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Nicaragua News
Service
A Service of the Nicaragua
Network
Volume 16, Number
24
June 11-16,
2008
By Katherine
Hoyt
1. Dora Maria
Tellez ends hunger fast
2. International
representatives weigh in on crisis
3. FSLN accuses
CIA of training rich kids to create chaos
8.
Social Security puts lien on Mil Colores property
9.
Nemagon victims protest in Leon
________________________________________
1. Dora Maria
Tellez ends hunger fast
At 11:30am on
June 16, Dora Maria Tellez ended her 12 day hunger strike after doctors warned
of serious threats to her health. Tellez began her fast to protest the
cancellation of the legal recognition as a political party of the Sandinista
Renovation Movement (MRS) along with that of other political parties (including
the Conservative Party and two parties from the Atlantic Coast, the Coastal
Unity Movement Party and the Multi-Ethnic Indigenous Party), which would
prohibit them from running candidates in the November 2008 municipal
elections. The MRS has appealed that decision by the Supreme Electoral
Council (CSE) to the Managua Appeals Court. Tellez said she expected the
appeal to be rejected and added that, ?With institutional channels exhausted, we
will head up a struggle in the streets; this opens a new stage and on Thursday
we will have an important rally.?
MRS
representatives claim that the Supreme Electoral Council expected the MRS to
fail to field candidates in the required 80% of the municipalities and when the
MRS achieved that percentage, the CSE cancelled the party?s recognition
saying that its leaders had failed to submit party statutes and lists of members
of national, departmental and municipal leadership bodies as required by the
electoral law. The MRS denies that this is true and says that the party
has receipts that show it turned in all these documents to the CSE and that,
anyway, this is not cause for cancellation of a party?s legal status according
to the law. The CSE, in announcing its final decision to cancel the legal
recognition on June 11, said that the MRS had been given multiple opportunities
over the last year to submit the documentation of the structure of the party?s
local bodies and the party had not been able to do so in a complete
fashion.
National
Assembly Deputy Monica Baltodano and Autonomous Women?s Movement leader Patricia
Orozco speaking at a forum in Managua said that the similarities between Daniel
Ortega and Anastasio Somoza Debayle were ?evident? and that Ortega was taking
giant steps toward the installation of a dictatorship. A poster was being
circulated on the internet from the office of former MRS candidate for president
Edmundo Jarquin which showed Somoza Debayle holding up the arm of Daniel Ortega
in a smiling salute with the words, ?¡Ortega y Somoza, la misma cosa!? or
?Ortega and Somoza, the same thing.? The poster appeared to be spattered
in blood and was signed with the name Rigoberto Lopez P., the name of the poet
who assassinated Anastasio Somoza Garcia in 1956. Some observers
interpreted this to be a call for the assassination of Daniel Ortega.
Dionisio
Marenco, Sandinista Mayor of Managua, said that he thought that the cancellation
of the legal registration of the MRS and of the Conservative Party had been a
mistake on the part of the Supreme Electoral Council. He said that it
would have a ?political cost for all Nicaragua because the country has evolved
toward a participatory process with multiple parties?that doesn?t mean that
there is chaos; there are not 40 parties as has happened in the past.?
Meanwhile, the
legal appeal by the MRS to the Managua Appeals Court will come before three
judges, two of whom are members of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC)--Jose
Denis Maltez and Dolores Alfredo Barquero--and one of whom--Rafaela
Urroz--is a Sandinista. The judges should rule on the case within three
working days. President of the Court Gerardo Rodriguez, a Sandinista, said
that the court will rule ?with complete transparency and impartiality.?
Alberto Novoa, a
legal advisor to the MRS, said that if the appeal fails the party will go to the
Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American
States. He said, ?There is a precedent. When they cancelled the
legal recognition of Yatama, the Inter-American Human Rights Court decided that
the group?s rights had been violated. We would base our claim on that
precedent.?
Eduando
Montealegre, candidate for mayor of Managua for an alliance formed by the PLC
and the ?Let?s Go with Eduardo? Movement, is, according to sources, being
strongly pressured to renounce his candidacy to take away legitimacy from the
November municipal elections. The Conservative Party announced on Friday that it
will appeal the CSE decision to cancel its legal status even though a party
spokesperson said the party had ?no confidence? in the justice system, adding
that the judges blindly obey ?Ortega and Aleman.? (El
Nuevo Diario, June 13, 14; MRS Pronouncements, June 15,
16;
e-mail from
?Oficina de Mundo Jarquin,? June 12; Radio La Primerisima, June 11, 14,
16)
2. International
representatives weigh in on crisis
Francesca Mosca,
ambassador of the European Union in Nicaragua said last week that, with
reference to the recent suspension of the legal recognition of four political
organizations, a number of members of the diplomatic corps accredited in
Nicaragua share her concern ?about measures that appear to restrict democratic
space and political pluralism in the country.? She reminded the government
of agreements that place importance on the rule of law and transparency in
governance and said that leaders should not ignore the concerns expressed by the
donor community. The representatives of these nations, she said were
attempting to learn the background of recent developments, adding [before the
Council confirmed its earlier suspension], ?It is important that the Supreme
Electoral Council make its decision based on the law.?
Meanwhile, U.S.
Ambassador to Nicaragua Paul Trivelli, who will be leaving his post on August 6,
said that it is the responsibility of each nation to preserve its democratic
system and he said that recent events are of ?enormous concern for democracy in
the country.? When asked about the idea put forth by several political
leaders of appealing the decision of the Supreme Electoral Council to cancel the
legal registration of the Sandinista Renovation Movement and the Conservative
Party to the Organization of American States, Trivelli said that ?if there is a
possible violation [the Democratic Charter of the OAS] could play an interesting
role.?
With relation to
a possible cut-off of assistance from President George Bush?s Millennium
Challenge Account, Trivelli said, ?I believe that the intention of the program
is never to cut off aid, but at times what the Millennium Challenge Corporation
does is design programs to address a specific problem, so in that area, I have
asked the [Nicaraguan] government to take a look at its behavior.?
Alberto Boniver,
Italy?s ambassador to Nicaragua, said that the member countries were ?preparing
a declaration of concern? about the decision of the Supreme Electoral
Council. Several ambassadors expressed alarm after the Vice-Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Manual Coronel, said on June 12 that those who interfered in
the internal affairs of the country ?risked being removed under what is called
in diplomacy ?persona non grata.?? The Italian ambassador answered that he
felt that this would be counterproductive because ?Nicaragua needs the aid of
the donor countries; it is a very poor country, perhaps the poorest of America
after Haiti.?
Kerry Max,
president of the global roundtable of donor countries to Nicaragua, said that
representatives of donor countries had the right to put forward their positions
on internal affairs of the government when the proper execution of the projects
they were participating in was at stake. ?We must clarify one thing:
When we are talking about internal affairs that are not affairs that touch on
international cooperation, we do nothing. And we should not do
anything. But when these internal affairs do influence poverty reduction,
and the social, political and economic stability of a country, then we have the
responsibility to study it and make our commentary,? Max
said.
Max, who is in
charge of Canadian cooperation with Nicaragua, emphasized that there exist
?fundamental principles? on which depend the millions of dollars of aid ?that
include the promotion of democracy, free elections and a multi-party
system.?
Meanwhile, the
World Bank?s managing director, Juan Jose Daboub, on a visit to Nicaragua, said
that his organization?s priority was not the internal political situation of
each nation. ?We respect the political reality of each country,? Dabaub
said, adding, ?In the end it is the citizenry of each country who have the last
word; we focus rather on the efficacy with which the problem of alleviating
poverty is attacked.?
Dabaub
emphasized that the best way to eradicate poverty was to create jobs. He
confirmed that on June 12, the World Bank approved the disbursement of US$40
million for rural infrastructure and for small businesses. (Radio
La Primerisima, June 14; El Nuevo Diario, June 16; La Prensa, June 11,
14)
3. FSLN accuses
CIA of training youth to create chaos
A Sandinista
spokesperson speaking on the
FSLN radio station La Nueva Radio Ya accused the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the US Agency for International Development
(USAID), and former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar?s right-wing
Popular Party of training a group of Nicaraguan youth to create ?chaos? and
?destabilize the government.? President Daniel Ortega had previously denounced
the US government for financing right-wing sectors of civil society to
destabilize his government. "This
group of young people has already entered to work in Nicaragua after being sent
to Miami and Spain for training to cause chaos,? the spokesperson
said.
He
accused the trainings of ?brain washing? the youth. Several of the youth
appeared in the right-wing media on June 13 under the name Youth for Democracy
in Nicaragua. They also appeared on television Channel 8?s Tonight show.
The FSLN spokesperson denounced them for talking about ?bullets and a social
explosion in Nicaragua.? "These idiots are the same fascists who seeded the
violence in Bolivia and Venezuela," he noted. The spokesperson also said
that there exists an organized campaign including the youth group, the newspaper
La Prensa, and Channel 2, in conjunction with the CIA, to destabilize the
government, the first stage of which is to run until July 28. (Radio La
Primerisima, June 16)
8.
Social Security puts lien on Mil Colores property
The
Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS) put a lien on property of the Mil
Colores factory, owned by U.S. businessman Craig Miller and located in Ciudad
Sandino, saying the factory owed US$569,653 in payroll taxes for health care and
pensions of the factories workers. The factory closed in 2007 owing three
months of salary to its workers. Factory management had deducted Social
Security payments from workers? salaries but had never turned the money over to
the INSS.
Robert Lopez, INSS executive
president, said that Mil Colores property would be auctioned off to pay the
debt. When the factory closed, 500 workers were left without work.
Lopez said that the INSS will also accuse Mil Colores of fraud against the
INSS. ?We?ll do the same against any business that does not fulfill its
obligations,? Lopez warned. He called on construction companies, free
trade zone companies, and media companies to ?get themselves up to date and
avoid this type of problem.?
In
another story, the Maria Elena Cuadra Movement signed an agreement with the free
trade zone companies John Garments and Henry Garments to pay 129 pregnant women
their severance pay and a pre and post-natal subsidy. These two factories
are part of the Nieng Hsing Consortium which will soon be closing its factories
in Nicaragua and putting 14,000 workers out on the street, 70% of whom are
women.
John
Garments and Henry Garments agreed to pay 45% of their salaries to the laid off
women more than seven months pregnant for the period that remains of their
pregnancy and for those over four months pregnant, the company will pay the
women a smaller amount. (Radio La Primerisima, June 11;
La Prensa, June 10)
9. Nemagon victims protest in
Leon
After
four months waiting in tents outside the courthouse in Leon, more than 200
former banana workers demanded that the Western District Court of Appeals
finally issue a ruling on their demands. The workers want a ruling on a sentence
handed down by the Second District Civil Court of Chinandega.
Bernard Antonio Zavala, who
represents the workers, said that the transnational corporations that were found
guilty and asked to pay damages to more than 1,400 former banana workers had
entered a request for a restraining order in order to avoid paying the more than
US$47 million the workers had been awarded to compensate them for illnesses
contracted as a result of their exposure to the pesticide Nemagon.
?Because justice is so delayed in our country, the Nemagon victims decided on a
sit-in at the courthouse until they receive a reply from the judges,? explained
Zavala.
Zavala and Reinaldo Castillo,
representing the workers, met with Judge Octavio Martinez who promised that the
case would be reviewed as soon as possible. Martinez said that the delay
was based on the large number of cases that the court has to handle. ?We
asked the judges to hurry up because many former banana workers have died and
others are sick,? said Castillo, adding ?We can?t wait any more!? The
companies that were found liable and required to pay damages were Dole Food
Company and its Central American subsidiary Standard Fruit Company, Shell Oil
Company, Dow Chemical and Occidental Chemical. (El Nuevo Diario, June
15)