Nicanet - The Nicaragua Network

Nicaragua Network Hotlines for July 17, 2007

News topics covered in this Hotline include:

Topic 1: Nicaragua Network Solidarity Conference draws over 200

Over 200 Nicaraguan and US solidarity activists met in Managua from July 13-15 to discuss continuing and expanding over 28 years of solidarity between our two peoples. Under the banner “There is no road to solidarity; solidarity is the road” the weekend included workshops on free trade, reforestation, potable water, sister city roundtables and a host of other issues affecting solidarity.

The conference was welcomed by Nicaraguan Ambassador to International Organizations Magda Enriquez for the government and the head of the Civil Coordinator Georgina Muñoz. Nicaragua Network National Co-Coordinator Chuck Kaufman gave the opening speech in which he called for all organizing tendencies and political factions in both countries to work together to oppose US government militarism and economic hegemony. Former Bluefields Mayor Moises Arana gave the keynote speech in which he drew a clear distinction between the people of the US and their government and between charity and solidarity.

The conference closed with a resolution of solidarity for 14 civil society leaders arrested in El Salvador and charged under a new anti-terrorism law for their role in a peaceful protest against water privatization.


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Topic 2: Union Fenosa unveils new electricity rationing plan to avoid a U$50,000 fine from INE

Solidarity conference participants witnessed personally the power crisis that Nicaragua has been confronting for almost three years and has been affecting virtually the entire country. In June, the government withdrew a U$2.4 million fine imposed on Union Fenosa, the Spanish transnational which owns Nicaragua’s electricity distribution grid. On June 28, the government approved a law that authorizes Union Fenosa to buy energy with nonrenewable sources for up to 20 percent of the local demand. The law also grants Union Fenosa privileges in the purchase of state companies’ energy through soft credits.

On July 10, Directors of Union Fenosa sent a new electricity rationing plan to the authorities of the Nicaraguan Institute of Energy (INE). The plan was created under the consensus of Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) and INE authorities, and details the schedules and zones based on an 80 megawatt deficit. If any problems in the generating companies occur, blackouts will increase.

Union Fenosa has two electricity distribution companies in Nicaragua: Disnorte and Dissur, which split the country roughly in half, Disnorte for the North and Dissur for the South. INE authorities explained that this plan suspends a fine of US$50,000 to Disnorte and Dissur, which were failing to fulfill article 54 of the Law of the Electrical Industry. This article says that electric energy distributors must establish and publish electricity suspensions and inform their clients 48 hours prior to implementing blackouts. INE authorities decided to apply this measure to Union Fenosa because they disagreed with the Spanish company’s handling of carrying out blackouts whenever it wanted instead of following the agreement it made with the Nicaraguan government a few days ago. The agreement with President Daniel Ortega stipulated that the blackouts needed to have an established schedule that Union Fenosa would have to follow exactly, and that would change only if unexpected issues arose.

Under the new rationing plan defined by Union Fenosa, Managua would not be affected from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM, while the 17 other departments would go without electricity services during the same seven-hour time period. Rationing in the departments would be divided into two blocks, generally affecting users in the morning. From the 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, Managua would be exposed to blackouts in order to provide electricity to the other departments. At night (from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM), there would be cuts throughout the country, but they would be scheduled. This schedule guarantees businesses and the government to run normally during the morning hours, and would also give time for the commerce sector to “comply” with the afternoon blackouts. Blackouts in Managua will not exceed five hours. Energy cuts will not be applied during the weekends because the energy demand diminishes considerably.

Dozens marched in protest against the continuous electricity cuts in Masaya on July 15. They demanded that Union Fenosa leave and end electricity distribution in Nicaragua. The march was headed by local leaders of the Sandinista party (FSLN), according to images shown on local television channel 2. The demonstrators declared Union Fenosa responsible for the past seven years of electricity distribution and for the constant power shutdowns that affect thousands of people for up to twelve hours a day. They asked for a return to state control of the distribution of electricity.


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Topic 3: Nicaraguan government reaches an agreement with the IMF

Long before expected, the Nicaraguan government concluded an agreement, which had lapsed under the Bolaños government, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The government accepted the IMF demand that the state petroleum company, Petronic, would report quarterly on its operations, according to information provided by President of the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN), Antenor Rosales. In this sense, the government will provide all information related to cooperation with Venezuela, although Rosales insisted that this cooperation “will not generate public debt.”

Economic adviser of the president Bayardo Arce read part of the agreement that establishes that “a portion of the total public debt will be paid as part of the total of these payments to institutions of social development.” He also added that all this cooperation will be monitored along with the deficit agreed by the financial organisms. The IMF cave-in on spending for social needs such as health and education is a real victory for Nicaragua and another sign that the international financial institutions are being forced to respond to opposition to their neoliberal economic orthodoxy.

Another aspect of the agreement is the review of energy loss in Nicaragua, which according to Rosales, will be audited. In April 2008, the government needs to present one audit of the electric industry in order to determine the causes of losses in the electricity sector and proposals to solve this problem. The IMF designated a total of US$90 million in loans for the next three years, U$30 million less than Nicaragua authorities were counting on. US$58 million will be loaned this year. The government agreed to increase capacity for electricity generation, although they did not attain the IMF’s endorsement to contract commercial loans as they had initially wanted.


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Topic 4: PAHO and WHO praise free health care; Managua declared “illiteracy free.”

Representative of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Nicaragua, said that the free health service provided in Nicaragua is “a complete shift in paradigm, in the sense that there are no commercial transactions, at the level of [health] services.” She affirmed that this method, applied by the Nicaraguan government, is supported by the health organizations that she represents in Managua. Gross, added that also they endorse the Nicaraguan health policies, mainly in places where greater maternal and infant deaths are registered, although she did not give further details.

The Ortega government has also implemented free education and promotes a literacy campaign. Regarding literacy, the Sandinista government announced in an official notice that Wednesday, July 18, they will declare Managua a “capital free of illiteracy.” According to the President of the National Council of Universities, Telémaco Talavera, Managua currently reports an illiteracy rate of 3%, after the literacy campaign initiated in 2005, under the Sandinista mayor, with the aid of the Cuban audio-visual method “Yes I Can.” The official declaration must be guaranteed by UNESCO, so the data was confirmed in a census that involved over 2,000 university students, said Talavera, who said that the international organization’s certification has already been requested. The goal of the National Council of Literacy, recently created by the new Sandinista authorities, is to declare Nicaragua a territory free of illiteracy in 2009. The campaign will include the Caribbean coastal region, whose indigenous inhabitants will learn to read and write in their native languages. During the previous Sandinista government (1979-1990), the index of illiteracy in Nicaragua was reduced to 12.5%; under neoliberal policies implemented in the last 16 years, the number increased to 35%.

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Topic 5: Three successive tropical hurricanes hit the Caribbean coast

In the port of El Rama, 22 families were evacuated and two people drowned on July 10 due to floods caused by heavy rains. El Rama is 293 kilometers east of the capital of Managua. Javier Balmaceda, councilman of the Mayorship of El Rama and member of the Municipal Committee of Disaster Prevention (COMUPRED), indicated that as result of the swelling of waters, all the harbor activities are suspended in El Rama, a fluvial port that serves as a communication point between West Nicaragua and Bluefields, the capital of the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS).

Balmaceda said that the waters of the Escondido River are 6.5 meters over their normal level. Balmaceda warned that the situation could get worse because a new tropical hurricane is expected to arrive in their zone of the Caribbean coast. He confirmed that the authorities of the Mayorship, the Army, the Police and the Red Cross are uniting to evaluate measures they need to take in case the waters reach seven meters, in which case they will declare a red alert. Several riverside communities including the Mico River, Rama River and Siquio River, main offshoots of the Escondido River, are without communication.

The new tropical hurricane (number 13) that immediately followed number 12 brought more rains and winds at 30 kilometers per hour to the Caribbean coast according to the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER). RAAS was the zone most highly affected by the rains on July 12. Fifty-seven families (285 people) in Kukra Hill were affected by the swelling of the Kama River in RAAS, reported First Lieutenant Ernesto Obando, head of the command post and officer of the Civil Defense. The Ministry of Education (MINED) decided to suspend classes indefinitely in more than ten communities in Kukra Hill due to the continuing floods. The zone was visited by various commissions that will coordinate a single evacuation of the main necessities of the victims, located in school shelters in Belén, Neysi Rivers and Sam Brown. A total of 118 families (603 people) in all of RAAS are refugees and at least 2,800 were evacuated. After the passage of tropical hurricane number 13, the Caribbean coast was hit by tropical hurricane number 14, mainly causing a swelling of the main rivers of the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN), including the Wawa River.

The RAAN zone declared a yellow alert and is ready to provide aid to families affected by the floods. According to the governor of the RAAN, Reinaldo Francis, several districts of the capital of the RAAN, Bilwi, are vulnerable to the heavy rains and ought to be evacuated, including the regional hospital Nuevo Amanecer which is located in an area prone to flooding. Authorities are also watching the zones of Prinzapolka, Waspam and Bilwi.

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