News briefing to July 15th

PETROCARIBE Summit approves more favorable payment conditions for member countries - Guatemala joins
Liberals swear to forge unity and win municipal elections
Attorney General talks about international arbitration with Barceló
US Embassy urges government to proceed with CENIs case in an "appropriate fashion"
MINSA registers dramatic reduction in number of maternal deaths
Exports increase by 30.8%
Police attempt to arrest Human Rights director: NGOs claims political persecution
Leon Cathedral decared patrimony of humanity

PETROCARIBE Summit approves more favorable payment conditions for member countries
The fifth PETROCARIBE summit of heads of state and of government took place in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo on July 13 and 14. PETROCARIBE is a political, commercial and social integration program with 17 member countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean (Antigua y Barbuda, Bahamas, Belice, Cuba, Dominica, Granada, Guayana, Haití, Jamaica, Nicaragua, República Dominicana, San Cristóbal y Nieves, Santa Lucía, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Surinam and Venezuela). Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom announced that Guatemala has now joined Petrocaribe. Costa Rica participated in teh summit as an observer.

As part of PETROCARIBE oil and its derived products are imported by member countries from Venezuelan State oil company PDVSA on preferential terms similar to those enjoyed by Nicaraguan State oil company PETRONIC (50% of value is paid back within 90 days, the rest is to be paid back over the next 25 years with a 1% interest rate). As part of the agreement the member countries use the 50% of the value of fuel imported from Venezuela for infrastructural and social programs. Many member countries import 100% of their fuel from PETROCARIBE.

The Maracaibo Summit was scheduled in order to review the progress of PETROCARIBE considering the international economic context and constant increases in the price of oil. During the summit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' proposal to make the payment conditions on oil imports more flexible was approved by the other country members. As long as the price of a barrel of oil is more than US$100 member countries will only pay back 40% of the value of imports within 90 days while the remaining 60% will be paid back over 25 years with a 1% interest rate. It was also decided that, should the price of a barrel of oil reach US$200 or more then only 30% of the value of oil imports by PETROCARIBE countries would have to be paid back within 90 days and the remaining 70% over a period of 25 years with a 1% interest rate.

This new measure will free up significant amounts of cash which member countries will be able to use to counteract, to a certain extent, the devastating effects of the current global economic crisis on the region.

During the Summit it was also agreed that Venezuela will create a special fund which will be used to finance food production initiatives in PETROCARIBE countries with the aim of achieving food security in the region. In order to create this fund the Venezuelan government will put aside US$0.50 for every barrel of oil it exports at a price of over US$100.

It was agreed that a Council of Agricultural Ministers would be created within PETROCARIBE in order to coordinate the proper use of this fund. This council will meet for the first time in Honduras on July 30.

Liberals swear to forge unity and win municipal elections
On July 11 after the annual Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) convention numerous party leaders, together with leaders of other political forces allied with the PLC, gathered around the romb of founder of the Liberal Party of Nicaragua Jose Santos Zelaya and swore to forge unity among the liberal forces and to win a the majority of municipalities in the upcoming municipal elections (November 9). PLC honorary president Arnoldo Alemán and PLC alliance candidate for Mayor of Managua Eduardo Montealegre then gave each other an enthusiastic and highly symbolic hug which was published in all the newspapers and broadcast on all the TV news programs. Again Alemán guaranteed that Montealegre, who was recently indicted for his involvement in the CENIs scandal, would have the full support from the 25 PLC deputies in a vote in the National Assembly to maintain or take away his parliamentary immunity. Montealegre was until recently considered to be one of Alemán's arch enemies after he collaborated with former President Enrique Bolaños in the effort to have Aleman convicted for fraud.

During the convention Alemán projected himself as the ultimate leader of a PLC or coalition of liberal forces creating effective opposition to Daniel Ortega's Sandinista government. Aleman gave a long, euphoric speech in which he said "things may be bad, right now, the nightmare of the 1980s is coming back again, the dark night [noche oscura] is returning" but "liberal unity is a reality, ... division is an error of the past.

The only opposition to Aleman and his leadership made evident at the convention came from PLC alliance candidate for Vice-Mayor of Managua in the upcoming municipal elections, Enrique Quiñonez, and his supporters who, on several occasions, interupted Aleman's speech with shouts of "Quiñonez, Quiñonez!" In response Aleman said the "badly behaved [party members] shold keep quiet and stop insulting the party leaders."

Previously a group of PLC hardliners had attacked Quiñonez' car as it entered the property where the convention was held provoking a violent confrontation with a group of Quiñonez supporters.

On July 12 Vice President of the PLC Wilfredo Navarro revealed that the party National Executive Committee had given him the task of drafting a proposal for the creation of a party which would unite all the different factions of the Nicaraguan liberal forces including the "We're with Eduardo" Movement (MVE) and the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN). The party would be called the Liberal Party. Navarro said that measures to consult and implement this proposal would not begin to take place until after the municipal elections in order to avoid complications during the current electoral process.

Attorney General talks about international arbitrary with Barceló
In an exclusive interview with the Information System of the Latin American Regional International Workers Union (SIREL-UITA) Nicaraguan Attorney General Hernan Estrada spoke in detail about the pending international arbitration process between the Nicaraguan state and the Spanish multinational company Barceló at the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an institution of the World Bank based in Washington. The Nicaraguan filed a law suit at the ICSID against Barceló Montelimar for US$30 million for failure to make ten yearly payments as stipulated in the contract. Barceló denies the accusation.

According to Estrada the Chamorro government (1990-1996) sold Montelimar at a "totally inappropriate price" during the wholesale privatization of State resources at a time when the "neo-liberal impulse was just beginning." At that time, said Estrada, "the concept of privatization of the state was being introduced to the continent with full force."

Estrada goes on to reveal that the two men Barceló has chosen as its legal representatives for this case are Tomas Delaney and Noel Vidaurre, both of whom worked with the Chamorro government on the drafting of the Montelimar contract signed in 1993, Delaney as the director of Presidential Legal Affairs and Vidaurre as secretary of the Public Sector National Corporations association (CORNAP). This fact exemplifies the suspicious form in which government officials participated in the privatization process.

"The damaging sale [of Montelimar] is one thing," said Estrada, "it is something we had nothing to do with and something we can do nothing about. But the failure to meet minimum committments in the contract is quite another. Because Barceló did not fulfill the terms of the contract we have the legal space to demand compensation, and not just the yearly payments, but also to go deeper into the circumstances under which Montelimar was privatized."

Estrada has confirmed that the government aims to recuperate Montelimar as part of the judicial process. When asked if he thought this objective comes from a desire to reform the role the State plays in Nicaraguan society Estrada said "the Montelimar case in emblematic. It will help to encourage our people ... to dignify and heighten Nicaraguan citizens' self esteem. That is the most important [thing], so that Nicaraguans do not feel like second or third class citizens next to [foreign] investors who say they bring development but [actually] just come to grab things we have already created."

US Embassy urge government to proceed with CENIs case in an "appropriate fashion"
Spokesperson for the US Embassy in Managua, Kristin Stewart, said this week that the way in which the Public Prosecutor's Office has handled the CENIs (Negotiable Investment Certificates) case ia a matter of concern to the United States. The fact that the list of the 39 people indicted last week includes candidates for popular election during the electoral period is "a source of concern for the US as it has been for the Nicaraguan civil society. Like with any judicial process," she went on, "we urge the Nicaraguan government to resolve cases in a transparent and appropriate fashion. We hope that the process is carried out in strict accordance with Nicaraguan law and that the case does not frustrate the Nicaraguan people's ability to express themselves politically or to fully participate in the electoral process."

MINSA registers dramatic reduction in number of maternal deaths
On July 11 Health Minister Guillermo Gonzalez announced that the Ministry of Health (MINSA) had registered a dramatic reduction in the number of maternal deaths during the first half of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007. While during the first six months of 2007 55 women died due to complications with their pregnancies, so far this year only 28 women have died. Gonzalez believes that this is the result of MINSA efforts to improve the quality and increase coverage of sexual and reproductive health education programs aimed at women between 15 and 40.

Gonzalez went on to say that one of the most common reasons behind cases of maternal deaths in Nicaragua is a lack of access to contraception for women with health problems incompatible with pregnancy. For this reason MINSA is trying to increase access to contraception by dedicating more money to the purchase and distribution of contraceptive methods.

Meanwhile a recently published study carried out by the United Nations Population Fund found that 27% of Nicaraguan women become mothers before the age of 19 due to lack of access to and information about contraception problems which particularly affect the impoverished majority.

The Ministry of Education, concerned about the high teenage pregnancy rate, plans to introduce the Sex Education Manual into the national curriculum next year. This manuel was drafted during former president Enrique Bolaños' administration with contributions from and the supervision of experts from relevant sectors. The manual was subsequently pulped and the proposed program scrapped after lobbying by the Catholic Chusrh hierarchy and evangelical church leaders who claimed that, instead of preventing unplanned pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among young people, the manual encouraged sexual activity.

Exports increase by 30.8%
The value of Nicaraguan exports during the first six months of this year is 30.8% higher than during the same period last year, according to the Center of Export Transactions (CETREX). While in 2007 exports for the first six months of the year totalled US$640 million, this year this figure rose to US$835.31 million. Coffee is the main Nicaraguan export, followed by (in this order) beef, dairy products, peanuts, sugar cane, beans, gold, lobster, cattle, beverages, common metal and manufactured metal products, processed coffee and fish.

The reasons behind this increase are an increase in the international price of many products including coffee, beef and gold, an increase in agricultural productivity and the progressive implementation of CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement).

Police attempt to arrest Human Rights director: NGOs claims political persecution
On July 8 National Police officers attempted to arrest Director of the NGO Permanent Human Rights Commission Marcos Carmona who is accused of having attacked two police officers over a year ago. Carmona avoided being arrested, however, by calling numerous media outlets to inform journalists of the police presence outside his house in Villa Libertad, Managua. The police officers left the scene shortly after journalists started to arrive. According to Deputy Commissioner Luis Salas the officers left Carmona's house "to avoid this show ... we do not want to be part of any game, nor make propaganda of any type, we just carry out judicial orders."

Carmona claims he is the victim of political persecution and that any legal action against him is "arbitrary." In his opinion the arrest attempt is the government's response to criticisms the organization he works for makes of the Sandinista government. Carmona accused President Daniel Ortega of personally ordering his arrest saying the president has declared "war against the NGOs and on Saturday [July 5] he said he would apply the sword of war" to government opponents and critics. The following day the umbrella NGO organization Coordinadora Civil came out in support of Carmona reiterating his claim that the attempted arrest constitutes political persecution.

According to the National Police, however, the arrest order was given by Managua's First Local Judge Julia Mayorga Solorzano in response to Carmona's failure to comply with the court orders as part of the judicial process against him opened by two police officers last year.