NSCAG DECEMBER UPDATE
Dear Friends
This is our last update for the year. We wish you, your colleagues and families all the very best for the festive season and a happy and peaceful New Year. And thanks again for your continued support and solidarity.
We’ll be back in 2023 to provide you with more updates and news about developments in Nicaragua. We are always happy to speak to regional and branch meetings, so do please get in touch if you would like to invite us next year. And please spread the word to other branches who may not be affiliated to us already – we are funded almost entirely from trade union contributions, so branch affiliations and trade union support are really important to us. Latin America Conference
Sign up for this Conference bringing together activists, academics, trade unionists, and politicians from Latin America, UK, US, and Europe. This is a particularly important event given the elections of left governments across the region. US human rights, labour lawyer and peace activist Dan Kovalik will be speaking at the Conference and will be launching his new book – Nicaragua: A history of US Intervention and Resistance.
Details and registration here
London Marathon The marathon is back to its regular slot of April next year and we have one place left! If you would like to participate or know of someone who would be interested contact us as soon as possible on nsc@nicaraguasc.org.uk
Women in Nicaragua: Power and Protagonism A reminder that for those who are unable to participate in the in-person delegation to Nicaragua in January, reading lists and recordings of class sessions held in preparation for the delegation are available to download free of charge. For further information see the study guide here.
Nicaragua’s National Budget 2023 The Nicaraguan budget for 2023, approved by the National Assembly, maintains social investment to eradicate poverty and benefit the country’s poorest sectors. The National Plan to Fight Poverty remains unchanged and 56.4% of the budget will go towards social expenditure, with significant resources allocated to social infrastructure investment in health, education, water and sanitation, transportation and the promotion of sport. Nine per cent of the 2023 budget (50% more than in the previous year) will go to the implementation of an inclusive housing policy which combines subsidy and long-term financing and has proved effective and efficient in reducing the country’s housing deficit. The budget also reaffirms the political will of the government to continue to defend women’s rights and to promote the development and socio-economic wellbeing of the Caribbean coast’s population.
Minimum wage agreement signed for Nicaragua’s free trade zone Employers, workers and representatives of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Labour (MITRAB) have signed a Tripartite Agreement which guarantees that for the next five years people working in the companies of the free trade zone sector in Nicaragua will enjoy a percentak ge salary increase of 8% for the years 2023 and 2024, 7% in the year 2025 and finally 6.7% in the years 2026 and 2027. The agreed increases will be effective as of 1st January of each respective year and the agreement is expected to benefit more than 142,00 workers.
Food sovereignty, agroecology, climate justice and international solidarity A report on a recent delegation to the UK, hosted by our sister organisation NSC, from representatives of the Rural Workers Association, ATC – see link here
Nicaragua and the Covid response – the power of a good example Podcast in which Collateral Global steering committee member Toby Green talks with John Perry, contributor to the London Review of Books, FAIR and other publications on Nicaraguan affairs. See link here.
Some recent articles ‘US sanctions and economic conditions drive Nicaraguan migration, while Washington blames repression’ – article by John Perry, see link here
‘Nicaragua’s inconvenient Covid victory: Western media covered up its success’ – article by John Perry, see link here 'The Graduates’ – article by Becca Renk, see link here 'The volatility of US hegemony in Latin America’ – articles by Roger D Harris, part i see link here, part ii see link here and part iii see link here.
In solidarity
Louise Richards
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action Group
www.nscag.org
Twitter: @NSCAG_UK