Nicaragua News Service January 21 - 27, 1996 Vol. 4, No. 4 Major news stories for the week: 1. Mariano Fiallos resigns from Supreme Electoral Council. 2. Attack on Arnoldo Aleman 3. Bishop claims army atrocities in the North. 4. New law suit introduced against Constitutional Amendments. 5. Serious crime rise in 1995. 6. Rise in number of garbage dumps. 1. Mariano Fiallos resigns from Supreme Electoral Council. Mariano Fiallos, President of the Supreme Electoral Council, the fourth branch of the Nicaraguan government and the one that is especially important in this election year since it is responsible for conducting the elections, resigned suddenly at the end of last week. Fiallos, who announced his resignation in the presence of President Chamorro, stated that the content of the new electoral law, coupled with the fact that the National Assembly did not approve sufficient funds for the upcoming elections, made it impossible for him to continue in his position. "I can not continue successfully exercising the presidency of the Supreme Electoral Council under these conditions and the rest of the Council is also in agreement although at this time only I am resigning." The rest of the Council, however, has requested that the National Assembly not accept his resignation yet, however Fiallos stated that his decision was firm. The Council will formally request a budget increase from the National Assembly during the first week of February. The Council would also like to see modifications made in the new amendments to the electoral law, whose content has not yet been made public. Among other things, Fiallos stated that it was important to return authority to the Council to select the departmental presidents and vice-presidents of the Supreme Electoral Council and that these posts should be permanent. Fiallos emphasized that the "transparent, pure, honest, and credible management of the elections depends on an appropriate administrative structure." Fiallos let it be known that he would be willing to reconsider his resignation if the changes he requires were made reality via amendments to the new electoral law and if the new law would have the same status as the Constitution. With reference to the increased budget needed by the Supreme Electoral Council, President Chamorro commented, It will only be possible if the money drops to me from heaven. But everything is possible when one wants to and can, I don't know if you all understand me." Barricada, Jan. 28) 2. Attack on Arnoldo Aleman A caravan in which presidential candidate Arnoldo Aleman was traveling and which was passing through the road from Quilali to Wiwili, was attacked by irregular forces last Thursday. Aleman was unhurt in the attack. A member of the police who was a specialist in bodyguard protection and was head of Aleman's protection unit, was killed in the attack. The policeman was also a militant of the FSLN. Two other members of Aleman entourage were wounded but not seriously. According to reports in Barricada, the Minister of Government Sergio Narvaez, stated that the attack was made by the forces of recontra leader El Lobo (The Wolf), who is a member of a larger group led by El Charro (The Vulgar). Witnesses stated that the attackers were wearing uniforms and wearing red and black bandannas. Aleman himself is not accusing anyone at this point but insists that the government give him protection and that it is the government's responsibility for not guaranteeing adequate security in the countryside. (Barricada, Jan. 26) [Editor's Note: Initial Reuters reports quoted Aleman as not accusing anyone, but in later reports he changed his mind and accused the FSLN.] 3. Bishop claims army atrocities in the North. The Bishop of Esteli, Monsignor Juan Abelardo Mata, last Monday claimed that the army has been committing human rights violations against the peasant population of the northern zone of the country. Mata, in a letter addressed to President Chamorro, claimed that the army has committed atrocities such as robbery, kidnapping and rape against rural communities in the areas of San Juan de Limay, Wamblan, and Wiwili. Because of this situation, according to the Bishop, the peasant population of these areas are seeking the protection of irregular forces under the leadership of recontra leaders such as "El Charro." The head of the Nicaraguan army, General Joaquin Cuadra stated that he was surprised at the Bishop's statements and added, "It doesn't seem to me that he is acting in a serious way. He is rushing these accusations and making a lot of noise in the radio." Cuadra went on to say that the Bishop has never spoken to regional military authorities about this problem and that the whole thing seemed to have political overtones in an attempt to give the army a bad name. With respect to the Bishop implying that it would be better if the army left the zone, and that El Charro continue to guarantee security in these zones, Cuadra stated that this would be absurd and would be the same as "assisting a known criminal." The Bishop reacted to Cuadra's statements by commenting that he "was not inventing the story" and he called on the government to investigate the matter thoroughly. He even went so far as to insinuate that the group was a paramilitary organization which was affiliated with the Nicaraguan army. The government has formed a special commission that will visit the zone this week to investigate the Bishop's accusations. Meanwhile, the parish priest of Waslala, Carlos Pinto, denounced that those who are murdering and kidnapping the peasants of the zone and raping their women are the irregular armed groups and not the army and their tactic is to accuse the army in order to get support from the authorities and other international organizations in order that the army be called back from the zone. Father Pinto stated that the attack of "El Lobo" against the motorcade of Aleman was "only a small part of what our people suffer every day, our people who are at the mercy of these armed bands and who don't have access to helicopters to evacuate them after the attacks." (La Prensa, Jan. 23, 25, Barricada, Jan. 27) 4. New law suit introduced against Constitutional reforms Just when the President of the Supreme Court had announced that within a week the Court would rule on suits pending that will affect the 1996 elections, another group of supporters of Antonio Lacayo's "National Project" filed another suit to challenge the recent Constitutional amendments. This time the suit was filed by cabinet ministers such as Rosales (Labor), Pereira (Finance), and Guzman (Tourism). The main point of the new law suit is that the amendments, which were published on November 30, cannot be enforced retroactively and therefore, candidacies such as that of Antonio Lacayo, close relative to the current president, would be perfectly legal. (La Prensa, Jan. 25) 5. Serious rise in crime in 1995 The risk of being attacked at home or on the street in Nicaragua is now six times what it was two years ago, according to Police Chief Fernando Caldera in a press conference where he gave chilling details about the rise in crime. According to Caldera, in 1983 one out of every 340 was likely to be a victim of a crime. In 1990, however, the possibility increased to one person for every 127, but in 1995 one person in 85 was affected directly by crime. Those statistics only show those crimes reported but there are thousands more that do not make it to the police files. Sex crimes, such as rapes, are the types of that have increased dramatically. In 1983, only one child or adult in every 19,955 could be expected to fall victim to a sexual crime. In 1990, it was one in 1,628 and in 1995, one in 1,659. (According to some experts, more sex crimes are now being reported also, whereas before the victim was less likely to file a case with the police.) Caldera explained that there were various factors which explained the rise in crime, especially violent crimes, in the last several years. These factors include: political polarization, rapid demobilization of armed forces, both regular and irregular, and the effects of the structural adjustment measures which have brought more unemployment and poverty generating as a result a rapid process of social decomposition, including increases in violence, alcohol and drug use, and the use of Nicaraguan territory for international crimes. Caldera criticized the reduced budget with which the police must work, as well as the severe problems in the administration of justice in the country. Caldera has been feeling the heat recently by all Nicaraguan human rights organizations who pointed out that the police were the major human rights violators in Nicaragua in 1995. (Barricada, Jan. 28) 6. Rise in number of garbage pickers. When the Pope visits February 7 he will not see the part of Managua known as "the Chureca" which are the garbage dumps on the border of Lake Managua. The number of people, including adults and children, who make their "living" out of sorting and selling garbage pickings, has doubled within the last year. At the beginning of 1995, an average of 500 people a day waded through the refuge; in 1996 over 1,000 are doing the same, trying to earn a few cents for their daily food. Says one young eighteen-year-old, "Everyday we earn about 5 cordobas (about 65 cents) from what we find and with this we survive. It is better than doing nothing." Pickings are getting even slimmer, however, as children and adults are now making a habit of going door-to-door in the early morning in middle class neighborhoods to go through the garbage even before it is loaded on the truck. The Pope will also not see many street children during his visit. The streets of Managua will be "cleaned" of street children for the visit of the Pope next week. One child lamented, "They aren't going to let us stay here and we had really hoped to be able to see the Pope go by ... but the police have already told us they don't want to see us here. That's how it always is when someone important comes, because they don't like anyone seeing us begging." (Barricada, Jan. 22 and Jan. 25)