• Attorney General explains Barceló's debt with the state
• Central Bank renegotiates CENIS debt with Banpro ...
• Environment Minister urges Costa Rica to suspend mining operations near Nicaraguan border
• CSE yet to issue definitive resolution on legal status of political parties
• Miguel D'Escoto elected President of UN General Assembly
• Minister expects significant increases in production of basic grains
• Literacy campaign to benefit Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica

Attorney General explains Barceló's debt with the state

On Jun. 4 Attorney General Hernan Estrada appeared before the members of the National Assembly Tourism Commission to explain the motive behind the preventive embargo his office put on the company on May 12: the nearly US$3 million debt the Spanish multinational hotelier company has with the Nicaraguan state.

In 1993 Barceló signed a contract with the government of former president Violeta de Chamorro for the purchase of the Montelimar hotel resort (a former residence of the Somoza family) and made an initial payment of US$3,030,000. It was agreed in the contract that once a certain level of room reservations had been reached (60%) Barceló would proceed to make ten further payments to the state for a total of US$1.45 million plus interest. According to the terms of the contract, this debt should have been paid in full by the end of 2006. According to the Attorney General, however, Barceló failed to make any further payments after 1993 and currently owes the state nearly US$3 million.

Barceló's legal representative in Nicaragua Tomas Delaney says the company does not owe the state any money claiming it has never been possible to consolidate the level of room occupancy specified in the contract. Attorney Estrada doubts this claim to be true, however, pointing out that the company built an extra 90 rooms in the hotel during the late 1990s.

According to Estrada, the state plans to take all the measures necessary to ensure that Barceló pays, even if this means proceeding to cancel the contract, although he said the government would prefer to reach an out of court agreement with the Spanish multinationa

Central Bank renegotiates CENIS debt with Banpro ...

On Jun. 9 the President of the Nicaraguan Central Bank Antenor Rosales and the President of the Board of Directors of the Production Bank (Banpro) Ramiro Ortiz signed a agreement which significantly restructures the debt of US$157.7 million the government has with the private bank as part of the public debt created by the issuing of CENI (Certificates of Negotiated Investment) bonds during the bank crisis of 1999 – 2000. The agreement contemplates a reduction from 8.4% to 5% annual interest. On top of this the Central Bank will now have 20 years to pay back the money it owes.

As a result of the agreement, said Rosales, the government will only pay US$4.88 million to BANPRO this year instead of the US$41.13 million sum established in the 2008 Budget, thus liberating an extra US$36.25 million for public spending and infrastructural investments.

In illusion to the complicated legal situation of the CENIS bonds which form part of the public debt, Rosales said he “hoped for immediate progress to be made [in resolving] the problems which stand in the way of implementing the agreement” with Banpro. His comment referred to the preventive seizure on the CENIS bonds held by BANPRO and BANCENTRO (Bank of Central America) ordered by the Attorney General's Office earlier this year in order to prevent further payments being made on a debt which the institution's investigations have found to illegal.

... Montealegre calls for “professional” audit into public debt

Meanwhile, on Jun. 2, Special Prosecutor Armando Juarez announced that the investigation into the infamous “CENIS” scandal had been completed and the Office of the Public Prosecutor is now preparing to make formal accusations against over twenty individuals and former public officials implicated as having participated in what is considered the biggest fraud in Nicaraguan history.

Juarez' announcement provoked deputy Eduardo Montealegre (who will presumably be one of those accused) to call on President Daniel Ortega to order an internationally esteemed auditory firm to carry out a “professional” audit into the creation of Nicaragua's multi million dollar public debt. If found guilty of participating in the scandal by an international firm, he said, he would be willing to serve one month in jail for each million dollars he stole. According to Montealegre, who is the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) Alliance's candidate for Mayor of Managua, the Public Prosecutor's investigation forms part of Ortega's plan to “eliminate me from the political scene.”

Eduardo Montealegre was the Minister of Public Finance and represented the Nicaraguan government on the board of directors of the Nicaraguan Central Bank during the time the fraudulently created public debt was restructured and the assets of four bankrupt national banks were auctioned at a fraction of their value

Environment Minister urges Costa Rica to suspend mining operations near Nicaraguan border

On Jun. 7 Environment Minister Juana Argeñal again urged the Costa Rican authorities to order for operations in the “Las Crucitas” gold mine (situated a few kilometers from the San Juan River which separates the two countries) to be suspended in light of the “serious damage” the mining activity will cause to the ecosystem both in Costa Rica and in Nicaragua.

Activity in the “Las Crucitas” mine, which is coordinated by the multinational company Industrias Infinity S.A., was suspended in 2004 after it was found that an unsustainable amount of contaminants were being emitted into nearby rivers and streams (which run into Nicaragua's San Juan River). The Costa Rican authorities, however, took the decision to reactivate the mine in April this year, provoking concern within Costa Rican and Nicaraguan ecological organizations.

Costa Rican Environment Minister Roberto Dobles reiterated his government's position on the issue on Jun. 9 insisting that “seven years of studies” have shown the mining activity to be “environmentally, socially and economically viable.”

CSE yet to issue definitive resolution on legal status of political parties

The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) is yet to issue a definitive resolution on the legal status of four political parties, the Conservative Party (PC), the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), the Multi Ethnic Party for Caribbean Coast Unity (PAMUC) and the Multi Ethnic Indigenous Party (PIM), after announcing that the process to suspend these parties legal status had been initiated on May 22.

According to CSE President Roberto Rivas the PC, the PAMUC and the PAMUC failed to register candidates for the municipal elections (scheduled to take place in November) in 80% of municipalities or more, in violation of the prerequisites established in the Electoral Law. The MRS, meanwhile, had failed to present all the legal documentation corresponding to internal structural changes which took place after the 2007 MRS Convention.

All four parties involved contest the accusation of violating the Electoral Law and numerous representatives of the parties have denounced, to the media and to national and international organizations, that the CSE's actions correspond to the interests of President Daniel Ortega and honorary president of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) Arnoldo Aleman to eliminate the political opposition.

Founding member of the MRS Dora Maria Tellez, former health minister during the first Sandinista (FSLN) government (1979 – 1990) began a hunger strike on Jun. 4 in protest against the CSE's threat to cancel her party's legal status and part of an attempt to “impede Ortega from installing a dictatorship in Nicaragua.” On Jun. 9, after five days without food, Tellez said she was willing to continue striking as long as necessary.

Miguel D'Escoto elected President of UN General Assembly

Maryknoll Priest and former Nicaraguan foreign minister (1979 – 1990) Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann was elected as President of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Jun. 4. D'Escoto, who is currently President Daniel Ortega's foreign affairs advisor, will begin his one year contract as President of the UN Assembly on Sept. 16.

During his acceptance speech D'Escoto promised to work to promote the “democratization” of the UN, revitalizing the General Assembly and reforming the Security Council, and to prevent “acts of aggression like those being carried out against Iraq and Afghanistan.”

D'Escoto said that at present the UN's principle task should be to promote change in order to overcome the “fix” humanity finds itself in as a result of widespread “selfishness.”

Minister expects significant increases in production of basic grains

According to the Minister of Agriculture Ariel Bucardo, the government has sufficient financial resources to guarantee significant increases in the production of basic grains and dairy products this year and to “guarantee the food supply for our population.” As a result of the government programs which aim to provide credit for 177,000 small and medium farmers during the 2008 - 2009 agricultural cycle, Bucardo expects to see a 23.6% increase in the amount of corn produced in the country in 2008 compared to last year. He also expects the national rice production to increase by 28.9% and the national bean production to increase by 12.8%.

President of the Rural Development Institute (IDR) Alvaro Fiallos said that the government has a total of C$2,300 million (equivalent to US$119 million) immediately available in low or zero interest rate credits for farmers. “We are doubling our financial capacity, this is the beginning of the production bank all us farmers have been demanding.”

Fiallos went on to mention that the IDR is coordinating the construction of or repairs on 1,472 kilometers of rural roads in productive areas while the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure is coordinating similar work on another 1,000 kilometers which will help to guarantee that agricultural produce can be transported to market later in the year.

Literacy campaign to benefit Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica

The Ministry of Education (MINED) announced on Jun. 4 that approximately 100 Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica will be taking part in literacy classes which will begin later this month as part of the government's National Literacy Campaign.