Nicaragua News Service June 4 - 11, 1995 Vol. 3, No. 24 by Donna Vukelich Major News Stories for the week: 1. Executive-legislative dialogue starts, but is stalemated. 2. Supreme Electoral Council steps down. 3. Baseball championship explodes into riot. 4. Economic assistance set to decline. 5. Ministry of Health issues alert. 6. Survey results: It's worse now. 7. Sandinista Renovation Movement continues to organize. 8. Ortega interview 1. Executive-legislative dialogue starts, but is stalemated. After proceeding at a fairly respectable pace earlier last week, the dialogue between the executive and legislative branches, on Friday it hit what could be a very serious obstacle. Problems began, according to National Assembly President Luis Humberto Guzman, when the executive branch surprised all in attendance by issuing a last-minute proposal. The proposal, read at the negotiating table by mediator Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, would make all agreements hammered out in the dialogue part of one single law that would be given Constitutional status, as an amendment of Article 184 of the 1987 Constitution, an article that was not modified by the National Assembly's recent reforms. According to the newspaper Barricada, the presidential proposal would, in effect, amend the amended Constitution and give the executive branch the upper hand in the ongoing conflict between the branches. Guzman attacked the proposal as a "parallel reform" and accused the government of petty haggling over every point on the agenda. Speaking during a new weekly news analysis television program hosted Sunday mornings by former Barricada editor Carlos Fernando Chamorro, Guzman was careful in his use of language, but did warn that talks could soon break off if the executive branch does not modify its proposal. He said such a break would be "disastrous" for the country as a whole, and added that the National Assembly will remain at the negotiating table as long as Cardinal Obando is there. He also said that, under current conditions, the National Assembly will not accompany the executive delegation to the all-important upcoming Paris Club meetings. Obando has said that Nicaragua will go to Paris in a "very weak" position if a broad accord is not reached before the meeting. Supreme Electoral Council steps down. As of June 8, Nicaragua is functioning without one of its four branches of government, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE). Stepping down from his post as head of the CSE, Mariano Fiallos, described this week by one political observer as one of the country's most respected civic leaders, lamented the "serious damage caused to the CSE and the country" by the ongoing confrontation between the different branches of government which only, he said, demonstrates "a lack of political will on the part of the different branches to fully assume the responsibilities" corresponding to them. "The damage has been done," Fiallos said, adding that the legitimacy of any of the CSE magistrates would have been put at risk if they had accepted re-election under "dubious constitutional conditions." He said that the situation can still be remedied if, in the short time remaining before the scheduled 1996 elections, "we all come to an agreement and work very hard in the preparation of (the) electoral process." Fiallos warned that new CSE officials must be elected soon, which means a prompt resolution of the institutional crisis is necessary. The legislative and executive branches have agreed to take up the topic of the CSE crisis, once they have reached an agreement regarding the constitutional reforms. As mentioned in last week's memo, an interim CSE body was appointed to maintain the council's administrative work. However, Justice Aman Sandino, who was not present at the CSE session officially ending the terms of the other justices, has received orientations from his party leaders (Fernando Aguero and Clemente Guido of the Conservative Party) to continue in his post. Responding to questions regarding Sandino's position, Fiallos said, "I hope nobody is tempted to remain on the CSE, because that would be illegitimate and would mean taking sides" in the dispute between the legislative and executive branches. 3. Baseball Championship Explodes into Riot The seventh and final game of the hard-fought national baseball championship erupted into violence after the "Boer" team from Managua trounced Masaya's San Fernando team at home, winning the national title for the first time in almost 20 years. Some reports linked the start of the riot to heavy-handed police treatment of a San Fernando fan who was throwing things at the Boer players on the field. Fans turned on the few police officers who were present, and a rampage of sorts soon ensued. According to police, more than 700 people rioted, trashing and burning cars and busses they associated with Boer supporters, battling police and beating up Boer fans. Dozens were wounded, a number of people jailed, and thousands of dollars worth of damage down. More than 40 vehicles were completely destroyed. Hundreds of Boer fans were literally held hostage for hours, until police reinforcements from Managua were able to control the situation. The tear gas used by police covered several nearby barrios for some time. The San Fernando and Boer teams have a long-standing and quite bitter rivalry, whipped up in recent days by sportscasters and fans. But the explanation for the violence goes beyond that. Many people pointed to one obvious element--the high sales of rum and beer in the stadiums where the games are played. The last game lasted for hours and alcohol was sold in copious quantities up to the very last minute. In addition, there is much bottled-up anger at the police, some of it related to the recent deaths during the transport strike and other more generalized resentment of the new "red beret" squads, widely seen as injudiciously wielding their power. But perhaps the most important factor is the sheer sense of both economic and social desperation felt by so many in Nicaragua today, coupled with a wholesale disenfranchisement from society and its institutions. What happened in Masaya could happen again almost anywhere in Nicaragua, around issues wholly unrelated to sporting events. Mariano Fiallos commented that "Masaya is a symptom of the crisis that the country is living through, this crisis of misery and hunger." The Nicaraguan baseball federation has said it will undertake a thorough investigation of the incidents in Masaya. Unfortunately, the Masaya events ended up as another excuse for continued political mud-slinging between the so-called orthodox faction within the FSLN and the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), because MRS member William Ramirez is one of the owners of San Fernando. Ramirez was attacked repeatedly over the week in Barricada and on the Primerisima and Radio Ya radio stations for allegedly not helping to calm the crowd. 4.Economic assistance set to decline. In a recent news release from the US Embassy here, US Ambassador to Nicaragua John Maisto said that Nicaragua has received some $3.2 billion in foreign assistance over the last five years, which he called a "world record" in percapita terms. The news brief, which La Prensa termed "very unusual," referred to ongoing debates in the US Congress regarding foreign aid as a whole. Maisto's words were interpreted by journalists here as seconding what many Nicaraguan economists have been saying for some time now--the flood of aid is definitively over and the years to come will be even more difficult for the country. 5. Ministry of Health issues alert. Ministry of Health (MINSA) officials declared the country in a national health emergency, as a number of diseases reached epidemic proportions in the country. The illnesses mentioned by the MINSA press conference include dengue fever, malaria, cholera, acute respiratory illnesses and diarrhea-related illnesses. More than 25,000 cases weekly of respiratory illnesses are being reported, along with 6,000 cases weekly of diarrhea-related illnesses, 1,000 cases of malaria, nearly 300 cases of "classic" dengue fever and over 100 of the more virulent hemorrhagic dengue strain. On Thursday, President Chamorro called for the formation of the National Health Emergency Commission, headed up by MINSA and the Ministry of Social Action and including representatives from the army, police, Ministry of Education and the Nicaraguan Water Utility, among others. Speaking for MINSA, Dr. Alvaro Ramirez said that the Ministry's reserves of medications and supplies to fight the epidemics are woefully insufficient and warned that the peak of the epidemics (linked to the rainy season) is yet to come. In addition to the epidemics, Managua's Lenin Fonseca General Hospital reports that in recent months, it has treated over 100 infants who were born afflicted with a condition that leaves them in a vegetable-like state and usually kills them before they reach the age of 15. Doctors at the hospital are linking the condition to lack of proper nutrition during pregnancy, combined with improper use of medications that can cause fetal damage. Also in health news, Cardinal Obando and Dr. Rafael Cabrera (long known for his anti-abortion stance) have attacked the anti-tetanus shots being recommended for all women of childbearing age as leading to sterility. Using somewhat hysterical language, the Cardinal and Cabrera claim that a number of women who received their tetanus shots as part of MINSA's ongoing vaccination campaigns were left sterile by the injections. Pan-American Health Organization head Dr. Carlos Linger said the injections are safe, and expressed fear that the controversy would scare people away from the generalized vaccination campaigns, thus touching off an increase in mortality from diseases that can easily be prevented. 6. Survey Results: It's Worse Now The Central America 2000 and MIR polling firms released a survey this week stating that, while 41% of the population was dissatisfied with their lives 5 years ago, that number has jumped up to 60% who say they are dissatisfied with their lives now. The question was framed in largely economic terms and, when asked what the future five years from now held for them, 60% said they didn't know. A related study shows an increase in suicides throughout the country, particularly in the area of Chinandega. Psychologist Martha Cabrera Cruz said that "chronic unemployment leads to such levels of desperation that many people no longer feel they have a reason to live," adding that there are fewer and fewer networks of support which could help people choose a different route. Cabrera noted that the situation is particularly difficult for many young people, as it is hard for them to see any signs of economic hope on the horizon, in either personal terms or on a larger scale. 7. Sandinista Renovation Movement continues to organize. In a recent interview, Dora Maria Tellez, National Assembly representative and key figure in the Sandinista Renovation Movement, said that the MRS has an organized presence in some 80 municipalities throughout the country. She said that part of the MRS' raison d'etre is the fight for "transparency" or openness and against political corruption and she called for the formation of new ethical and moral values. Responding to questions about the MRS' alleged support for the government, she declared that it was the FSLN as a whole which "sustained" the government since 1990 and said that the orthodox FSLN faction is the group today considering an alliance with large-scale capital in the country. She stressed that the MRS is searching for political alliances in terms of the 1996 elections, as well as underlining the importance of broadening the MRS base beyond current Sandinista supporters. 7. Daniel Ortega interview. Speaking to Barricada earlier this week, Daniel Ortega said that "we must rescue solidarity, which is the FSLN's principal capital." Asked about the mood among the FSLN grassroots, he said people had been confused by the separation of some FSLN members and the forming of the MRS, but he said the task ahead now was the elections. He called for a broad alliance, a "popular unity," for the elections and attacked those who say that, if the Sandinistas win, they will have to continue many of the economic measures that the current government has introduced. He said there "are resources which are more important than money, the participation of all people, which has enormous potential." At this point, Ortega said, the only real electoral contenders are the FSLN and the PLC, headed by Managua Mayor Arnoldo Aleman.