Nicanet - The Nicaragua Network

Nicaragua Network Hotlines for November 21, 2006

News topics covered in this Hotline include:

Topic 1: Announcing New Canal, Ortega Calls for Union of All the Americas

Speaking before Midwest Latin American Studies professors, President-elect Daniel Ortega called on the USA to join a project “to unite all the Americas.” Ortega also announced plans for a new inter-oceanic canal, declared that friendship with Venezuela and the US were not mutually exclusive, and criticized the wall being built by the US along its southern border. Speaking of a new canal, Ortega said, “Even with the recently approved upgrading of the Panama Canal, the vast increase in international trade demands more inter-oceanic routes. Such a canal through Nicaragua would complement that of Panama to the benefit of all. We would want it to be the patrimony of the whole world, with as many nations as possible joining together in its construction. It would be declared a non-military zone, where passage of arms would be proscribed forever.”

Addressing the current energy crisis, Ortega said his team was already working with Brazil and Venezuela to resolve it once and for all. “We have a whole program of small and medium hydro-power plants in development,” he said. “Already we have permission to begin building a 20 megawatt hydro plant next year, with the assistance of the international agencies.” Noting that Venezuela would also be helping relieve the energy crunch by making oil available to Nicaragua at favorable rates, Ortega said, “We have a fraternal relationship with President Chavez. I don’t see why that should interfere with our relations with the United States. Everyone makes his own friends. After all, despite their political differences, the US gets much of its oil from Venezuela, while Venezuela imports US products on a large scale.”

Speaking of “a new kind of relation between all the Americas,” Ortega said that at present the US tended to relate to Central and South America as another continent. Instead, he urged, “We want to move towards the union of all the Americas. In this the US is vital because of the obvious weight it carries.” Observing that it was important to open other markets in the Americas, Ortega criticized the recently-signed free trade agreements between the US and Latin American countries, saying that they failed to take proper account of the asymmetries between the parties concerned. “For that reason, they are coming into question not just in Latin America but also in the North,” he pointed out.

Ortega declared it to be fundamentally important to achieve a US disposition to see Latin Americans as, “peoples with whom we can establish respectful relationships in the political sphere and just relationships in the economic and social spheres.” In this context, he criticized the 700 mile wall authorized to be constructed at the US/Mexican border. Noting that it was bigger than the infamous Berlin Wall, he underlined that, “This is no way to solve the immigration problem. It’s fundamental that the US realize that for reasons of justice, equity and indeed stability, we have the capacity to work together as one continent, developing a politics of community much as the European nations have done. By addressing the imbalances and asymmetries which existed between their countries, the Europeans have been able to benefit all. If Latin Americans had work, health and education at home there would be no need for them to go to the US.”

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Topic 2: National Assembly Delegates Announced

The Supreme Electoral Council has officially released the names of the new National Assembly in which the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) will hold 38 seats, the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) 25 seats, the National Liberal Alliance (ALN) 22 seats, and the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) 5 seats.

The national and departmental seats break down as follows: National Deputies - FSLN: Myriam Argüello, Tomás Borge, René Núñez, Alba Palacios, Brooklyn Rivera, Walmaro Gutiérrez, Gustavo Porras, and Elida Galeano. PLC: Jorge Castillo, Francisco Aguirre, Edgard Quiñónez, María Dolores Alemán, Guillermo Osorno, and Noel Pereira. ALN: María Sequeira, Jamileth Bonilla, Salvador Talavera, Amando Bolaños, and Indalecio Rodríguez. MRS: Víctor Hugo Tinoco.
Departmental Deputies:
Nueva Segovia: FSLN: César Castellanos, PLC: Carlos Gadea.
Madriz: FSLN: Nery Sánchez. PLC: Rodolfo Alfaro.
Estelí: FSLN: Francisco Valenzuela, Martha González. PLC: Gabriel Rivera .
Chinandega: FSLN: Ernesto García, Hipólito Torres, Doris García, and Enrique Saravia. ALN: Luis Callejas, and Eduardo Gómez.
León: FSLN: Filiberto Rodríguez, Gladys Báez, and José Sarria. PLC: Jose Pallais. ALN Carlos Langrand and Ramón Macías.
Managua: FSLN Agustín Jarquín, Evertz Cárcamo, Iris Montenegro, Jasser Martínez, Edwin Castro, Olga Ocampo, and José Santos Figueroa. PLC: Wilfredo Navarro, Leopoldo Navarro, Miguel Meléndez, amd Ana Julia Balladares. ALN: Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, Jorge Matamoros, Ramiro Silva, Carlos García, and Adolfo Martínez. MRS: Mónica Baltodano, Mario Valle, and Enrique Sáenz.
Masaya: FSLN: Nasser Silwany and Jenny Martínez. PLC: Oscar Moncada. ALN: Ramón Núñez.
Carazo: FSLN José Martínez. ALN: Wilber López. MRS: Juan Jiménez.
Granada: FSLN: Maria Lydia Mejía Meneses; ALN: Edgar Vallejos and Norman Sabala.
Rivas: FSLN: Venancia Ibarra. ALN: Alejandro Ruiz.
Chontales: FSLN: Douglas Alemán. PLC: Ramón González. ALN: Elman Urbina.
Boaco: FSLN: Odell Incer. PLC: Luis Ortega.
Matagalpa: FSLN: Pedro Haslam and Sadrach Zeledón; PLC: Maximino Rodríguez, Freddy Torres, and Porfirio Castro. ALN: Augusto Valle.
Jinotega: FSLN: José Villagra. PLC: Alan Rivera and Carlos Noguera.
RAAN: FSLN: José Escobar and Loria Dixon. PLC: Víctor Duarte.
RAAS: PLC: Francisco Sacasa. ALN: Francisco Jarquín..
Río San Juan: PLC: Carlos Olivas
Constitutional Seats: ALN: Eduardo Montealegre as 2nd place candidate and Enrique Bolaños, former president.

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Topic 3: National Assembly Arithmetic Affects "Pact" Dynamics

If the division of seats within the National Assembly is finalized in accordance with the last Supreme Electoral Council figures, the Sandinista Front (FSLN) with 38 seats and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) with 25 seats would enjoy a majority comfortable enough to allow them to carry through whatever program they wish, up to and including changes to the Constitution itself. However, if the right-wing parties, PLC and National Liberal Alliance (ALN) with 22 seats, join together in the National Assembly they would comprise a simple majority and the PLC could end its "pact" with the FSLN through which the two parties shared control of government agencies and branches. The big question mark remains former president Arnoldo Aleman's freedom or incarceration to which Daniel Ortega still holds the key.

Affirming his determination to remain within the PLC “come what may,” one of their more outspoken National Assembly representatives warned his colleagues, “Look out! Break time is over. The name of the president-elect is Daniel Ortega. He’s the guy that’ll take over power next January 10.”

According to PLC deputy Enrique Quiñónez the worst thing that can happen to the post-election PLC would be “to maintain the pact with the Sandinista Front. If, at the end of the day, it’s just my vote out there standing against the pact, so be it.” However, he indicated that together with Jose Rizo, Jose Antonio Alvarado (PLC veep candidate) and himself, there were at least seven others, members of the National Assembly, who felt similarly strongly that the pact should be ended. “This means that we can break the control Alemán and Ortega have exercised over the country for the past seven years,” he concluded.

In similar vein, Sandinista Front strategists have been weighing up the possible combinations of votes. Recognizing that the Front would have a “qualified majority” in alliance with Eduardo Montealegre’s National Liberal Alliance (ALN), FSLN spokesperson Rafael Córdova said there would be no making alliances around the divvying up of government functions and posts. “The division of tasks and responsibilities will be made based on principle,” he stated.

Wilfredo Navarro, from the PLC orthodox wing, declared that “the National Assembly is a forum for negotiation. The PLC will negotiate with all and any other grouping, including the FSLN. Our cohesion comes from our 800,000 votes, not from Arnoldo Alemán. Arnoldo Alemán has no vote within the Assembly.”

Outlining the steps necessary to achieve the goal of ending the pact, Quiñonez urged his colleagues to “display political maturity. First we must elect a pluralist directorate of the Assembly, with all parties represented but with the ‘democratic forces’ in the majority. Then, all candidates for public office must be chosen based on their abilities and not for their party allegiance. Assembly colleagues Ramon González and Maximino Rodríguez joined Quiñónez in calling for all true Liberals to unite. Rodríguez declared, “This has to go much further than simply making alliances in the Assembly. The democratic sectors have to make an alliance to last 40 years in order to finally extinguish an organization that has international support from leftist groups.”

The Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) bench, with only five seats will have to use its Assembly presence as a "bully pulpit" to push the FSLN from the Left and to provide the winning margin in rare instances when the other benches don't vote en bloc.

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Topic 4: Widespread Protest over Proposed 45% Water Rate Hike

Alleging that ENACAL, the state water company, was including charges for water treatment services it wasn’t even providing, representatives from all walks of life fiercely rejected its demand for a huge increase in rates. Vilma Nuñez of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), and Leonor Midence of the Nicaraguan Consumers Defense League, sent a stern letter to Carlos Fernandez, Director of the Nicaraguan Water Institute, which regulates water pricing. “It seems strange and even suspicious that current management is seeking permission to index its prices when they will be leaving office in under two months,” they wrote. “We are completely opposed to the exaggerated increase sought by ENACAL. It will have a profoundly negative impact on already economically-impacted Nicaraguan homes.”

In response to ENACAL’s claim that water service prices had to be linked to rising costs, CENIDH’s legal director, Gonzalo Carrión, made it clear that his organization would resist all such attempts, saying, “the first thing that has to be index-linked is workers’ salaries. Anything else after that.” He promised that CENIDH would challenge the government to take up the United Nations Development Program’s recent proposal that “as an inalienable human right” every poor family should receive free 20 liters of water per day.

Roberto González, a member of the National Assembly Energy and Infrastructure Committee, announced that his committee was preparing a detailed rebuttal of ENACAL’s claimed lack of resources. “I want to remind ENACAL director Luis Debayle that here in the Assembly we passed a series of measures to accord his institute financial stability, as a result of which he undertook to put in place an effective collection system to reduce its deficit.” Among the special privileges accorded ENACAL, Gonzalez noted its exoneration from tax of any kind and a permit to buy power directly from generating plants rather than through the distribution company, Union Fenosa.

Noting that “they’re even claiming charges for services they’re not providing, such as waste treatment,” Jaime Morales Carazo, president of the Assembly Environment Committee, was also scathing in his rejection. “They have done nothing to modernize the enormous deterioration that is occurring in the water distribution system. Some pipes are over 60 years old,” he said. “And they have lied repeatedly, telling us they had no intention of seeking an increase this year. Yet this is the second time they’ve tried to get this 45.91% through.”

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This hotline is prepared from the Nicaragua News Service and other sources. To receive a more extensive weekly summary of the news from Nicaragua by e-mail or postal service, send a check for $60.00 to Nicaragua Network, 1247 E St., SE, Washington, DC 20003. We can be reached by phone at 202-544-9355.