Nicaragua Network

This double News Bulletin covers the news from June 7 through June 20, 2016.

1. Major earthquake hits Chinandega, Leon, and Corinto
2. Political earthquake caused by Supreme Court decisions
3. Nicaragua expels three US government officials
4. One Nicaraguan killed in Orlando, another in coma; Nicaragua expresses condolences
5. Child labor remains an intractable problem
6. Nicaragua works to preserve and expand coral reefs
7. Projections point to good harvest season for vegetables
 

1. Major earthquake hits Chinandega, Leon, and Corinto

On June 9, at 9:25pm a major earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter scale shook the northwestern departments of Nicaragua and was felt in Honduras and El Salvador as well. The epicenter was 17 kilometers east of Puerto Morazán in the Department of Chinandega at a depth of four kilometers. The quake was felt particularly strongly in the departments of Chinandega and Leon but people throughout Nicaragua felt the trembler. No injuries or deaths were reported. However, houses, schools, hospitals, and churches suffered damage of greater or lesser degree and schools were closed in Chinandega. Cellular networks and land lines surpassed their capacities as Nicaraguans tried to communicate with their families and friends. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said, “We are working on creating an alternative system because in the first ten minutes [after a quake] it is extremely difficult to communicate due to the overload of the lines,” adding that it wasn’t until 3:00am on June 10 that the country’s communications returned to normal.

William Martinez, a geologist at the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER), said that volcanologists from INETER were investigating the San Cristobal volcano near the epicenter of the earthquake to determine its connection to the trembler. Wilfried Strauch, also of INETER, said that there was a remote possibility that the seismic activity could be due to movement of magma within the volcano. Two experts from the US Geological Survey (USGS) were assisting scientists at INETER in the analysis of the earthquakes and in monitoring the Masaya volcano. Murillo thanked the Geological Survey for its help and said that USGS experts had promised to continue to work with Nicaraguan scientists and to continue to provide information from monitoring instruments and from satellites. By June 14^th, 2,288 aftershocks had been felt with the strongest registering 5.2 on the Richter scale. Commentators were remembering that the June 9 quake was of the same magnitude that had destroyed Managua in 1972. Managua at that time had a population of over half a million while this quake hit in a lightly populated area.

The government’s first response was to provide shelter for those whose homes were damaged and the urgency was increased because of heavy rains in the days following the quake. Murillo said that there were 32 communities impacted with a total of 37,000 affected persons. Medical brigades were also visiting the area and damage to houses was being evaluated. (Informe Pastran, June 9, 10, 13, 14, 17; El Nuevo Diario, June 9, 10, 13)

2. Political earthquake caused by Supreme Court decisions

On June 8, the Supreme Court issued a ruling resolving the dispute between four political groups over which should control the legally recognized Independent Liberal Party (PLI). [The PLI was founded in 1944 when it broke from Somoza’s Nationalist Liberal Party. Its historical leader is Virgilio Godoy, who served as vice-president of Nicaragua under President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.] The Court said that the only legal PLI National Executive Council was the one set up in 2011 by leaders of the historical PLI and chaired by Rolin Tobie who has since died and was succeeded by first vice-president Pedro Reyes. The Court called on the Supreme Electoral Council to await the naming of the officials of the party and called on the party to hold a national convention to elect candidates and officials to participate in the upcoming November elections.

Reactions to the ruling were diverse. Reyes himself said, “We are going to be inclusive; we are going to give a chance to the people from the other factions because we are all independent Liberals and we must be in the organization, without any exclusions.” He added that he wanted to include all groups that have disputed the legal recognition of the PLI, including deposed leader Eduardo Montealegre. Within a few days he was joined by Jose Berrios, who was also disputing leadership of the PLI before the court. Reyes and Berrios described their alliance as the United PLI.

Eduardo Montealegre, who took over leadership of the PLI in 2011, said on June 8, “With this ruling, Daniel Ortega is trying to carry out a coup d’état over the opposition because he knows he cannot defeat us at the polls.” [The most recent CID Gallup poll showed 55% sympathize with the Sandinistas and 4% with the PLI.] Jose Adan Aguerri of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) said, “This is a grave situation because it creates uncertainty. It does not help in any way the stability and good business climate that the country needs.”

Former National Assembly Deputy for the Liberal Party Enrique Quiñonez said, “Virgilio Godoy, Pedro Reyes, and the other historical leaders were left without a party and they began their struggle. They even held a strike in front of the Supreme Electoral Council. Now we see that in the end justice was done. I saw how they [the Montealegre faction] took over the PLI and removed the members of the party. Those who took control had never been members of the PLI. They didn’t even know the PLI anthem; they didn’t even know there was an anthem, Beautiful Sovereignty. Those who dress themselves in stolen clothes can end up naked in the street.”

On June 14, Moises Hassan, president of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), offered the legal status of his party so that the National Coalition for Democracy which both the PAC and Montealegres’s PLI faction belong to, could run in the elections. But Hassan added that the future of the PAC was uncertain because a faction of his party was challenging his leadership in court. And, on June 17, the Supreme Court ruled that both boards of directors of the PAC were illegal because neither had been elected at meetings with the legal quorum for electing officers established in the party statutes. This left the National Coalition for Democracy with no current member with legal recognition as a political party to run in the elections.

Even before the Court’s ruling on the Citizen Action Party, however, the Coalition announced on June 15 that it was withdrawing from the elections. Members of the Coalition were leaving to join other parties and coalitions. A PLI candidate for the National Assembly in Chinandega, according to Informe Pastran, was negotiating with the Conservative Party, which is a part of the Democratic Unity Alliance (another coalition), to run on its slate. Eduardo Montealegre said that, “We did not retire from the electoral process but rather were expelled by the political system controlled by Daniel Ortega.” Violeta Granera, candidate for vice-president of the Coalition, said that the elections will not be legitimate if her coalition is not on the ballot, adding, “Our struggle has just begun.”

On June 15, former ambassador to the United States Arturo Cruz said that the best outcome would be for Pedro Reyes to come to an agreement with Eduardo Montealegre to go to the elections together using an analogy:  “Reyes has a license to open a bank but doesn’t have the capital to open it while Eduardo Montealegre does have the capital.” And a little perspective was provided by Supreme Court Justice Francisco Rosales, considered a Sandinista, who said on June 16, “In this country there are 17 registered political parties running in the elections so I do not see that the electoral process has lost credibility because of these decisions.” (Informe Pastran, June 8, 9, 15, 16, 17; La Prensa, June 8, 10, 14)

3. Nicaragua expels three US government officials

Nicaragua expelled two US government officials on June 15 for not obtaining the proper documentation to carry out functions which were described by Nicaragua as “tasks of security and certification for Customs and transfer of merchandise” to the United States as part of the fight against terrorism. A note from the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington to the US State Department said, “This activity was carried out without the knowledge and/or the required coordination with Nicaraguan authorities which, as is easily understood, is very delicate.” The note reiterated the “disposition of the Nicaraguan government to maintain and increase diplomatic, political and trade relations always respecting our national legislation and, in the case of trade, corresponding to the norms for facilitating that trade that have been established between our two countries.” The note emphasized that “The subjects of security, the fight against terrorism, and against organized crime for which our institutions have gained so much effectiveness and prestige, must be dealt with in Nicaragua in coordination with our authorities.”

US Ambassador to Nicaragua Laura Dogu said that the officials were working directly with private businesses carrying out inspections of products so that their export to the United States could be expedited. “Apparently the rules here have changed but no one shared this information with the companies or with the embassy or with the government in Washington. If there are new rules we should understand what they are so that we can work in the framework of those rules because we don’t want to have problems and we want to support the prosperity of Nicaragua.”

Jose Adan Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), said that the expulsion of the two officials caused the suspension of the certification process that facilitates the unimpeded export of coffee and Free Trade Zone goods to the US. He said that, with an eye to preventing future problems, COSEP is working in coordination with the governments of Nicaragua and the US to find solutions to the problem. He added that the US is Nicaragua’s most important trading partner and “we cannot put that at risk.”

The Nicaraguan government also expelled Evan Ellis, a professor at the United States Army War College, as he began a research project on the proposed shipping canal across Nicaragua. Ellis said that three Nicaraguan Migration officials told him that he had not been authorized to enter Nicaragua to obtain information about the canal and would have to leave the country by 5pm on June 14. US Embassy officials did not comment on the expulsion. Ellis is an expert on the relations between Latin American countries and China, Russia and Iran. (El Nuevo Diario, June 17, 18; La Prensa, June 15)

4. One Nicaraguan killed in Orlando, another in coma; Nicaragua expresses condolences

Among the 49 people killed by the shooter in Orlando on June 12 was Nicaraguan Jerald Arthur Wright whose mother is Nicaraguan and whose father is Ecuadoran. Wright, 31, worked at Walt Disney World and was at the night club to celebrate the 21^st birthday of a friend who also died in the attack. Another Nicaraguan Leonel Melendez, Jr., was shot in the head and in the leg and was hospitalized in a coma. Melendez, 39, was born in Managua but has lived in the US since he was seven years old. Melendez worked as a supervisor with Gucci America.

The Nicaraguan government sent a note to Washington saying that it wished “to express its deepest sympathy to the Government and people of the United States, following the horrific attack at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida.” The note added, “Our prayers and affection are with the families and mourning communities. May God comfort them, support them and give them strength.” US Ambassador Laura Dogu expressed her condolences to the family of Jerald Wright and her hopes for the recovery of Leonel Melendez, Jr.

On June 14, the LGBTI community in Nicaragua held a demonstration to protest the killings and show solidarity with the victims and their families. “The LGBTI community is in mourning,” said Silvia Martinez of the LGBTI Nicaraguan Roundtable. Juan Carlos Martinez of the Nicaraguan Sustainable Development Network, said that organizers hoped for the participation of not just the gay community of Managua, “but of all who want to demonstrate against intolerance and terrorism that affect the whole world.” (El Nuevo Diario, June 13, 14, 15, 20; Informe Pastran, June 13)

5. Child labor remains an intractable problem

An examination of efforts to end child labor in Nicaragua showed that the majority of child laborers (54%) are found in the countryside and are engaged in agriculture along with their families. The second highest category is sales in the markets. According to figures from the Nicaraguan Institute for Human Promotion (INPHRU), there are at least 1,100 children working in Managua’s markets, many selling items such as fruit and ice water. INPHRU reports that 135,000 children under the age of 18 work in agriculture. Mayela Cabrera, coordinator of Save the Children’s Education Project, attributed that to the severity of poverty that affects families in rural areas. She did say that the government has made progress in passing laws and implementing public policies to limit work for girls and children under 14 and to protect the rights of adolescent workers. She complimented joint efforts to ensure their schooling and their protection in situations that threaten or violate their rights.

One government program, Fight for the Sixth Grade, works to ensure that everyone gets at least a sixth grade education. Cabrera also said about rural children, “There are cultural patterns that assign work an educational value, hence children begin agricultural work at a young age, usually accompanied by their own families.” Former Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents Carlos Emilio Lopez said it is going to be difficult to change that until poverty is eliminated and there is a change in consciousness among families. The most recent statistics are from 2012 when the National Institute of Development Information reported that, of 1,275,834 children under 18 in the country, 396,118 worked, some paid and others unpaid. (El Nuevo Diario, June 12)

6. Nicaragua works to preserve and expand coral reefs

Coral reefs are abundant in both the Pacific and Caribbean coastal waters off Nicaragua’s coasts. In the Pacific there are abundant small reefs from Chacocente in Jinotepe, Carazo, south to the border with Costa Rica. Coral reefs can be seen a mere three kilometers off the shores of San Juan del Sur. On the Caribbean side, coral reefs are dispersed along the entire length of the two Autonomous Regions, especially near the Miskitos Cays, the Pearl Cays, and Corn Island. There are many more shallow water reefs in the waters which were claimed by Colombia but awarded by the World Court in 2012 to Nicaragua that have not been explored.  Caribbean reefs are more extensive due to the clarity of the water which allows sunlight to penetrate 30 meters down. In the Pacific, light reaches only 15 meters. The Caribbean reefs, which Marine biologist Fabio Buitrago says probably cover 130,000 square kilometers, were declared in 2000 by UNESCO as the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve. Nicaragua has also created five artificial reefs, four in the Pacific and one in the Caribbean which have become rich in biodiversity.

In order to protect the reefs, Buitrago urges Nicaraguans not to throw trash in the rivers, lakes, and lagoons that drain into the oceans and to use products that break down easily and quickly in water. Don’t buy products made of coral, he advised. He also urged the government to promote recreational diving to raise the awareness of Nicaragua’s coral reefs, while at the same time monitoring and controlling them more vigilantly against fishing and other damage. He added that the building of artificial reefs for coral to grow can be seen as a kind of maritime reforestation to preserve both coral and the many species that thrive on coral reefs.  (El Nuevo Diario, June 8)

7. Projections point to good harvest season for vegetables

With the end of the El Niño climate phenomenon, which brought drought to Nicaragua, projections for the 2016-2017 harvest season are very positive with an anticipated harvest of 4.6 hundredweights of vegetables including tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, cabbage, potatoes and carrots, for an 18% increase over last year. If there are excessive rains, those projections would decrease. Tomatoes represent 1.6 hundredweights, double the consumption of the population. The remainder will be exported. Likewise the projection is that Nicaraguan farmers will produce enough onions to satisfy local demand and export a small part of the harvest. The same holds true for other vegetable crops. Farmers will satisfy domestic needs and still have a percentage of their crop that can be exported.  (El Nuevo Diario, June 20)