Nicaragua News Service June 18-25, 1994 Vol. 2, No. 27 by Colleen Littlejohn Major news stories for the week: 1. Catholic Church leads moral crusade. 2. Democratic Transition Conference held in Managua. 3. Children murder children in Region Five. 4. Rigoberta Menchu visits Nicaragua for three days. 5. Social welfare part of INSBBI to be absorbed by MAS. 6. Nicaragua-Costa Rica border problem. 7. Government pressures transport union. 8. Masaya police fired for drug connections. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Catholic Church leads moral crusade. The Nicaraguan Catholic hierarchy led a protest march last week in front of the National Assembly to demonstrate "the power of the people of God," according to the words of Rev. Eddy Montenegro, Vicar of the Archdiocese of Managua. According to La Prensa, over 80,000 people participated in the march; the Agencia France Presse reported a crowd of 5,000; other print media spoke of thousands, and the church itself estimated 50,000. Although it is not clear exactly how many did participate, newspapers noted the convoking authority of the Church. Many commented that the march had more of a feeling of Nicaraguan Independence Day because a large number of students participated with their primary and high schools and brought along their marching bands. The march was to pressure the National Assembly to come down on abortion, euthanasia, and to pressure that body to allow religious instruction in public schools. A letter against abortion, signed by 70,000 people, was delivered to Luis Humberto Guzman, president of the National Assembly. Several women's' organizations were in agreement with the march in that they, too, are "for life", but stated that it did not mean the condemnation of those who are demanding a more modern point of view regarding sex education, family planning, and the use of birth control are concerned. Some of the women's group put up signs calling for "motherhood without risk" but those signs were taken down and burned by the anti-choicers. The march was headed by Cardinal Obando y Bravo and there were a few shouts from the street hailing him as the next President of Nicaragua. (Barricada 6/24; La Prensa 6/23) 2. Democratic Transition Conference held in Managua. Representatives of almost all of the ideological tendencies in Nicaragua, as well as international personalities such as ex-President Jimmy Carter, Joaquin Villalobos of the FMLN in El Salvador and General Wojecech Jaruzelski, the ex-President of Poland, participated in a seminar last week in Managua entitled "Democratic Transition." The purpose of the seminar was to facilitate an interchange of experiences between representatives of societies in the difficult process of transition such as in Poland, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. President Carter upon arriving in Managua, described the Nicaraguan democratic process as being "very open, transparent, and with much debate, where progress is being made." Five of the principal leaders of the Nicaraguan political scene, Daniel Ortega, Arnaldo Aleman, Sergio Ramirez, Antonio Lacayo, and Luis Humberto Guzman were present at the closing session. In their closing addresses to the meeting, they all agreed that Nicaragua needs a concerted national agreement, the strengthening and modernization of the state, and a national development plan, in order to begin to recover from the current crisis. The difference between these leaders, however, was their ideas on how to achieve these goals. Daniel Ortega, General Secretary of the FSLN, stated that the country needed to recreate the consensus of 1979 that allowed the country to throw out the Somoza dictatorship, the end of the war, and the elections of 1990. A national consensus must look, according to Ortega, to strengthen democracy and peace via amendments to the Constitution, the solution to the property problem, and the approval of the pending military code. He underscored that the elections of 1996 must serve to produce of government of national unity and promote "a new conduct and a constructive spirit to defeat the two great plagues: hunger and employment. (Barricada 6/24, 6/25) 3. Children murder children in Region Five. Another violent tragedy took up many headlines and commentaries during the last week in Nicaragua. Two young boys, whose ages were unknown because of lack of proper documents, were arrested for the violent murder of four young children, three of the same family, in the town of Acoyapa in the Fifth region, located about an hour south of Juigalpa. The boys who were under the influence of alcohol, killed the children because one of the victims had supposedly robbed a hen from a relative of one of the boys. At this point, legal authorities are trying to determine the legal age of the boys to see if Nicaraguan law permits them to stand trial. According to the Constitution a person must be 15 years old in order to face prosecution. The whole case, however, has brought about another level of discussion among the general population, and especially among specialists. This case is just one more in a line of tragedies and violence which are so characteristic of Nicaragua at the moment, when 70% of the total population, after having survived more than 15 years of almost endless wars, are living under the stress of extreme poverty. The case also brings up questions about the situation of children in the country -- both the victims and those who resort to violence. (Barricada, 4/23) 4. Rigoberta Menchu visits Nicaragua for three days. Rigoberta Menchu was in Nicaragua last week to attend the first Central American preparatory meeting for the "International Decade of Indigenous Peoples". The meeting was held in Puerto Cabezas. Ms. Menchu called on the government of Nicaragua to promote programs in this post-war period, which address the problems of Nicaragua's native peoples. 5. Social welfare part of INSBBI to be absorbed by MAS. La Prensa reported that the social welfare section of the Nicaraguan Institute for Social Security and Social Welfare (INSBBI) will be transferred to the Ministry of Social Welfare at the end of the year. At the rate that the social welfare programs are being cut, however, there will be little left to transfer. Two that have already been cut are the two centers specializing in programs for the blind, including the "Carlos Fonseca Amador" center in Bolonia, a neighborhood in Managua. Over 175 patients will be left unattended because of the closing of the two centers. The decision to close the centers was protested by the Federation of NGOs that work with disabled peoples, a federation made up of 13 non-governmental organizations. Another seven centers including that of a home for disabled children, The Children Martyrs for Peace Center on the Masaya highway, are being closed. The children will be transferred to privately run children's centers in compliance with the INSBBI decision that was taken "under the logic of the modernization of the institution in order to give better service". (La Prensa, 6/21; Barricada, 6/23) 6. Nicaragua-Costa Rica border problem. Nicaragua is demanding a full investigation from the Costa Rican government concerning the illegal detention of a Nicaraguan fishing boat with 22 crew members aboard, in Nicaraguan waters on June 17th and 18th. A Nicaraguan Coast guard vessel, upon arriving on the scene to give aid to their country's people, were fired on by a Costa Rican coast guard vessel. The Nicaraguans fired back, forcing the Costa Rican boat to retreat to Costa Rican territory. One Nicaraguan marine was wounded. A Costa Rican plane then flew over the Nicaraguan Coast Guard boat, violating Nicaraguan air space. One day later, the Vice-Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both Costa Rica and Nicaragua met to resolve the issue and to define preventative measures. The Vice-Minister of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Carrera, agreed that "this was one of the most dangerous incidents that we have had." (Barricada, 6/22) 7. Government pressures transport union. Last week the government began to step up the pressure on the "Parrales Vallejos" cooperative to come to a specific agreement on the payment for the company, ENABUS, that was privatized in favor of the workers in October 1992. According to the government, the Cooperative has been using the equipment of the former ENABUS without paying anything for them. The union, however, insisted that there were many details to be worked out yet, especially the value estimates that the government is putting on the property. Those estimates are considered over-valued by the Cooperative. Negotiations were broken off when the Cooperative refused to be pressured by the government ultimatum, which ran out last Wednesday, June 22. The government had warned that if the Co-op did not attend a meeting on the last day of the ultimatum, it would be considered a sign that the cooperative did not want to participate in the privatization of the company. (Barricada 6/23, 6/24) 8. Masaya police fired for drug connections. Eight police officials from Masaya were stripped of their decorations and medals, and expelled from the police force after sufficient evidence was found to link them to drug-related activities. The officials, however, did not appear in public and claimed that the police hierarchy had violated their rights by not allowing them to defend themselves during the investigations. The links between the Masaya police and local drug trafficking had been revealed by Barricada two weeks earlier. (Barricada 6/23)