Nicaragua News Service May 1-7, 1994 Vol. 2, No. 18 by Colleen Littlejohn Major news stories for the week: 1. Results of Atlantic Coast Autonomy Council Elections 2. Violent Eviction of Squatter Settlement 3. Mines to be privatized 4. Update on FSLN Congress 5. Arnaldo Aleman innocent for the moment 6. Date and replacement set for General Humberto Ortega 7. President of Taiwan visits Nicaragua 8. Humberto Belli suggests religion classes in public schools _____________________________________________________________________ 1. Results of Atlantic Coast Autonomy Council Elections No one party is completely happy with the final election results of the North and South Autonomous Atlantic Regions, the RAAN and the RAAS. On May 4th, both regions celebrated elections within the recently elected Autonomous Regional Councils for the posts of regional coordinator (equivalent to governor) and for a Coordinator of each council. In the RAAN, the FSLN obtained the presidency of the regional council, in the person of Alta Hooker and the governorship was obtained by Yatama, in the person of Marcos Hoolgtom. The rest of the posts were distributed between the FSLN and Yatama. The Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC), which had won an equal number of seats to the FSLN, was shut out of the leadership positions by the FSLN/Yatama alliance. Its members retired from the inaugural session upon seeing the results of the elections. The PLC had been trying to promote the candidacy of Stedman Fagoth, ex-FSLN and ex-Yatama contra leader, but neither of those organizations would support him, resulting in intense negotiations between the FSLN and Yatama to choose a winning formula. In the South, FSLN and Yatama members of the RAAS regional council were excluded from any elected positions and it is unclear, according to the papers, if they walked out of the session before the voting was completed. (El Nuevo Diario says they did not, Barricada says they did). PLC member (ex-FSLN), Rayfield Hodgson was elected as governor and Augusto Cesar de la Rocha, quoted by El Nuevo Diario as being an "ex-Somocista paramilitary," was elected Coordinator of the RAAS regional council. FSLN National Assembly representative for the RAAS, Ray Hooker, has announced that the FSLN will appeal the results because of a difference in interpretation of the Autonomy law with respect to how the elections took place given the fact that no representative of the Miskito or other ethnic groups of the RAAS were elected to the Executive Committee. Brooklyn Rivera, legal representative of Yatama, and a member of Chamorro's cabinet, stated his concern that the government in the RAAS would not function, because of the tendency of the PLC to exclude all others -- FSLN, Yatama and Atlantic Coast Autonomy Movement (MAAC) -- and because nationally the PLC is oppose to the government, but especially because the President of the Council is not from the coast and will "not respond to the needs of the Coast peoples." Rivera, mentioning the results of the RAAN elections, stated that "Yatama doesn't give away its votes for nothing" and that the FSLN-Yatama alliance had cost the FSLN a lot -- the governorship, even though Yatama had received much fewer votes. (Barricada 5-7; EL Nuevo Diario 5-5, 5-6) 2. Violent Eviction of Squatter Settlement Over 450 families were violently evicted from their shanty town called "Villa Reconciliation," located on land belonging to a cooperative that had received the property in 1982 as a result of the Sandinista agrarian reform program. Most of the families, including over 1,000 children, are still in the area, without any roof over their heads. According to the judge who is reviewing the case, he did not issue any eviction order against the families. The Nicaraguan Human Rights Center (CENIDH) condemned the behavior of the police for "abuse of authority and illegal detentions." Barricada also formally protested again to the police. One of their reporters was assaulted and his camera ruined as he tried to cover the story for his newspaper. More than 200 police officials participated in the eviction and it is still not clear who gave the order to evict. (Barricada 5-3) 3. Mines to be privatized Workers of the El Limon mine near Leon took control of operations last week and warned the government that they would not release control until the government negotiates a just settlement with them on four issues: - job stability and right to negotiate contracts - respect for the union - guaranteed investment in the mine - indemnization for the 467 worker The government was supposed to have given over the mine to the Triton Mining Company who bought it for almost $4 million, ignoring an offer for the same amount from the workers. Miners from the Atlantic Coast towns of Rosita, Siuna and Bonanza area also demanded to negotiate with the government in order to prevent the government from giving over those mines to the Henco Hunt Exploration and Mining Company. The mines were sold for only $1.5 million dollars despite the fact that the Nicaraguan government, in the 1980's, invested over $40 million in them. (Barricada 5-7) 4. Update on FSLN Congress The preliminary rounds of consultations and departmental meetings prior to the FSLN Extraordinary Congress later this month ended last week. None of the conclusions of the preliminary meetings, however, are binding on the elected Congress delegates, who are the same as those who participated in the first FSLN Congress three years ago. There is a fear, however, expressed by many, that the majority of Sandinistas have not participated in these preliminary debates. Meanwhile, one major question to be resolved is who is to be the next Secretary General of the FSLN. National Directorate member Henry Ruiz, also known as "Modesto" gave an interview last week to Barricada in which he did not discount the possibility of accepting the candidacy for the position of FSLN Secretary General in the upcoming elections, as long as it would be a candidacy that would bring unity to the party. Ruiz is the only candidate who is supported by many in both "currents" which have surged in the FSLN, the "Democratic Left" and the "Sandinistas for the Great Majority." Meanwhile, Daniel Ortega, in an interview given on the Primerisima radio station, announced in that he does not have presidential aspirations for 1996, but he did make clear that he was interested in retaining the position of Secretary General of the FSLN. Ortega explained that he has never had a personal ambition to be President and that the decision that he should be the FSLN candidate in previous elections was a consensus decision taken by the National Directorate of the FSLN. Ortega also stated that it was too early to be thinking about candidates for 1996 but he also stated that flexibility was needed within the FSLN and that it might even be possible for the FSLN to support a candidate that was not a member of the FSLN. He was not in favor of having two or more candidates at the Congress for the position of Secretary General, however. (Barricada 5-2, 5-7) 5. Arnaldo Aleman innocent, for the moment The case of corruption and misuse of funds brought against the Mayor of Managua Arnaldo Aleman, were dismissed for the moment by the Nicaraguan Court of Appeals. Two judges voted in favor of Aleman's innocence and one against. The two judges who decided in favor of Aleman did so by ruling that there could not be a final verdict without a report from the Nicaraguan Attorney General's office. The dissenting judge, however, in an interview in Barricada, declared that there was sufficient evidence to prove guilt, but that one of the pro-Aleman judges took evidence out of the official court file to justify her decision. The evidence had to do with previous Supreme Court rulings which gave precedent to the opinion that an Attorney General's report was not necessary to finalize a judgment against an elected official. During the previous week, it was reported in several Managua daily newspapers that Aleman's lawyer had been commenting that a favorable judgment would be ready in the next couple of days, causing many to suspect that justice had not been so blind in this particular case. Aleman stated that he will appeal the verdict because it still leaves open the possibility of a later trial and that when the final verdict is in, he will sue Monica Baltedano, FSLN city council person who has charged him with corruption. Aleman said he will charge her for being involved in the "pinata." (Barricada 5-7) 6. Date and replacement set for General Humberto Ortega A source close to the Presidency, revealed to Barricada that General Humberto Ortega will leave his post as head of the army on February 21, 1995. Meanwhile, Ortega made known that he is interested in running for the presidency, but not in 1996. He stated, "A man like me cannot castrate his political ambitions. I have presidential aspirations, but not in the next round." Major-General Joaquin Cuadra, when asked by a La Prensa reporter if he would replace Ortega, replied, "If it is contemplated in the law and it is proposed to me. I would accept to be the chief of the army." (La Prensa 5-6; Barricada 5-2, 5-4) 7. President of Taiwan visits Nicaragua Lee Teng-Hui, President of the Republic of Taiwan, made an official visit to Nicaragua last week, the first visit ever by a President of Taiwan to a Latin American country. The visit received much publicity in both of countries. For Nicaragua, the gain was economic. During his visit, President Teng-Hui announced that Taiwan will forgive 75% of the $20 million debt that Nicaragua owes his country. He also announced that his government had approved a $30 million line of credit and that Taiwanese aid would be forthcoming for both the agricultural and small industry sector. President Teng-Hui was accompanied by several high-level investors who showed interest in investing in telecommunications, especially considering the upcoming privatization of TELCOR, and also in the fishing sector. One investor also announced plans to invest approximately $20 million dollars in the refurbishing and enlargement of the Intercontinental Hotel, whose major shares were purchased by them last year. The Taiwanese investors also promised to promote a "sister organization" relationship between COSEP, the Nicaraguan Private Business Council and their Taiwanese counterparts. For Taiwan, the visit to Nicaragua reflected their gratitude for Nicaragua's supportive position of Taiwan in the United Nations. In 1992, in her address to the UN General Assembly, President Chamorro insisted that Taiwan should return to the UN, which had expelled that country in 1971. It was the first time in 21 years that a head of state had supported Taiwan in a public forum in the UN. Up until last year, President Chamorro's son, Pedro, had been Nicaragua's ambassador to Taiwan. (Barricada 5-7) 8. Humberto Belli suggests religion classes in public schools An announcement from Minister of Education Humberto Belli that a recent opinion poll concluded that the majority of those consulted want religious education in public schools has provoked negative reactions from various religious groups last week which fear that Belli is trying to impose the Catholic Church on a country whose Constitution officially defines itself as "lay." Twenty-five percent of Nicaragua's total population is non-Catholic. Nicaragua's non- Catholic churches, especially the Protestant Evangelical Churches have not been happy with what has been seen as definite tendencies of the Chamorro government to install the Catholic Church as an official religion, although unofficially. Government funds were used to construct the new Catholic cathedral and many projects of the so-called social emergency funds have been used to repair local Catholic churches. The Education Minister later commented that the proposal was only an "idea" that will be debated around the country and that if the majority want to have religious education in schools, it will be "optional" and could also be in other faiths, according to the will of the local community. (El Nuevo Diario 5-5; Barricada 5-7)