TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2012
Nicaragua News Bulletin (July 31, 2012)
1. US issues property waiver2. Verification of voter rolls held
3. Economic briefs
4. Joint military training base to be built in Honduras
5. Labor conditions improve in Free Trade Zones
6. Ambitious housing projects proceed
7. First person sentenced under law protecting women
8. Canal moves a step closer
9. Nicaraguan Olympic boxer advances
1. US issues property waiver
On July 25, the United States government announced that it would issue the yearly waiver certifying that Nicaragua had made progress resolving claims for compensation for confiscated property made by US citizens (principally Nicaraguans who became US citizens long after they lost their property by confiscation or foreclosure). The waiver, which will be in effect for a year, was issued, according to the US Embassy communiqué, based on the national interest of the United States and on the efforts of the government of Nicaragua to resolve the property claims of US citizens. The note, which has still not been posted in English, said that, between July 2011 and July 2012, 65 claims made by 31 US citizens had been resolved and 337 remained. The communiqué expressed concern about “land invasions and other forms of usurpation of property rights” in Nicaragua which it said were increasing, indicating “a deterioration in the rule of law in Nicaragua.” It added that they were a “significant obstacle to investment in the country.” [However, the property conflicts recently in the news have been over who actually owns a piece of property and not cases of confiscation. On the other hand, foreign investment last year reached a historical record and, in the words of former US Ambassador Robert Callahan, Nicaragua is the country that has benefited most under the DR-CAFTA trade agreement with the United States.]
US Ambassador Phyllis Powers said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had sent a letter to Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos telling him of the decision. Powers added that there was a possibility of ending forever the whole waiver process, stating, “If we can finish all the cases and end land invasions, I think that we can [end the process], but we will have to work and we are going to work with the government on this issue.”
In the United States, Republican reaction was swift. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “I am deeply disappointed by the Obama Administration's decision to reward the regime in Managua with the property confiscation waiver.” She went on to say, “Rewarding an anti-American and anti-democratic regime with the property confiscation waiver is just another step in the wrong direction by an Obama Administration which seeks to appease dictators in this Hemisphere.”
In contrast, the most common reaction in Nicaragua was relief. El Nuevo Diario reported that the business sector celebrated the decision. Benjamin Lanzas, a leader in the construction sector, said that the approval assures that the US$35 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank for highway construction will go through. Dean Garcia, executive director of the Nicaraguan Association of the Textile and Garment Industry, challenged those Nicaraguans who opposed the waiver (alleging election irregularities and other problems with institutionality), saying, “You don't get to democracy by making a country poorer; you get to democracy collaborating with that country and promoting productive development.” In an official press release, the Nicaraguan-American Chamber of Commerce said that the US decision was “opportune and intelligent” and that it “should be seen as an opportunity for the Nicaraguan government to respect institutionality and rule of law, beginning with the naming of the functionaries whose terms have run out, as the constitution demands.” Among politicians, Christian Democrat Agustin Jarquin said the issuing of the waiver was “a blessing for Nicaraguans” which “cleared up the uncertainty threatening private investment and bilateral assistance.”
A delegation of Nicaraguan Protestant pastors led by Rev. Mauricio Fonseca visited Washington in the days before the decision was announced to lobby US leaders to grant the waiver. They met with John Ballard at the Nicaragua Desk at the State Department and with other officials. [The Nicaragua Network working with ALBA-USA in Los Angeles also mounted a campaign to get activists to contact the State Department and their representatives in the House and Senate about the waiver. John Ballard called the Nicaragua Network several weeks before the decision to say that he was passing our e-mails and voice-mails on to the top officials in the State Department. Thank you to all who called or wrote.] (Radio La Primerisima, July 24, 25; http://spanish.nicaragua.usembassy.gov/pr_120725_waiver.html; La Prensa, July 25; El Nuevo Diario, July 25, 26; Informe Pastran, July 24, 25, 27; http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/news/story/?2552)
2. Verification of voter rolls held
About 700,000 voters went to their polling places over the past weekend to verify that they were on the voter rolls, apply for a voter ID, re-register to vote after not having participated in two national elections, or to report a change of address. This is part of the process leading up to the November 4 municipal elections. There were some problems reported. In the mining triangle, address change forms ran out because of the movement of many new people into the area to mine gold. In other places the technician to make voter ID cards did not show up. Independent Liberal Party (PLI) National Assembly Deputy Mauricio Diaz said that the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) did not issue the necessary announcements that verification was going to take place resulting in many people not knowing it was happening. He also criticized the decision of the CSE, dating from 2007, to carry out the verification with only paid electoral staff and not to include poll watchers from the political parties. But, El Nuevo Diario reported that the “verification closed better” than it had opened with many young people lining up at polling places. Government Communications Coordinator Rosario Murillo said of the weekend's events, “We are advancing in democracy, in the rights of women, of the family, of the communities, guaranteeing that we all feel equal in this our free country.”
In other political news, the PLI announced that it would participate in the November elections even though party representatives said that they did not see the conditions they had laid out for free and fair elections being met. Among those conditions is the replacement of some or all of the magistrates of the CSE, whose terms have run out. PLI National Assembly Deputy Luis Callejas said his party was working on possible alliances with other parties, including at the moment, the Citizen Action Party (PAC) and the Movement of Coast Unity (PAMUC). The Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), part of the PLI Alliance, said the elections will be fraudulent and the party will not allow any of its members to run as candidates in the elections. Dora Maria Tellez told Channel 2 Television that, “If there is someone who is affiliated with the MRS and appears on one of the lists of the PLI or any other party, that person will cease being a member of the MRS.”
As we reported last week, the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) has also decided to run candidates in the municipal elections. The Conservative Party and the Christian Democratic Union (UDC) are also participating. (Informe Pastran, July 25, 27, 30; El Nuevo Diario, July 24, 28, 30; La Prensa, July 25, 29; Radio La Primerisima, July 28, 29)
3. Economic briefs
On July 26, Pedro Haslam, president of the Rural Development Institute, announced that the country's basic grain producers had planted 543,000 acres of corn, more than the goal for the first planting season, and expected to harvest 540,000 acres. More acres of beans and rice were planted than the goal as well and the August harvest is expected to be good. Haslam added that increases were also seen in sorghum, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, onions, yucca, and other root crops. Minister of Agriculture Ariel Bucardo said, however, that climatologists are predicting a renewal of the El Niño weather phenomenon which could mean drought in the next period. (Radio La Primerisima, July 26; Informe Pastran, July 27; El Nuevo Diario, July 26)
In other news, Minister of Energy Emilio Rappaccioli announced that the La Fe-San Martin wind farm, built by Blue Power Energy, S.A., began a test run of its first five windmills (out of a total of 22) that will eventually provide 39.5 megawatts to the national electricity grid. Rappaccioli said that the test runs will probably last two or three weeks and if all goes well, the windmills will begin functioning commercially. This is the second wind farm built by Blue Power in Nicaragua; both of them are in the Department of Rivas. Each has involved an investment of between US$105 and US$115 million but together they are expected to save much more than that in lower costs for importation of petroleum. There are two other wind farms being built in Rivas, one by Mexican investors and the other by ALBA of Nicaragua. (El Nuevo Diario, July 26)
Eight hundred producers from all over Nicaragua participated in the IV Gathering of Producers and Exporters 2012. At the gathering, sponsored by the Nicaragua Association of Producers and Exporters (APEN), producers attended workshops to learn about business opportunities in Nicaragua and also abroad under Nicaragua's trade agreements. Representatives from the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) spoke of opportunities for Nicaraguans as part of ALADI while others promoted possibilities under the new agreement between the European Union and Central America. APEN, in conjunction with the Nicaraguan-Northern European Chamber of Commerce, identified as a special objective for the Association the identification of small and medium businesses with potential for export to Northern Europe. At the same time as the Producers and Exporters meeting, cattle ranchers exhibited their prize animals. (Informe Pastran, July 27; El Nuevo Diario, July 28, 30; Radio La Primerisima July 28)
4. Joint military training base to be built in Honduras
According to military sources, the armies of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua agreed to the installation of a regional training base in Honduras. It is expected to begin functioning in late 2012 or early 2013. The base, to be operated with US logistical and technical support, will provide counter-terrorism training including prevention of explosive and car bomb attacks by organized crime. This escalation of the so-called “drug war” was adopted during the 26th ordinary meeting of the Superior Council of the Conference of Central American Armed Forces in Honduras. Honduras army spokesperson Col. Jeremias Arevalo said, “There is no doubt. It is clear that, yes, we are going to boost the joint actions and have common goals in terms of intelligence and operating plans.” The training facility will join the US radar station in El Salvador, which has been operating for several years to track possible smuggling by boats and planes. It will also join three new US bases installed in Honduras in April, and will augment the Soto Cano (Palmerola) base in Honduras where the US now maintains 600 US soldiers and coordinates its military actions in all of Central America. (Radio La Primerisima, July 27)
5. Labor conditions improve in Free Trade Zones
According to El Nuevo Diario, maquiladora assembly plant work in the country's Free Trade Zones (FTZ) has improved in recent years although problems remain. Quoting “Sylvia” who has worked in FTZ factories for 10 years, labor conditions are now “very different.” She said that ten years ago, before the current government, “they treated us quite inhumanely.” Since the first maquila opened in the first FTZ in 1991, the sector has exploded. In that year, 17 textile companies employed 9,000 workers. Last year 99,506 workers exported products worth over US$2 billion. Before 2007 the word maquiladora was a synonym for labor abuse. It was difficult for workers to organize unions and those who tried were often fired. Today most factories are unionized and there are more government inspectors inspecting more frequently and issuing more fines. There is labor stability thanks to tripartite talks implemented by the Ortega government bringing together factory owners, unions, and the Ministry of Labor to negotiate the minimum wage, meal subsidies, health care, and working conditions every six months. Nicaragua is also one of seven countries benefiting from the US Labor Department's Better Work program (affiliated with the International Labor Organization) which provides initiatives and funding to improve labor conditions.
Still, while fewer workers are subjected to physical and psychological abuse than in previous years, and while more workers have better access to bathrooms and drinking water, Nicaraguan FTZ workers make only $142.63 a month, second only to Haiti as the lowest pay in the hemisphere. Employees of the FTZ factories are overwhelmingly female and 75% of those are mothers. Nevertheless, El Nuevo Diario quoted long-time FTZ workers who said that conditions used to be worse. One woman said there used to not be enough fans and the heat was stifling. Workers weren't given masks and the lint in the air affected them. A 46 year old woman with 15 years as a FTZ worker said, “The Ministry of Labor has been reviewing all this and there are regulations now that the companies are following.” (El Nuevo Diario, July 30)
6. Ambitious housing projects proceed
So far this year the Nicaraguan government has provided 3,250 homes for families in extreme poverty according to Judith Silva, director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Urban and Rural Housing (INVUR). The social interest housing is provided through an alliance between the banks, workers and INVUR. There are currently 42 housing projects moving forward, a first in the nation's history, said Silva. On July 26 the government of President Daniel Ortega kicked off a new program, focused mostly on families in extreme poverty. The Housing and Comprehensive Habitat Improvement Program will go beyond building houses to serve the whole neighborhood, with community participation, to wire it for electricity, install water and sewers, pave streets, and develop parks. Silva emphasized that all the institutions of government will be in communication to insure that their work is complementary. The goal of the program is to benefit 13,000 families, both urban and rural, over the next four years. The program will generate 71,500 direct jobs and 123,000 indirect ones. The National Technological Institute will give certification to workers with construction skills which will help them get jobs. Funding is provided by the government, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Central American Bank of Economic Integration, as well as Spain and the Netherlands. (Radio La Primerisima, July 25; El Nuevo Diario, July 26; La Prensa, July 27; Informe Pastran, July 27)
7. First person sentenced under law protecting women
The Seventh District Criminal Court, specializing in violence against women, issued the first sentence under Act 779, a law passed in Nicaragua's National Assembly to punish abusers of women. Julio Esteban Rosales, age 28 was sentenced to eight months in jail for psychological abuse against his ex-wife and an additional eight months for assault on his former sister-in-law. Act 779, the Comprehensive Act to Stop Violence against Women went into effect on June 22. Judge Abelardo Ramos Alvir is the first to use it for sentencing. The law passed unanimously in the National Assembly and was hailed as a major victory for Nicaraguan women. (La Prensa, July 27)
8. Canal moves a step closer
A inter-oceanic canal across Nicaragua moved a step closer to reality with the award of a US$720,000 feasibility study contract to three Dutch companies, Royal Haskoning, DHV, and Ecorys. The consortium will determine which of six possible routes is most feasible. All routes cross Lake Nicaragua and the narrow piece of land between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean known as the Isthmus of Rivas according to Manuel Coronel Kautz, director of the Grand Canal Authority. The route that has received the least study up until now is the one that would use the San Juan River at Nicaragua's southern border. The study will include the feasibility of construction, sustainability of investment, and canal governance. Nicaragua estimates the canal will cost US$30 billion to construct. (Radio La Primerisima, July 26; El Nuevo Diario, July 26)
9. Nicaraguan Olympic boxer advances
Nicaraguan boxer Osmar Bravo, fighting in the 81 kilogram (light heavy-weight) class, won his first fight against Bosko Draskovic of Montenegro. It was Nicaragua's second Olympic boxing victory. The first was in 1992. Bravo's second fight will be against Oleksandr Gvozdyk of the Ukraine. (Radio La Primerisima, July 30; La Prensa, July 30; El Nuevo Diario, July 30)
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