Nicaragua News Service March 12-18, 1995 Vol. 3, No. 12 by Coleen Littlejohn Major stories for the week: 1. Somoza family wants its property back. 2. Teachers' strike continues. 3. National Assembly to test waters with Supreme Court nominees. 4. Comptroller admits to having no control over privatization process. 5. More state workers to be fired to meet ESAF requirements. 6. DEA has been in Nicaragua since 1984. 7. Survey finds little confidence in present political leadership. ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Somoza family wants its property back. Apparently with the moral and political support of Senator Jesse Helms, the Sevilla Somoza family has made a formal petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington to recover its property confiscated in 1979. The female head of the Sevilla Somoza family is Lillian Somoza, sister of dictator Anastasio Somoza who was overthrown by the Sandinista revolution in 1979. It is Lillian Somoza's son, Luis Sevilla Somoza, who is representing the family in the law suit. After the UNO victory in 1990, Sevilla came to Nicaragua to see about the possibility that the new government might return the family's property. The property in question includes the land on which the new cathedral has been built, the Centro Comercial, a major shopping center in Managua, and the national cement company. Vice-Minister of Foreign Relations Jose Pallais confirmed that the petition had been submitted and also stated that the Nicaraguan government will state only that the law under which it was submitted gives the affected parties six months to appeal a confiscation that they consider unjust. "They were confiscated by the Sandinista government over 15 years ago, which means that their time to protest has run out." Nevertheless, the Somoza Sevilla family has more options than just a simple court case. Luis Sevilla Somoza is the major Miami contact for Arnoldo Aleman's Constitutional Liberal Party and the family will expect to receive a very good indemnity from the government if Aleman wins the presidency in 1996. Many former high-level officers of Somoza's now-defunct National Guard who have now become U.S. citizens are also claiming the right to their former properties. They also have the support of Senator Helms. It is rumored that several of them have already received major settlements which have given the others hope to continue their claims. (El Nuevo Diario, March 18) 2. Teachers' strike continues. The teachers' strike for better wages and working conditions for the country's primary and secondary teachers which began on February 28th continued last week. Lawyers for the two Nicaraguan teachers' unions which are heading the strike are considering suing the government for robbery and fraud for holding back this month's salary checks for teachers who are participating in the strike. Union officials are now gathering signatures from the striking teachers in order to formally introduce the demand in the Nicaraguan courts. Meanwhile, as the Ministry of Education has stepped up its selective firing of teachers, the strikers have taken over several departmental offices of the Ministry of Education as well as schools throughout the country. As of March 17th, 162 teachers had been fired. Minister of Education Humberto Belli declared that the office and school takeovers were "a sign of weakness" and stated that he would not pay those teachers on strike. He did, however, announce that he will be meeting shortly with President Chamorro and the education committee of the National Assembly. Meanwhile, last week, approximately 15,000 teachers from all over the country marched in Managua in support of the strike. As a result of the demonstration, several members of the National Assembly, including Nathan Sevilla and Leticia Herrera, offered to form a commission to act as intermediaries in the conflict. According to strike leaders, 90% of the teachers in Carazo, Rivas and Granada are on strike, along with 60% in Chinandega, Matagalpa, and Nueva Segovia, and 35% of all teachers in Managua. Approximately 15,000 teachers are participating in the strike. Mario Casco, Secretary General of the Confederation of Teachers made several proposals to the government to transfer funds from other institutions to be able to raise teacher's salaries. He proposed that money be moved from the Ministry of Social Action, a Ministry that he called a "monster with no specific legal functions" and that the $20 million that the Ministry of Education earmarks for "planning" also be used. Finally, he suggested that Humberto Belli resign because he has "ruined education, belittled the nation's teachers, falsified information about the strike and lied to the strikers." (Barricada, March 17, 19) 3. National Assembly to test waters with Supreme Court nominees. The majority parties in the National Assembly (including the FSLN/Renovation and the Christian Democrats) met last week to decide on who would be their candidates to the nation's highest judicial body, the Supreme Court. According to the recent constitutional amendments, the Supreme Court will have twelve members instead of nine. Also according to the new amendments, the president has a certain period of time in which to send candidates to the National Assembly and if she does not, the Assembly can act on its own. President Chamorro has stated that she will not send names of candidates for the Court under the reformed Constitution. "I sent candidates over eleven months ago and I am not going to send more." The Assembly has been receiving suggestions from the Nicaraguan Bar Association and the Association of Democratic Jurists and will be making decisions soon. If the executive does not accept the Constitutional amendments and join the process of naming new justices, Nicaragua could have two Supreme Courts in the near future. 4. Comptroller admits to having no control over privatization process. William Ramirez, FSLN member of the National Assembly, has demanded a special investigation into the whole government privatization process because, Ramirez says, he has been informed that "the Ministry of Finances hasn't seen a penny of that money." Ramirez asks, "Where is that money and what has been done with it?" The country's principal auditor, Arturo Harding, admitted last week in front of a special committee of the National Assembly, that his organization has no contact at all with the privatization process that the government is about to complete. Harding made it clear that his office has no control over the privatization of the 345 state enterprises that the state organization CORNAP has managed in favor of the private sector and that was supposed to raise millions of dollars in liquid funds for the state coffers. According to newspapers last week, those funds have never made it to the Ministry of Finances. CORNAP has been accused on several occasions of having sold substantial state enterprises such as AERONICA, tourist centers such as MONTELIMAR, and other companies for ridiculously small sums of money. The investigation into privatization practices and the summoning of Harding to testify was classified by some as an attempt on the part of the National Assembly to "pass the bill to the executive branch" because of recent problems concerning the constitutional amendments. (La Prensa, March 15, Barricada, March 18) 5. More state workers to be fired to meet ESAF requirements. Nicaragua is being pressured by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF to reduce the size of the state even more than it has already done. According to newspaper reports last week, over 13,000 people will be forced to give up their government jobs. This will affect principally employees of TELCOR and the Nicaraguan Energy Institute. The "recommendations" came as the result of a recent visit from a World Bank mission to evaluate the results of the ESAF (Economic Structural Adjustment Facility) agreement signed last year. Because Nicaragua has not totally complied with all points of the agreement, the Bank is withholding the next payment of $66 million. The government, however, assured the World Bank mission that their "intention is to comply with pending actions within the next two months," according to the Office of Social Communication, the official spokesperson for the president. Only 2,000 workers succumbed last year to the pressures to resign of the "Voluntary Employment Mobility Plan." Minister of Finances Emilio Pereira, minimized the effects that the massive layoffs will have on the economy. "The Labor Mobility Plan will not have a negative effect, as some believe, because private industry will absorb all those employees that take advantage of it. People capable of contributing to the development of the national economy will leave the state apparatus," stated Pereira. "What we will do is develop private enterprise and open us up to the world market so that we can generate more employment." Pereira also denied that 13,000 people will be fired in the next two months. He stated that the government will offer an attractive layoff package to accelerate the reduction of the state payroll, because, "if we don't respect the reductions planned or the privatization of TELCOR, the financial organizations will retain their aid." (Barricada, March 16, 17) 6. DEA in Nicaragua since 1984. According to a report published last week in Barricada, the Drug Enforcement Agency of the US government has been operating in Nicaragua since 1984 and was involved in possibly 15 operations in the last decade. Activities of the DEA have included joint operations with the national police in capturing over one ton of cocaine, the capture of foreign boats in Nicaraguan coastal waters but have also involved the infiltration of agents without the knowledge of Nicaraguan authorities. Some of those agents were narcotics dealers later arrested by the Nicaraguan police. The DEA had previous knowledge of their activities but did not inform local authorities. It was reported that the DEA wants to have an official presence here in Nicaragua and for that reason the agency has been acting with prudence in its operations in the country. (Barricada, March 17) 7. Survey confirms little confidence in present political leadership. Although the next Nicaraguan presidential elections are still over one and a half years away, political survey fever appears to be starting all over again. Last week, in separate events in Managua and Carazo, both Antonio Lacayo, Minister of the Presidency and Luis Humberto Guzman, president of the National Assembly, both admitted to their respective public that 80% of the Nicaraguan people are fed up with politics and with the present conflict between the Executive and the Legislative branches and also that they do not feel represented by their present political leaders or institutions. Guzman stated that it was necessary for political figures to "take responsibility" for the situation revealed by the polls. He also spoke of the possibility of renewing conversations on the implementation of the Constitutional amendments. The survey referred to was done by the Institute for Nicaraguan Studies (IEN). Results of the poll were presented to Nicaraguan government officials last week at the Nicaraguan offices of the United Nations Development Program. The principal loser as indicated by the survey is the political institutionality of the country, the confidence of the Nicaraguan people in their political system and the credibility of the present government and political leaders. 90% of those surveyed want the political leadership of the country to come to some basic political agreements; 73% think such an agreement is still possible. The most desired result of such an agreement is the creation of a national development strategy (26.6%). When grouped together by theme, the survey results show that the population is demanding political democracy (54.5%), solution to the property problem (9.3%) and modification of the Constitution. The poll was taken in December 1994. Results of another survey were published last week in La Prensa and showed Managua Mayor Arnoldo Aleman to be the most popular figure in Nicaraguan politics with 65% in favor of the way he has carried out his work. The most unpopular figure was Humberto Ortega with 70.3% expressing a negative opinion of him. According to the survey, conducted by Borges and Associates, 43.4% of the population would vote for Aleman if the elections were held now. (La Prensa, Mar. 15, Barricada, Mar. 19) .