moderate poverty rate at 11.6%, followed by the Pacific region at 18.5%, the Caribbean Coast with 39%, and the central region with the highest rate of poverty at 44.4%. Seventy percent of Nicaraguan households are classified as “not poor.” The study surveyed 7,570 households in all regions of Nicaragua between September and December 2014.

Central Bank President Ovidio Reyes said that government efforts to reduce poverty through its social and economic programs had contributed to the improved figures. Carlos Sobrado, a specialist in measuring poverty levels with the World Bank, agreed that the government policies had contributed along with a reduction in the number of members in each household, an increase in family remittances from abroad, and an increase in wages. In 2005, the average Nicaraguan family had 5.2 people while that dropped to 4.37 in 2014. In 1992, Nicaraguan women had an average of 4.5 children while in 2013 the average was 2.5 children. (In the 1960s, the average was 7.3 per women.)

The World Bank added that in the past six years there had been an increase per capita in consumption of food, personal items, and durable goods and more use of transportation as well as more access to housing, health care and education. The number of cars and small trucks increased from 233,200 in 2009 to 276,200 in 2014 while the number of motorcycles increased massively from 86,300 to 207,000 in the same period. World Bank representative Luis Constantino said, “They are very positive results; poverty is being reduced at two percent per year. Extreme poverty is very difficult to reduce and here very substantial achievements were made.” He said that the school meal program and school back pack programs should be continued and extended because both these programs help to keep children in school. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 6, 7, 12; Informe Pastran, Oct. 6, 7, 8, 9; Nicaragua News, Oct. 7, 8; http://www.inide.gob.ni/Emnv/Emnv14/RESULTADOS%20DE%20POBREZA%202014%20I%20INIDE.pdf, http://www.inide.gob.ni/Emnv/Emnv14/RESULTADOS%20DE%20POBREZA%202014%20II%20Banco%20Mundial.pdf)

2. Violence at El Limon leaves one police officer dead; blockade continues

Schools were closed and grocery stores were out of food in El Limon in the municipality of Malpasillo, Department of Leon, on Monday, Oct. 12, after 16 days of protests by mine workers and others. Ten people were indicted on Oct. 10 for the violence on Oct. 6 that left one police officer dead, 31 people injured (including 8 civilians and 23 police), the police station burned, and several vehicles belonging to the police and the B2Gold mining company damaged. A blockade of the mine and protests began on Sept. 28 after the Labor Ministry approved the firing “for just cause” of three mine workers.

The B2Gold Company states that it employs 800 people and provides electricity to more than 8,000 people, potable water to five communities, and financing for 100 small businesses. Mine manager Martin Esparza said that the company has lost approximately US$4.5 million since it has cut back and later suspended operations. The 800 workers employed by the company have lost US$500,000 in wages, he said.

There has been a series of conflicts between mine management and the Pedro Roque Workers Union at the mine in recent years and a union leader, Humberto Rivas, was one of those recently fired. He has been detained and the union has threatened to damage the mine if he is not released. Other unions disagree with these tactics. Donaldo Rivera of the Democratic Union of B2Gold Workers said, “The worst error that the strikers committed was to try to drown the subterranean pumping system of the mine because this company is the only source of jobs that we have in this community.” Meanwhile, national union federations have asked for dialogue. Jose Espinoza of the Confederation of Trade Union Unification (CUS) and Miguel Ruiz of the Jose Benito Escobar Sandinista Workers Confederation (CST-JBE) said that they represented 75% of the workers at the El Limon mine and supported dialogue and called on the company not to stop operations. Ruiz said, “We call for dialogue in order not to put in danger the lives of the workers considering that we already have one police officer dead.”

While the press quotes locals in El Limon as lamenting the loss of income and the paralysis of activities in the community, the protesters have held at least two marches with hundreds of participants. Carlos Guadamuz of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) said that the population is worried about the protests but does support demands for improved labor conditions at the mine. The Superior Council on Private Enterprise (COSEP) and the Mining Chamber of Nicaragua (CAMINIC) suggested on Oct. 8 that the three fired workers be offered compensation in order to keep the situation from getting out of control even though the workers had been justly fired. In his sermon on Sunday, Oct. 11, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes said, “Only when the parties sit down and talk and come to an agreement, will we arrive at a solution. To that end I am invoking the Holy Spirit.” (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12; Informe Pastran, Oct. 6, 8)

3. Rancho Grande gold mining concession cancelled based on environmental impact

On Oct. 12, Sandinista government communications coordinator Rosario Murillo announced that the Canadian B2Gold Mining Company will not be allowed to move forward with plans for a gold mine at Rancho Grande in the Department of Matagalpa. She said that the conclusions of experts from the Ministry of the Environment were that it would cause a negative impact on the environment, including water sources, and would negatively affect the lives of the nearby population. She added that, “We inherited a series of concessions that we have subjected to investigations into their environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural impacts.” The MINESA Company discovered a rich vein of gold there in 2003 but sold its concession to B2Gold in 2011. Matagalpa Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who has supported protests against the mining concession, said, “Peasant farmers from several places near there have already sent me messages giving thanks to God,” and he added, “I believe that on this occasion the government has respected the will of the people and heard their pleas.”

The municipality of Rancho Grande has nearly 50,000 inhabitants, of which 90% make their living farming the land, raising coffee, cacao, corn, beans, rice, taro root, cassava root, fruits, and vegetables. It is one of the zones with the highest production of cacao for export and also is the site of Peñas Blancas Nature Reserve which forms part of the UNESCO Bosawas Biosphere Reserve. (Informe Pastran, Oct. 12; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 12)

4. Former sugar cane workers protest violently in Chichigalpa

Fifteen people were charged with vandalism, violence, and chaos on Oct. 12 after a riot in Chichigalpa, Department of Chinandega, on Oct. 7 in which four police officers were injured. Former sugar cane workers, members of the Movement of Sufferers from Chronic Renal Insufficiency, carried out a protest in front of the factory where Flor de Caña rum is made after the group’s leader Luis Roberto Nicoya was arrested by police who discovered him carrying 40 Molotov cocktails. [Sugar cane field workers throughout Central America and in other regions suffer in large numbers from kidney disease.] When the police removed them they attacked a gasoline station nearby, looting food and drinks, destroying the ATM, and breaking the windows of a car parked nearby. The mob went on to attack eight municipal offices including the mayor’s office, the Civil Registry, and the City Council where they burned all the records in the human resources office. The next day banks and schools were closed and the police were able to recover some of the goods stolen from offices and from the gas station.

The board of directors of the Chichigalpa Association for Life (ASOCHIVIDA) which represents over 2,400 sufferers from Chronic Renal Insufficiency, their family members, and survivors, issued a communique saying: “We had nothing to do with the events that occurred in our city of Chichigalpa on October 7, 2015, and we repudiate all vandalism and violence that affects the peace and progress of our city. For that reason we ask that ASOCHIVIDA not be mentioned as having any relation to the group that carried out the violent protest.” The group said that as a result of agreements reached with Nicaragua Sugar Estates since 2008, it has “achieved assistance that has contributed to better standards of living for the members and their families.”

Former Police Commissioner Francisco Lara told Channel 12 news that there have been violent disturbances such as those in Chichigalpa and El Limon before but the protestors in these two recent cases used hundreds of homemade bombs and mortars to attack the police and public buildings. He asked who paid for the materials to make the weapons and where they bought those materials. Informe Pastran’s headline asked “Who provoked the rebellion?” (Informe Pastran, Oct. 8, 12; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 8, 9, 10, 11)

5. New US ambassador Laura Dogu presents credentials

Shortly after presenting her credentials as the new US Ambassador to Nicaragua to Foreign Minister Samuel Santos, Laura Dogu held a press conference at the US Embassy in which she said that the US wanted a bilateral relationship based “on a dialogue of mutual respect.” She said that the policy of President Barack Obama was that countries do not benefit when policies are rigidly based on things that happened before the majority of us were born, and “when we can promote shared interests we will do that and when we are in disagreement we will express those differences directly.” She said that she and her husband had arrived in Nicaragua the previous week and “Really, we have enjoyed our first week.” She posted photos on the Embassy Twitter site of herself making purchases at the Roberto Huembes Market and drinking Nicaraguan coffee on International Coffee Day, Oct. 1.

Dogu noted that “exports from Nicaragua to the United States have increased 160% since the implementation of CAFTA.” She said that she would work to facilitate visas for business trips to the US and to shorten the wait time for all visa appointments. She stated that she was particularly interested in promoting opportunities for businesswomen and for women in general. She added that that the US would continue to work closely with the Nicaraguan Police to stop human trafficking and the international trafficking in drugs and arms. She noted also that “The United States and other countries have expressed their concern about the state of democracy in Nicaragua.”

Dogu met with the board of directors of the American-Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM). Roberto Sanson of AMCHAM said that his organization was interested in strengthening commercial relations with US companies and increasing Nicaraguan exports to the US. He also said that Nicaraguan producers wanted to review tariff provisions in the framework of CAFTA with an eye to helping Nicaraguan farmers confront the upcoming end of tariffs on imports of certain US products [such as heavily subsidized US rice]. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 7, 9; Informe Pastran, Oct. 6, 9)

6. Day of Indigenous and Black Resistance celebrated

The National Assembly celebrated October 12 as the Day of Indigenous and Black Resistance with a cultural-political program. Ambassadors from Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina, and the President of the American Parliament of Indigenous Peoples participated. Deputy Loria Dixon recognized 523 years of struggle and highlighted legislative advances on the rights of indigenous and African-descended people. She said, “Before 1987 we did not even exist in our own country because the Constitution didn’t recognize us.” She added, “We reaffirm our commitment with the Nicaraguan people to maintain the constant struggle for the recovery of our rights, to combat poverty, injustice, and racial discrimination, as well as for the care of Mother Earth.” She credited President Daniel Ortega and the late Carlos Nuñez Tellez for recognizing in the constitution that the nation is multi-ethnic.

Sandinista caucus head Edwin Castro said that the occasion was an emotional one because “we are a people in permanent struggle toward the common welfare, the common good of our people.” Sandinista Deputy Arturo Valdez, who represents the South Caribbean Autonomous Region, noted that the date commemorates the continuing struggle by the original peoples for recognition of their rights and praised the government for granting communal titles in the autonomous regions and for bringing social and economic programs to those regions. (Informe Pastran, Oct. 12; El Digital 19, Oct. 12)

7. Remittances and GDP poised to set new records

Family remittances from relatives living abroad rose 4.7% in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2014 bringing US$775.8 million into the economy according to the Nicaragua Central Bank (BCN). The bank attributed the increase to the improving global economy. The US (56.6%), Costa Rica (23%), and Spain (5.9%) are the main countries from which Nicaraguans send money home. “Remittances constitute an important source of income for many families, the majority of whom use them to pay for food and clothing,” explained economist Alberto Ramirez. He said they are a positive factor for internal consumption and economic dynamism. He said it is possible that this year Nicaraguans will receive US$1.2 billion from family members working abroad. Last year remittances set a new record growing 5.3% over 2013, so this year would maintain that growth. Remittances make up 9.8% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Nicaragua’s GDP for 2014 was nearly US$11.3 billion. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 6)

8. Government to build new sports complex

Rosario Murillo, coordinator of communications for the Sandinista government, announced that a new sports complex will be built in Managua. It will include two Olympic size swimming pools and courts for basketball, volleyball and soccer. It will be completed by the end of next year and will be used during the 2017 Central America Games. “We want to promote a healthy and drug-free youth with better opportunities for all,” she said. The sports complex will be to the west of the Foreign Ministry building and will be part of the Luis Alfonso Velazquez Park. The 15 acre area is next to a memorial to the people lost in the 1931 and 1972 earthquakes. (Nicaragua News, Oct. 6; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 6)