Nicaragua Network

1. Final preparations made for municipal elections

2. National Assembly committee approves Sucre

3. Nicaragua receives loans for health care, housing

4. Nicaraguan women find family members in Mexico

5. School meals reaching 11,000 schools

6. Attacks against LGBT community increase in 2012

7. New health center will serve 1500 residents of La Chureca

8. “La Gritería” proposed for UNESCO heritage list



1. Final preparations made for municipal elections

With the municipal elections scheduled for Nov. 4, Informe Pastran reported on Oct. 24 that non-governmental organizations have received “abundant” financing from “organizations and institutions” in the United States for election activism. The money has been spent, according to the report, on “pamphlets for opposition parties' poll watchers, seminars, debates, [and] training for opposition mayoral candidates.” Other funds have been provided “to promote democratic culture, citizen journalism, and investigative journalism to a reduced circle of permanent critics of the government.” One group that in the past has received US funding for electoral observation, Ethics and Transparency, announced that it will have a web page, Facebook, and twitter accounts open for “citizens to denounce election irregularities.” [Informe Pastran also reported that the State of Texas had forbidden election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to come within 100 feet of a Texas polling place on Nov. 6, election day in the United States. “This is really true,” commented Informe Pastran.]

On Oct. 28, electoral board members for all precincts in Nicaragua's 153 municipalities were trained and sworn in by electoral authorities in preparation for the local elections. Each precinct electoral board has a president, a first and a second member, and alternates for each, for a total of six. Board members are named by the political parties and the president and first member in the different precincts of a municipality alternate between the first and second vote getters in the last election, in this case the Sandinista Party (FSLN) and the Independent Liberal Party (PLI). All six participating parties also have poll watchers in each precinct. The FLSN was able to provide enough members to fill all the spots around the nation, but the PLI was having difficulty. In some cases, the party was moving alternate poll watchers to fill vacancies on precinct electoral boards.

Lazaro Cardenas, head of the election accompaniment (or observation) mission from the Organization of American States (OAS) said that the team will only include 26 observers, rather than the 60 previously announced, due to a shortfall in donations from member countries for the mission. The OAS does not normally observe local elections but was asked by President Daniel Ortega to make an exception in this case. Supreme Electoral Council President Roberto Rivas announced that experts from the Council of Latin American Electoral Experts (CEELA) composed of current and former electoral officials from a broad group of Latin American countries, and from the Association of Electoral Organizations of Central America and the Caribbean (Tikal Protocol) will also observe the elections. In terms of national observers, the National Council of Universities announced that it will have over 3,000 accredited observers inside polling places and Rivas said that there would be no obstacle to other organizations observing the elections from outside. Accredited media outlets will be allowed inside polling places, he said.

Francisco Diaz, general commissioner of the National Police, announced at a press conference on Oct. 29 that the police had 12,000 officers and 3,000 volunteers ready to assure the smooth functioning of Sunday's municipal elections. He said that there had been two violent incidents which were being investigated, one in Leon and the other in Siuna. Meanwhile, General Julio Cesar Aviles, head of the Army, received the packets of materials to be delivered by the air force to towns and villages in the North and South Atlantic Autonomous Regions (RAAN and RAAS). He said the Army would deploy 8,000 troops, 12 planes, 38 boats, and 300 vehicles to reinforce security in the more remote areas of the country.

In Siuna, on Oct. 27, former deputy mayor and candidate for city council Evaristo Luna was murdered after attending a meeting of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC). Luna was a former contra leader known as Comandante Catala. Another former member of the contra, Felipe Bermudez, accused members of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) of killing Luna. Local PLI leaders denied the charge. Local police told El Nuevo Diario that they were investigating and could not be sure that it was, in fact, a politically motivated crime.

In Quezalguaque, Department of Leon, sympathizers of the Sandinista Party, the PLC, and the PLI came to blows at the local public school after PLC and PLI members held Sandinista Mayor Hugo Ruiz for three hours accusing him of not allowing their members to take their places at the training and swearing in of precinct electoral board members. Several people were injured. PLI members said that the list in the hands of the municipal council was different from the one they had given to the departmental electoral council. About 200 locals blocked traffic on a nearby highway to protest what they said was a change in the list. In other incidents, the PLC mayor of Terrabona accused members of the FSLN of violence; in Sebaco the PLC candidate for mayor accused members of the PLI of attacking her supporters, and in La Trinidad members of the PLI and PLC fought in the streets resulting in injuries to a woman supporter of the PLI. (Informe Pastran, Oct. 24, 25, 29; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 29; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 23, 25, 26, 27, 29; La Prensa, Oct. 28)

2. National Assembly committee approves Sucre

The Committee on the Economy of the National Assembly reported out favorably the treaty, signed by President Daniel Ortega in 2009, that will, if passed by the entire legislature, make Nicaragua a member of the Regional Unitary Payment Compensation System (SUCRE). Before the vote, the committee heard from business and agriculture representatives. The Sucre would be a virtual currency for use among the central banks of the members of Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) to record imports and exports between the member countries. Current Sucre members are Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela. The Sucre is named in honor of Antonio Jose de Sucre, a Venezuelan independence leader and first president of Bolivia. Nicaraguan Central Bank President Alberto Guevara said, “The Sucre is a pillar of the new regional architecture that is being built within the framework of ALBA.” The Sucre allows trade between member countries without using US dollars.

While Alvaro Fiallos, president of the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG) gave the support of his organization to joining the Sucre, the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) expressed concerns. Jose Adan Aguerri, worried that producers would receive payment for their exports to Venezuela in Nicaragua's national currency, the córdoba, rather than in US dollars as they currently do and then would have to buy dollars to pay suppliers. Guevara reassured COSEP members that exporters would continue to receive those payments in dollars. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 25; Informe Pastran, Oct. 25; El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 25; La Prensa, Oct. 24)

3. Nicaragua receives loans for health care, housing

Nicaragua has signed loan agreements with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) totaling US$101 million for the public health sector. US$45 million will strengthen health care for 100,000 children and improve the network of social protection. The other US$56 million will strengthen public health care for 2.3 million people in vulnerable areas, especially the community and family health model promoted by the government of President Daniel Ortega. Some of the money will also go to repair and remodel seven health care centers throughout the country and for the construction of a hospital on Corn Island (part of the South Atlantic Autonomous Region-RAAN). “These loans are going to have a very important impact on improving public health care and the health of our community, the health of our people,” said Housing and Public Credit Minister Ivan Acosta.

In addition, a US$9 million loan for public housing was signed with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE). The loan will pay for construction of homes for 4,133 poor families and provide property titles to another 5,000 families. The BCIE will also provide US$38 million to improve and repair Nicaraguan Highway 12 between Puerto Sandino and Nejapa among five road improvement projects in Matagalpa, Madriz, Nueva Segovia, Chontales, and Esteli. (La Prensa, Oct. 26; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 26; Informe Pastran, Oct. 29)

4. Nicaraguan women find family members in Mexico

The caravan of Central American mothers and others who are searching for their disappeared migrant relatives reached Mexico City and on Oct. 28 heard mass in the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe while some happy reunions with family members continued. In the Basilica, Father Juan Castillo welcomed the mothers reminding them that the Virgin Mary was a mother who saw her son die tragically. He said, “We receive you with affection and in this mass we will pray for your intentions; for all of you bring not only a photograph but your heart with the desire that God provide you with a miracle.” The same day, the members of the caravan visited the Zocolo, Mexico City's main plaza, where they gave a presentation at a book fair about their search.

A total of six family members have been found on this seventh annual caravan. Martha Blandon from Nicaragua was reunited with her twin sister Blanca whom she had not seen in 27 years. Blanca's husband saw a television news report in which Martha explained that she was seeking her sister. He went to speak to Martha privately and later took his wife for the reunion with her sister. Another Nicaraguan reunion was scheduled to take place on Oct. 29, when Francisco Cordero would meet his 75 year old mother, Teodora Namendiz, in Veracruz. Cordero left Nicaragua 30 years ago and his mother had not heard from him for the last 27 years. “It was like a soap opera,” said Ruben Figueroa, an activist with the Meso-American Migrant Movement, who helped locate Cordero. Figueroa said he had an address from a letter written in 1985. No one at the address remembered Cordero but Figueroa and a group of journalists persevered and found people who knew him. Cordero, a recovered alcoholic, now works laying tiles and is the father of three grown children who are anxious to meet their grandmother.

At a press conference in the Mexican capital, caravan members called on the governments of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the United States to create effective mechanisms for collaboration to locate disappeared migrants. The 60 mothers and other relatives asked for the creation of an international data base with records of disappeared persons and of unidentified remains along with the naming of specialized prosecutors to pursue crimes against migrants and government programs to help relatives searching for relatives who have disappeared. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 27, 29; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 24, 26, 27, 28, 29; La Prensa, Oct. 24, 26, 28, 29)

5. School meals reaching 11,000 schools

The School Meal Program is benefitting students at all grade levels in 11,000 learning centers through the Integral Program of School Nutrition administered by the Ministry of Education. Students are served meals made with rice and beans, corn and cooking oil according to Sergio Antonio Galan of the Donald Hugo Mantilla Union. He said that school vegetable gardens are being promoted as a way to supplement the basic meal and “as an educational strategy.” He added that lack of personnel caused some past problems in the distribution of the basic products, but he said that is being remedied. In 2012 he said food was supplied to the schools 150 days of the year and that the meal improves family food security nationally. Also as part of the program, the sale of junk food and sodas at the schools is prohibited. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 24)

6. Attacks against LGBT community increase in 2012

Human Rights Ombudsperson for Sexual Diversity Samira Montiel condemned rising violence against the LGBT community on Oct. 25. Montiel said that between January and October there were 5 murders, seven assaults, and two cases of sexual violence against the gay community. During the same period the previous year there were only two murders. Montiel praised police for their overall response to violence and for resolving the last two cases but called on them to give greater attention to hate crimes, noting that some police scoff at complaints of violence from the gay community and even participate in demonizing them. Nicaragua has always been known for its tolerance of sexual diversity, Montiel said, and speculated that violent denunciations of the gay community by some Christian denominations coupled with a lack of police prioritization of the crimes may be the cause of the increased violence. She called on the Supreme Court to make cracking down on hate crimes against the LGBT community a priority of the judiciary. (El Nuevo Diario, Oct. 25; Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 25; La Prensa, Oct. 25)

7. New health center will serve 1500 residents of La Chureca

On Oct. 26, Managua Mayor, Daisy Torres and Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID) Coordinator in Nicaragua José Manuel Mariscal inaugurated a new health center that will serve the approximately 1,500 residents of the largest inhabited landfill in Latin America, La Chureca. The Chureca landfill, now fully sealed, sits on the northwestern outskirts of Managua and stretches seven kilometers long. The construction of the new health center is part of AECID's comprehensive development plan for Managua's Acahualinca neighborhood, where La Chureca is located. So far the landfill has been sealed, 258 houses have been constructed, and a modern recycling plant has been installed, with residents being trained in its operation. This project is considered the flagship program of the AECID in Nicaragua with US$130,000 spent on the construction and equipping of the health center out of AECID's total US$48 million investment. The Chureca project was the show piece presented by Spain at an international meeting on garbage management in Brazil last week (Radio La Primerisima, Oct 26)

8. “La Gritería” proposed for UNESCO heritage list

Bishop of Leon Bosco Vivas explained that the application he presented to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to include the festival known as “La Gritería” on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list was not his alone but was from the people of Leon. He said that the initiative was adopted after a long period of study and consultation with residents of the city and with world cultural authorities. The bishop was answering criticisms from Managua Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes who said last week that he did not share the idea that the festival should be declared a world treasure because it was not cultural but rather an “act of faith” by Nicaraguan Catholics.

“La Gritería” is the culmination of a novena (nine days) of prayers and celebration in honor of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (La Purísima), free from original sin in the womb of her mother St. Ann so that she would be a worthy vessel to bear the holy child Jesus. On the night of Dec. 7, the eve of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, many Nicaraguans put up altars to Mary in front of their homes so that their neighbors and other townspeople can come to sing special hymns at the altars and afterward receive typical fruits, sweets and small toys. Bishop Vivas said that the feast of La Purísima “is complete, with its rites and traditions that merit its becoming part of the patrimony of humanity.” The celebration began in Leon more than a century ago and spread throughout Nicaragua and abroad to wherever Nicaraguans live. Bishop Vivas had presented the idea to Juan Bautista Arrien, UNESCO representative in Nicaragua and earlier this month President Daniel Ortega asked his ambassador to the UN, Lautaro Sandino to pursue the issue with UNESCO. The Intangible Cultural Heritage list includes other religious celebrations such as Ramman, the religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas of India, and the Holy Week processions of Popayan, Colombia. (Radio La Primerisima, Oct. 24; Informe Pastran, Oct. 26)