Nicaragua News Service
                          June 11 - 18, 1994
                            Vol. 2, No. 26
                        by Colleen Littlejohn
 
Major news stories for the week:
 
1.  Club of Paris approves $150 million more in aid.
2.  Recontra cut energy in the north.
3.  Discussion continues on military law proposal.
4.  Churches to march on secular vs. religious education issue.
5.  Slowdown on Constitutional Reforms. 
6.  La Prensa recycles pinata issue. 
7.  Nicaragua supports Cuba's membership into the OAS.
8.  Nicaragua closes down for soccer.
9.  Daniel Ortega returns from United States visit.
10. Barricada reveals problem of bribes.
 
1.  Club of Paris approves $150 million more in aid.
 
The Consultative Group to the World Bank, also known as the Club of Paris,
has decided to grant an additional $150 million dollars in development aid
to Nicaragua over the next two years.  Most experts consulted for the
Barricada article of June 18th agreed that it was urgent that the money be
"well used."  The rector of the Central American University in Managua,
Father Xavier Gorostiaga stated, "It is a great success, but we must take
into account that this may possibly be the last effort of the
international community; if these funds do not help to initiate a policy
of productive reactivation, especially in agriculture, we may lose this
last opportunity." 
 
Gorostiaga was also concerned that the money would be used to pay the
foreign debt, which as of December 31, 1993, was calculated to be over $11
billion dollars, the highest per capita debt in the world.  (Barricada,
6/18)
 
2.  Recontra cut energy in the north.
 
Fifteen men of the 3-80 Front under the command of the recontra leaders,
Cascabel (rattlesnake) and Pajarillo (little bird), destroyed eight energy
posts in the north of the country, leaving in the dark the municipalities
of El Jicaro, Quilali, and Susucayan. 
 
Transport workers, on a slowdown for the last month because of lack of
security, blocked the Pan American highway in protest last week, and were
persuaded to suspend the blockade, but not the slowdown.  In the last week
recontras have burned five vehicles.  (Barricada, 6/16, 6/18)
 
3.  Discussion continues on military law proposal.
 
In the face of right-wing opposition to the proposal for a new military
code that the National Assembly will soon debate, Antonio Lacayo issued a
statement in which he insisted that the proposed Code satisfactorily
resolved the issue of the military's subordination to civil authorities. 
Right-wing opposition claims that the law would create a "state within a
state." 
 
The Democratic Christian Union (UDC) also issued a statement supporting
the urgent need for the new law to regulate the military and described as
"irresponsible" certain sectors of the Nicaraguan right-wing, who have, in
the last two weeks, been opposing the passage of the new military law. 
Alfredo Cesar, present leader of what is left of the UNO coalition, has
called for a march at the end of June to protest the possible passage of
the law. 
 
The UDC communique stated that the same people who were responsible for
negotiating the transition agreements with the FSLN in 1990, the agreement
which left General Humberto Ortega in charge of the army, are the same
that now oppose the new military code, referring to Alfredo Cesar and Luis
Sanchez.  The UDC, however, is demanding certain changes to the code; they
insist that it be more clearly stated that military power be subordinated
to civilian control and that the budget of the army be assigned directly
from the national budget and be subject to the same controls. 
 
Meanwhile, the president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, Vilma
Nunez, issued a report during her testimony to the National Assembly
commission studying the law, which made important contributions to the
debate on the law.  Dr. Nunez insisted that the law state that no close
family relation of the President, Vice-President or the President of the
National Assembly should be named as head of the army.  Dr. Nunez also
expressed concern that the new law give the army certain functions that
are normally delegated to the national police, such as actions to 'impose
order' as a result of strikes, etc.  She also insisted that military be
tried in civilian courts for civilian crimes.  (Barricada, 6/15, 6/17; La
Prensa, 6/14)
 
4.  Churches to march on secular vs. religious education issue.
 
Cardinal Obando y Bravo has begun what he calls a campaign in favor of
reinitiating religious education in public schools by reforming the
article of the Nicaraguan Constitution that establishes education in
Nicaragua as lay.  To support his campaign, he has called for a march on
June 23rd, to be led by the members of the Roman Catholic Episcopal
Conference.  The march will also be a protest against abortion. 
 
The principal evangelical Protestant churches have also decided to
organize a march in order to demonstrate their concern about the offensive
of the Catholic Church.  The march is being called for on June 25th, two
days after that of Obando y Bravo's. 
 
Meanwhile, President Chamorro, upon returning from the Iberian-American
summit in Cartagena declared, "Education is lay, and it will continue to
be lay."  Her statement was the first official reaction to the
announcement of the Bishop's campaign.  (Barricada, 6/13, 6/15, 6/17)
 
5.  Slow down on Constitutional Reforms. 
 
The much heralded proposals for constitutional reforms, product of intense
negotiations at the end of 1993, are still basically words on paper and
will remain so for at least the next few months if some major hurdles are
not resolved in the next few weeks. 
 
The main hurdle is a new position of the "center"' and the
"reconciliation" deputies of the National Assembly, power blocks aligned
politically with the Minister of the Presidency and son-in-law of the
President Antonio Lacayo.  These deputies are now insisting that
presidential re-election should be allowed and that the fact that someone
is a close relative to the President should not stop that person from
running from office. 
 
6. La Prensa recycles pinata issue. 
 
La Prensa, in collaboration with Radio Corporation have been the principal
media which have given free publicity to Dr. Wilfredo Navarro's, President
of the Liberal Independent Party (PLI), campaign to denounce the supposed
"pinata" of the FSLN in the months after their electoral defeat in 1990. 
 
On the front pages of La Prensa, Navarro listed the names of 133
businesses that he claims are owned by the FSLN or the Popular Sandinista
Army (EPS). 
 
During the next few days, dozens of letters of protest or paid
advertisement from many of those mentioned, were published in local
newspapers, challenging the credibility of Navarro's assertions. 
 
It appears that La Prensa, after seeing the wave of protest followed by
the publishing, including letters from anti-Sandinista's who returned to
found several of the businesses, after 1990, have been trying to distance
themselves from the assertions but giving very little follow-up to the
accusations.  (La Prensa, 6/13, 6/14)
 
7.  Nicaragua supports Cuba's membership into the OAS.
 
The Fourth Iberian-American Summit came to an end in Cartagena, Colombia
with a final declaration, which, among others points, called for the
elimination of unilateral economic and commercial measures which "affect
the free development of international trade and affect the standard of
living of the Iberian- American peoples."  The statement was an indirect
condemnation of the US blockade against Cuba.  Nicaragua approved the
declaration but conditioned Cuba's entrance to the OAS on "democratic
reforms."  (Barricada, 6/16)
 
8.  Nicaragua closes down for soccer.
 
The duel of the TV in Nicaraguan homes is once again underway as the
Brazilian soap operas make way for the World Cup.  Even though baseball is
Nicaragua's main sport, most male Nicaraguans and many women have been
glued to their TVs for the opening games of the World Cup soccer
tournament.  The duel for the hearts and minds of the Nicaraguan
television audience, is a once in every four year event.  Cable TV,
unheard of several years ago in Nicaragua, is taking advantage of the
soccer rage to offer a service of 38 channels. 

TV programmers have tried to reduce to a minimum the inconvenience of the
soap opera addicts, but in a crunch, it is the soccer that wins out. 
Relief is not in sight.  After the World Cup winds down, Nicaragua will
play host, in August, to the World Baseball Championships.  Mid-semester
schools vacations, normally scheduled for mid-July, have been postponed
until mid-August to coincide with the baseball tournament, to allow
students to attend the games. 
 
9.  Daniel Ortega returns from United States visit.
 
The recently re-elected General Secretary of the FSLN, Daniel Ortega,
returned last week from a trip to the US where he discussed FSLN-US
relations following the FSLN's Extraordinary Congress last month. 
 
During his visit to the US, Ortega met with mid-level government officials
of the State Department and AID, as well as several congresspeople,
including Ron Dellums, Robert Torricelli and Senator Tom Harkin. 
 
Ortega also met with exiled Haitian president, Jean Bertrand Aristide. 
Ortega was accompanied by Victor Hugo Tinoco, a newly elected member of
the FSLN National Directorate and Secretary of the FSLN's Department of
International Relations. 
 
10.  Barricada reveals problem of bribes.
 
All last week, major headlines of the newspaper Barricada released the
results of a special investigation on bribery within different agencies of
the government, including Customs, the police and even the judicial
system.  The newspaper also released several telephone numbers where
citizens could call and denounce governmental abuses.  According to
Barricada, the number and content of the calls received have confirmed the
validity of their results. 
 
Bribery is so commonplace now in the different customs offices throughout
the country that many customs agents and other businesses now put a
special line item in their accounting to codify the costs. 
 
Many employees who were interviewed anonymously stated that accepting
"money for soft drinks" was the only way to be able to survive.  Salaries
are notoriously low for the majority of state workers, excluding the top
management positions, and salaries have not been adjusted for inflation
for the last four years. 
 
Directors of each of the agencies highlighted in the investigation made
declarations that internal investigations were underway to resolve the
problems denounced by Barricada.