Nicaragua Network Hotlines for March 21, 2007
News topics covered in this Hotline include:
- Obando receives Pope's blessing to head Reconciliation Council
- Honduras and US finalize plans to build military base near border with Nicaragua
- Ortega insists that the U.S. pay damages to victims of 1980s war
- Former President Arnoldo Aleman now free to circulate throughout country
- Eighth Central American Security Conference held in Managua with U.S. in attendance
- Authors’
Network demands return of Rubén Darío document
Topic 1: Obando receives Pope's blessing to
head Reconciliation Council
Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo returned from a visit to the Vatican where
he had gone to obtain a "green-light" from Pope Benedict XVI to
accept the invitation from President Daniel Ortega to be director of the
Peace and Reconciliation Council, which has as its goal fulfilling the commitments
made to Nicaraguans affected by the war of the 1980s .
Obando stated that “the Holy Father wants us to work for the reconciliation
of the entire Nicaraguan family,” indicating that he had received
permission to accept the offer to direct the Council, which has been presented
as neither partisan nor political. Obando said that he had begun to talk
with members of the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference “so that
they can collaborate in the work of reconciliation.”
President Ortega said that he had asked Managua Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes for a meeting with Bishops’ Conference members in order to explain to them the goals of the Council. Ortega said that his government will try to obtain funds from the international community to finance the programs promised under the Chamorro, Aleman and Bolaños administrations for demobilized soldiers. Former combatants of the contra army and of the Sandinista army were promised land, housing, jobs, and other benefits to help them return to civilian life after 1990. Ortega said that 40% of these programs were never funded.
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Topic 2: Honduras and US finalize plans to
build military base near border with Nicaragua
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya approved the installation of
an "anti-drug base" in the department of Gracia a Dios on the
Atlantic coast bordering Nicaragua. The base will operate under the guidance
of the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States. The base will become
one of more than 700 US military bases in 130 countries. Increasingly US
bases in Latin America are encircling Venezuela and/or are strategically
located to cover the area slated for development under Plan Puebla Panama.
Nicaragua Network National Co-Coordinator Chuck Kaufman called in a speech
during the March 17 March on the Pentagon to end the culture of US militarism
and to spend the money on schools, healthcare and jobs “which bring
real security to the people of the US and the world.”
The Honduran government also approved the creation of a Regional Training
Center for the war on drugs, which will serve all Central American countries
and Mexico. In addition the base was given the green light to build "maximum
security modules" in the Central Prison exclusively for the detention
and interrogation of persons held for drug trafficking crimes.
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Topic 3: Ortega insists that the U.S. pay
damages to victims of 1980s war
Before entertaining Commander of the U.S. Southern Command Admiral
James Stavridis at a brief meeting, President Daniel Ortega declared that
the US has not complied with the ruling from the International Court of
Justice (World Court), which said in 1986 that the US should pay damages
to Nicaragua, estimated by Nicaragua to be almost US$17 billion in 1986
dollars (and without including interest for the past 21 years), for the
training, arming, equipping and financing of the war in Nicaragua. "I
would like the Government of the United States of America and President
George W. Bush to take responsibility for the actions of their country in
the war during the Reagan administration and pay-up." He stated that
the US needs to make annual payments of up to US$300 million in order to
cover damages suffered by the victims of this tragedy. He said that both
Sandinista revolutionaries as well as contras were left without family members,
land and homes. He added that Washington even "resorted to drug trafficking,"
to obtain the funds and weapons for the contras that fought against the
Sandinista government.
Ortega also criticized President Bush on his visit to Latin America saying
that Bush "did not contribute any concrete solution to the economic
and social problems facing the region.” Ortega added, “He spends
multimillion dollar sums to continue his war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why
is this same attitude not seen in the 'fight' to construct peace?"
Ortega said this lack of "concrete solutions" from the US president
has led Latin Americans to look for unity and support from among their own
southern neighbors. This could readily be seen in the relationships between
Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua which, he said, become
stronger every day. These neighbors, he added, "are determined to forge
a united Latin America and Caribbean."
Minutes after his declarations Ortega began his meeting with Stavridis that
lasted only half an hour. After the meeting neither of the two officials
wanted to offer declarations on the subjects that were discussed during
the encounter.
Topic 4: Former President Arnoldo Aleman now
free to circulate throughout country
Former President Arnoldo Aleman, sentenced to 20 years in prison
for fraud and money laundering, has received yet another extension of freedom.
On March 15 he announced that he has authorization from the National Penitentiary
System to circulate throughout the country, based on the family life regime
which grants conditional liberties to criminals with health problems or
old age. Aleman was already given conditional liberties for health reasons
and was confined to the department of Managua. Not actually sounding too
ill or old to be in prison, Aleman announced that he was going to visit
the whole nation to offer a message of love and also fight to put an end
to poverty. Given that Aleman’s financial corruption rivaled that
of the Somoza dynasty, one could almost believe that he could end poverty
by distributing the money he stole.
Aleman attributed his new state of freedom to the politics of reconciliation
put forth by the Ortega administration, although he maintained that he is
innocent of all charges brought against him. In addition to the 20 year
conviction in Nicaragua, Aleman has similar charges pending in Panama and
the US for money laundering. Suspicions have been expressed in the media
that Ortega granted this privilege to Aleman in exchange for the promise
that the PLC will support Ortega's proposal for a change in the Constitution
that would allow a president to serve two consecutive terms, something not
now allowed.
Topic 5: Eighth Central American
Security Conference held in Managua with U.S. in attendance
Top military officials from Central America, Belize, Colombia and
the United States together with the Central American Armed Forces Conference,
the Central American Integration System and the Inter-American Defense Board,
participated in the Eighth Central American Security Conference in Managua
March 14 and 15.
The Conference touched on combined security measures to confront drug trafficking,
terrorism, smuggling of persons and other threats more specific to the region
such as gangs or maras. Last year, 250 tons of drugs valued at more than
US$5 billion were intercepted, an indicator that Central America has become
the primary drug route into the US, the principal consumer market for narcotics.
Commander of the U.S. Southern Command Admiral James Stavridis stated that there was discussion regarding possible terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda groups in petroleum-producing countries which could be interpreted as a threat against Venezuela. He also took advantage of the conference to reiterate the US government demands that Nicaragua destroy the 1,000 SAM-7 missiles that the army currently possesses. Stavridis did publicly admit that Nicaragua has the sovereign right to decide whether or not to destroy these missiles, and that this controversy will not affect military relations between the two countries.
In the conference the members agreed to: seek ways to standardize laws on drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism in the region, strengthen levels of cooperation in questions of military intelligence and lastly, in the case of natural disaster, each country will continue to train military brigades for humanitarian aid when needed.
According to Omar Halleslevens, the head of the Nicaraguan Army, the military
officials recognized Nicaragua as being the safest country in Central America.
Halleslevens said that delegates “not from Nicaragua, but from other
countries” showed data indicating that Nicaragua was the most stable
in terms of the security of its citizens.
Topic 6: Authors’ Network
demands return of Rubén Darío document
On March 13, the Nicaraguan Writers Network demanded that President
Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo obtain the return of the original
manuscripts of two works by Nicaragua’s famous poet Rubén Darío
entitled Bolivarian Psalms and Ode to Bolivar. The documents were recently
given as a gift by the couple to President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
The group of intellectuals said that even though the gift was made in “a
spirit of Bolivarian and Latin American solidarity,” it violated the
laws of Nicaragua on the protection of the national cultural patrimony which
requires that the works of Darío, declared a “Prince of Castilian
Letters,” be preserved. According to the Writers Network, Ortega and
Murillo also violated the spirit of the UNESCO conference of 1982 which
declared that a nation’s cultural patrimony included the works of
its artists, architects, musicians, writers and thinkers and that this patrimony
must preserved and protected.
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