Nicaragua News Service A Service of the Nicaragua Network June 10 - 16, 2002, Volume 10, Number 24 By Paul Baker Hernández 1. Politicians Challenged Over New Taxes 2. Government Wants to Promote Wind Power 3. Reports of Genetically Modified Organisms Surface Elsewhere in Latin America 4. U.S.-Developed Bean Would Put Nicaraguan Peasant Farmers “Out of the Market” 5. Byron Jerez Suspected of Running "Business As Usual" from Prison 6. Worker Accuses Supervisor of Causing Miscarriage 7. US-Controlled Company Fires Almost Half its Workforce 8. Coffee Workers Battered by Police 9. Bishop Angered by Borge Wisecrack 1. Politicians Challenged Over New Taxes Enrique Bolaños, who claims that his "new era" in Nicaragua will end corruption and make genuine service of the people once again the hallmark of government, roundly refused to give up state pension he receives as a former vice-president. The now-president, a wealthy industrialist in his own right and currently in receipt of at least ten thousand US dollars per month in salary and perks, was vice-president to Arnoldo Alemán during that individual's corrupt period, 1997 - 2001. Far from resigning from the Alemán administration on moral grounds, as his current rhetoric would suggest he might have done, he only left in order to fulfill the legal requirement that all candidates for the presidency had to have been out of public office for at least one year before the elections. Thus, in common with various other political figures (Alemán himself, Daniel Ortega), Bolaños receives a substantial pension on top of his current salary. When asked to consider relinquishing his pension for the good of the population at large, he took the traditional "defense of the scoundrel" by appealing to law. "This payment is mandated by law," he pronounced. "Who are these people who think they can challenge that?" "These people," among them, Julio Francisco Báez, the well-regarded economist, noted that the law in question was voted through precisely by those who benefit from it, the deputies of the National Assembly, and that the salaries were paid from the taxes imposed on the Nicaraguan people, the vast majority of whom are suffering an unheard of degree of impoverishment. A day or so before the Bolaños outburst, Báez had stirred up the presidential pot by challenging the National Assembly to dump the president's new tax proposals. According to the Bolaños plan, the government is significantly short of the income needed to fulfill its current budgetary commitments, and, to raise the extra money, he has proposed increased taxes on gas and oil, beer, the National Lottery, and a host of other things which the deputies will hardly notice but which will impinge brutally on the population at large. "Quite the contrary to the president's, 'We have no alternative,'" said Báez, "we could make up virtually all the shortfall if the 'Fathers of the Nation' would assume rather more of its financial burden. Despite his much-trumpeted 'New Era' of austerity and transparency, it is hard for the average Nicaraguan to discern the slightest difference in the conduct of the government and national deputies. They still ride around in these huge gas-guzzlers; they still dine in all the most fancy restaurants, and they still simply wind up their windows when confronted with little children begging at the traffic lights outside the very Assembly doors." (El Nuevo Diario, La Prensa, Radio La Primerisima, Channel 4, 8 TV, June 13 - 15) 2. Government Wants to Promote Wind Power With what appeared to be a sudden rush to rationality, the Bolaños administration announced it plans to seek investment funding for the development of electrical energy generated by wind power. As has often been remarked, Nicaragua is wealthy in potential sources of renewable energy, in common with many other countries. Nicaragua lies in the direct path of the great trade winds which supported most of the international traffic between Europe, Asia and the Americas during the days of conquistadors, before sail was replaced by steam. In addition, it is inundated with the sun's rays and has a further massive potential for hydro-power generation. In fact, some scientists believe that Nicaragua's geo-thermal potential alone is probably greater than all its other renewable forms of power generation put together. In announcing his bold new initiative, President Bolaños said, "Not only will investment in wind-power help us reduce our dependence on oil and gas, but it will also reduce the damage being done to our environment. Beyond that, it will free us from the constant rise in generation costs which is currently beyond our control." However, as if not to be tarred with too green a brush, the president continued by revealing the Nicaraguan Energy Institute was organizing an "international petroleum bidding process," and that currently "there are four US companies 'pre-qualified' to investigate the presence of oil in Nicaraguan territory in a serious manner." Claiming that the new hike in energy prices was "irreversible, but much less than had been originally planned, thanks to the intervention of my administration," he said that Unión Fenosa, the Spanish company that controls the distribution of power throughout the country, could not cover costs at present prices, and that subsidies were not the solution. "Only by further private investment in the energy business can we hope to develop cheaper power and more jobs," he concluded. In recent times, hydro-generation in Nicaragua has been reduced from a massive 80% flood during the revolutionary years to a 15% trickle during the '90s and 2000s, and the Inter-American Bank threatened to foreclose on loans to the Alemán government if it should grant a Spanish wind-power company access to the Nicaraguan grid during attempts to privatize ENEL, the state-owned power company. (La Prensa, 13 June) 3. Reports of Genetically Modified Organisms Surface Elsewhere in Latin America Hard on the heels of the Humboldt Center's findings that much of Nicaragua's international seed and food aid is contaminated with genetically-modified plant material, reports claiming similar contaminations have been flooding in from all parts of Latin America. One of Nicaragua's leading environmental organizations, the Humboldt Center took great pains to ensure the accuracy of its findings before launching its public critique last week, even sending samples to the United States itself for more sophisticated tests. According to Center Director, Amado Ordoñez, "the results were unequivocal." Now from Guatemala comes evidence that "Liberty Link" corn produced by Aventis, Monsanto, BiCtra and Roundup Ready and normally rated "not fit for human consumption" has been introduced into that country by the World Food Program - of all things; while corn distributed by USAID in Bolivia has the infamous "Starlink" as part of its package. "Starlink" was declared not fit for human beings after U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies showed that the genetically-modified gene it contains possessed "well-known allergenic characteristics." Side effects from rashes to anaphylactic shock were noted, especially among those who betray what is called an excessive sensibility to certain foods, or medicines such as penicillin. Friends of the Earth International and the Network for a Transgenics-Free Latin America are convinced that much of the contaminated material is imported via México. As so often, the scientific establishment has been slow to react to this wealth of information, and groups like Humboldt and Friends find themselves fighting an uphill battle. As an example, in answer to their carefully collated evidence, the World Food Program, in a bland blanket statement that paid little heed to the actual scientific testing capabilities of the nations concerned, maintained that "all our distributed foodstuffs are authorized by the Public Health Ministries of the countries where we deliver and distribute them. These very same bodies are charged specifically to prevent the entry of transgenics into their national territory." (El Nuevo Diario, 12 June) 4. U.S.-Developed Bean Would Put Nicaraguan Peasant Farmers “Out of the Market” More than 200,000 Nicaraguan peasant families could be deprived of a livelihood by a little red bean produced by the US Agricultural Research Service expressly for export to Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The United States Department of Agriculture announced that the “Rojo Chiquito” [name used by the USDA] was developed by Washington State University and the U.S. Agricultural Research Service in 2001. Alvaro Fonseca, of the Foundation for Rural Social and Economic Development in Managua, said that this little bean can become the worst threat that Nicaragua’s basic grains farming sector has ever confronted. Fonseca noted that the U.S. farmers growing the bean will be subsidized by their government, an advantage that Nicaraguan farmers do not enjoy. He made special reference to the new Farm Security and Rural Investment Act signed by U.S. President Bush on May 13 of this year which increased by US$6.4 billion the annual subsidy to U.S. farmers. The “small red” beans from U.S. subsidized farmers will enter Nicaragua’s market at a price that Nicaraguan farmers cannot match and will drive them “out of the market, eliminating one of their principal sources of income,” Fonseca stated. Fonseca noted that there are some in Nicaragua who would say that a cheaper bean would benefit consumers, “But,” he emphasized, “that is not true.” First of all, he noted. “the bean produced in Nicaragua is inexpensive, to the point that it is the principal replacement for meat for the poor.” He added that this “cheap” bean would in reality end up being very expensive because of the social, economic, political and environmental costs it would bring to the nation. (El Nuevo Diario, 11 June) 5. Byron Jerez Suspected of Running "Business as Usual" from Prison As if to underscore the "one law for the rich, another for the poor" principle which seems to run rampant in today's Nicaragua, it appears that Byron Jerez has been able to carry on business pretty much as usual from his prison cell. Jerez, who, besides being in jail, is stripped of his right to travel to the United States. He was Arnoldo Alemán's right-hand man in Miami and then head of the Nicaraguan Internal Revenue Service during most of Aleman’s presidency. He stands accused of multiple crimes against the government and the Nicaraguan people, mostly to do with financial improprieties committed during his tenure as director of the country's tax office. Reporters have been quick to notice that, despite the enormity of his alleged crimes, Jerez has received markedly different treatment while in prison than that meted out to "more average" Nicaraguans. Where the desperate husband or wife, who steals to bring a little food home for the children, endures over-crowding in unsanitary conditions, the abrogation of almost all their rights, and, not infrequently, rape and other violence at the hands of longer-term inmates, Jerez is maintained in personalized luxury, with his own en suite bathroom, access to specialist medical care and to most of the comforts of home. In response to claims that he has been able to carry on business as more or less usual via access to the Internet and other forms of communication with the (supposedly) outside world, officials of the Special Procurator's Office made what was called a "surprise raid" on Tipitapa Prison, where he is being held. Accompanied by prison authorities, they inspected several cells including his own, and found "nothing out of the ordinary." It was admitted, however, that Jerez has a cable TV connection in his cell, but, according to the authorities, this was "not unusual" and "perfectly normal practice." When TV reporters attempted to interview the erstwhile great man himself on his life inside, he retreated into his private bathroom. Asked from whom he was hiding, he replied, with some asperity, "From your mother!" one of the least polite of Nicaraguan expressions, widely-used but normally deleted from public statements. (Note: Reports coming to light as this News Service goes to press claim Jerez has been moved to other, less comfortable, lodgings.) (El Nuevo Diario, La Prensa, Channel 8 TV, 13 - 16 June) 6. Worker Accuses Supervisor of Causing Miscarriage Despite the constant complaints and challenges to which the Nicaraguan "Free Trade" Zones (FTZ) have been subjected over the past several years, it appears that supervisors and managers still have little real respect for their workers. Karla Manzanares is a young woman employed by a FTZ factory. She was just three months pregnant when she was overcome with cramps at her station in the John Garment plant in the Las Mercedes industrial park just outside Managua's international airport. Saying she "felt unwell," a common euphemism for pregnancy problems, she pleaded with her supervisor be allowed to leave her post and seek medical help. The official Ministry of Labor report of the incident records that she was told in response, "You get permission only if you're dying." As a result, Manzanares continued with her work until she could bear the pain no longer, when she rushed into the bathroom. Her workmates say they'll never forget the moment when, a short while later, they watched her emerge carrying her still-born fetus in her arms. Despite its own damning report, the Labor Ministry laid no sanction on John Garment. In consequence, Manzanares appealed to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), which assisted her in presenting her case accusing the company of criminal behavior before the local courts. According to CENIDH, Nicaragua's labor law is quite clear in that all employers must allow their employees to consult with their own medical practitioners at all times. Indiana Garay, John Garment's Human Affairs person, agreed that Manzanares had asked permission to leave work, but that, while her supervisor was away consulting with higher authority, the miscarriage took place. "We have no idea she was pregnant," she went on. "She never told us. Had we known, we would have made sure she got to a hospital right away, without any need to wait for further permissions." Garay made no mention of the fact that many women seek to conceal their pregnancies until the last possible moment, knowing that it is common "free trade' practice to "let them go." She did reveal that Manzanares had later been fired, claiming that this had nothing to do with the miscarriage, but was due entirely to her erratic work attendance record from well before "this incident." (La Prensa, 12 June) 7. Coffee Workers Battered by Police Once again the roads around Matagalpa were filled this week with workers from the region's coffee plantations, begging for food. This despite the Bolaños government's claims to have "solved the coffee crisis" by a complex system of refinancing and temporary debt relief. This time, when it became clear that the workers were once again on their way to Managua to repeat their "justice camp" of last year, the riot police moved in. In one incident alone, they "dislodged" more than 2,000 people, most of them women and children. For once, some National Assembly members responded appropriately and rapidly. Nelson Artola denounced the police action in a plenary session and received support from all sides, including that of Assembly officers Wilfredo Navarro and Maria Auxiliadora Alemán. Although suspect, more than possibly tainted by the current battle for control of the legislature between Alemán and Bolaños, such bi-partisan support was good news for the workers for once. Artola, who has a long history of genuine support for human and workers' rights, decried the police response to peaceful protests. He claimed that, instead of keeping its word to the coffee workers, the government had instead resorted to violence against their just claims, so unleashing the brutality in which at least three workers had been seriously hurt. "They had committed no crime," he cried. "All they did was ask, peaceably, for work and food; this is their right." He called on the Assembly to form a special commission to investigate the matter and to require the government to deliver on its promises. For his part, Navarro, who is a former Minister of Labor, weighed in with, "We deputies need to understand the depths and ramifications of this problem. We have to get involved, and make sure that the coffee workers and owners get a fair deal. After all, the coffee people have offered several solutions, but no real help has ever been forthcoming." FSLN deputy Irma Davila called on the news media to set up a telethon to gather clothes, food, medicines to take directly to the people in the street. "There are about 30,000 unemployed coffee workers who are sick because they have little else to eat besides unripe bananas sprinkled with a little salt." (El Nuevo Diario, 12 May) 8. US Controlled Company Fires Almost Half its Workforce Union leaders challenged the extraordinary actions of the Western Electricity Generating Plant (GEOSA), a subsidiary of transnational giant, Coastal Power of El Paso, Texas. They claimed that at the end of last week, plant managers produced sixty letters of resignation for workers to sign. The move was completely unforeseen, and represented the dismissal of nearly half the total workforce. To add insult to injury, even the wages that they were due suffered some enormous deductions. "For example," said union leader Edgar Somarriba, "one worker was due 1,100 cordobas (US$ 77.00). The company took 1,075 cordobas, claiming that the worker owed them taxes that, by law, he doesn't even have to pay." As if anticipating trouble, GEOSA doubled the number of security guards normally deployed, and brought in patrols of local police, during the whole conflictive process. The workers said that, ever since the plant had been privatized this past February, they had been exposed to these kinds of tactics and shocks. Indeed, no sooner had the plant been privatized than twenty-eight workers were fired, behavior in complete contradiction to the country's privatization laws. The unionists plan to take their case to the Ministry of Labor today (Monday, 17 June), hoping that it will grant their urgent demand that a judge be appointed to allow them to make a legal protest against Coastal Power. GEOSA generates about one hundred mega-watts of power, about one third of Nicaragua's total electricity production. 9. Bishop Angered by Borge Wisecrack While Nicaragua's dominant Roman Catholic Church has remained virtually silent over serious accusations that it has been involved in shady car deals, it was quick to "take offence" at Tomás Borge's latest public offering. Last week FSLN General Secretary, Daniel Ortega, broke with his party's recent history of appeasement by roundly declaring US Ambassador Oliver Garza an "enemy of humanity" as in the seemingly-forgotten Sandinista anthem, "Adelante! Marchemos, Compañeros." Now Borge, Ortega's second-in-command, cheerfully announced that, if one examines the etymology of COPROSA, the archdiocesan body at the heart of the car controversy, it would translate as "Crap Anonymous Society." According to the usual more delicate interpretations, the acronym is supposed to stand for Archdiocesan Commission for Social Promotion. It is widely alleged that unscrupulous persons, even the occasional bishop, taking advantage of COPROSA's tax-exempt status, have been using it to import luxury vehicles into Nicaragua, purportedly for use in church programs but some of which appear to have been sold on to third parties at considerable profit. In remarkable contrast to the hierarchy's non-response to these accusations, Jorge Solórzano, Managua's auxiliary bishop, was quick to claim that Borge's remark "showed just how little the Sandinistas have changed in reality." "Tomás Borge's words show a complete lack of respect for the Church," he protested. "The Sandinistas have obviously not changed one whit in terms of their hostile attitude towards, and treatment of, the Church. During elections, of course, they pray publicly and speak with honeyed words. After all, they need the votes of the majority of Nicaraguans, who are Catholic. But, at bottom, nothing has changed." Despite his eloquent defense of the correct interpretation of COPROSA's name, it was noted that the good bishop found he had nothing to say to response to reporters' questions on the bishops/luxury car question, and that the Church has still to give something even approaching a convincing explanation of the matter. (La Prensa, 15 June) The Nicaragua Network web page is www.nicanet.org.