Nicaragua News Service
          Published by the Nicaragua Network Education Fund
                          March 24-30, 1996
                            Vol. 4, No. 13
 
Major News Stories for the week:
 
1. Hunger killing Nicaraguan children.
2. Cardinal calls for more moderate language.
3. U.S. Ambassador Maisto to stay until after elections.
4. Christian Democrats pick candidate. 
5. Vilma Nu$ez highlighted in two polls.
6. Division continues in CST.
7. Poet Cuadra proposes "Civic Supreme Court."
8. Mental health of Nicaraguans in crisis.
9. IMF to present Nicaraguan government with recommendations.
10. "Framework Law" may be overturned.
11. Telephone system modernization advances.
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1. Hunger killing Nicaraguan children.
 
At least seven chileren died of hunger in the first three months of 
this year in the communities of La Conchita and La Borgona, locted 
near Ticuantepe and La Concepcion in the capital region of Nicaragua.  
The information was released by the assistant director of the local 
health center, Dr. Nohemi Arroliga Perez.  The doctor stated that no 
government agency has shown interest in the plight of the severely 
poverty-stricken zone.  (Barricada, March 26)
 
2. Cardinal calls for more moderate language.
 
Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo called last week for certain political 
leaders to tone down their political speeches.  The Cardinal expressed 
concern that at time when the official campaign schedule has not even 
begun, certain candidates (not mentioning names) were already 
violently attacking their opponents and creating an unhealthy 
political climate.
 
3. U.S. Ambassador Maisto to stay until after elections.
 
Even though it was announced last week that a new U.S. Ambassador had 
been nominated for Nicaragua, President Clinton stated last week that 
the present U.S. ambassador, John Maisto, will remain in his position 
until after the Nicaraguan elections in October.  (La Prensa, March 25)
 
4. Christian Democrats pick candidate.
 
Azucena Ferrey, former leader of the Nicaraguan Resistance, and 
presently member of the Nicaraguan National Assembly was selected as 
the presidential candidate of the Union of Christian Democrats (UDC) 
at their party convention last week.  Ferrey was introduced by the 
president of the UDC, Luis Humberto Guzman, as "part of new leadership 
for new times." Ferrey herself proclaimed that she was not a "prisoner 
of the past" and that she would work toward putting the Nicaraguan 
house in order and eliminating corruption in government.


The UDC decided not to name a vice-presidential candidate in order to 
leave room for negotiations with other political parties.  Ferrey 
herself also indicated that she would be willing to step down as 
candidate if necessary for a successful political alliance.  
(Barricada, March 25)
 
5. Vilma Nunez highlighted in two polls.
 
A survey done recently by the Development Communications Initiative 
(ICODE) together with the Nicaraguan Studies Institute (IEN) confirmed 
that the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) is the human 
rights organization with which most Nicaraguans identify.  According 
to the results of the survey, 40.5% of Nicaraguans identify CENIDH as 
the organization that defends their human rights.  Only 6% identified 
the Permanent Commission of Human Rights (CPDH) in those terms while 
23.8% of those surveyed stated that they did not know of the existence 
of any human rights organization.
 
A recent survey confirmed the results of an evaluation done over a 
year ago by two consultants contracted by the Dutch donating agencies 
that support the majority of CENIDH's programs.
 
In another survey, this time done by Borges and Associates, results 
indicate that Vilma Nunez could be a stronger candidate than Daniel 
Ortega for the FSLN if the opposing candidate were Arnaldo Aleman.  In 
both scenarios, Aleman versus Ortega or Aleman versus Nunez, the 
survey reportat that at present Aleman has a greater percentage of 
support but that the percentage of undecided is greater if the FSLN 
candidate were Nunez.
 
The specific results of the survey were as follows.
If the candidates were Aleman and Ortega, who would win?
Aleman:     49%
Ortega:     30%
Don't know: 21%
 
If the candidates were Aleman and Nunez, who would win?
 
Aleman:     34.9%
Nunez:      24%
Undecided:  41.1%
 
Supporters of Vilma Nunez, which now include the Sandinista Women's 
Electoral Coalition headed by Dorotea Wilson, stated that the 
leadership of the FSLN should take very seriously the possibility of 
the incorporation of Vilma Nunez into the presidential ticket 
especially given the tendencies seen in recent polls which show that 
the popularity of Aleman is on the decline. (Barricada, March 27; El 
Nuevo Diario, March 29)
 
6. Division continues in CST.
 
Approximately 15,000 workers organized in 12 Federations of the 
Sandinista Workers Central (CST) may be on the verge of separating 
from that body in protest about the results of the recent CST 

elections in which Lucio Jimenez was reelected Secretary General.  The 
Federations that did not support the reelection of Jimenez and other 
elected officials because of what they call irreconcilable differences 
between being a union leader and director of worker's businesses, 
include the Energy Workers, Telecommunications Workers, Construction 
Workers, Hotel Workers and seven others. (El Nuevo Diario, March 24)
 
7. Poet Cuadra proposes "Civic Supreme Court"
 
A group of "notable Nicaraguans" headed by the poet and editor of La 
Prensa, Pablo Antionio Cuadra, proposed last week that a type of Civic 
Supreme Court be established to ensure that the coming elections be 
held in a peaceful, civilized and transparent manner.
 
The document was signed on March 28 by Cardinal Obando y Bravo, 
Cuadra, Julio Centeno Gomez, Lino Hernandez (CPDH), Carlos Mantica and 
others.  The principal problems identified in the proposal include: 
property problem, rearmed groups, tax reform, quality of primary 
education, contraband, drug trafficking and general corruption in the 
government as well as in the judicial system itself.
 
The signers of the document, 11 in all, propose themselves as members 
of the monitoring group.
 
Several presidential candidates including Noel Vidaurre of the 
Conservative Party and Antonio Lacayo of the National Project, stated 
that they are in agreement with Cuadra's proposal. (La Prensa, March 
29, 30)
 
8. Mental health of Nicaraguans in crisis.
 
Dr. Manuel Madriz, president of the Central American Psychiatric 
Association, stated last week during a meeting of that body held in 
Managua, that the mental health of the majority of Nicaraguans had 
deteriorated severely in the last 15 years and that it will take at 
least that amount of time to implement measures that will better the 
situation with respect to treatment of the problems.
 
Madriz stated that the segment of the population most affected are 
young people between the ages of 13 and 25 years. The majority of the 
13-15 suicides reported weekly in Managua newspapers are young people 
within these ages. Debilitated mental health is also seen in the 
growing levels of drug and alcohol abuse and the rise in the number of 
youth gangs. 
 
Madriz also cited that over 40% of the Nicaraguan population suffer 
from depression, especially women who are the most affected by the 
deteriorating socio-economic conditions of the country.
 
According to the expert, the post-war situation in Nicaragua is more 
complicated than the situations in El Salvador and Guatemala because 
in those countries the economy was not affected by capital flight and 
the destruction of economic infrastructure. (La Prensa, March 29)
 
9. IMF to present Nicaraguan government with recommendations.


According to a high government official, whose identity was not 
revealed, the IMF mission that came in February to evaluate the ESAF 
measures will return after Easter Week to give the Nicaraguan 
government its "recommendations," which, according to the source, 
will be stricter than ever. It seems that the IMF has become tired of 
being "flexible" and will return to its traditional inflexibility with 
respect to the conditions being imposed on the Nicaraguan government.
 
No official news has been released about the results of the evaluation 
but immediately afterwards, the Minister of Finances, Emilio Pereira, 
made an emergency trip to Washington, accompanied by President 
Chamorro, in an effort to negotiate a better deal for the country.
 
Among the "worries" of the IMF, the source cited the high public 
sector budget deficit given that imports did not decrease last year 
and that the public sector budget increased. (Barricada, March 26)
 
10. "Framework law" may be overturned.
 
FSLN members of the National Assembly, Nathan Sevilla and Alonso Porras 
(MRS) gathered signatures last week in an effort to introduce a law 
which would overturn the "framework law" passed last July in an 
attempt to negotiate political difference between the Executive branch 
of the government and the National Assembly with respect to the 
constitutional reform crisis. 
 
The attempt to overturn the "framework law" responds to the conviction 
that the law itself illegally modifies 8 articles of the present 
constitution. (Barricada, March 29)
 
11. Telephone system modernization advances.
 
As of June, all of Nicaraguan territory will be covered by a system of 
digital telephone numbers as a result of the final stage of a project 
to modernize the country's telephone system during the last several 
years. As a result, Nicaragua will have one of the most modern 
telecommunication systems in Latin America, in preparation for the 
eventual privatization of this state company. (La Prensa, March 30)