Nicaragua News Service March 19-25, 1995 Vol. 3, No. 13 by Coleen Littlejohn Major news stories of the week: 1. Preliminary meetings between branches of government. 2. Cattle ranchers to strike again. 3. Teachers strike expands. 4. Nicaragua remembers 15th anniversary of Literacy Crusade. 5. Club of Paris nations forgive $600 million of Nicaragua's debt. 6. Edgardo Garcia named member of the FSLN National Directorate. 7. ATC holds National Congress. 8. "Dry Canal" vs. "Wet Canal." 9. Somoza family wants $250 million. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Preliminary meetings between branches of government. An informal group of foreign ambassadors who describe themselves as "friends of Nicaragua" held a meeting last week to facilitate dialogue between leading representatives of the four powers of the Nicaraguan government, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches and the Supreme Electoral Council. It was the first sign of a possible solution to the power struggle over the validity of the recently passed amendments to the constitution which has plagued the Nicaraguan government in the first three months of this year. The branches of government agreed to lower the tone of the debate and put an end to the media war which they have been waging for the hearts and minds of the Nicaraguan people. The day after the meeting, Minister of the Presidency Antonio Lacayo ordered workers to take down the billboards that the President's office had erected with the message: "The only Constitution which is in effect is that of 1987." At the same time National Assembly President Luis Humberto Guzman, suspended a publicity campaign for which the National Assembly had already contracted a local public relations firm. Meanwhile, former President Daniel Ortega addressed a crowd of several thousand people in San Ramon, Matagalpa, where he again spoke of the need for the legislative and the executive branches to resolve their political differences, stating that, if they do not, "the people will put you in your place." Ortega went on to state that the Nicaraguan people "would not permit this situation to continue, in which the politicians in the two branches of government forget about the problems of the teachers, about the lack of credit for small farmers, about the transportation problems which are still not resolved and about the present situation in which the people continue to suffer the effects of hunger and misery." Ortega insisted that if this condition continued, "these politicians will lose all political legitimacy and will no longer be considered representatives of the people. Under these conditions, the only solution that is left would be to hold the upcoming elections early in order to elect a new government and new representatives." ... "We are not talking about impossibilities....This would permit us to have more deputies who really represent us. The present members of the National Assembly are constantly changing parties; no one knows anymore whom they represent." (Barricada, March 20, 23) 2. Cattle ranchers to strike again. Nicaraguan cattle ranchers, organized in the National Agricultural Committee in Defense of Credit and Property, went on strike again last Thursday and announced that the strike will continue until the government is ready to negotiate seriously with them and meet their demands. Those demands include that the government suspend judicial proceedings to take over land of those farmers who have not paid off their bank loans and, second, that the government release all ranchers who have been jailed for the same reason. These demands are the same that provoked the first national cattle ranchers' strike over a month ago. The first strike was suspended due to organizational problems but the government had promised at that time that it would help the farmers come to an agreement on debt repayment with the National Development Bank. (Barricada, March 21) 3. Teachers strike expands. Minister of Education Humberto Belli made a request to the President asking that she assign 20% of the national budget to the Ministry of Education in an attempt to resolve the salary problems of the nation's teachers, now entering their fourth week of a national strike. Belli also announced that he was forming an interministerial committee that "will look for funds in order to offer a partial solution" to the problem. But the Education Minister also stated that he was "sick and tired of the demands of the union leaders, who only point out problems without offering solutions." Meanwhile, national support is growing for the strike as the Ministry of Education continues to fire teachers. The number of teachers fired has now passed 300. In one particularly dramatic case that reflects the impact that desperation can have on peoples' lives, a teacher in a small rural town in northern Nicaragua was attacked by her husband who amputated her two arms with a machete because he did not believe that her salary check had been withheld because of her participation in the strike. (Barricada, El Nuevo Diario, March 24) 4. Nicaragua remembers the 15th anniversary of the Literacy Crusade. Several different events around the country marked the 15th anniversary of the beginning of the National Literacy Crusade on March 23, 1980. Participants in the campaign reminisced in the pages of the newspaper Barricada about their experiences of leaving home to go teach the people of the countryside to read and write and also about learning the way of life of the majority of Nicaraguans. It was the organized effort of thousands of Nicaraguan students and teachers that allowed the country to reduce its illiteracy rate to under 13%, an achievement that earned the country special recognition a year later in the form of the UNESCO Prize from the United Nations. 5. Club of Paris nations forgive $600 million of Nicaragua's debt. Minister of the Presidency Antonio Lacayo announced that the Club of Paris has agreed to forgive $600 million of the $1.672 billion that Nicaragua owes the members of that group of nations. Nicaragua had hoped for a cancellation of over $862 million but that figure was not accepted. Nicaragua's request for special consideration was strongly supported by representatives of the World Bank and the IMF who helped convince donors that Nicaragua's efforts in the structural adjustment of its economy should be accompanied by debt reduction concessions. According to Minister of the Presidency Lacayo, the debt reductions signify that Nicaragua will pay $56 million less in interest this year, a savings which he promised will be "invested in production." (Barricada, El Nuevo Diario, March 23) 6. Edgardo Garcia named member of FSLN National Directorate The Sandinista Assembly met last week to discuss pending national issues and to bring Edgardo Garcia, Secretary General of the Farm Workers Association (ATC), onto the National Directorate of the FSLN. Garcia was not present at the meeting due to a national meeting of the ATC but a delegation headed by Daniel Ortega was named to travel north to officially inform him of the decision. Garcia was named to the National Directorate because in the last FSLN Congress he received the same number of votes as Dr. Myrna Cunningham. Because of quota requirements established by the Congress to ensure women's representation on all FSLN leadership bodies, Cunningham joined the National Directorate. Dr. Cunningham resigned from the National Directorate two months ago. The Sandinista Assembly also approved an economic proposal that will serve as the position paper of the FSLN. It will be used to promote a broad-based dialogue with other sectors of the country in order to find some solutions to the present national economic crisis. The Assembly reiterated its support for striking teachers and cattle ranchers and expressed its concern for transport workers who may be on strike by the end of the coming week. (Barricada, March 26) 7. ATC holds National Congress. The Association of Farm Workers (ATC) began its sixth national congress last week in Matagalpa where representatives will discuss two major issues: the legalization of property in the hands of their affiliates and the right to education. In his annual report to the 400 participants in the Congress, Edgardo Garcia emphasized the creation of 33 commercial and productive enterprises owned by a total of 10,400 farm workers. Together they own a total of 17,000 acres of land and are organized in the Associated Union of Agricultural Producers (UNAPA). Special invited guests at the Congress included Jaime Wheelock, Fr. Fernando Cardenal and Victor Tirado. Elections for Secretary General are also on the agenda of the Congress. Alma Palacio, head of the women's section is one of the candidates for the position. It is not clear if Edgardo Garcia will run for re-election now that he has been named to the National Directorate of the FSLN. (Barricada, March 26) 8. "Dry Canal" vs. "Wet Canal". A group of foreign investors who wish to construct a "dry canal" to transport shipping containers by railroad across Nicaragua came for an initial visit to the country last week. They hope to sign a "letter of intent" with the government and get an official "OK" for the project. According to Juan Carlos Rivas, Director of the Interocean Canal Company of Nicaragua (CINN), the Japanese government has had to limit the number of companies that want a piece of the investment. According to the latest version, the "dry canal" would connect the port of Monkey Point on the Caribbean Coast to the port of El Astillero in Rivas on the Pacific. Meanwhile, an advocate of a "wet canal," Jorge Huezo, who promoted the building of a Nicaraguan canal throughout the eighties, insisted last week that Nicaragua should take advantage of the fact that the United States, Japan and Panama have definitely decided that it is not feasible to construct a new canal in Panama. This leaves Nicaragua as the only reasonable option for the construction of new installations that could handle the super tankers of the 21st century. The Tripartite Commission decided that the only option in Panama was to widen the current route concluding that new construction would bring ecological disaster to Panama. The commission, however, did not approve any other route in another country. For this reason Japan withdrew from negotiations with Huezo but later stated that Japan would be interested in reopening negotiations once Nicaragua had finished its process of internationally supervised democratic elections. Huezo indicated that a canal in Nicaragua, which would take advantage of the link between the Caribbean Coast and the Rio San Juan and Lake Nicaragua, would generate a series of parallel projects which would greatly benefit Nicaragua's economy. One such project would be a hydro electrical power plant which could generate enough energy for the whole country. Huezo was one of the persons who was in constant contact with the Japanese in the years between 1987 and 1990 and insists that the project provoked "extreme interest" in high business circles in France, Belgium and other nations. (Barricada, March 26) 9. Somoza family wants $250 million. Luis Ramon Sevilla Somoza, the first of the Somoza family who is publicly reclaiming his family's property confiscated in 1979, stated in an exclusive interview in El Nuevo Diario that the property being reclaimed is valued at over 250 million dollars. Sevilla is claiming his property under the auspices of the Organization of American State. (El Nuevo Diario, March 25) [Editors note: see News Service for 3/20/95]