TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011
Nicaragua News Bulletin (February 15, 2011)
1. Gadea likely to go with the PLI; Sandinistas hold local party congresses2. Bill on violence against women raises furor
3. Program continues work of “Yes, I Can!” literacy campaign
4. Needs of people with disabilities to be addressed using completed census
5. City of Managua to buy medicines for former sugar cane workers
6. International Poetry Festival begins in Granada honoring Claribel Alegria
7. National Assembly considering new law governing Directorate of Customs
8. Municipality of Cardenas to get potable water from Lake Nicaragua
1. Gadea likely to go with the PLI; Sandinistas hold local party congresses
The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) announced on Feb. 7 that it had decided to recognize the faction of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) headed by Indalecio Rodriguez. The leadership of the PLI had been questioned by other factions and it fell to the CSE to resolve the issue. The ruling also orders the party to hold a convention before Feb. 27 to try to bring the factions together. This CSE decision gives control over the PLI to the group supporting the candidacy for president of radio broadcaster Fabio Gadea Mantilla. Gadea's coalition, Nicaraguan Unity for Hope (UNE), is not a recognized political party and therefore has no slot on the ballot for November's elections. The Rodriguez faction of the PLI had supported Eduardo Montealegre and, after Montealegre pulled out of the presidential race in favor of Gadea, he supported giving the PLI presidential slot on the ballot to Gadea.
The decision by the CSE threw the warring factions of the PLI into a whirlwind of activity with members of the faction led by historic party leader Virgilio Godoy saying that they would not allow Montealegre to take over the party and that they were in talks with Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) leader and its presidential candidate Arnoldo Aleman. Even Rodriguez questioned the wisdom of recognizing the faction he leads but then calling for a convention.
Gadea had been in conversations with the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) but differences among the parties to the talks brought those conversations to an end. It was rumored that the ALN may run party leader Enrique Quiñonez although UNE leaders said they wanted talks to continue with the ALN in the hopes of forming a broader alliance around the candidacy of Gadea. All alliances for the November elections must be registered by March 1. The PLC announced last week that it had signed an alliance agreement with the Conservative Party.
Meanwhile, the Sandinista Party held local congresses in preparation for a national party congress. That congress was unofficially scheduled for Feb. 21; moved to Feb. 12, and then postponed with Radio La Primerisima reporting that, “if it has not been definitively suspended, is expected to be held before the end of February.” The local gatherings began on Feb. 10 in Leon, Chinandega, Granada, Masaya, Carazo, Rivas, Boaco, Matagalpa, and Jinotega, followed by several in Managua over the weekend, with Rio San Juan scheduled for Feb. 17. Radio La Primerisima reported that in each case the congresses supported the candidacy of President Daniel Ortega for another term. (La Prensa, Feb. 8; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 9, 14; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 10)
2. Bill on violence against women raises furor
Supreme Court President Alba Luz Ramos sent to the National Assembly a bill to help stop violence against women, noting that such violence had showed an upturn in 2010. Ramos said that the bill removes the issue of violence against women from the category of domestic violence. It would, if passed, end the current use of mediation between couples in cases of domestic violence because, according to Ramos, studies have indicated that the process has produced outcomes extremely unfavorable to women. The bill provides for the creation of specialized courts and judges to consider cases of violence against women. It would establish the crime of “femicide” which is not currently in the criminal code. Ramos added that the bill attempts to achieve the goals enshrined in international conventions on discrimination against women.
Mercedes Ampie, chief of the Special Police Stations for Women and Children, applauded the bill, noting that 89 women had been murdered in 2010, ten more than in 2009, and three in the first month of 2011. The Network of Women Against Violence said, however, that eight women had already been killed this year, including two girls of 15 and one only four years old. Only nine of the 89 murderers from 2010 are serving their prison sentences, 38 are awaiting trial and 33 are fugitives from justice, according to the Network. The Network said, “We can have the laws … but as long as the mentality of the operators of the legal system doesn't change, the complicity and permissiveness of the state resulting in impunity will continue.”
It was just one article of Ramos' bill, however, that caused a media storm that lasted a week. That article classified as criminal what it called “media violence” described as journalism that “offends, slanders, satirizes, or denigrates a woman for being a women in a medium of communication.” La Prensa called it the “muzzle law” and Vilma Nuñez, president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), said that the intent of the law was to put “a muzzle” on media outlets critical of the government of President Daniel Ortega “preventing functionaries like [government spokesperson and First Lady] Rosario Murillo from being criticized.” Assistant prosecutor Ana Julio Guido, a Sandinista, answered that it was an attempt to prevent cartoons and other media that denigrate women. “That should not be tolerated,” she said, adding that it was not censorship.
Even the Inter-American Press Association, headquartered in Miami, became involved. It released a statement from Robert Rivard, head of the organization's Committee on Freedom of the Press, saying that “the protection of women and of others in the media is already established in the laws on defamation, so there is no need for special legislation that could in the future be used to the detriment of freedom of the press.”
Finally, Justice Ramos said on Feb. 1, after a meeting with National Deputies Edwin Castro (Sandinista) and Jose Pallais (Liberal), that the article referring to “media violence” against women would be removed from the bill.
In related news, the National Coalition against Trafficking in Persons announced that the government is putting in place a plan to combat trafficking, a crime that affects young people from poor and even middle class families who are trafficked for sexual or slave labor purposes. The coalition is headed by the Ministry of Government and includes the National Police, the Office of Immigration, and organizations which work on the trafficking issue. Brenda Trinidad, representative of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the campaign will work to prevent the crime, protect victims, and help them recover their lives. She said that trafficking in persons is one of the most lucrative of crimes, after the drugs traffic and the arms traffic. (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 5, 10; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 4, 8, 9, 10; La Prensa, Feb. 3)
3. Program continues work of “Yes, I Can!” literacy campaign
Distribution of audiovisual teaching tools continued throughout Nicaragua last week to enable about 62,000 youth and adults to advance their education to the sixth grade level. The effort is part of the “Yes, I Can Continue!” program which advances the “Yes, I Can!” literacy program. That effort earned Nicaragua the UN's “illiteracy free” recognition several years ago. “Yes, I Can Continue,” like its predecessor, is a Cuba-designed education program. The audiovisual equipment will be used in classes over the next two years by over 4,600 grassroots teachers who have already been trained. The program is especially aimed at the young adults who learned to read in the “Yes, I Can!” program and includes reading, mathematics, science, history and geography. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 11)
4. Needs of people with disabilities to be addressed using completed census
The Nicaraguan Association for Community Integration (ASNIC) called on the government and education ministry to meet the needs of children with special needs and to practice inclusive education. Only four percent of people with special needs attend classes, according to ASNIC. ASNIC Director Indira Fonseca said, “We don't want the special education schools to disappear but we want disabled children to be able to attend any school in the country.”
Maria del Socorro Luna, a sociologist and trainer for ASNIC said infrastructure is deficient. “The schools have no ramps, the classrooms are inadequate, and these factors don't permit the student to enter the education system.” Herty Garcia, a member of the Carazo Association of the Blind, called for Braille reading materials and tape recorders for blind children.
Meanwhile, the government announced the second phase of its program to meet the needs of people with disabilities. Last year a brigade of 60 Cuban medical specialists, assisted by the Sandinista Doctors Movement, did a census of 126,316 people with disabilities, attending to their medical needs during the home visits or in local health clinics. This year the program will continue with the emphasis on inserting those people into their communities in the workplace and the education system. That will require a change in the way people think about those with disabilities, according to one of the Cuban doctors. Other changes will include elimination of architectural barriers to access, teaching sign language to the deaf and their families, among other measures. Nine Nicaraguan doctors have recently begun studies of genetic defects and their prevention in Cuba. (La Prensa, Feb. 10; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 11)
5. City of Managua to buy medicines for former sugar cane workers
A group of former sugar cane workers has spent two years camped out in the Ruben Dario traffic circle in Managua, demanding that the San Antonio Sugar Refinery justly compensate them for chronic renal insufficiency. One of the workers said that many of them had worked 30 or 40 years for the country's biggest cane producer, the Pellas family, owner of the San Antonio plantation and refinery. Because of the many challenges the group has faced throughout this struggle, the city of Managua has decided to help them buy medicines.
"Unfortunately," said a protester, "The Pellas Group wants to pass the buck to the government so that it [the government] can take responsibility for our illness and compensation for our pain and suffering. But this should not happen, because we worked for the Pellas family."
In the last two years, 30 people have died due to the affects brought on by exposure to pesticides handling the cane during the harvests. The city of Managua announced that it would continue to support these families that now, more than ever, need Nicaraguan solidarity while they continue to pursue compensation from the company. (Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 9)
6. International Poetry Festival begins in Granada honoring Claribel Alegria
The seventh International Poetry Festival held annually in Granada began on Saturday, Feb. 12, and will continue through this week. 124 poets from 48 countries are expected to attend. This year's festival is dedicated to the Nicaraguan/Salvadoran poet Claribel Alegria, author of books of poems (Casting Off and Sorrow), novels (Ashes of Izalco), and nonfiction (The Death of Somoza) and winner of many prizes. Poets from Europe were received by representatives of the European Union in Central America, including Ambassador Mendel Goldstein, and entertained with a special program on Saturday afternoon.
Singer Katia Cardenal sang in concert on Saturday night to welcome the poets. Other singers who will perform include Carlos and Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy, Norma Elena Gadea and Cuneta Son Machin (described as a “grupo roquero”). On Tuesday, Alegria will be honored in a special program and a bust of her by Austrian sculptor Johannes Kranz will be unveiled. Poets will give workshops and read their poems in parks, markets, churches and convents. The theme of the traditional carnival and parade this year will be “Burial of the sorrows and poverties of the soul.”
The Plaza de los Leones is the scene of the annual Book Fair and the story corner sponsored by the Books for Children Foundation. Producers of Nicaraguan handicrafts from all over the country have set up their stalls in the plazas in what has become a great annual artisans' fair. (La Prensa, Feb. 13; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 13)
7. National Assembly considering new law governing Directorate of Customs
The National Assembly Committee on Production, the Economy and the Budget began last week a process of consultation on the new bill regulating the General Directorate of Customs, which has been under attack in recent weeks because of the retention of newsprint for the newspaper El Nuevo Diario. Committee Chair Walmaro Gutierrez (FLSN) told La Prensa that the committee was “giving priority” to consultations with the private sector, government agencies, and all the members of the Assembly. He said that it was a very delicate and technical subject on which it will be difficult to reach consensus. He added that he recognized that business organizations consider the bill a step backwards on the issue of expediting imports and exports. Gutierrez said, “We hope that public and private institutions will submit written opinions to the committee so that we can move ahead.”
However, Eduardo Fonseca, executive director of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce said that his organization needed another week to examine the whole bill. One of the problems for business people is that instead of removing the opportunities for the use of discretion by individual Custom officials, this bill increases those opportunities. Over 100 new fines would be established that would range from US$100 to US$1,000 for errors in the customs declaration. Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said that a COSEP committee was working with a team from several sectors. He said, “What is needed is a document that redefines values and classifications to avoid subjective decisions by the customs workers.” Ernesto Vargas, of the trade organization composed of agencies providing customs services, said, “The problem is they are all new people. They see the merchandise; they get in their heads that the declared value is false, so they stop it and put on it the value they want! This shouldn't be! They don't even look at the original invoice.” (La Prensa, Feb. 8; El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 8,)
8. Municipality of Cardenas to get potable water from Lake Nicaragua
For ten years the 2,500 residents of the lakeside municipality of Cardenas have had to buy drinking water because water from wells that tapped underground aquifers, while usable for bathing and washing clothes, contained lead and was not potable. Thanks to the Nicaraguan and Spanish governments that problem is soon to be resolved. With US$736,000 from the Nicaraguan Water and Sewer Authority (ENACAL), the Spanish government, and a sister city in Spain, construction will begin in May on an aqueduct, a water purification plant, pipes, and a 65,000 gallon holding tank. The project will serve Cardenas and the villages of La Flor and Las Mercedes. Juigalpa, in the Department of Chontales, is currently receiving its water from Lake Cocibolca and, next month, San Juan del Sur will begin to drink purified water from the Lake as well. (El Nuevo Diario, Feb. 14; Radio La Primerisima, Feb. 13)
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