TUESDAY, JUNE 03, 2014

Nicaragua News Bulletin (June 3, 2014)

1. El Niño predicted to bring drought to much of Central America
2. President Ortega sends report on 2013 to National Assembly
3. Mother’s Day brings women’s issues to the fore
4. US-Nicaragua relations briefs
5. Daniel Ortega welcomes fellow ex-guerilla Sanchez as new president of El Salvador
6. Government announces reforestation goals
 

1. El Niño predicted to bring drought to much of Central America

On May 27, the director of the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER), Marcio Baca, announced that, “The phenomenon of El Niño is going to significantly affect all of Central America.”  He said that the warming of the waters of the tropical Pacific can bring drought and/or flooding, depending on the region. He explained that a dry arc begins in Panama and includes the northeast of Costa Rica, the central and Pacific coast regions of Nicaragua, southern Honduras, the south and west of El Salvador and the southern part of Guatemala. He said that the formation of El Niño, which began in February off the coast of Peru, is not yet complete and its intensity is thus not fully known. That, however, did not keep the voices of alarm from filling the news media last week.

On May 28, the government announced that 950,000 Nicaraguan jobs depend on agriculture and began a series of meetings with different economic sectors expected to be affected by the sparse rainy season, which was already almost a month late in starting.  Central Bank President Ovidio Reyes said, “Beginning today, we will be meeting for the next ten days with the different productive sectors of the country.” Jose Adan Aguerri of the Superior Council on Private Enterprise (COSEP) said there will be 16 meetings ending June 7 at which the various sectors will be laying out their requirements for confronting the crisis. At the first planning meeting were representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Commerce Ministry, the Ministry of the Family, Community and Cooperative Economy, the Ministry of the Environment, the Poultry Association (ANAPA), the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPANIC), and the Association of Producers and Exporters (APEN). On May 29, cattle ranchers were scheduled for the morning with poultry producers for the afternoon.

Santos Nicoya, who heads the Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG) in the Department of Rivas, said that normally by this date farmers in Rivas would have already have planted 5-7,000 acres of corn and beans but this year farmers have not dared to plant because of the lack of rain in the area. He added that UNAG is encouraging farmers to plant heritage seeds which he said are more resistant to drought and pests even though their yields are lower. Nicoya said that the plantain and banana sector has been affected because the water in the streams used to irrigate the trees is extremely low. Rivas produces 70% of Nicaragua’s plantains. Elvin Pineda of the Cattle Ranchers Association of Madriz said that 26 ranchers in the department of Madriz have lost a total of more than 100 head of cattle. Rancher Carlos Betanco said he felt impotent watching his cattle weaken because of a lack of water and feed.

On May 30 and 31, to the delight of farmers, rain fell in the north, west, and Caribbean regions of the country as a tropical depression settled in and was expected to linger for several days. And with the rains, preparations began to confront the inevitable floods resulting from the tropical downpours with Salvador Gallo, head of the national fire department, saying that 2,300 professionals and volunteers were ready to help with emergencies such as collapsed buildings and water rescues.  (Radio La Primerisima, May 27, Jun. 2; El Nuevo Diario, May 27, 29, Jun. 1; La Prensa, May 28, 30; Informe Pastran, May 28)

2. President Ortega sends report on 2013 to National Assembly

Treasury Minister Ivan Acosta gave President Daniel Ortega’s annual report to the National Assembly for the year 2013 on May 29. Read the report at: http://tortillaconsal.com/tortilla/es/node/14616.   Acosta said that during the five years of the Ortega government the amount allocated to fighting poverty had doubled, last year reaching 55% of the national budget. Acosta said that, as a result, extreme poverty (less than US$1.25 per day) had been reduced from 14% in 2009 to 7.8% in 2013, a rate of about 1% per year. Those living on less than US$2 per day remained at 44% of Nicaragua’s six million inhabitants, according to the report. Hunger and child malnutrition was reduced from 55% to 20%, figures recognized by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization. The government dedicated US$340 million to education and US$360 to health care in 2013.

Acosta said that Nicaragua grew at a rate of 4.5% in 2013 and was projected to grow by between 4.5% and 5% in 2014 unless that rate is slowed by the El Niño climate phenomenon. Exports grew to almost US$5 billion with the principal exports last year being gold, beef and coffee in that order.  All grew in volume except coffee which declined from largest export to third because of the coffee rust plague. Half of the value of the country’s export total (US$2.563 billion, a growth of 10%) was products assembled in free trade zones which provide 100,000 jobs but no export tax revenue for the government. Inflation last year was 5.87%, down from 6.62% in 2012.

Acosta said that foreign direct investment reached US$1.358 billion in 2013, for a total of US$5.7 billion over the last five years, up from US$243 million in 2006. Nicaragua has international reserves of US$2 billion. Tax revenues reached 40.785 billion córdobas (US$1.63 billion). Remittances from family members working abroad reached US$1.79 billion last year, an increase of 6.3% over 2012. The report noted that, while in 2006 only 80% of government-funded projects were completed on time, in 2013 that number topped 94%. The report said that Nicaragua is being transformed economically on two levels: on the macro level with investments in infrastructure and on the micro level with the transformation of the agricultural economy at the level of the micro, small, and medium scale producers.

Acosta said that with the addition of 100,000 additional square kilometers of marine territory, Nicaragua’s fisheries have shown increased production of 14%. He noted that Nicaragua is the fourth safest country in Latin America, after Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, according to the United Nations Development Program.

Sandinista Deputy Edwin Castro stated that the government’s report showed that the country was growing in a sustained fashion and was economically stable. “We still have a long way to go; we are not satisfied,” he said, adding, “But we are on a good path.”

Opposition deputies minimized the importance of the report.  Independent Liberal Party Deputy Eliseo Nuñez said that the president must give it little importance since he did not deliver it himself but rather had one of his minister deliver it. (Radio la Primerisima, May 30; El Nuevo Diario, May 29, 30; Informe Pastran, May 29)

3. Mother’s Day brings women’s issues to the fore

May 30th is Mother’s Day in Nicaragua and thus the media during the past week focused on issues related to women and mothers. The government declared that public sector workers would be given the day off, except for the National Assembly, which held a special session to honor mothers.   Government spokesperson Rosario Murillo said that property titles were given to women in departments around the country on May 28. She noted that 61% of the titles to be given out between now and July 19, the 35th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, would be in the names of women.  Murillo also said that besides rebuilding their houses, mothers affected by the earthquakes in April in Managua, Mateare, Ciudad Sandino, Nagarote, La Paz Centro and Ticuantepe would receive solidarity gift packages of food and other items.

M&R Consultores released results last week of a poll in which they questioned 811 women over 16 in urban and rural areas throughout the country. The poll showed that 44.8% of Nicaraguan women both worked and did housework at home.  The poll showed 20.2% working in the formal sector (and paying into Social Security) with 24.6% saying they were self-employed.  Of those polled, 74.2% said that they preferred marriage over a stable union but only 22.7% said that marriage should always be “until death do us part.” Ninety percent approved of using contraceptives and 51.5% said that a woman should be able to end a pregnancy when her life is in danger.  However, only 37.1% believed that abortion should be permitted if the fetus suffers from birth defects and only 22.9% if the pregnancy is the result of rape. Almost 14% said that they had suffered abuse (verbal, psychological, or physical) from a partner. Of the women polled, 20.2% said that relations between people of the same sex should be permitted. Even with the passage of Law 779 to stop violence against women, 43.2% of those polled believed that violence against women had increased; 25.6% said it was the same; and 28.7% said it had diminished. Of those polled, 44.3% were single, 31.2% married, and 24.5% were living with a partner.  When questioned about religion, 52.5% said they were Catholic, 30.8% Protestant, 5.5% other denominations, and 11.1% said they were believers without any affiliation.

In related news, Aminta Granera announced after a meeting with the heads of all of the Women’s and Children’s Police Stations in the nation that mediation by police between couples in cases of domestic violence would no longer be allowed.  Although Granera gave no figures on the number of mediations that have taken place, organizations that follow the issue said that five of the women recently killed by an intimate partner had been involved in police sponsored mediation. Law 779 was amended in Sept. 2013 to permit mediation in cases of “lesser injuries” if the woman agreed.

In the Department of Chinandega, a mobile Women’s and Children’s Police Station visited Posoltega, El Realejo, El Guasimal, Potosi, Cosigüina, and other communities with trained police officers, a social worker, a psychologist, and a representative of the Ministry of the Family. Besides attending to cases of domestic violence, the team helps parents register births, provides protection for any abandoned children, gives anti-drug talks to youth, and provides other services. Sujey Romero, an attorney with the Women’s Movement of Chinandega, said that the mobile police stations give women the confidence to bring their cases to the authorities.  (Radio La Primerisima, May 27, 30; Informe Pastran, May 28, 29; El Nuevo Diario, May 29, Jun. 1)

4. US-Nicaragua relations briefs

With the US deadline to issue its annual property waiver less than two months away, the Nicaraguan Attorney General’s Office announced the first successful resolution of a claim through arbitration by the Nicaraguan Center for Mediation and Arbitration of the Chamber of Commerce (CCSN). In March, Attorney General Hernan Estrada announced that Nicaragua had resolved all but 178 cases filed by 107 US citizens (most of whom were Nicaraguan when their property was confiscated in the 1980s). Without the annual July 31 waiver, the US would cut off aid and international loans to Nicaragua. Estrada said that the remaining cases were the most complicated since the claimants lack legal arguments to support their demands. He vowed to resolve all claims this year through arbitration. The Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce, in announcing the first successful resolution, invited all claimants to “come to the center of arbitration as soon as possible.” (La Prensa, May 30)

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) funded Diploma in Leadership and Management Policy (DLGP) program is advertising for young people from political parties and civil society organizations between the ages of 16-35, and will offer 250 scholarships. NDI is a core group of the National Endowment for Democracy, a “private” agency of the US government that finances political parties and civil society groups that support US corporate interests or oppose governments that the US opposes. The classes will be conducted in partnership with George Washington University in Washington, DC, the Universidad Americana in Managua, the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast, and the Institute for Development and Democracy (IPADE). Courses will train future political actors in leadership, democracy, communication, negotiation, and other skills. [These classes have frequently in the past been virtual cheerleading courses for right-wing unity against the Sandinistas.] (El Nuevo Diario, May 29)

US Ambassador Phyllis M. Powers urged Nicaragua to spend more money on education at a conference on education sponsored by the Nicaraguan-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM). [This is quite a turnaround from US policy in the 1990s and 2000s which demanded an end to free education in exchange for foreign aid and loans.] Powers announced a $9.9 million grant to improve education on the Caribbean Coast. AMCHAM President Alfredo Artiles criticized the Sandinista government for investing “5.5 times as much in higher education than in primary and secondary education.” He said, “Clearly the allocation of funds pyramid is inverted.” [Artiles failed to note that the amount spent on higher education is fixed by the Constitution at 6% of the national budget.] (El Nuevo Diario, May 29)

5. Daniel Ortega welcomes fellow ex-guerilla Sanchez as new president of El Salvador

President Daniel Ortega sent greetings to fellow ex-guerilla fighter Salvador Sanchez Ceren upon his inauguration as president of El Salvador on Sunday, June 1. Sanchez was a commander in the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) which fought the US-backed Salvadoran government in the 1980s until signing a peace agreement in 1992. Sanchez succeeds FMLN President Mauricio Funes, who worked as a journalist sympathetic to the FMLN during the civil war, thus making Sanchez the first FMLN guerilla fighter who has won the presidency.  Ortega called Sanchez’s victory the continued advance of peace and human rights in Central America. His statement, as read by government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo stated, “Peace is advancing in our Central America, along with routes to prosperity, social justice and dignity. This is happening in a region of the world that knew the suffering of war and which today, thank God, lives in peace and tranquility and the restoration of rights leading to full dignity and social justice.”

Sanchez pledged to eradicate the corruption which plagued his predecessor and to improve jobs, education, and social justice. One of his first acts was to enroll El Salvador in Venezuela’s Petrocaribe, a program through which Latin American and Caribbean countries can buy Venezuelan oil paying 50% up front and financing the remainder over 25 years at 2% interest with the proviso that the money saved be spent on social programs to alleviate poverty. Previously only Salvadoran municipalities with FMLN mayors participated in the program. Vice-President Omar Halleslevens represented Nicaragua at the inauguration. (Radio La Primerisma, June 2; El Nuevo Diario, June 2)

6. Government announces reforestation goals

The government’s Production Cabinet met last week to analyze the forestry sector. William Schwartz, director of the National Forestry Institute reported after the meeting that despite climate change and El Niño, the forestry sector is expected to grow by 10% this year with 20% of the timber destined for export. He said the government plans to reforest 23,115 hectares this year on top of the 20,662 hectares reforested last year. Harvested wood is expected to total 289,000 cubic meters. While historically Nicaragua’s wood exports have been raw timber, increasingly value is being added in Nicaragua through milling, building furniture and other end products.  The Production Cabinet expects forest products to become one of the primary export sectors of the economy.  Reforestation of teak, beechwood, African mahogany, and other commercially desirable woods for future harvest will amount to 4,000 hectares of this year’s reforestation plan. (Radio La Primerisima, May 31)

 

 

 

 

 

 


Labels: Nicaragua News Bulletin