TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2010

Nicaragua News Bulletin (November 23, 2010)

1. Costa Rica takes San Juan River dredging to World Court, orders arrest of Eden Pastora
2. State Department slams Nicaragua on "rights"
3. IMF approves Nicaragua's economic program
4. Supreme Electoral Council confirms electoral calendar; charge for voter card causes controversy
5. Twenty-six RAAN communities now using solar energy for electricity and communications
6. Bean harvest entering the markets
7. Monkey Point residents facing another effort to relocate them

1. Costa Rica takes San Juan River dredging to World Court, orders arrest of Eden Pastora


Last week the government of Costa Rica issued an arrest warrant for Eden Pastora, the former guerrilla commander who heads up Nicaragua's controversial dredging operation on the San Juan River. The Costa Ricans also entered a claim at the International Court of Justice (World Court) at The Hague against Nicaragua, accusing that country of causing environmental damage by the dredging near the mouth of the San Juan on Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast. Nicaragua did not attend a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) which resolved to hold a foreign ministers meeting to address the San Juan issue on Dec. 7. Meanwhile, on Nov. 16, thousands of Nicaraguans marched in Managua in support of their country's rights to the river.

On Nov. 17, the prosecutor of the town of Pococcí, in the Costa Rican province of Limon, ordered the arrest of Pastora, accusing him of damaging the wetland at Harbor Head, which Nicaraguans insist belongs to them, based on late 19th century arbitration awards. Pastora is accused of the crime of “usurpation of public goods” and violation of several Costa Rican forestry laws. He received word of the arrest order as he was about to enter Costa Rica for press interviews. In the end, he did the interviews by telephone from within Nicaraguan territory. In the interviews he said that the dredging of the river is based on an extensive environmental impact study (EIS) done by Nicaraguan specialists. He predicted that, within a year, navigation in small boats will be possible on the river even in the dry season and in two years the river will be navigable by medium sized vessels for tourism and commerce. He said that he did not think that there was even the smallest possibility that the conflict with Costa Rica would turn violent.

Also on Nov. 17, Costa Rica entered a claim against Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice alleging violation of Costa Rican sovereignty and environmental damage and demanding that the Court order the suspension of Nicaragua's dredging of the San Juan. Costa Rican Foreign Minister Rene Castro said that, “because of the grave damage that day by day the actions of civilian and military personnel were causing our country by the opening of a channel in our territory and destroying fragile ecosystems,” his country was obliged to go to the Court. However, as recently as September, Castro had told a committee of the Costa Rican legislature that he could see no environmental problems resulting from a dredging of the San Juan by Nicaragua. He said then that Costa Rica had done its own study of the environmental impact of the dredging. While many have said that the Costa Ricans fear that the water level of the Rio Colorado, which flows through Costa Rican territory, could be seriously affected by the dredging, Nicaragua's EIS indicated that any reduction in the flow would be minimal.

Nicaragua's representative at The Hague, Carlos Argüello, said “The World Court is not going to accept a review of the border with Nicaragua; its ruling [in 2009] is clear, the [arbitration] awards are clear; this case has already been judged.” He added that Costa Rica is using maps that were made 110 years ago and have not been verified on the ground since then. President Daniel Ortega, who had said that Nicaragua would take the case to the World Court, stated that Nicaragua would take all the time necessary to put together its accusations against Costa Rica. Meanwhile, opposition political figures bemoaned the cost, estimated by former presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre at between US$5 and 7 million, but most agreed that the expenditure was necessary to defend national interests.

On Nov. 18, the OAS met without the presence of Nicaragua to consider again the conflict along the San Juan and voted to call for a meeting of the hemisphere's foreign ministers to consider the issue for Dec. 7. Only Venezuela voted against the resolution. While many analysts felt that Nicaragua had come out the winner in the resolution passed by the OAS on Nov. 12, the one article asking army and police forces to withdraw from the area in conflict was not acceptable to President Ortega who said it would benefit drug traffickers in the area. Analysts have also pointed out that political interests of both Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla (who is in conflict with former President Oscar Arias) and Nicaraguan President Ortega (who wants to run for reelection) have worked to make this conflict more serious than it might have been. (La Prensa, Nov. 17, 18, 19; Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 16, 17, 20; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 20)

2. State Department slams Nicaragua on "rights"

Every year the US Department of State issues human rights "report cards" on the other countries of the world. The highly politicized reports actually tell little about human rights since friends of the US government, such as Colombia and Israel, come off well despite bad human rights records while countries such as Nicaragua and Venezuela receive harsh evaluations. The State Department reports became, of course, increasingly less persuasive after the admission of presidentially sanctioned torture at Guantanamo and other US bases and prisons.

The newly released report for 2010 accuses the government of President Daniel Ortega of abusive policies, lack of respect for the rule of law, corruption, and generalized politicization of the judiciary and Supreme Electoral Council and other government institutions. The report also claimed fraud in the municipal elections in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region which had been delayed to March 2010 due to damage by the 2009 hurricane. The State Department report alleged that there had been an erosion of freedom of the press and claimed that reporters are intimidated by the government. The report stated, "Independent communication media are active and express a variety of points of view. Nevertheless, the government restricts their freedom through arbitrary application of defamation laws and use of the justification of national defense to intimidate their reporting."

The same situation is observed by nongovernmental organizations, according to the report, with regard to what they say is growing violence against women, discrimination against ethnic minorities and indigenous communities, and violations of labor rights. The report said that human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations complained that President Ortega used his position as head of government to politicize the national police. The report also asserted that, although the forms of freedom of religion are observed, religious groups or clergy that are critical of government policy are supposedly “harassed” and "intimidated” by local citizen power councils (CPCs). (La Prensa, Nov. 18; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 18)

3. IMF approves Nicaragua's economic program

Antenor Rosales, president of Nicaragua's Central Bank, announced on Nov. 19 that Nicaragua had passed the fourth and fifth review of its economic and financial program by the International Monetary Fund. Rosales said that the IMF also agreed to extend the economic program that President Daniel Ortega signed in Oct. 2007 for social programs until Dec. 2011. The IMF decision will facilitate the release of US$42 million in budget support funds from the Inter-American Development Bank. Economist Adelmo Sandino said that the approval by the IMF means that the government fulfilled its macroeconomic goals. Adolfo Acevedo, another economist, said the IMF will release US$20 million this year and US$16 million next year. The government made commitments to reduce its budget deficit and, before March 2011, to publish a report on foreign aid and the projects that it has funded. Acevedo said, “At last the details about the use of the aid from Venezuela will be revealed.” (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 19; El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 20)

4. Supreme Electoral Council confirms electoral calendar; charge for voter card causes controversy

The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) denied the requests of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) and the Conservative Party that changes be made in the electoral calendar and declared the calendar finalized last week. The two parties had asked that both the beginning and the end of the period for issuing voting identification cards be specified. In the calendar only the end of the period is specified and the parties wanted to make sure that enough time was allotted for all voters to receive their cards. The two parties also asked that the date for the final approval of the rules for election observation be moved from Aug. 16 to April 30 and that the term “electoral accompaniment” be changed to “electoral observation” in order to permit the registration of observation groups. CSE President Roberto Rivas has said on numerous occasions that “electoral observation” will not be allowed.

Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) protested that the CSE has not clarified why voter registration cards are given free to some voters and others are charged US$15. CENIDH President Vilma Nuñez said that a 75 year old man was told he had to pay for his card and he could not afford the payment. National Assembly Deputy Maximino Rodriguez of the PLC said that the charge amounted to “civil death” for poor citizens. He did admit, however, that it is the responsibility of the Assembly to pass a law mandating that all voter cards be distributed free of charge but he accused the governing Sandinista Party of opposing such a law. Given that the Sandinistas receive most of their votes from among the very poor, this seems counter-intuitive at best. (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 19)

5. Twenty-six RAAN communities now using solar energy for electricity and communications

Twenty-six low income communities along the North Caribbean coast of Nicaragua now have access to solar energy. Prior to the solar panels' installation, these communities did not have electricity and due to their remoteness, had limited connectivity to the outside world.

Amongst the 26 communities that benefited from this project were 13 indigenous communities and 13 rural villages in the mining triangle of Rosita, Siuna and Bonanza in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN). The program was started three years ago in eight Latin American countries (including Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador and Honduras among others) and funded in large part by a nearly US$3 million fund from the European Union. The Nicaraguan government provided a small amount of aid to the project and coordinated it through the Ministry of Energy and Mines. The EU hopes to expand the project to additional communities along the Caribbean in early 2011.

The project, called Euro Solar, is "very important" for the EU "in the fight against climate change, a troubling topic" according to the EU's ambassador to Central America, Mendel Goldstein.

In addition to providing electricity for the communities, the solar panels also allowed the government to develop telecommunications, add information teams in the schools and purchase refrigerators for vaccines and water purification. On November 17, Sunsun was the first community along the Northern Caribbean to connect with the capital by internet and phone. The government will finance internet services in these communities for two years, and will then transfer this responsibility to the municipalities for the succeeding five years. The government hopes that during this period the villages will gain the capacity to finance these services themselves. (Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 17; La Prensa, Nov. 16)

6. Bean harvest entering the markets

With the new bean harvest (the second of the year) entering the markets, it is hoped that prices will fall to normal levels for this most basic element of the Nicaraguan diet. Prices have been as much as 40% higher than normal due to loss of much of the first harvest from the unusually heavy rains that finally ended at the beginning of November. Government and producers expect a harvest of 1.4 million hundredweights. Planting for the third harvest (possible in some parts of the country), with a goal of exceeding 2 million hundredweights, is beginning and the government is distributing seeds where they are lacking.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry authorized the importation of beans from the United States, but it is unclear whether they have yet arrived. It allowed some exportation of beans because of obligations under free trade agreements but also imposed quality restrictions to limit the amount of beans exported. The harvest of all basic grains is down due to the excessive rains and to plant diseases exacerbated by the rains. Besides food crops, parts of the harvests of export crops including peanuts, sesame, and soy beans, were lost as well. (La Prensa, Nov. 20; Radio La Primerisima, Nov. 20)

7. Monkey Point residents facing another effort to relocate them

Members of the Rama/Creole community of Monkey Point, a 45 minute motorized canoe trip from Bluefields, capital of the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), are facing another effort to move them and their community, leaders say. They state that their community was founded in the 17th century by escaped slaves from the Caribbean islands. The first effort to evict them was during in 1905 when government of Liberal President Jose Santos Zelaya wanted to displace the community to build a port and railroad. In the 1970s the dictator Anastasio Somoza wanted to build a port and inter-oceanic canal as well as an oil refinery and pipeline on the site of the community.

Today their community is targeted by the government of President Daniel Ortega for a deep water port and high speed railroad to connect it with Nicaragua's Pacific Coast. While the majority of the community says that it does not oppose the mega-project, they are concerned about the lack of information and community input into this matter of vital importance to their community. Harley Clair, spokesperson for the Communal Council said, "This is our life, our culture and for more than two centuries our ancestors have lived here. If they want to move us...we know we have the right to be partners in that project."

Teacher Catherine Clair says that, “Here we can live without money. We share what nature gives us.” Mestizo farmers exchange rice, corn and beans with Creoles and Rama who offer fish, sea food, and coconuts. Clair adds that “At any hour of the day, you can hunt animals, go fishing, or find fruit; not like in Bluefields, where if you don't have a peso in your pocket you will die of hunger.” With the help of the organization Blue Energy, founded by French linguist Colette Grinevald (who helped Rama communities revive their language), many of the houses in the communities have electricity and filters to purify water. The community has a school with four teachers who note the problem they have with retention of students. Many parents take their children out of school to put them to work in the fields or fishing boats, teachers say. (El Nuevo Diario, Nov. 21)

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