TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2010
Nicaragua News Bulletin (February 16, 2010)
1. Liberals abandon amnesty for now and begin talks on government appointments2. Russian Foreign Minister visits Nicaragua
3. Development dilemma in the Bosawas Reserve
4. Indigenous government denounces settler violence
5. Government releases food security plan to respond to drought
6. Ministry of Education extends enrollment period through March 31
7. Supreme Court “unaffected' by government's arguments on therapeutic abortion
8. Opposition calls foul in Atlantic Coast elections
1. Liberals abandon amnesty for now and begin talks on government appointments
National Assembly deputies from the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) and the Nicaraguan Democratic Bench (BDN) gave up for the present their attempts to pass a law that would grant amnesty for any illegal acts to government officials who served under the administrations of Presidents Chamorro, Aleman, and Bolaños. The principal beneficiaries of the bill would have been former President Arnoldo Aleman of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) and Eduardo Montealegre of the “Let's Go with Eduardo” Movement (MVE), both of whom want to run for president in 2011 and currently have fraud charges hanging over them.
The Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) had prevented the Liberal factions from achieving the majority necessary to pass the amnesty bill saying that discussions on the nominations for 25 high government positions where the terms of office are expiring should come first and ALN leaders wanted three nominations from their party. According to Aleman and Montealegre, the Liberals now want to make the governing Sandinista Party recognize that together [with the ALN] they do have a majority in the Assembly and that election of the officials should be based on the so-called Metrocentro II Agreement. In that agreement, the PLC, the MVE, the ALN, and the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) agreed not to vote for the reelection of any of the magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Council.
Analysts differ in how they see the scenario developing. All appear to agree that the alliance of the ALN with the other Liberal Parties is uncertain. Sandinista Rafael Solis, a justice on the Supreme Court, said he believed that his party would negotiate with the ALN if the Aleman-Montealegre block remained wedded to the Metrocentro accord. And, he said, the FSLN wanted 14 or 15 of the 25 appointments (up from the 11 that it currently had). He said that at least three or four magistrates of the CSE should be reelected. He said he likes several of the candidates put forward by civil society groups, including even MRS figures. Oscar Castillo, Dean of the Law School at the Nicaraguan Polytechnic University, believes that Aleman will end up making another pact with the Sandinistas. Legal scholar Alejandro Serrano says, “The unity that has formed around who should NOT be chosen could break down in the search for consensus on who TO choose.” And when this happens, he says, the PLC could revive its pact with the FSLN because together, they have the required 56 votes to confirm the appointments. (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 11, 14)
2. Russian Foreign Minister visits Nicaragua
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a 24 hour visit to Nicaragua on Feb. 13, as part of a trip which also included visits to Cuba, Mexico and Guatemala. Lavrov met with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Foreign Minister Samuel Santos, and other government officials, donated books for the study of the Russian language to the Jesuit-run Central American University (UCA), and laid a wreath at the foot of the statue of Augusto Sandino at the National Stadium where he was given the keys to the city of Managua. At the meeting with Santos at the Foreign Ministry, the two men formally inaugurated a bilateral commission that will promote cooperation between the two countries, including in the fields of education, health, telecommunications and transportation projects, mine removal, and support in the fight against drug trafficking.
Speaking to the press after his meeting with Lavrov, Ortega noted that the Russian Federation was a very large country with an enormous population adding, “It is a great power and we have respectful relations. In this same way we would like to have respectful relations with a neighbor we have here to the north of us, the United States of America.”
Lavrov said that collaboration in the high technology field had begun, noting, “Already a joint Russian-Nicaraguan company is testing a wireless communication network of the fourth generation.” He said that Russia was interested in promoting “a multi-polar world, under the supremacy of international law, with a central role for the United Nations and a rejection of the use of force in international affairs.” (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 14)
3. Development dilemma in the Bosawas Reserve
The Nicaraguan government was set to disburse US$1.2 million this year to the Mayor's Office of Siuna in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) for projects in the Bosawas Nature Preserve. But concern over the project prompted National Assembly Deputy Agustín Jarquín Anaya, Chair of the Committee on Population, Development and Municipalities, to send a letter to Siuna mayor Julián Gaitán requesting him to stop development within the protected area, which has been recognized by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO).
Jarquin told the press that the 2010 Siuna Municipal Investment Plan includes a number of projects in the center of the Bosawas preserve such as a road, a school, and a chapel. Mayor Gaitan (of the Constitutional Liberal Party-PLC) was unavailable, but Sandinista Councilman Carlos Madrigal confirmed to La Prensa that the town council had approved the projects which continue to be supported by the PLC majority on the council.
Conflicting national and autonomous regional laws and the incompatible goals of protecting the forests and providing basic services to those who live there complicate the issue. According to Madrigal, the Law of Municipalities guarantees access to basic services. Nevertheless, the autonomy laws and the environmental protection laws prohibit any projects that negatively affect the protected area, and even more so if they are not approved by the Miskito and regional governments.
Jarquin's letter stated that if the municipal government moves forward with its plans it will be in violation of the autonomy and environmental laws. He said the worst part of it would be that “progress” will bring more people and businesses to the protected area, which he called the “cancer” destroying the Bosawas. Madrigal said there is no alternative that both gives the population access to basic services and still protects the environment. The issue, he said, has been debated for years by the regional and national governments without solution. (La Prensa, Feb. 10)
4. Indigenous government denounces settler violence
The South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) Rama and Creole territorial government denounced death threats and attacks by Spanish-speaking Nicaraguan settlers within indigenous territory and demanded action from the national and regional governments. The settlers have threatened teams demarcating indigenous land and have destroyed boundary markers. They threatened to burn down the homes of peasants who housed the technical team personnel. The technical team was forced to leave the area with their survey work unfinished by death threats and a night time visit by 12 armed men who threatened them and damaged their equipment.
The denunciation also detailed an attack on the indigenous community of Rama de Sumuukaat (El Coco I) which is populated by 22 Rama families on the Kukra River 80 kilometers southeast of Bluefields in which the community house, the building housing their shortwave radio, and one family's home were damaged. A number of other communities have received death threats causing them to fear leaving their homes to fish and plant food crops.
The denunciation quoted Pedro Gonzales, head of an armed settler group in the region of El Coco II, stating, “We are going to terminate the Ramas” and “I am going to hunt the Ramas like deer when they are not expecting it.” The Rama and Creole accuse Gonzalez and others of offering a bounty for Rama killings. The denunciation also provided details of a Kukra River settler group that held meetings in Dokuno, Torswany, and San Francisco where they threatened to kill the members of the Rama-Creole territorial government “one by one.” (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 9)
5. Government releases food security plan to respond to drought
Minister of Agriculture Ariel Bucardo presented the government's plan covering March through August to insure food security in 36 municipalities affected by the drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon. The plan will provide 6,661 metric tons of rice, beans, corn, and cooking oil to 145,000 people affected. Initially, the program will prioritize children under three, pregnant women, and poor families in communities that are unable to produce these commodities. The program is funded by the national government, the World Food Program, and the UN's Food and Agriculture Program.
In coordination with municipal governments and Councils of Citizen Power, the national government will also provide food to 100,000 peasant farmers who have lost their harvests in exchange for work on community projects such as road and school repairs, planting of nurseries, and watershed reforestation before the June rains. The program includes affected municipalities in Boaco, Matagalpa, Madriz, Nueva Segovia, Chinandega and Leon. The drought is expected to continue through April and producers estimate a 20% loss of national food production for the 2009-2010 agricultural cycle.
In a further response to the drought, the Sandinista government's Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) is producing 2,000 hundredweights of certified bean seeds, many varieties of which are drought resistant, for farmers to use in the May planting. The seeds require less pesticide use which will also lower the cost of production. INTA has also developed a disease resistant cacao. Nicaragua's native cacao is among the highest quality in the world and the government maintains that the new hybrid seed will retain that quality. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 9, 10; La Prensa, Feb. 10)
6. Ministry of Education extends enrollment period through March 31
With the goal of placing all children, youth, and interested adults in school, the Ministry of Education (MINED) decided to prolong the enrollment period for the 2010 school year until March 31st for most students and until June for non-regular education.
After 22 days of registration and one week into the school year, Minister of Education Miguel De Castilla still has not been able to reach the enrollment numbers that he had hoped for. Enrollment this year has risen to 1.3 million, but failed to reach the goal of 1.6 million students.
At a recent press conference held to recognize text donations from the Japanese government (which donated 550,000 texts and math guides for elementary schools), De Castilla said, "As for enrollment we are ok, not very happy, but we must go on."
"In the farming zones of the country, there are fewer students enrolled up until now..." De Castilla continued, "We know that in the farming regions such as Matagalpa, Jinotega, Esteli, and Carazo there are parents who will enroll their children even after the regular enrollment period, so we have to wait and prepare to register them."
MINED still hopes that during the 2010 school year enrollment will reach record levels. For over a year, the Ministry has been implementing a national campaign to promote new enrollments and enroll all of those outside of the school system. Guillermo Lopez, MINED's Director of Non-Regular Education for Children and Adolescents, explained that they are working with local governments, NGOs, social organizations, and Councils of Citizen Power, to enroll the greatest possible number of youth in the schools. School enrollment is free, and there is no reason for any student to be denied enrollment, he said. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 11; La Prensa, Feb. 10)
7. Supreme Court unaffected by government's arguments on therapeutic abortion
Manuel Martinez, president of Nicaragua's Supreme Court, said last week that the recent declarations by Minister of Government Ana Isabel Morales at a United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Switzerland were the opinion of the administration of President Daniel Ortega and had no impact on the decision that the justices of the Supreme Court must make about the constitutionality of the criminalization of therapeutic abortion. Therapeutic abortion was made illegal for the first time in 100 years in 2006 and that provision was included in the nation's new criminal code in 2007. The Nicaraguan government was strongly challenged at the U.N. meeting where Morales said that Nicaraguans thought the fetus was a person with a right to life. Martinez said he did not know where Morales got her information that a majority of Nicaraguans were in favor of criminalizing therapeutic abortion. He added, that based on Morales' statements, you could see why the Supreme Court Justices who are affiliated with the Sandinista Party have not expressed interest in meeting to issue the final ruling on the cases before the Court which challenge the measure as unconstitutional.
Fatima Millon of the Network of Women against Violence said that last year's figures show that 212 girls were raped in Nicaragua in 2009 with many of those rapes resulting in pregnancy for which the girls' developing bodies and minds were not prepared. She said that she was waiting for the government to review its out-of-date arguments that constitute an attack on women and girls. (La Prensa, Feb. 10; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 11)
8. Opposition calls foul in Atlantic Coast elections
Opposition political parties are denouncing what they call “irregularities” in preparations for the March 7 elections for regional authorities on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. Regional Councils will be elected in both the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS). After a campaign trip through the RAAN with candidates of the joint campaign of the “Let's Go with Eduardo” Movement, the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance and the Party of the Movement of Coast Unity, National Assembly Deputy Augusto Valle of the Nicaraguan Democratic Bench (BDN) said, “We have filed a complaint with the Municipal Electoral Council about ‘cloned' voter registration cards in the municipality of Rosita because there are about 80 ‘cloned' cards.” He added that municipal electoral councils from Matagalpa, Jinotega, Esteli and other places had moved into the Mining Triangle area [Rosita, Bonanza, Siuna] and were taking over functions from the local councils.
The Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) denounced what representatives said was a reduction in the number of poll watchers they could have at each polling place as well as problems with voters who support the PLC receiving their voter identification cards in time for the elections. PLC spokesman Leonel Teller said that the intention of the Sandinista government was to win the majority of the seats in both regional councils so that Sandinistas could take over the natural resources of the area. Party leader Arnoldo Aleman said, “We want to denounce to the world the preparation of a new fraud.”
Meanwhile, groups that have applied for accreditation as observers for the elections have not received that accreditation. Mauricio Zuniga, director of the Institute for Development and Democracy (IPADE), said that his organization would wait until Feb. 20 and, if accreditation was not granted by that date, they would have to drop out because accreditation documents had to be printed and distributed and observers trained. (La Prensa, Feb. 12, 14; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 13 )
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