Nicaragua News Service Published by the Nicaragua Network Education Fund May 6-11, 1996 Vol. 4, No. 18 by Donna Vukelich Major news stories for the week include: 1. More candidacies announced; alliances form and fall apart. 2. Central American Presidential Summit at Montelimar 3. Lake Managua Clean-Up to Begin 4. Gas Prices Up 5. Murder Linked to Vehicle Trafficking 6. Drugs Confiscated in Airport Arrest 7. Rains Begin 1. More candidacies announced; alliances form and fall apart. Election news continues to dominate the media. This week, more candidacies were officially announced, as negotiations around potential political alliances continued. Perhaps the most important electoral news of the week was the somewhat underreported meeting of representatives from 10 political groups at the home of Alejandro Serrano Caldera, former Rector of the Nicaraguan National University (UNAN). The meeting, which brought together Sergio Ramirez, Azucena Ferrey, Eden Pastora and Adolfo Calero, among others, and according to one reliable source was spearheaded by Ramirez, had as its common ground the belief that the electoral panorama up to date has been decidedly negative for the country, with the two main parties -- the Frente Sandinista (FSLN) and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) -- seen as too conflictive and perennially at loggerheads, all against the backdrop of an increasing atomization of the other political parties and forces in the country. (There are now 43 registered political parties.) According to this source, most of the well-known politicians who participated in the meeting are willing to set aside their own presidential ambitions, holding that the country needs a more neutral candidate who would appeal to the huge number of undecided voters who continue to dominate every poll, and be the moving figure behind an authentic unity among admittedly diverse groupings. La Prensa reported the gathering at Serrano's house as a meeting of parties to organize a "third force." [La Prensa and Barricada, 5/10] The Conservatives (PNC), whose Presidential candidate is Noel Vidaurre, suffered what some called a major wave of "defections" when some 30 leaders, headed by Jose Castillo Osejo and including former Minister of Government Carlos Hurtado, split with the PNC to join the Liberal Alliance headed by former Managua Mayor Arnoldo Aleman. The PNC expelled those members from their ranks, but PNC president Adolfo Calero said no other sanctions were in order. Vidaurre played down the defections, saying they don't affect his party's chances in October. [La Prensa, 5/7 and 5/11] Meanwhile, the Liberals chose former COSEP chief, and near- presidential candidate for the UNO in 1990, Enrique Bolanos as Aleman's vice-presidential candidate. [La Prensa 5/9] Nicaraguan Resistance Party (PRN) leader Fabio Gadea, from Radio Corporacion, made official his PLN faction's unification with the PLC, while his archrival Enrique Quinonez refused to recognize Gadea's decision as representing any faction of the PRN. [La Prensa 5/7] Independent Liberal Party (PLI) head and former Vice president Virgilio Godoy angrily attacked the PLC this week, accusing it of "piracy." Godoy says Aleman is attracting people because he is offering government posts in the event of a PLC victory. This, says Godoy, has caused fissures and dissidence not only in the PLI, but also in the PNC, the Central America Union Party (PUCA) and CAUS (the union arm of the Communist Party of Nicaragua). [Barricada 5/10] Carlos Guadamuz, the FSLN's Managua mayoral candidate called on all Sandinista militants and supporters to offer their solidarity with the daily newspaper Barricada, which he says is suffering the effects of a right-wing and government blockade that has "condemned it to death". He said that all party members have a "party and moral obligation" to buy Barricada. The paper this past week never exceeded 8 pages (usual size is 16; while La Prensa generally runs at 32), and the amount of space dedicated to news is minimal. [Barricada 5/9] Along these same lines, a FSLN leader from Managua who asked not to be identified admitted the party is having serious troubles in terms of campaign financing. According to Barricada, the most recent CID-Gallup (Costa Rica) poll shows Guadamuz with 29% of the male vote, and 30% of the female vote; while Pedro Solorzano pulls 26% of the male vote and 27% of the female vote. [Barricada 5/8] [Editor's Note: Dorotea Wilson, head of the FSLN's Women's Commission, was in Washington, DC on May 13, and stated that 60 women's leaders and candidates met with Guadamuz to discuss his policies toward women. There is continuing resentment about unethical attacks made by Guadamuz on his radio station, Radio Ya, against Dora Maria Tellez and a daughter of Sergio Ramirez. Guadamuz's unsubstantiated personal charges was the proximate cause of Ramirez's departure from the FSLN and his formation of a new party. Wilson stated that Guadamuz volunteered that his actions had been "stupid" and that he wouldn't ever do it again. The women asked, and Guadamuz agreed, to make such an announcement on Radio Ya.] La Prensa reports that the International Republican Institute from Washington will be sending at least two electoral delegations to Nicaragua this year, one for the ad hoc registration period in June, and one for the October election. [La Prensa 5/8] Antonio Lacayo registered as a presidential candidate, arguing that there are no prohibitions against his doing so. National Project (PRONAL), his party, has begun to run frequent campaign ads on the local television channels. [La Prensa 5/8] FSLN leader Monica Baltodano emphasized the importance of Frente alliances with other sectors as "indispensable" both to a Sandinista victory in October, as well as to long-term governability in the country. She also stressed how important alliances had been to the toppling of the Somoza dictatorship 17 years ago. [Barricada 5/7] Barricada reports that Army General Joaquin Cuadra and 40 members of the Military Council met with CSE head Rosa Marina Zelaya and promised to do everything possible to ensure that the elections can take place in a climate of calm throughout the country. The areas of most concern to the military authorities are 8 municipalities in the departments of Matagalpa and Jinotega (although a total of 26 municipalities are affected), where ongoing armed activity threatens any normal development of the electoral process. If the electoral process is thwarted in any area of the country, that could in turn be used by losing candidates to cry fraud. [Barricada, 5/7; La Prensa 5/7] In a breakfast meeting hosted by visiting German President Roman Herzog and attended by a number of Nicaragua's prominent politicians, FSLN head Daniel Ortega emphasized the need to hammer out an agreement among political leaders so that the elections will take place in a climate of peace, rather than polarization. [Barricada, 5/10] Reporting on last weekend's FSLN Congress, Monday's La Prensa carried a headline saying "Ortega offers to resolve pinata if elected". La Prensa also reported a "visibly upset" Vilma Nunez as saying, "the significant results of the February consultation, in spite of all the irregularities noted in that experience, do not correspond to the very minimal results that I obtained in this Congress." They also reported her as saying she respects the decision to pick Juan Manuel Caldera as vice-presidential candidate, although she notes that she wouldn't have chosen him, as she doesn't know him. La Prensa also emphasized that many Frente women were "unhappy" with the way the Congress developed. [La Prensa, 5/6] Sandinista women were, however, celebrating their victory in bringing about what was called "la trenza" or "the braid." Weeks of work by the Women's Commission of the FSLN resulted in approval by the Congress on Saturday, May 4th, of a procedure to assure a greater presence of women candidates in "winning positions" on the FSLN slate for at-large national deputies and for candidates to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN). [Under proportional representation, each party presents a slate of candidates for the legislative body and the number of seats it wins is based on its percentage of the vote.] FSLN women placed particular importance on the national level candidates because few women placed high enough on the slates at the departmental levels to have a chance to win election to the National Assembly (only about 10%). For the national candidates, delegates to the Congress voted for the 10 men of their choice on one ballot and 10 women on another. Men and women were then alternated as in a braid to produce the final slate. Victor Hugo Tinoco received the most votes among the men candidates for National Assembly and Guadalupe Sanchez (who represented both women and youth) led the women. Since Tinoco received more votes than Sanchez, he will head the FSLN ticket for nationally-elected deputies. In the case of the Central American Parliament, Tomas Borge will head the ticket, followed by Lily Soto. [Barricada 5/8]. FSLN Vice-presidential candidate Juan Manuel Caldera said he is "sleeping with the enemy", but "keeping one eye open" while doing so. [La Prensa, 5/11] "Fuerza 96" officially chose former Central Bank President Francisco "Panchito" Mayorga as its presidential candidate. Mayorga, who gave Nicaragua the cordoba oro, promised to rid the country of corruption and bring down prices on at least 53 basic products if elected. [La Prensa, 5/6] CSE head Rosa Marina Zelaya is proposing a hole-punch in election identification cards as a way to ensure that people vote only once. This would replace the inked thumb mechanism used in the 1990 elections. [La Prensa, 5/11] 2. Central American Presidential Summit at Montelimar The Central American presidents met this past week at the Montelimar resort. Also present for part of the meeting was German President Roman Herzog. The key issues were preferential pricing among Central American nations, and how the region can function as a bloc to step up tourism throughout the isthmus as a whole. [Barricada, 5/9] 3. Lake Managua Clean-Up to Begin INAA, the country's water utility, announced that the first stage in what will be the long process of cleaning up the severely polluted Lake Managua will begin in November. The German government (during President Roman Herzog's visit) has pledged $29 million to the clean-up effort, while $10 million more will be coming from the International Development Bank (IDB). [La Prensa, 5/8] 4. Gas Prices Up Gasoline prices may jump to as much as 20 cordobas (about 2.50 USD) for a gallon of regular gasoline in the near future. This has touched off threats of a transport strike and Monsignor Eddy Montenegro said this past week that the Catholic Church was "very concerned" about the possibility of a strike, and any accompanying violence, in the country. [La Prensa, 5/6] 5. Murder Linked to Vehicle Trafficking Managua lawyer Gerzer Molina's body was found last Sunday at the bottom of a 200 meter embankment along the highway between Managua and San Rafael del Sur. According to police, Molina had first been shot twice, and then the vehicle he was in was rolled down the abyss. Molina, according to subsequent police reports, was involved in illegal trafficking of vehicles and had run afoul of some higher-ups in a network they described as "dangerous" and professional. He had apparently told family and friends in recent days that he knew he would be killed. Police are investigating the crime. [La Prensa, 5/6] 6. Drugs Confiscated in Airport Arrest A Nicaraguan man, attempting to leave Managua's airport as a passenger late this past week, was arrested after his nervousness attracted the attention of authorities. He later ended up expelling over 70 packages of heroin that he had swallowed, worth over $100,000. He said his contact was a Colombian man. Meanwhile, Nicaraguan police report that foreign drug traffickers move with ease in certain areas of the Atlantic Coast, singling out the Sandy Bay area for special mention. [La Prensa, 5/10] 7. Rains Begin While some areas of the country had already received one or two downpours, Managua received its first serious rains of the year this past week. Though that is good news for producers in general, MINSA publicly expressed its concern that the rains could lead to isolated outbreaks of leptospirosis. To combat any possible epidemic, MINSA has declared war on rats, the most likely carriers of the serious disease. At this moment, the country has no vaccines for leptospirosis available. The first rains also touched off a series of electricity cutoffs throughout the country. [La Prensa 5/8]