Nicaragua News Service
          Published by the Nicaragua Network Education Fund
                          March 17-23, 1996
                            Vol. 4, No. 12
 
Major news stories for the week:
1. U.S. will recognize FSLN victory.
2. New U.S. Ambassador named.
3. Surveys and more surveys.
4. Still no ruling on inhibitions placed on candidacies.
5. Purchasing power drops in last five years.
6. Social Security attempts to impound assets of Barricada.
7. Enrique Picado of Community Movement elected to regional position.
8. Mayor of Managua resigns.
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1. U.S. will recognize FSLN victory.
 
The U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ronald Brown, in Managua last week for 
a Forum on U.S.-Central American Investment and Trade issues, stated 
that the U.S. government has presented the Nicaraguan government with 
a proposal to indemnify U.S. citizens affected by confiscations during 
the last decade.  The plan includes the possibility of international 
arbitration if a solution cannot be found locally.
 
Brown also stated that the U.S. would recognize and respect the 
results of the October elections, even if the FSLN were to win.
 
The official electoral campaign will begin August 2 and finalize 
October 16th.  All electoral alliances must be registered with the 
Supreme Electoral Council by May 17th.  At present 35 political 
parties are eligible to compete in the elections and the Supreme 
Electoral Council is studying new requests for party legalizations.  
(La Prensa, March 24)
 
2. New U.S. Ambassador named.
 
Lino Gutierrez of the state of Florida, was named last week to be the 
new U.S. ambassador to Managua.  The nomination still has to be 
approved by the U.S. Senate.  Gutierrez was born in Cuba and is 
presently Director of Policy, Planning and Press Relations in the 
Latin America Department of the U.S. Department of State.  He entered 
the U.S. Foreign Service in 1977 and has served in the following 
countries: Dominican Republic (1977-1979), Portugal (1979-1981), Haiti 
(1983-1985), France 1987-1990, Bahamas (1990-1993).  He also 
participated in operations in the island of Grenada in October of 
1983.  (La Prensa, March 24)
 
3.  Surveys and more surveys.
 
The results of the latest survey from Borges and Associates indicate
that Arnoldo Aleman continues to be the favorite to win in the October 
1996 elections.  According to the results of the poll in which 1,200 
persons nationwide were interviewed, 48% believe that the PLC will win 
the elections while 26% who believe that the FSLN will win.  Aleman, 
however, has dropped 4 percentage points--from 40.8% to 36.8%--in 

support since the last Borges survey in December of 1995, while Daniel 
Ortega gained 4 points--from 19.7 to 24%.  14% were undecided, down 
from 23%. 
 
Another survey, done by the Nicaraguan Studies Institute (IEN) and the 
Institute for Development Communications Initiatives (ICODE) presented 
the following results:
- 80% of Nicaraguans do not trust their judicial system.
- 50% prefer to take justice into their own hands.
- 36% do not approve of the work of the Nicaraguan police.
- 60% believe that human rights are being violated in the country.
 
This survey was done between February 6th and 14th, with 1,250 
citizens being interviewed to measure their thoughts on the situation 
of human rights in the country.  (Barricada March 22, La Prensa March 
22)
 
4. Still no ruling on inhibitions placed on candidacies.
 
The Nicaraguan Supreme Court still has not ruled on the case presented 
in September 1995 by Cristiana Chamorro who is claiming that her 
constitutional rights are being violated by the fact that she cannot 
run for the presidency because she is a relative (daughter) of the 
current president.  The secretary of the Supreme Court, Dr. Alfonso 
Valle Pastora stated that he did not know when the court would rule 
given that the Justices have not been able to agree on the issue.  
Chamorro's husband, Antonio Lacayo, is perhaps the person most affected 
by the 1995 Constitutional amendment that prohibits close relatives of 
the sitting president from running for the highest office.  Lacayo, 
however, is campaigning and presenting himself as the only viable 
option for the country's highest elected position.  (La Prensa, March 
21)
 
5. Purchasing power drops in last five years.
 
At the same time that the majority of Nicaraguans have not seen a 
salary increase since 1993, their purchasing power for a "basic basket 
of goods" has dropped by about $48 in the last five years.  The loss of 
purchasing power calculated here, however, does not even take into 
account the rise in the prices of gasoline, electricity, water and 
telephone services.  
 
At present, the minimum salary in Nicaragua is about $60 per month, 
but the cost of a minimum "basic basket of goods" (which includes such 
things as rice, beans, laundry soap, etc.) for a family of five is now 
over $144.  (Barricada, March 18)
 
6. Social Security attempts to impound assets of Barricada.
 
Lawyers from the Nicaraguan Social Security System (INSS) tried to 
impound the assets of the newspaper Barricada last week because the 
newspaper company owes over $240,000 in past social security payments.  
The impounding, however, did not take affect because, instead of being 
addressed to the Editorial El Amanecer, the legal name of the 
Barricada company, it was addressed to Editorial Nuevo Amanecer.


In 1995 Barricada tried to pay its obligations with state 
indemnification bonds, a practice authorized by the Minister of 
Finances, but that payment was rejected by the Minister of Social 
Security.  Barricada workers have been denied medical fringe benefits 
by the Social Security system. 
 
Barricada, however, is not the only company or agency to owe 
considerable sums to the Social Security system.  Practically every 
one of the 143 townships of the country is behind in its payments for 
city workers, including the city of Managua, which now owes over $6 
million.
 
Meanwhile, Simeon Rizo, the head of the Nicaraguan Social Security 
System, is under heavy criticism for preparing the conditions to 
privatize the system via the transfer of the assets of INSS to 
private companies which would manage the pension funds.  The strongest 
criticism was made by National Assembly member and former Minister of 
the Institute of Social Security and Welfare under the Sandinista 
government, Reynaldo Antonio Tefel.  (Barricada, March 20, 21)
 
7. Enrique Picado of Community Movement elected to regional position.
 
Nicaragua, in the person of Enrique Picado, national coordinator of 
the Nicaraguan Community Movement, was elected president of the 
Central American Federation of Community Organizations (FCOC).  A 
regional meeting was held in Managua last week to form the new 
organization.  The FCOC is made up of community organizations from 
Panama, Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and 
Nicaragua.  (Barricada, March 20)
 
8.  Mayor of Managua resigns.
 
In a move made necessary by the new electoral law, Roberto Cedeno 
resigned his position as the Mayor of Managua in order to legally be 
eligible to run again for the position in the coming October 
elections.  The previous mayor, Arnoldo Aleman, resigned earlier this 
year in order to run for the presidency.  Both are high officials of 
the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC).  The new mayor will be elected 
by the Managua City Council on March 29th.  Cedeno's probable 
successor is Mirian Fonseca, also of the PLC.  One of the last things 
that Cedeno did as mayor (which coincided with one of his first 
unofficial campaign activities) was to exonerate the majority of the 
city's market merchants from back taxes due during 1995 and before.  
(Barricada, March 20th)