Nicaragua Network

1. Government and HKND hold “symbolic” inauguration of canal construction
2. Ros-Lehtinen calls for sanctions against Nicaragua
3. Nicaragua celebrates release of Cuban Five; normalization of Cuba/US diplomatic relations
4. Bishops say “ideology of gender” leads to degradation and perdition
5. Bilwi neighborhoods to receive potable water
6. Economic briefs: food crops and energy

1. Government and HKND hold “symbolic” inauguration of canal construction

On the morning of Dec. 22, in the Department of Rivas, representatives of the Nicaraguan government, the HKND Group, the Grand Canal Commission and others held a ceremony marking what they said was the “symbolic inauguration” of the construction of the planned giant shipping canal across Nicaragua. Vice-President Omar Hallesleven said that the canal “will not only transform the history and geography of Nicaragua but also its economy in a sustainable fashion which is what we Nicaraguans need.” He said it will “bring great economic benefits and double our GDP growth which is currently at 4% or 5% each year.” Wang Jing, president of the HKND Group which holds the concession for the canal, said through a translator, “Friends, I invite you to keep in your memory this great moment which will be written in history. I announce the beginning of the work on the Grand Canal of Nicaragua.”

That evening, at another event, President Daniel Ortega addressed the concerns of protesters concerned about land acquisition saying, “We will speak with the population along the route to come to agreements and the population can choose to accept land nearby or other state-owned land elsewhere. These new properties will be more valuable because everyone knows that when you build a road it creates better conditions for the farms along the way and for the nation.” Wang Jing said that, “Compensation will be paid based on the market, in a just, open, and transparent fashion. No one will touch an inch of land without an agreement and until the owner is satisfied with the payment.”

Wang Jing also gave more details about the plans for the construction of the canal. He said that during the first quarter of 2015, the company will continue with measurements along the routes, begin acquiring properties, and start construction on the road that will connect to the eastern terminus of the canal. Also during the first quarter, bidding will open on the canal design and the environmental impact study will be completed. In the third quarter, excavation will begin at El Tule at the western terminus and in the fourth quarter bidding will continue on the design and excavation will begin on the locks both in the east and in the west. Construction is expected to take five years on the canal which will take container ships with a capacity of 25,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units—a unit of cargo used to describe the capacity of container ships) compared with just 13,000 TEU for the Panama Canal.

Meanwhile, protests against the canal continued in the Department of Rivas and in Nueva Guinea where opponents set up roadblocks to stop traffic to and from Managua.  The roadblock in Nueva Guinea, which allows foot traffic and tries to get signatures on a petition, was set up on Dec. 19 by farmers from the communities of Puerto Principe, Punta Gorda, El Pijibay and La Fonseca. They are demanding a repeal of Law 840 that authorized the canal. Nemesio Mejia of the National Council to Defend the Land, the Lake and Sovereignty said that their position is that they will not sell their land. The roadblock on the Pan American Highway in Rivas was set up at the time the government and the HKND Group were inaugurating the canal project a few miles away. They carried signs that said “No to the canal” and threatened to light a tank of flammable material if police approached them. There were also protests in El Tule and San Miguelito against the presence of the military in their communities which are on the canal route.

Also on Dec. 22, the Cocibolca Group released a declaration which lamented that the construction of the canal had been begun without the completion of the feasibility and environmental impact studies, saying that this was contrary to the most basic international practices. The Cocibolca Group, which has held 20 forums in different parts of Nicaragua, is composed of the Humboldt Center, the Popul Na Foundation, the Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous Peoples (CALPI), the Creole Government of Bluefields, the Del Rio Foundation, the Nicaraguan Network for Democracy and Local Development (RED LOCAL), and the Nicaraguan Foundation for Sustainable Development (FUNDENIC-SOS). Victor Campos of the Humboldt Center said that four months ago the group requested a meeting with the Canal Commission and the HKND Group and offered to do an independent review of the studies but has never heard back from them. However, Telemaco Talavera, spokesman for the Canal Commission, said that drafts of the environmental impact studies were considered and some of the changes in the project design were based on information from those drafts. He denied that the inauguration had been hurried.

Presidential policy advisor Paul Oquist told Channel 4 that the route chosen is the most costly but it was chosen in order to lessen the environmental impact. He added that the government calculates that 50,000 jobs will be created during the construction period plus a multiplier effect of four or five indirect jobs for each person directly employed on the project. He also said that some parcels of land could be leased. [This is usually spoken of in relation to indigenous land which cannot be sold.] He added that the canal would attract investors from around the world noting that this could be seen in the companies chosen to do the various studies which are from the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia.

Phyllis Powers, US ambassador to Nicaragua, said last week that she did not know what US companies might be interested in investing in the canal.  She said, “No one yet knows what the economic feasibility study says or the risks to the environment. Nor do we know the contracting process. …. I think that many companies, not only US companies, but other international ones, will wait to see what these studies say.”

In its editorial for Dec. 22, El Nuevo Diario remarked that the symbolic inauguration of the canal construction found a Nicaragua wavering between enthusiastic hopes for new economic opportunities and fears about the loss of natural resources and private lands. The editorial went on to say, “The polls show a large majority of Nicaraguans support the building of this giant project; nevertheless, in areas where the canal will go through, some peasant farmers have demonstrated against it, principally because they will have to sell their land and they see this as an imposition more than an opportunity. Some environmental organizations insist that the damages to the environment could be greater than the economic gains of the project. Other sectors see opportunities almost immediately [including] businesses in the areas of construction, commerce and tourism….” And the editorial ends by saying, “How many doubts will be dispelled today when they cut the ribbon? In order to believe, citizens need information and then they will see.” (La Prensa, Dec. 19, 22; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 22, 23; Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 22)

2. Ros-Lehtinen calls for sanctions against Nicaragua

Right-wing Florida lawmaker Ileana Ros-Lehtinen accused President Daniel Ortega of being a “clown face for [Venezuelan President] Nicolas Maduro” and called for sanctions against Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador and Bolivia. However, she admitted that anti-sanctions sentiment in the US House of Representatives made that move unlikely. Her remarks came in response to a travel ban issued by Nicaragua against her and Sen. Marco Rubio following passage by the US Congress and the signing by President Obama of sanctions against Venezuela. While Ortega announced the travel ban, he has not issued an executive order or asked the National Assembly to pass a bill. Ros-Lehtinen lamented that she has been unable to get her colleagues in the House of Representatives to discuss Nicaragua’s planned canal or the construction of Mariel Port in Cuba. She claimed Iran, China, or Russia could be behind the financing. In 2013 Ros-Lehtinen co-sponsored a bill to sanction countries that are part of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) with Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), who was born in Cuba. Ros-Lehtinen claimed that the bill died because of Congress’ anti-sanctions bias.  Ros-Lehtinen accused Ortega of electoral fraud, loss of institutionality, persecution of the opposition, and other crimes, but said he hadn’t “carried them to the extreme of Madero.” (La Prensa, Dec. 17)

3. Nicaragua celebrates release of Cuban Five; normalization of Cuba/US diplomatic relations

Nicaragua’s National Assembly deputies celebrated the release from prison by the US of the three remaining anti-terrorist heroes known as the Cuban Five and called for an end to the US economic blockade of Cuba. Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, and Antonio Guerrero, together with Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez were arrested in 1998 after exposing evidence of terrorism against Cuba by right-wing Cuban groups based in Miami. Instead of arresting the terrorists, the US arrested the Five and sentenced them to long prison terms. Two completed their sentences. The three remaining members were exchanged in a prisoner swap as part of a process to normalize relations announced by Presidents Obama and Castro last week. Deputy Jose Antonio Zepeda said, “There exist no reasons for the North American authorities to maintain the blockade against Cuba.” Sandinista caucus head, Edwin Castro, credited the release of the Cuban Five to “the struggle waged by the peoples of the world for their freedom and for the full recognition of the Cuban Revolution.” President Daniel Ortega released a statement calling the move toward normalized relations between the US and Cuba, “the rational and intelligent route in diplomatic relations that should never have been suspended between those two countries.” (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 19; La Prensa, Dec. 17)

4. Bishops say “ideology of gender” leads to degradation and perdition

The Nicaraguan Catholic Bishops Conference issued a pastoral letter on Dec. 21 in which they marked the end of the Year of the Family in the Catholic Church, insisting that the faithful should “not delegate or cede to the State their inalienable rights and responsibilities.” The bishops said that “Maternity is a privilege that the creator gave to women. It is the most sublime of the human faculties and the most necessary for the development of the family.” They went on to say, “Once again we denounce the political and economic forces behind the strategy of some international organizations to influence public policy.” They called the “ideology of gender” a perversion of natural law that leads to degradation and perdition. However, in a nod to recent statements by Pope Francis, they said, “Nevertheless, we must embrace people with homosexual tendencies with respect, compassion and delicacy.” But they reiterated that the ideology of gender is a trick used by the forces of evil to attack life and human dignity. The bishops condemned “the market of contraception and the industry of abortion and pornography.” They then described what they said was the God’s plan for marriage and the family in Nicaragua which La Prensa failed to describe in any detail. (La Prensa, Dec. 21)

5. Bilwi neighborhoods to receive potable water

Eleven thousand homes in four of the poorest neighborhoods in Biwi (Puerto Cabezas), capital of the North Caribbean Autonomous Region, are about to receive access to potable water thanks to funding by the Sandinista government and  donations from Spain and the European Union administered by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The project to improve the health and living standards of approximately 60,000 people in Bilwi will cost nearly US$48.5 million. “This project brings strategic help for the betterment of the quality of life in one of the poorest zones in Nicaragua,” said Thierry Delaunay, IDB project chief. The project is one of several in Central America funded through a partnership between Spain and the IDB to help the region achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. Presidential spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said the project will include capture, transport, purification and storage of water from the Licus River, 38 kilometers from Bilwi. She said, “Currently only 2,100 of the 11,000 homes receive drinking water a few hours a day and sometimes only a few days a week.” (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 16, 18; El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 16)

6. Economic briefs: coffee rust, food crops and energy

Coffee growers in the north of Nicaragua are alarmed by what they say is a new outbreak of coffee rust. Aura Lila Sevilla, president of the Matagalpa Coffee Growers Association, said that the Caturra variety is “seriously affected by the rust.” She added that the country will have to put together a plan to plant different varieties of coffee which she said means a big financial investment. Seventy-two percent of Nicaragua’s coffee is Caturra although some growers have switched to Catimore or Lempira which are more resistant to the rust. Sevilla also said she was very worried about the effects of climate change on coffee. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 21)

Even though 50,000 acres of beans were lost from the first harvest (in August) due to the drought, the second (December) harvest is expected to approach four million hundredweights and be good enough to stabilize the price of beans, which had risen to US$1.35 per pound, at about US$0.55 per pound. It is currently at about US$0.85. Ovidio Reyes, president of the Central Bank, said that with the drop in food prices inflation should moderate. “This year inflation has been determined by the price of food which has caused 64% of accumulated inflation with the prices, especially beans, affected by the drought.” Michael Healy, president of the Union of Agricultural Producers, said that 85,000 acres of corn were lost from the first harvest due to the drought and will probably not all be made up in the second harvest. For that reason, he said, the government authorized the importation of corn to satisfy domestic demand. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 20)

This year Nicaragua will have generated 47% of its energy from renewable sources, down from 53% last year. Percentages can vary from year to year based on which sources are producing more power. Sixteen percent has been generated by wind power, principally in Rivas; 15% was geothermic in origin; 9% from hydroelectric dams; and 7% from biomass, namely the burning of residue from the sugar cane harvest. Energy production grew by 6.4% this year. Nicaragua still expects to generate 90% of its energy from renewables by 2017. (Radio La Primerisima, Dec. 19)

The long awaited hydroelectric project at Tumarin on the Rio Grande de Matagalpa appears to be finally moving forward. The state-owned Brazilian company Eletrobras and the Queiroz Galvao consortium (also of Brazil) reported on Dec. 17 that they had paid more than US$15.5 million dollars to 1,600 property owners and now owned the 18,700 acres that will be needed for the dam and for roads as well as the land that will flooded by the dam. The project will cost US$1.34 billion and will generate 323 megawatts of electricity. (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 18.)

However, Nicaragua’s energy continues to be expensive, increasing by 6.1% between January and September, according to the Central Bank, not taking into account the subsidy that the government provides to low income/low usage households. According to the Global Industry Architecture Performance Index for 2014 (issued by the World Economic Forum), Nicaragua’s energy is the fifth most expensive of 124 countries for electric power used by the industrial sector.  (El Nuevo Diario, Dec. 16)