TUESDAY, JUNE 08, 2010
Nicaragua News Bulletin (June 8, 2010)
1. Succession in Supreme Court under discussion between Sandinistas and Liberals2. Nicaragua suspends diplomatic relations with Israel
3. Marchers protest IMF demands for changes in Social Security
4. Russia “oxygenates” Nicaragua's budget
5. Nicaragua officially in “La Niña” weather phenomenon
6. "Foreign Minister" of FARC's brother granted political asylum in Nicaragua
7. Ometepe named World Biosphere Reserve
8. Settlers in the Bosawas being removed “with respect”
1. Succession in Supreme Court under discussion between Sandinistas and Liberals
Justices of the Supreme Court, both Sandinistas and Liberals, were in talks last week in an effort to sort out the problems that have resulted from the failure of the National Assembly to appoint the successors to those justices whose terms have run out (or reappoint them to office). On June 11, the term of the President of the Court, Manuel Martinez, a Liberal, expires and if Martinez leaves the Court, Sandinista Justice Alba Luz Ramos will become the President of the Court. Martinez could remain on the Court under a January decree by President Daniel Ortega as have two of his Sandinista colleagues Rafael Solis and Armengol Cuadra. But members of opposition political parties have denounced as unconstitutional the decree, which said that the high level officials whose appointments were ending this year could remain in their posts until their replacements were named by the National Assembly. Martinez is definitely “entre la espada y la pared” (between the sword and the wall) or in English idiom, “between a rock and a hard place. But Solis said that talks were “advancing” adding that both Sandinistas and Liberals had agreed not to reveal to the media the progress in the conversations.
National Assembly Deputy Carlos Garcia of the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) said that many things “are being cooked under the table” and predicted that within two weeks the 25 officials (Supreme Court Justices, Supreme Electoral Council magistrates and others) will be named. And, he said, “You'll see that when Manuel Martinez' term ends, the PLC [Constitutional Liberal Party] will have to recognize Armengol Cuadra and Rafael Solis [whom the opposition has been calling former Supreme Court Justices]” adding that the “pact” between the Sandinistas and the PLC was still in force.
Several political observers noted that with the addition of Conservative Party Deputy Alejandro Bolaños Davis and former Vice-President, now Deputy, Alfredo Gomez Urcuyo, the strategy of the PLC and the Nicaraguan Democratic Bench (BDN) of refusing to show up for National Assembly sessions resulting in a lack of a quorum will no longer work. In recent days the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance has, when added to the Sandinista deputies, provided enough attendance for a quorum, but with two added deputies attending, the count will not be in doubt. Sandinista Deputy Gustavo Porras said, “There are deputies who are committed to making the Assembly work. They have not committed themselves to vote with the Sandinistas…. They are Conservatives or Liberals or whatever but they are committed to working and that is what is important.” (La Prensa, June 1; El Nuevo Diario, June 1)
2. Nicaragua suspends diplomatic relations with Israel
After announcing it on June 2, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos on June 4 officially informed Israel's embassy in Costa Rica that President Daniel Ortega has suspended diplomatic relations over Israel's attack on the Liberty Humanitarian Flotilla which was attempting to deliver aid to Gaza. The Israeli ambassador in Costa Rica is also ambassador to Nicaragua. The attack killed 9 people, wounded many more, and resulted in Israel taking prisoner the 680 activists from 42 countries attempting to bring cement, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory in violation of Israel's blockade. He said that consular relations would continue to serve the needs of Israelis in Nicaragua and Nicaraguans in Israel and that trade agreements would not be affected. Santos said that cutting off relations was intended to call the attention of other countries to the necessity “to take forceful actions, concrete actions” against Israel so that those kinds of attacks are not repeated.
Evangelical National Assembly Delegates Salvador Talavera Alaniz and Guillermo Osorno Molina criticized Ortega “for daring to break diplomatic relations with God's chosen people.” They accused Ortega of being “against the Bible.” Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) Deputy Victor Hugo Tinoco condemned the Israeli attack but urged “prudence and caution for the good of Nicaragua.” Tinoco was vice foreign minister in the 1980s when Nicaragua also cut diplomatic relations with Israel. The National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on June 2 of support for the Palestinian people and their right to live in peace. Palestinian Ambassador Mohamed Saadt praised the decision to suspend relations saying, “It reflects the character of this government that they understand our cause and our right to build a State.” (Radio La Primerisima, June 2, 4; El Nuevo Diario, June 3; La Prensa, June 4)
3. Marchers protest IMF demands for changes in Social Security
On June 3, thousands of people marched to defend the US$25 “solidarity payments” that the government has begun distributing monthly to over 100,000 government employees with salaries under US$260 per month and to protest changes that the International Monetary Fund wants Nicaragua to make in its Social Security system. The IMF in early May postponed a visit from an IMF mission over concern about several matters, among them the US$25 payments. Different sources said that the IMF wanted Nicaragua to raise the retirement age from age 60 to 65 or 70 years of age (depending on the source). Gustavo Porras (Sandinista deputy in the National Assembly, head of the National Workers' Front, and one of the organizers of the march) said the IMF wanted to require workers to pay into the Social Security fund for 28 years to receive a pension, up from the current 14 years.
The opposition daily La Prensa said that government offices were closed and workers bussed in state-owned vehicles to the march and that schools were closed and teachers and high school students sent to the march, in what the newspaper called a “blatant misuse of public funds.”
Sandinista Deputy Walmaro Gutierrez, who is chair of the Budget and Economy Committee, said that previous neoliberal governments used the Social Security fund as a petty cash box and that the new law from the Ortega Administration attempts to strengthen it. He said, “We have to guarantee that the INSS [Social Security] is sustainable and at this moment everybody knows that the financial situation of the INSS is extremely weak. We have to strengthen the fund so that when you and I retire we have a dignified pension but it can't be at the cost of raising the retirement age or reducing the pensions of current retirees.” He added that there are proposals in the new bill that will favor the workers and not be based on IMF mandates. (La Prensa, June 3; Radio La Primerisima, June 5)
4. Russia “oxygenates” Nicaragua's budget
The Russian government will donate US$10 million in budget support funds along with other donations and loans according to an agreement signed between the two countries on June 2. Russian Vice-Minister of Foreign Relations Serguey Ryabkov announced that total Russian aid would amount to “several tens of millions of dollars.” Last year Russian aid totaled US$31 million. Among the agreements reached are that Aeroflot will begin in October twice weekly flights between Moscow and Managua with a stop in Cuba. Those flights have been suspended since the 1990 Sandinista electoral defeat. Their renewal opens a route to Europe and Asia that does not pass through the United States. The agreement also includes the donation for transportation cooperatives of 400 new buses, 150 of them for inter-urban routes, and 500 Lada automobiles. Russia will also construct a hospital in Managua, grant student scholarships, and give technical support for the Army. The oft discussed inter-oceanic canal was also on the agenda discussed by the two countries, but no commitments were made. Other agreements in the accord dealt with trade, telecommunications, fishing, and landmine removal.
President Daniel Ortega praised the accord contrasting it to aid from the European Union and United States that “has political conditions that don't give the country assurance of that cooperation.” He said that the “breech of confidence” caused by the allegations of fraud in the 2008 municipal elections cost Nicaragua US$100 million in aid. It was announced last week that the so-called Budget Support Group, composed of several individual nations, the European Union, and financial institutions, which had supplied unrestricted support for Nicaragua's national budget, has been dissolved. The individual countries and institutions will now make decisions about whether to provide the unrestricted assistance. (La Prensa, June 1, 2; Radio La Primavera, June 2; El Nuevo Diario, June 3)
5. Nicaragua officially in “La Niña” weather phenomenon
According to Julio Oporta, a meteorologist with the governmental Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER), Nicaragua has officially entered into the “La Niña” weather phenomenon. On June 7 the fifth tropical storm of the rainy season brought more rain to the country, watering recently planted crops but flooding Managua's massive but always inadequate storm sewage system. Historic rainfall records for the first ten days of May were broken in Leon, Managua, Masatepe, Masaya, Nandaime, Rivas, Jinotega, Juigalpa, Puerto Cabezas and Bluefields. Managua received seven times its usual rainfall for the beginning of May.
The torrential rains of June 3 destroyed eight houses and damaged 385 in 47 neighborhoods of Managua according to Lt. Col. Mario Rivas of the Army's Civil Defense unit. Leonel Teller, a Managua city councilman from the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), said, “All the water and sediment that comes down from the Sierras de Managua because of the indiscriminate logging up there in that zone should be controlled by small dams. But, on the contrary, we see what happened yesterday in twenty minutes of heavy rain. With the velocity that the water and sediment coming down, it's dangerous.” He accused the city government of corruption saying, “They are stealing the taxes of the people of Managua and they didn't invest any of the millions of cordobas in [needed] infrastructure.” (Radio La Primerisima, June 7; La Prensa, June 5; El Nuevo Diario, June 5)
6. "Foreign Minister" of FARC's brother granted political asylum in Nicaragua
The brother of Rodrigo Granda, considered the "foreign minister” of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), announced that he would seek exile in Nicaragua. Ruben Dario Granda said that he chose Nicaragua because it is a "safe and democratic country."
The date of his arrival in Nicaragua still depends on relations between Colombia and Nicaragua, Granda told the Sandinista station Radio Ya. He is currently taking refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy. He thanked President Daniel Ortega and Foreign Minister Samuel Santos for their "noble gesture" in granting him, his wife, and son asylum on June 4. Meanwhile, Colombia called the act "inadmissible," claiming that the charges against him are common crimes rather than politically motivated offenses.
Granda is accused of having connections with FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia), including financing “terrorism and rebellion.” The Colombian government claims that in FARC leader Raul Reyes' computer, which it obtained when the Colombian military attacked a base in Ecuador, there were emails referring to someone with the name "Perales" and they have concluded that this name refers to Granda. A Colombian judge, however, said that there was not sufficient evidence to back the accusation and released Granda after he was detained for three days by the authorities. INTERPOL investigators reported at the time that there were no emails on the computer allegedly belonging to Reyes, only Microsoft Word files.
According to Granda, there was an attempt made on his life in May. After a life in academia in Colombia (27 years as a professor and three published books), Granda and his family believe they will be safer in Nicaragua. (Radio La Primerisima, June 4; La Prensa, June 7)
7. Ometepe named World Biosphere Reserve
Ometepe, the world's largest lake island, a double volcano in Colcibolca (Lake Nicaragua), has been recognized by the UN Education, Science, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) as a World Biosphere Reserve, one of thirteen new sites among 584 recognized in 109 countries. The inauguration ceremony will take place on the island on June 11. Its new status will allow greater legal protections for preserving the flora and fauna of the unique biosphere, increase tourism, and provide reforestation and environmentally compatible organic farming opportunities for the 30,000 inhabitants of the island. Ometepe Island and Lake Nicaragua are not only home to many rare fresh water species, the island also has a rich abundance of pre-Columbian petroglyphs dating to the dawn of civilization.
In a related story, the heavy rains of May 23 uncovered an indigenous burial ground on the island under a street in the community of Los Angeles according to Moises Ghitis, the head of the El Ciebo museum. The ceramic fragments unearthed are of a type made between 2,500 BCE to 300 CE. Bone fragments and funeral urns are also being uncovered in what could become an important archeological site. (Radio La Primerisima, June 2; El Nuevo Diario, June 3; La Prensa, June 6)
8. Settlers in the Bosawas are being removed “with respect”
The army is planning a second campaign to remove illegal settlers from the hard-pressed Bosawas Nature Preserve, home to the indigenous Mayagna people. Last week the army, with help from other agencies, removed 27 families comprising more than 170 individuals. [The previous week 27 families were removed.] Those evicted from settlements damaging the nature preserve were examined by medical personnel before being bused to their original municipalities. The doctors found that many suffered from pneumonia, diarrhea, influenza, and mountain leprosy. More than 90% of the children were vaccinated and treated for parasites. The majority of the families were taken to Mulukuku, Bonanza, Siuna and San Jose de Bocay. Some said they left the Preserve willingly; others said they were made to go and if they are not given help will return.
Vice-Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) said that President Daniel Ortega has ordered that the illegal settlers be treated with respect and attempts first be made to persuade the as many as 1,500 still in the preserve to leave voluntarily. Those who were evicted last week will be “included within the property titling plans” in their home areas, according to Jose Luis Garcia, the Ombudsman for the Environment.
The Sandinista government pledged to guarantee the security of the Bosawas Nature Preserve and also that the very poorest people will have access to health, education and housing programs as part of the restitution of rights taken away by the neoliberal governments of the 1990s and 2000s. MARENA Minister Juanita Argeñal said that those who were removed are receiving assistance so they do not return to the preserve. The Attorney General's office is also intervening against those who are recruiting people to move into the reserve. Several were charged with various related crimes last week. (Radio La Primerisima, June 4, 5, 7; La Prensa, June 1; El Nuevo Diario, June 1)
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