Nicaragua News Service Sept. 2 - 9, 1995 Vol. 3, No. 37 Major news stories for the week: 1. Presidency and Assembly quarreling again. 2. Basic grains crops affected by excessive rain. 3. Lacayo leaves but his influence will stay. 4. World Bank not happy with ESAF advance. 5. Threats against Cardinal Obando y Bravo. 6. Nicaraguan-American evicts seven families. 7. Cuba lends a hand with dengue crisis. 8. Cotton production increases. 9. Colombia agrees to discuss border differences. ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Presidency and Assembly quarreling again. President Chamorro is annoyed again at the National Assembly because the Assembly revoked a series of presidential decrees emitted after the political agreements of several months ago. Although the decrees were emitted after the political agreements, they were dated before the agreements, according to the newspaper, El Nuevo Diario. The decrees (which concerned petroleum concessions, the privatization of TELCOR and geothermal energy plants, the creation of public enterprises and the sale of natural resources) were published in the official government Gazette but not in the public media which has been the norm with respect to presidential decrees. Besides revoking the decrees, the Assembly also revised a law on judicial appeals. The new provisions now make it impossible to challenge the constitutionality of the Constitution itself or any of its amendments. Theoretically, that would make the Supreme Court appeals of Christina Chamorro, daughter of President Chamorro and wife of the ex-Minister of the Presidency, Antonio Lacayo, and the other four high level members of the Chamorro government, worth only the paper on which they were printed. The Supreme Court has not spoken out on the appeals to date. Meanwhile, the Assembly is about to vote on a bill which will reform the current electoral law. Speculations are that the first round of the 1996 elections will be held in September of 1996. (Barricada, Sept. 5, La Prensa, Sept. 7, El Nuevo Diario, Sept. 8) 2. Basic grains crops affected by excessive rain. The after-effects of Hurricane Luis left many Managua streets flooded last week as well as causing damage in other parts of the country. It was the proverbial final straw for any hope left for a good first crop harvest of basic grains. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, over 68,000 acres of beans and corn were lost because of excessive rainfall during an agricultural season normally plagued by drought. However, losses due to drought last year were considerably higher. (La Prensa, Sept. 5) 3. Lacayo leaves but his influence will stay. Antonio Lacayo, out-going Minister of the Presidency, may now be off the government payroll and turned in his office keys, his diplomatic passport and other symbols of his job last week but few expect that he has really left behind the power and influence that he has enjoyed during the last five years as chief advisor to President Chamorro. To replace her son-in-law, President Chamorro named Julio Cardenas, who had been working as an advisor to the President. Cardenas is a member of Lacayo's "National Project" political group. President Chamorro, on saying goodbye to Lacayo stated that: "You were the axle that helped us to achieve peace, end all the dictatorial structures and build a democracy." Lacayo thanked Chamorro for letting him be "part of the best government in the history of this country." 4. World Bank not happy with ESAF advances. Mario Alegria, a well-known Nicaraguan economist linked to the private sector, stated last week that the IMF and the World Bank are not happy with the results to date of the Expanded Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) agreements signed by Nicaragua with those organisms last year. According to Alegria, the IMF-WB mission that recently visited Nicaragua to evaluate ESAF results were dismayed that the international reserves of the country were down to $90 million instead of the $250 million that had been estimated. The mission was also critical of the fact that the telecommunications complex, TELCOR, has not yet been privatized. In other areas there was more flexibility, in particular with relation to the buy-out plan of voluntary layoffs which called for cutting back over 13,000 government workers over three years; only 5,000 workers so far have actually chosen to use the plan. According to Alegria, the multilateral institutions are studying different ways to monitor more closely the execution of the ESAF agreement while at the same time slowing down or canceling disbursements until certain conditions are met, including the privatization of TELCOR. (Barricada, Sept. 7) 5. Threats against Cardinal Obando y Bravo. Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo announced last week that he has been receiving death threats and that he actually knows who the person is who is threatening to leave a bomb in his car. National Police chief Fernando Caldera stated that security measures would be stepped up to ensure effective protection of the Archbishop. Obando y Bravo announced that on Sept. 14th all Catholic churches will maintain a vigil to pray for a end to the violence to which over a dozen churches have been subjected. He also stated that on Sept. 17th after Mass in the Cathedral, he will lead a march to the Ministry of Governance under the theme "defense of life, no to violence'" Meanwhile, the police have offered a reward of about $14,000 for information which will lead to the arrest of those who are placing bombs in Catholic churches. Ironically, the money for the reward will be immediately available whereas funds to allow the police to actually solve the crime have not been forthcoming despite promises from the government. (Barricada, Sept. 7, La Prensa, Sept. 7) 6. Nicaraguan-American evicts seven families. Under the violent thunder and lightening of the storms provoked by Hurricane Luis last week, seven families, including pregnant women and newborn babies, were thrown out on the street in Managua from the houses that they had built and occupied for over 28 years. The owner, Bismarck Morales Duarte, left for the US years ago and became a nationalized US citizen. He returned recently to kick out those to whom he had rented a piece of land 28 years ago. Vilma Nunez of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights protested the violence with which the eviction took place. She stated that the judge who ordered the evictions and served the eviction order would be investigated for being accompanied by 20 civilians who were insulting and mistreating the evictees. (Barricada, Sept. 9) 7. Cuba lends a hand with dengue crisis. The Nicaraguan government finally accepted Cuba's offer of technical assistance to stem the rising epidemic of dengue fever which has now affected thousands of Nicaraguans. Only 8000 have reported their cases to the local health authorities. Initially the Nicaraguan government had rejected an offer by Cuba to study the epidemic and elaborate a plan to combat the emergency. Nevertheless, late last week, the Minister of Health, Marta Palacios, announced that 13 Nicaraguans were being sent to Cuba to study how to combat the epidemic. Palacios thanked the government of Cuba for its collaboration and affirmed that any help received from the island would be very well received and appreciated. (Barricada, Sept. 8) 8. Cotton production increases. Farmers in the western part of Nicaragua have planted over 22,000 acres of cotton this year, up from the 3,600 acres sowed last year but still far below the 595,000 acres grown during the heyday of cotton in the mid-70's. The rise in international prices and the assimilation of integrated pest management techniques over the past several years inspired producers to take the risk again but most say that they will not return to the mono-crop pattern of the 70's and early eighties. A drastic fall in international prices and antiquated technology caused most producers to abandon cotton and to little by little look for alternatives such a soybeans, sesame seed and peanuts. This year producers hope for a profit of $510 per acre after covering production costs of over $850-$1020 per acre. Ironically, the fall of King Cotton has been a major factor in the severe economic depression of the Leon-Chinandega area, where cotton production stimulated much temporary employment. The decline of cotton however gave the ecologically sick area a break after years of uncontrolled contamination by pesticides and other chemicals. (La Prensa, Sept., 7) 9. Colombia agrees to discuss border differences. The Presidents of Nicaragua and Colombia, attending the 9th meeting of Latin American Head of States in Quito last week, gave instructions to their respective Foreign Ministers to meet this month to discuss "themes of common interest." The most important "common interest" to be discussed will be the difference of opinion with respect to the Bricenas Meneses - Esguerra Treaty, signed between the two countries in 1929. In that treaty Nicaragua recognized the right of Colombia to the island of San Andres. Later governments of Nicaragua have maintained that the treaty was illegal because it was signed at a time when Nicaragua was under the military occupation of the United States. Several times over the last decade, the issue of the ownership of San Andres has been a source of friction between the two countries but words were even hotter recently when the Colombian government released a new official map claiming what many Nicaraguans consider to be their territorial waters. Local diplomats have commented that even the fact that the Colombians have agreed to discuss the issue is a diplomatic triumph for the Nicaraguan government, which has threatened to take the case to the International Court of Justice. (La Prensa, Sept. 5)