Nicaragua

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NicaNotes: US sanctions hit Nicaragua’s social investment programs
November 23, 2023
By John Perry

[This article was first published in The Morning Star on Nov. 7, 2023.]
(John Perry is based in Masaya, Nicaragua, and writes for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, London Review of Books, FAIR and other outlets.)


Finance Minister Ivan Acosta (right) tells John Perry that Nicaragua has an excellent reputation globally for completing projects and accounting for the money it receives.

Which country spends nearly two-thirds of its budget on tackling poverty? When I met Nicaragua’s finance minister, Ivan Acosta, he had just presented his 2024 budget to its National Assembly, and he made clear that a large part of it is aimed at doing just that.

In cash terms, Nicaragua’s government will spend about 24% more in 2024 than in the current year, which includes a huge increase (43%) in public sector investment. Acosta explained how the country would continue its recent advances in health, education, transport, energy, water supply, housing and local government services. Less than 3% of spending is for defense, and in any case Nicaragua’s army has mainly civil duties such as dealing with frequent natural disasters and preventing deforestation.

Nicaragua’s per capita income is one of the lowest in Latin America, so poverty alleviation is a high priority. It might be expected that the World Bank and other international institutions would be helping the country to achieve this goal. And yes, they were, but now they aren’t. This isn’t because of corruption or poor accounting.

Acosta tells me that Nicaragua has an excellent reputation globally for completing projects and accounting for the money it receives. When the revolutionary Sandinista government regained power in 2007, only $70-80 million was arriving from institutions like the World Bank: a decade later, it had reached $300-400 million, because the banks knew the money would be wisely spent.

But then Nicaragua was hit by an attempted coup in 2018, and the economy ground to a halt for three months (the Morning Star has four articles on the coup, starting here and NicaNotes has several eBooks on the attempt including here and here.) It had been several years since the country had needed economic support from the International Monetary Fund, but suddenly it needed it to avert the risk of money flowing out of the country. Acosta told me that IMF officials, happy with the government‘s track record, were ready to approve emergency loans.

However, coinciding with the coup attempt, legislation was passing through the US Congress imposing sanctions on Nicaragua. These would require US officials to block any funding by international bodies where they have the power to do so, such as within the IMF. Acosta was therefore quietly asked by the fund’s officers not to request any loans as they would be turned down once the request reached IMF directors.

The sanctions imposed by the US on Nicaragua in 2018 and again in 2021 were the first since the economic blockade that destroyed the country’s economy in the 1980s. This led to the Sandinistas being voted out of office in 1990. The US has still not paid the $17 billion claimed in reparations by Nicaragua when it took the US to the International Court of Justice and, in 1986, won its case. Washington, undeterred by this past ruling, had sponsored the coup attempt and intended it to devastate Nicaragua yet again. Hoping to ease the Sandinistas out of office for a second time, Washington had no intention of allowing the IMF to bail the government out. However, by 2018 Nicaragua was better prepared, saw out the violence, restored order and launched a public investment program to bring life back to the economy using its own resources.

Not only was there no help after the coup attempt, but the answer was virtually the same when Covid-19 hit the country in 2020. By the middle of that year, when the pandemic was at its most severe, Nicaragua had received almost no help from the US or its allies. This contrasted with its neighbor, Honduras, to which the US quickly sent $8 million in cash plus large amounts of medical supplies. When help for Nicaragua eventually arrived in December from the International Financial Institutions, following two devastating hurricanes, it came in much smaller quantities than had been requested.

Nicaragua has succeeded in cutting the proportion of its people living in poverty to 24.9%, a lower level than all its neighbors apart from Panama. But more could have been achieved with international help: Ivan Acosta estimates that the country has been denied funding worth between US$2.5 and US$3 billion in total since 2018, all of which would have been earmarked for social programs. As he puts it, a country whose income per head is about $2,500 annually is being penalized by countries (the US and its allies) whose per capita income is as much as $70,000.

Nevertheless, Acosta is optimistic: he points out that Nicaragua is enjoying the fastest economic growth in Central America since the pandemic – 15.9% over three years compared with the regional average of 12.1%. Nicaragua successfully fought Covid-19, largely by itself, and its recovery since then meant that government income was increasing. Smaller amounts of funding are still provided by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). Acosta notes that since the US has no control over how CABEI disburses it funds, these should continue. In addition, the country’s new relationship with China has already led to investment in projects such as affordable housing (China has just granted funding for more than 700 new homes). Nicaragua maintains a close relationship with many other countries such as Russia, Japan and South Korea, many of which also provide development funding.




Nicaragua has by far the most public hospitals in Central America

A recently published chart shows that Nicaragua has the most public hospitals in Central America – 77 in total, while much wealthier Costa Rica and Panama have just 29 and 18 respectively. A third of these hospitals are new ones, built in the last 16 years. But Ivan Acosta wants to build more. He points out that a 450-bed hospital costs $130 million to build. How many more could Nicaragua have, he asks, if Washington hadn’t stopped the World Bank and other international institutions from financing them?

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

National Assembly Ratifies Trade Agreement with China
The signing of the trade agreement between Nicaragua and the People’s Republic of China was unanimously ratified on Nov. 16 by the plenary of the National Assembly. The trade agreement guarantees the immediate access for 91% of Nicaragua’s exportable products with tariff preference to the Asian giant’s market. It is the first international trade agreement that includes a special chapter for small and medium-sized enterprises which will have access to training and fairs in order to enter this market of more than one billion citizens. Among the products that may be exported as of January 2024 are: textiles, automotive harnesses, beef and beef offal, fish, shrimp, lobster, rum, sausages, chocolates, leather, and hammocks. (La Primerisima, 16 November 2023)

Nicaragua Officially Leaves OAS
On November 19, 2021, the Sandinista Government announced that it was initiating the two-year process to definitively leave the Organization of American States (OAS), often referred to as “the Ministry of Colonies of the United States.” On Nov. 19, 2023, that deadline was met and Nicaragua no longer has any ties or obligations to the OAS which the government said was “organized by the US power to cover up and justify its aggressive actions.” On Nov. 20, Foreign Minister Denis Moncada summarized the Sandinista Government’s reasons why Nicaragua decided to continue its national liberation process by leaving the OAS. To read more details: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/no-somos ... ras-a-oea/ (La Primerisima, 20 November 2023)

Alto Wangki to Have a Higher Education Center
Representatives of the Alto Wangki and Bocay Indigenous Territorial Government and the National Agrarian University (UNA) signed an agreement creating the first Indigenous and intercultural school of higher education in the special regime zone established in 2008 as part of the Autonomy Process. The University is expected to be inaugurated in February 2024 and will be located in the community of San Andrés de Bocay in the Miskitu Indian Tasbaika Kum Territory and will be serving young people from the Miskitu and Mayangna peoples of the Upper Wangki and Bocay who have demanded from their territorial authorities the right to higher education with equal opportunities and conditions. During the signing of the agreement, the rector of the UNA, Alberto Sediles Jaén, explained that the coming of the university to this area is a sign of the good will of the Sandinista Government to build new and better opportunities for Indigenous youth. (La Primerisima, 16 November, 2023)

Ensuring Greater Access to Quality Education
The Ministry of Education reported that US$1.5 million was invested to rebuild, expand, and equip the schools in San Rafael del Sur municipality, Managua department, benefiting 1,459 students. The financing is part of the Project for Improvement and Rehabilitation of Educational Centers ensuring access to free and quality education for all. (Nicaragua News, 17 November 2023)

Advances in Electricity Coverage
National electricity coverage in Nicaragua was 99.37% at the close of October. Between January 2nd and October 31st this year, 186 electrification projects were carried out, benefiting 40,782 inhabitants. Electricity coverage has expanded from 54% in 2007 to 99.37% at the end of October. (Nicaragua News, 16 November 2023)

CABEI Renews Credit Line for US$200 million
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) renewed a credit line agreement for up to US$200 million to support the liquidity management of the Nicaragua Central Bank, which is responsible for monetary and exchange rate policy in the country. According to a note from the Central Bank, the renewal of the credit line strengthens the country’s financial safety net, safeguarding financial stability and contributing to the credibility of the exchange rate regime, a pillar of Nicaragua’s macroeconomic stability. This is the fourteenth renewal of the credit line with CABEI, which is revolving, with a one-year term beginning on August 21, 2023. The Central Bank subscribed to this instrument for the first time on August 21, 2009. CABEI’s financial support will contribute to the stability and promotion of Nicaragua’s economic development. (La Primerisima, 17 November 2023)

Government proposes Valdrack Jaentschke for SICA Secretary General
President Daniel Ortega proposed his Minister Advisor for Policies and International Affairs, Valdrack Jaentschke, as the new Secretary General of the Central American Integration System (SICA), after the resignation of Nicaraguan Werner Isaac Vargas Torres, who held the position. The other two candidates proposed by the Nicaraguan government are Violeta Irías Nelson, from the Office for the Defense of Human Rights, and Sandinista National Assembly Deputy Iris Marina Montenegro. In his letter, the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister presented the list of three candidates for the election and appointment of the new Secretary General of SICA, “who will continue with the 2022-2026 period corresponding to the Republic of Nicaragua.” Jaentschke, who heads the list, is also minister counselor with consular functions of the Nicaraguan embassy in Costa Rica. (La Primerisima, 18 November, 2023)

Nicaragua to Be Headquarters of the OIRSA Regional Training Center
During the 31st Extraordinary Meeting of the Technical Commission of the International Regional Organization for Plant and Animal Health (OIRSA) held last week in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua was selected to be the headquarters of the new OIRSA Regional Training Center. Ricardo Somarriba, executive director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Protection and Health Safety (IPSA), stated that “The selection of Nicaragua as headquarters of the Regional Training Center is a recognition of the great achievements of the country in the prevention and control of pests in the agricultural sector. It formalizes the health and safety assistance that Nicaragua already provides to the countries of the region.” (Nicaragua News, 20 November 2023)

Investments in Free Trade Zone Companies Increases
A new free trade zone distribution center of unnamed US capital in Mateare is opening in 2024, where it is projected to generate more than 1,000 jobs. The modern industrial building has a length of 52,000 square meters and 20 to 30 containers will leave daily with products to be shipped out of the Port of Corinto. “We had the opportunity to have placed the distribution center in any other part of Central America, since we have operations in many countries; here we saw the benefits of investment and centralized logistics,” said Leonel Sanchez, director of logistics for Central America of this international company. For this center, US$23 million was invested in infrastructure and another US$3 million to acquire modern equipment, since jackets, shirts and pants are shipped from here to other countries. “Nicaragua has been a strategic partner for our company since 2014, in 2020 we started our own operations,” said Barrantes, and currently have three plants in operation and expect to open another one by 2024 that will generate 1,000 jobs. (La Primerisima, 20 November 2023)

Nicaraguan Wins Miss Universe
Sheynnis Palacios made history for Nicaragua by winning Miss Universe 2023. The 72nd edition of Miss Universe took place in San Salvador. Almost 90 delegates from all over the world competed for the crown. For the first time in the history of the contest, the winner was Miss Nicaragua. On Nov. 18, during a brief press conference Palacios announced that her crown “is dedicated to the girls all over the world, to my inner child, to my family and to the more than six million inhabitants of my country,” and thanked “life and God for the opportunity.” Palacios completed a degree in communications at the Central American University (UCA) in Managua in 2022. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/empieza- ... -palacios/ (La Primerisima, 19 November 2023).

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NicaNotes – Nicaragua 2023: Social Advances
December 14, 2023
By Nan McCurdy and Katherine Hoyt

Just in 2023 Nicaragua has made incredible social advances to improve the well-being of the population. We will only cover a few examples here.


Government authorities have held meetings with NGOs, church representatives and individuals to present the booklet from the Ministry of Health entitled “The Right to Choose and the Duty to Respect Diversity,” in an effort to promote the acceptance of diversity of sexual identities in the family and community.

Once again, according to the annual World Economic Forum 2023 Gender Gap Index, Nicaragua has ranked in 7th place worldwide in gender equality, and first in all of the Americas. Nicaragua has the strongest parliamentary representation in the world with 51.65% of seats in its National Assembly being held by women. Nicaragua is also number one in women professional & technical workers, women’s educational attainment, women’s literacy, women’s enrollment in third-level education and women in ministerial positions.

Safety is extremely important for citizens and Nicaragua is the country with the second lowest homicide rate in Latin America and the safest in Central America, according to Francisco Diaz Madriz, Director of the National Police. In the framework of the Carlos Fonseca First Virtual Congress on Citizen and Human Security, Diaz Madriz emphasized that the government has prioritized citizen security as one of the fundamental pillars of its management. This approach has led Nicaragua to have the second lowest homicide rate in Latin America, with only 6.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. At the same time, it is the safest nation in Central America according to Homicide Monitor which found Nicaragua with the lowest homicide rate in the region: https://homicide.igarape.org.br/

Safety for women and children in particular is a priority for the government. Vice President Rosario Murillo announced the inauguration of two new Women’s Police Stations: numbers 266 in Dipilto and 267 in the municipality of Morrito in honor of the founder and head of the Sandinista Popular Revolution, Commander Carlos Fonseca Amador.

Government authorities have held meetings with non-governmental organizations, church representatives and individuals to present the booklet from the Ministry of Health entitled “The Right to Choose and the Duty to Respect,” with the objective of promoting love and unity in families. Minister of the Exterior Denis Moncada stated that since 2007 the government has promoted a solid model of dignified diversity equity through actions that contribute to the wellbeing of families. Moncada said, “Today brings us together in this important presentation of the booklet, work done by outstanding colleagues in the government, in a diverse world with the duty to respect the diversity of human beings.” He said that this primer is an instrument of peace to reaffirm that love in families allows them to find the way to understand, respect and accept the diversity of sexual identities. “All of us must not only ourselves respect people with diverse identities, but also foster respect in our communities.” To watch a video taken at one of these gatherings in April, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BJt2jw ... icaragua13

The 2024 national budget earmarks billions of dollars for social programs. Approximately 80% percent of the resources of Nicaragua’s 2024 budget will be destined to guarantee public health, education, infrastructure, electric energy subsidies and potable water, said Iván Acosta, Minister of Finance and Public Credit, on October 19. He announced that the total amount of income in the 2024 budget is US$3.85 billion. Acosta said that 26 billion córdobas (US$722.2 million) will be invested in the education sector, and health will have a projected budget of 24 billion córdobas (US$666.7 million). Of the nation’s social spending, 37.5% is directed to education and health. Sixty-one percent of the budget is directed to the fight against poverty, which is equivalent to US$2.27billion.

Nicaragua continues to be the country in the region most praised by international financial institutions for its transparent, effective and rapid project execution. During an interview with EFE news agency on March 6th in Costa Rica, the President of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), Dante Mossi, stated that “Nicaragua is exemplary in the execution of projects financed by international organizations. It … has an extensive project portfolio that authorities execute effectively, with great transparency and agility. From the perspective of the Bank, Nicaragua is a member country in very good financial standing that always requests funds for projects to promote the integral development of the country; from first-world hospitals, support for the agricultural sector, electricity in the most remote areas and high-quality highways, generating real positive changes for the population. CABEI is pleased to support these types of initiatives.”

The government decision to increase subsidizes to cover all of the increases in hydrocarbons since 2022 has had a positive impact on people’s lives and on the economy. This decision prevented an increase in prices of cooking gas, gasoline and diesel, public transportation, electricity, and drinking water for the population. The impact on the electricity rate due to international oil prices has been US$120 million. The Sandinista government has absorbed the increases that in other countries has been passed onto consumers. In Nicaragua’s case subsidies have benefitted more than 1.1 million families. In 2022 the government contributed close to US$90 million in subsidies for gasoline and diesel fuels to benefit families and economic sectors. In Managua, 966,000 users benefited from the transportation subsidy as did more than 300,000 users on the Caribbean Coast. Cargo transportation has benefited so that impacts on food prices have been avoided.

National electricity coverage was 99.34% at the end of July, 2023, with 70% generation from renewable sources. Nearly 10,000 electrification projects have been carried out over the last 15 years, benefiting 3,666,959 people through coverage that has expanded from 54% in 2007 to 99.34%.

The digital media outlet “EnergyPortal.eu” published an article on June 29 titled “Solar Energy in Nicaragua: Shining a Light on a Bright Future”, highlighting the Nicaragua’s development and use of solar energy. The article states that approximately 70% of electricity used in the country is from renewable sources, and solar energy has emerged as a key component in the nation’s quest for sustainable development.

On Jan. 19, Erving Barreda, head of the Nicaraguan Company of Aqueducts and Sewerage (ENACAL) reported that 92% of the population now has drinking water service, while in 2006 only 65% of homes had potable water. ENACAL continues the expansion of drinking water and sanitary sewerage and also its sustainability. This year 40 water projects were scheduled to be inaugurated.

The director of the government microloan Zero Usury Program, Leonor Corea, reported that between January and October of this year, US$65.7 million was provided to 136,000 women to install or expand small businesses in the 153 municipalities of the country, promoting female entrepreneurship and revitalization of the national economy. The Zero Usury Program is part of the Creative Economy Model in support of female entrepreneurship.

Another low interest credit program is the Program to Finance Production, Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses (ADELANTE). On Oct. 13, the Ministry of Family Economy published a report on the achievements of ADELANTE. Between January and October, 2023, US$15.2 million was loaned to 7,984 small producers to strengthen the quality and competitiveness of the products and services they offer. The ADELANTE program is also part of the Creative Economy Model.

In housing, Nicaragua stands out as well. From 2007 to date, the Sandinista government has built more than 130,000 homes. This year the plan has been to build more than 7,400 low-cost houses for the most vulnerable population. As of October, 6,050 houses had been completed benefitting 24,000 people.

As part of the National Development and Fight against Poverty Plan, the government has processed and delivered 656,000 property titles [at no cost] to their owners in the last 15 years, 392,000 in urban areas and 263,000 in rural areas. More than three million citizens have benefited from the legalization of their properties. Twenty-five Indigenous and Afro-descendant territories were demarcated, covering 38,426 square kilometers in 315 communities in the two Caribbean Autonomous Regions.

Nicaragua is one of the countries with greatest emphasis on preparation of the population to deal with natural disasters. On Sept. 28, two million people participated in the III National Preparedness Exercise to Protect Life in Multi-Hazard Situations. The population practiced more than 8,400 scenarios, under different hypotheses among them the impact of a hurricane in the Caribbean Coast, an earthquake causing a tsunami in the Pacific and landslides on Ometepe Island. To see photos of this exercise, click here: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/dos-mill ... simulacro/

The environment is a priority. More than two million forest and fruit trees were planted between May 10 and July 30 as part of the reforestation campaign called Green, I Want You Geen! carried out by the Forestry Institute. The trees have been planted in reserves, protected areas, parks, schools, and in the plots of the producer families. The campaign has established a total of 3,655 community and municipal nurseries, with a production capacity of 20 million plants. To see photos, go here: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/avanza-c ... restacion/

Through June 30th, of this year, 6,000 participants had enrolled in the 280 arts schools opened in different communities of the country: A total of 3,700 women and 2,300 men have participated. This strengthens citizen creativity and imagination through the artistic manifestations of Nicaragua culture. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/contabil ... -de-artes/

On November 6, 250 buses arrived from the People’s Republic of China. This is the second fleet of Chinese buses making a total of 500 buses. This second fleet of 250 units will be delivered to the different member cooperatives of the Urban Transportation Collective in the capital to modernize the public transportation system. Nicaragua has purchased more than 1,100 buses in the last two years under favorable loan conditions. Modernization of public transportation to create better and low-cost options for the population is becoming a reality.

Nicaragua is one of the countries in the region with the cheapest urban public transportation fares, according to a recent study by “Compare the Market,” carried out in 40 countries around the world. The study points out that the cost of the ticket in Nicaragua is 0.07 cents of a dollar, followed by Guatemala with 0.14 cents of a dollar, El Salvador is 0.30 cents of a dollar and Panama 0.40 cents of a dollar. The Nicaraguan government maintains a subsidy for public transportation that guarantees a low fare.

The Ministry of the Family provided economic production packages to 546 fishermen and women of the municipality of Corn Island, South Caribbean Coast, in order to ensure food for the families during the closed season for lobster fishing. Members of the Navy provided protection and security during the delivery.

The neo-liberal governments from 1990 to 2006 privatized or closed most of the child day care centers created by the Sandinista government during the 1980s. As a result, thousands of families faced the dilemma of finding care for their children. In the last 16 years, Child Development Centers (CDI) have multiplied and from the 32 that barely made it through the fateful 17 years of neo-liberal governments, they have grown to 276, all subsidized by the state with trained personnel, all with specific programs to instill values and knowledge in the children. These centers serve 16,500 children age six and under, who receive comprehensive care, food, weight and height monitoring, early stimulation and more. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/en-16-an ... 500-ninos/

For more information on recent advances in health see https://afgj.org/nicanotes-spectacular- ... th-in-2023

For more information on recent advances in education and culture see https://afgj.org/nicanotes-profound-adv ... nd-culture

For more information on recent advances in infrastructure see https://afgj.org/nicanotes-good-infrast ... ves-better

In January of 2024 more information will be available on the specifics of social programs that make the lives of millions of people better.

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

FAO to Adopt Resolution Wording against Sanctions from Nicaragua
The Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) approved the adoption of a paragraph presented by the government of Nicaragua on the impacts of coercive economic, financial and trade measures (sanctions) on world food security, in accordance with article 30 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In requesting a vote on the impact of coercive measures and rejecting attempts to manipulate and alter the text presented, FAO representative Monica Robelo referred to the billions of people facing food insecurity as a result of these actions. She said the measures impact the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 and 2, as well as food supply and international trade, shaking pillars of the world food system, which is in an already precarious condition. The paragraph will be in the Final Report of the 174th Session of the FAO Board under the theme “Challenges to global security and contributing factors,” an unprecedented outcome in the history of FAO’s Executive Body, and setting a precedent for future deliberations by recognizing the real impact of unilateral coercive measures. (La Primerisima, 8 December 2030)

Nicaragua Demands Climate Justice at COP 28 Summit
On Dec. 9 the government of Nicaragua denounced the repeated non-compliance by developed capitalist countries which continue to increase pollution and aggravate the climate crisis. During the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28) being held in Dubai, the Nicaraguan representative Valdrack Jaentschke, Minister Advisor for International Affairs, demanded that the developed nations fulfill their financial commitments including reparations, based on their historical responsibility, so that developing countries can face the socio-economic and environmental impacts of climate change.

The statement noted that Nicaragua has no historical responsibility for causing climate change, stating that the ten countries with the highest emissions in the world emit more than 83%, while Nicaragua emits less than 0.05% of global emissions. However, Nicaragua suffers consequences that reach 8% of its GDP. The statement went on to say that “it is essential that capitalist countries reduce emissions by at least 50% by 2030. According to the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, in 2023 there are more than three billion people threatened by climate change in the world, especially in Central America, island states and the African continent.

The Nicaraguan statement also referred to the war in Gaza saying, “We firmly express our support and solidarity with the Palestinian people whose cause is present in the global consciousness. Nicaragua recognizes the historic struggle and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to establish their independent State, according to the lines drawn in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

See the full Nicaragua statement: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/nicaragu ... re-cop-28/ (La Primerisima, 9 December, 2023)

2024 Budget Approved
On Dec. 6, the National Assembly approved the 2024 Annual General Budget. Deputy Wálmaro Gutiérrez, President of the Committee on Economic Affairs, Finance and Budget, stated that “the Assembly approved a US$3.8 billion budget that reflects a 27.1% growth over the previous year thanks to the sustained increase in tax revenue that allows the government to continue guaranteeing funds for public investment and social protection programs necessary for the fight against poverty and the fulfillment of the goals established in the National Human Development Plan.” Sixty-one percent of the 2024 national budget is allocated to social spending, an 8% increase over the 2023 budget. (Nicaragua News, 11 December 2023)

178 Houses of Culture and Creativity Opened
The Institute of Culture, the Rubén Darío National Theater, and municipalities, working together, have opened 178 Houses of Culture and Creativity throughout the country, spaces where courses in dance, drawing, painting, guitar, violin, choir, singing, marimba, modeling, mural painting, wicker and fiber handicrafts, among others, are taught. Recently the municipalities of Waspán and Yalagüina inaugurated Houses of Culture with the participation of local families. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/han-sido ... eatividad/

(La Primerisima, 7 December 2023)

Via Campesina Denounces Sanctions Against Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela
Via Campesina International has proclaimed that it supports Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba, which continue to face criminal sanctions, smear campaigns and attempted “regime change” promoted by the United States and the European Union. All these unilateral actions in violation of the framework of international law “mercilessly affect the most vulnerable populations and undermine our food sovereignty,” the group said in a statement. During its meeting in Bogota, Colombia, from December 1 to 8, 2023, Via Campesina recognized the great advances in Nicaragua’s sustainable development in the last 16 years saying that “The social policies implemented have consolidated full access to basic rights in health, education and food sovereignty, placing this country as one of the best in social investment in Central American. Nicaragua deserves to live and develop in peace after so much suffering from conflict and natural disasters.”

Via Campesina also recognized the unanimous support at the United Nations in November 2023 (187 votes in favor) to lift the blockade against Cuba imposed since 1962. In the statement the organization demanded the implementation of the will of the world to free this nation from the criminal actions of the economic, commercial and financial blockade. “We also demand the exclusion of Cuba from the list created by the United States called Terrorist Sponsor Countries,” the statement said. Likewise, Via Campesina members said they assume as their own the struggle of the Venezuelan people who have faced more than 900 commercial and financial sanctions, seizure of assets and resources abroad, in addition to countless diplomatic and military aggressions in recent years. (La Primerisima, 7 December 2023)

Nicaragua Continues to Be Among the Least Violent Countries in Latin America
Nicaragua is one of the Latin American and Caribbean nations with the lowest homicide rates, according to the Global Study on Homicide of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Twenty-seven percent of the 458,000 homicides registered in 2021 in the world, were committed in Latin America and the Caribbean, which for yet another year continued to be the most violent region on the planet. The report points out that Jamaica was, with 52.13 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, the country with the highest homicide rate, while Brazil, with 47,722 murders (11% of the world total), according to 2020 data, had the highest number in absolute figures. The highest homicide rate in Central America in 2021, that of Honduras, was seven times higher than that of Nicaragua. (Agencia EFE, La Primerisima, 8 December 2023)

Over 400 Inmates Complete Primary Education
More than 400 inmates serving sentences in the different prisons of the country received their diploma on Dec. 8 after concluding their primary education studies.

Rodrigo García, director of the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary Center, said that once they finish their primary education, the students are automatically enrolled in secondary education, as part of the educational continuity. Luz Avilés, director of literacy and primary education for young people and adults, said that this is one of the many programs of the government’s educational model. She said that this year more than 3,000 students are taking classes in all the Penitentiary Systems. In primary education, a total of 424 inmates are graduating in the nine Penitentiary Centers of the country, having access to education as if they were out of prison, making it easier for them to integrate into society with further studies in technical or university programs. Maria Elena Hernandez, thanked God and the government for making possible the opportunity to learn even while deprived of freedom. She wants to continue studying, regardless of her age. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/reos-con ... -primaria/

(La Primerisima, 8 December 2023)

https://afgj.org/nicanotes-nicaragua-20 ... l-advances

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Nicanotes: Today’s Nicaragua: “Jungle outposts” or AM-PMs?
January 11, 2024

Raul Sandelin in a San Diego filmmaker, journalist, and educator. He first went to Nicaragua in the 1980s to support the Sandinista revolution and worked on several projects between Matagalpa, San Ramon, and Mulukukú.


“NPR’s Eyder Peralta saw a different reality than I did. Peralta saw fear. I saw giggling schoolchildren running across the new pedestrian bridges that dot the highways. Peralta saw jungle outposts. I saw an AM-PM minimart and gas station franchise at what Hollywood might call a ‘jungle outpost.’” Photo: Raul Sandelin

DATELINE…Managua, Nicaragua (July 19, 1989) I was standing in the Plaza of the Revolution for the 10th anniversary of the Sandinista-led triumph over the Somoza dictatorship. The crowd spilled across the Plaza, in every direction, and down the side streets. I’d attended many stadium-size events in the U.S. and I remember estimating attendance in Managua around 100,000. For this reason, I was startled when I saw American newspapers declaring that attendance was low (Code for the Sandinistas are losing popularity). One paper even ran a photo of a scrappy, straggly crowd, a much smaller crowd than the one I stood amongst in Managua on July 19, 1989.

The accompanying headline asked, “Why so few people?” A snarky pun on the Sandinistas’ campaign slogan at the time. The photo was real and hadn’t been doctored. But, here’s the problem: It was taken an easy three hours BEFORE the Anniversary celebrations began! Unfortunately, the dominant image that the average American newspaper reader was left with was the anemic clusters of supporters who began to gather three hours early. This off-time (and tone deaf) photo from 1989 is a good metaphor for NPR’s September 2023 coverage of Nicaragua today.

The great jazz drummer Buddy Rich once said that the difference between brilliance and incompetence is only a fraction of a second. That is to say, the difference is split-second timing. So, if incompetence is determined in a fraction of a second, what would one call a photo that was taken three hours too early? Not the “money shot”!

This is a sampling error: Of all the photos taken in Managua that day, the U.S. major dailies chose to print a photo that was taken three hours too early. The photo wasn’t representative of the “reality of the event,” the fact that the event was attended by an overflow crowd of 100,000 plus.

It is not my intent here to teach Data Analysis or Journalism 101 to the producers of NPR’s Sunday Story. But their recent coverage of 2023 Nicaragua falls into the problems with “sampling errors” that the U.S. newspapers ran into in 1989.

In September 2023, NPR’s Sunday Story interviewed a Nicaraguan-American journalist Eyder Peralta about Peralta’s recent travels to his country of birth. Members of his family left Nicaragua for the U.S. during the U.S.-funded Contra War of the 1980s. In both Peralta’s NPR podcast interview and resulting transcript/article, he emphasizes that there is a pall of “fear” currently hanging over Nicaragua. He talks of slipping into the country via a “jungle outpost.” The transcript version included a poster of a kneeling person about to be executed by firing squad. (The poster is 50 years old from the early 1970s.) And just like the photo taken of the crowd in Managua in 1989, the timing was way off. But only the very astute insiders would notice. The NPR-listening public wouldn’t! The emotional damage was done: Nicaragua was a place filled with “fear” in 2023, according to NPR.

I’m not saying that NPR’s reporting is false. If NPR were to release 20 articles simultaneously, then the Peralta piece would help create a “total picture” as 20 different subjectivities coalesce to create something closer to the objectivity. (I’ll agree that Peralta’s reporting represents about 5% or 1/20th of the total Truth.) Unfortunately, there aren’t 20 media pieces about Nicaragua released simultaneously. Therefore, the duty of the Peralta’s journalism should be to be as objective as possible as a stand-alone! Instead of representing 5% of the Truth, he should be striving for some closer to 100%

Just as the photo taken in 1989 was REAL, I’ll trust that NPR’s “man in Managua” Eyder Peralta is reporting accurately what he saw and heard. All I can say is that I traveled to Nicaragua in August 2023, about the same time as Peralta. And what I saw was the complete OPPOSITE of NPR’s reporting. My eye-witness account is SO different from what NPR/Peralta observed that I’m forced to ask if we’re even talking about the same Nicaragua. (For the record, in August 2023, I visited the Nicaragua located in Central America, south of Honduras and north of Costa Rica.)


In contrast to the experience of NPR’s Raul Peralta, who said he had difficulty taking photos, Sandelin had no problems, taking 300 including of friendly police officers.

During my trip in August 2023, I traveled on buses, taxis, and private transport. I took over 300 photos…Evangelical preachers, friendly police officers, daily life in Mulukukú (another “jungle outpost”), volleyball games at the local gym, $12 lobster at a local restaurant, lots of political discussions with my extended family of 30ish on both sides of the Sandinista/opposition divide. I even took a photo of General Sandino INSIDE the international airport. (Peralta, a photo-journalist if I remember, had a hard time taking photos.) One of the things I didn’t do was see “Barbie” nor “Oppenheimer,” which were playing in the university town of Leon when I visited there.

Upon my return to the States, I felt compelled to write both Eyder Peralta and Sunday Story’s Ayesha Rascoe. Peralta sent me a polite, curt response and pointed out that 400,000 NIcas have left Nicaragua. He didn’t provide a time frame. Ms. Rascoe and the Sunday Story failed to respond.

Here are my letters:

Dear Mr. Peralta:
I listened to your appearance on NPR’s The Sunday Show and read the subsequent article. And I need to say that … I was in Nicaragua in Aug 2023 and had the completely opposite experience from what you had. (Please see attached samples of my Facebook posts.) Like you, I have strong family ties in Nicaragua and first visited the country 35 years ago. Also, like you, I have a large, extended family in Nicaragua, including family members on all sides of the political discussion. So, I’m fairly certain I got an “objective” view of the current state of the country…which, as I said, is the complete OPPOSITE of the impression you received. Most sincerely…
Raul Sandelin
PS- Also, I have 300 photos that I freely took in virtually every type of public space in the country. I’d be happy to share in the correct context!!!

Dear Ms Rascoe-
Would you be willing to let me or someone come on your show to provide some “journalistic balance” to your recent, very biased reporting on Nicaragua? Like the NPR journo Eyder Peralta, I too have longstanding personal and family ties to Nic. I vacationed in Nic in Aug 2023 (about the same time you interviewed Peralta). What I saw was the completely OPPOSITE of what Peralta saw. I traveled freely around the country, took 300 photos, including government facilities, and got lots of smiling hugs…even from the police (see pic). Let me know if NPR is serious about presenting accurate, unbiased reporting on Nicaragua. Most sincerely…Raul Sandelin

***

As I’ve said, Peralta saw a different reality than I did. Peralta saw fear. I saw giggling schoolchildren running across the new puentes peatonales (pedestrian bridges) that dot the highways. Peralta saw jungle outposts. I saw an AM-PM minimart and gas station franchise at what Hollywood might call a “jungle outpost.”

Another problem with NPR’s parallel-universe (parallel to mine!) is how Nicaragua reporting is framed and presented on NPR’s Sunday Story, a news program that both appeals to the Whole-Foods-Trust-Fund-Brat progs who listen to NPR while appeasing the Koch-Bro parents who created those Trust Funds and now help fund NPR, engaging the Gen Z Left while “getting tough on Communism” for Daddy.

This creates the scenario in which NPR-type news services have to say something bad about “Daniel Ortega,” the political Right’s singular straw man for a country of six million people. So just when NPR gets a little too bratty about gender pronouns and other “cultural issues,” the producers balance out their politics by sitting on Trust Fund Daddy’s lap to show that NPR can applaud the bombing of “Third World ” countries like the big Hawks.

Sandolin notes that churches are everywhere in Sandinista Nicaragua. Here is a Pentacostal preacher who boards the buses that stop in his small town. While people climb on and off, he gives a quick, two minute sermon before jumping off as the bus pulls away.


Sandolin notes that churches are everywhere in Sandinista Nicaragua. Here is a Pentacostal preacher who boards the buses that stop in his small town. While people climb on and off, he gives a quick, two minute sermon before jumping off as the bus pulls away.

Full disclosure…This isn’t my first Nicaraguan rodeo. I was an “international brigadista” in the 1980s, working around Matagalpa and Mulukukú. Some may say this proves my bias. But I would counter that I have a VERY objective view of the country I’ve been intimately tied to for 35 years. I’ve done a lot of soul searching during those 35 years. And I must admit: I had my doubts about the Sandinistas (FSLN) at times, especially during the years (1990-2007) when the opposition UNO was in power. The low point was when the FSLN made a pact -of-convenience with remnants of Somoza’s old “Liberal” party.

Now, make no mistake: The FSLN is back! And yes, my vacation to Nicaragua indeed felt like I was visiting a tropical version of Switzerland. (The new Nica roads BTW feel like the Autobahn.) Too bad NPR reported on “another” Nicaragua.

Yet alas, there is one other thing I didn’t get to do in Nicaragua (I already told you I missed the Barbiheimer outbreak in Leon)… and that is: I couldn’t buy a Snickers candy bar. (And I love Snickers bars!) So did the lady behind the counter. Remember the AM-PM minimart by the “jungle outpost” of Matiguas?

Well, the lady behind the counter at the AM-PM used to live in Boston. (After years in the States, she decided to move back to Nicaragua and work at an AM-PM in the jungle…all the while wearing a Boston Bruins hockey jersey, which sort of started the conversation because I like hockey.) And she loved Snickers bars! I laughed and said, “You’re one of the supposed 400,000 who escaped ‘Daniel’s Dungeon’?”

“Yes, but I’ve decided to return!”

“So have I,” I said.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

Nicaragua Joins South Africa’s Israel Case at World Court
Nicaragua along with Bolivia and Venezuela have joined South Africa’s genocide lawsuit against Israel for the war in Gaza. The Nicaraguan statement says, “Nicaragua considers that the legal action against Israel at the ICJ is a concrete step in compliance with the legal obligations that each state party to the Genocide Convention has the right and duty to take, and is also the first step towards accountability before the international community. As a State Party to the Genocide Convention, Nicaragua urges Israel to fulfill its obligations under International Law and to immediately cease its military assault against the Palestinian People. Nicaragua also calls for an end to the occupation and for the establishment of conditions for a lasting and permanent solution that respects the 1967 borders with a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.” See the official Nicaraguan government statement: https://www.tortillaconsal.com/bitacora/node/3292 and in Spanish: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/gobierno ... ra-israel/ (La Primerisima, 9 January 2024, Tortilla con Sal)

Nicaragua Has Best Structure for Investment
The former president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), Dante Mossi said last week that, in practical terms, Nicaragua for many years has had the best structure to implement investment projects.

In a publication through his social networks, Mossi stated that Nicaragua is a partner of CABEI and an owner of 10.6% of the total shares. This entitles the country to an estimated US$600 to US$800 million per year in development loans. Mossi explained that the active portfolio is disbursed in a well-planned and financially ordered manner, with a very strong fiduciary filter, which avoids contracting with counterparties prohibited by international sanctions regimes. The object of the financing is to improve the lives of the general population. Mossi described a visit to a road project in the area of El Crucero municipality, in the Department of Managua, where a village was built adjacent to the road. Mossi said, “I asked a neighbor of the area who was waiting for the bus, what impact the road project had had for him, and he told me: “it changed my life.” This gentleman told him that before the execution of the project he lived in a precarious house and that now it is made of brick and cement, with access to electricity, water, sanitation, and transportation.

Mossi also recalled that he went to the city of Leon, where he visited what is one of the largest hospitals in the region and which has many specialties, evidently referring to the Oscar Danilo Rosales Hospital. He noted that a private businessman told him that his preference was this public hospital. He added that during a tour of Panama he was very surprised when he met a contractor who greeted him and congratulated him because CABEI was supporting Nicaragua’s rural electrification projects, and that Nicaragua became the second country in the region with the greatest attention to citizens providing them with electricity service.

Among his other anecdotes, he tells of his first experience in Nicaragua in 2003, when he worked at the World Bank. On that occasion and after a day’s work, he came to see Lake Managua and upon seeing the beautiful aquifer, he lowered the window of the car and was appalled by the foul smell coming from this natural wonder. However, he said that he returned to Managua in 2019 as president of CABEI for a meeting. In the evening, he visited a restaurant located on the shore of the same lake and detected no bad smell, but a refreshing breeze in the heat of Managua. One of his companions told him that many things had changed in Nicaragua and that CABEI has contributed to this. Several sanitation plants were installed to ensure that the lake did not receive raw sewage from Managua’s sewers and this restored dignity to the lake that bathes the city and the Momotombo volcano. (La Primerisima, 5 January 2024)

Pablo Ubeda Hospital Opens in Juigalpa
On Jan. 5 the people of Boaco, Chontales, Río San Juan, Zelaya Central and Bluefields will receive their new hospital. It is modern, fully equipped with state-of-the-art technology, and will function also as a Medical Clinic administered by the Ministry of Health in the city of Juigalpa. The hospital has been named after the legendary Sandinista guerrilla Pablo Úbeda, which was the nom de guerre of Rigoberto Cruz, who was born in 1941 in La Libertad, Chontales, and fell in combat in the Battle of Pancasán on August 27, 1967. With an investment by the Sandinista Government of 581 million córdobas, the Comandante Pablo Úbeda Hospital has 80 beds, an outpatient building, diagnostic and emergency areas, two operating rooms, and an intensive care unit, among others. It also has state-of-the-art equipment for laparoscopic surgeries, ultrasound, X-rays, mammography, electromyography, endoscopy, colonoscopy, electrocardiography, and others. The new hospital will serve more than 53,500 people from Boaco, Chontales, Río San Juan, Zelaya Central and Bluefields. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/este-vie ... -juigalpa/
(La Primerisima, 4 January 2024)

Advances in the Use of Braille
David Lopez, national president of the Maricela Toledo Organization of the Blind of Nicaragua, said that the progress in the use of the Braille system in Nicaragua is significant. As of 2021, teachers who graduate from teacher training schools graduate with knowledge about the Braille System. Speaking as part of the commemoration of World Braille Day on January 4, Lopez explained that teachers also have the preparation to serve students with visual impairment in their own communities. Lopez said that, as of June 30, 2023, the government created the Carlos Fonseca Training Center for Public Servants, where teachers receive continuing education on issues related to people with disabilities, including basic knowledge of the Braille System. He said that it is important because it allows the public servants to know the reality of people with disabilities. (La Primerisima, 4 January 2024)

20,000 High School Students Pre-Registered at UNAN-Managua
The National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) in Managua now has more than 20,000 high school graduates pre-registered online for the academic year 2024. This year, UNAN Managua has 16,750 spots for students in the 73 specialties that make up the educational offer. The aptitude test evaluating the skills and knowledge of prospective students is scheduled for January 19, 2024 and the results of the admission process will be announced on February 2nd. UNAN Managua offers specialties including Environmental, Civil, and Industrial Engineering; Industrial Chemistry; Pharmacy; Psychology; Banking and Finance; Public Accounting; Business Administration; Tourism and Hotel Administration; and Agricultural Economics, among others. A highlight is that the education at this institution is completely free, thus providing equal opportunities for access to higher education. (La Primerisima, 8 January 2024)

Backpacks and Materials Ready for 2024 School Year
Vice President Rosario Murillo reported on Jan. 8 that the government is ready to start distributing backpacks and school materials for the 2024 educational cycle which begins soon. These will go to approximately one million students. Sixty thousand briefcases and other materials will go to teachers. Murillo explained that the school kits contain pencils, pens, colored pencils, erasers, notebooks, blocks, glue, cards, everything that is required for classes. (La Primerisima, 8 January 2024)

Tourism Grew in 2023
The Nicaragua Tourism Board (INTUR) reported that 1.1 million tourists visited the country in 2023, contributing US$600 million to the national economy, an 18.1% increase over the previous year. INTUR Co-director Anasha Campbell stated that “the results obtained reflect the level of recovery and growth that Nicaragua tourism is experiencing. This is largely due to an increase in the quantity and quality of the national offer and the expansion of air connectivity to Nicaragua.” (Nicaragua News, 9 January 2024)

Promoting Greater Female Entrepreneurship
The director of the government microloan program called Zero Usury, Leonor Corea, reported that, in 2023, US$73 million was provided to 156,500 women to install or expand small businesses in the 153 municipalities of the country, promoting female entrepreneurship and thus expanding the contribution of the program to the revitalization of the national economy. The Zero Usury program is part of the Plan to Strengthen Productive and Organizational Capabilities of the Creative Economy Model, that the government is implementing in support of female entrepreneurship. (Nicaragua News, 9 January 2024)

Government to Build 428 Sports Infrastructure Projects
During 2024 the government will execute 428 projects to promote sports and recreation, including construction of new facilities and rebuilding of existing sports facilities. A report details that among the projects to be built, improved or repaired are 153 stadiums, 119 sports courts, 20 multipurpose sports centers, 77 sports fields, 13 gymnasiums, 29 sports centers, 6 swimming pools and water parks. Eleven plots of land will also be acquired to build new sports facilities. To see the complete list go to: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/gobierno ... e-en-2024/ (La Primerisima, 8 January 2024)

President Ortega Has Highest Approval Rating in Recent Years
The administration of President Daniel Ortega’s government reached the highest approval in recent years with 83.4%, according to the latest opinion poll released on Jan. 8 by the firm M&R Consultores. According to the company, Ortega has sustained a growth in the citizens’ approval, highlighting as positive the public policies promoted during his administration. “President Ortega in his second year, during his first term, in December 2008, had 34.5% approval; then in his second term, in December 2013, he had 65.3%, increasing by 30 points; in December 2018, despite the attempted coup, he remained at 54.6%, lower than the second term, down a few points, but he is always above 50%. And today in the second year of his fourth period, his approval rating is 83.4%, that is, it is the best rated government period of the last 30 years of the country,” highlighted Obregón, head of M&R Consultores. The poll indicated that 87.3% consider that the Ortega government works for the interests of the population in general and that 84.3% consider that the President seeks unity and reconciliation among Nicaraguans. (La Primerisima, 9 January 2024)

https://afgj.org/nicanotes-todays-nicar ... 3ff8685438

[blindpig]

NicaNotes: New House Resolution Would Annul the Monroe Doctrine!
January 18, 2024
By Katherine Hoyt

Katherine Hoyt was National Co-Coordinator of the Nicaragua Network and the Alliance for Global Justice for many years before her retirement. She is now on the board of the Alliance for Global Justice.


In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. It stated that the United States could become involved in a Latin American country’s internal affairs in cases of what the US judged as “wrongdoing” by that Latin American country. Cartoon by William Allen Rogers 1904.

On the 200th anniversary of its announcement to the US Congress by President James Monroe, Representative Nydia Velasquez (D-NY) introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for the annulment of the Monroe Doctrine. This Doctrine, as Rep. Velasquez’ stated, has been used to justify American intervention in Latin American affairs throughout the policy’s history. The Doctrine, issued by President Monroe on Dec. 2, 1823, stated that any interference in the Americas by a European power would be viewed as a hostile act by the United States. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt added the Roosevelt Corollary, which stated that the United States could become involved in a Latin American country’s internal affairs in cases of what the US judged as “wrongdoing” by that Latin American country.

House Resolution 943 is also co-sponsored by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) Jesus Chuy Garcia (D-IL), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), and Greg Casar (D-TX). Rep. Casar said in the press release announcing the resolution, “U.S. foreign policy has too often contributed to instability in Latin America. Instead of toppling duly-elected governments, we can support democracy, grow our economies, and reduce forced migration. Instead of sanctions that starve our neighbors, we can work together to solve the climate crisis. We can begin charting this new way forward by eliminating the outdated Monroe Doctrine.”

The action alert put out by World Beyond War, says “Imagine what you think the text of this resolution probably says…. It’s better than that.” And it is!

In a series of “Whereas,” the Resolution traces the history of US intervention in Latin America from the annexation of Texas and of over half of Mexican territory in the 1840s to the 2019 right-wing coup in Bolivia. The longest paragraph covers the period in the 1980s when the United States funded genocide in Guatemala, murderous paramilitary death squads in El Salvador, and the violent contras trying to overthrow the revolutionary Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

The Resolution then says, “be it resolved that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that… the Department of State should formally confirm that the Monroe Doctrine is no longer a part of United States policy toward Latin American and the Caribbean; [and] in place of the Monroe Doctrine, the Federal Government should develop a ‘New Good Neighbor’ policy, designed to foster improved relations and deepen more effective cooperation with all the countries of the hemisphere.”

The Resolution calls for a new approach to promoting development based on a respect for the integrity of the sovereign economic development plans of the region’s governments. The United States has supported many coups in Latin America and the Caribbean because US leaders found a country’s development plans to be “socialist” or in another way offensive to the US government.

And, among other measures, the Resolution calls for “terminating all unilateral economic sanctions imposed through Executive orders, and working with Congress to terminate all unilateral sanctions mandated by law, such as the Cuba embargo.” The United States has imposed sanctions on many countries around the globe. This would end those imposed by the President and mandate the President to work with Congress to eliminate those resulting from laws Congress has passed, such as the infamous NICA Act which has prevented Nicaragua from receiving loans from international financial institutions.

Another measure calls for “proceeding with the prompt declassification of all United States Government archives that relate to past coups d’état, dictatorships, and periods in the history of Latin American and Caribbean countries that are characterized by a high rate of human rights crimes perpetrated by security forces.” Declassification would enable us to learn more detail about US support for coups and attempted coups in the distant past as well as more recent ones such as the golpes that overthrew Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in 2009 and Bolivian President Evo Morales in 2019, as well as the attempted coup against Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua in 2018.

Further measures included in the Resolution promote collaboration with Latin American and Caribbean governments on a far-reaching reform of the Organization of American States and support democratic reforms to the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and other international financial institutions. These are reforms that progressives have been demanding for many years. The Resolution also calls for the creation of trust fund under the UN to support climate action in developing countries with recurrent contributions from the United States to that fund. The obligation of the rich industrialized countries who caused global warming to help the rest of the world adapt has been continually voiced by Nicaragua at world forums.

HR 943 has been sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, presumably to the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. The members of that subcommittee are Maria Salazar (R-FL), Mark Green (R-TN), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Waren Davidson (R-OH), Keith Self (R-TX), John James (R-MI), Ranking Minority Member Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). If your Representative sits on that subcommittee, make a special point of contacting them.

The Resolution will need additional co-sponsors in order to make any progress in the House of Representatives. Please contact your Representative asking them to co-sponsor this important Resolution. It is rare that there is a measure before Congress that we can wholeheartedly back and we should pull out all the stops to build awareness of and support for the Resolution! The World Beyond War action alert was endorsed by Code Pink and Roots Action. We will work to bring other groups to work on supporting the Resolution which would bring a major change to US Foreign Policy if it were to pass!



Click here to ask your Representative to co-sponsor HR 943 and get rid of the Monroe Doctrine! https://afgj.salsalabs.org/endmonroenowaction

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

Nicaragua Receives Worldwide Recognition for Health Care System
The Pan American Health Organization, continental affiliate of the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) selected Nicaragua from among 24 countries to receive a plaque of international recognition. An official note says that the recognition by the United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Non-Communicable Diseases is for its outstanding contribution towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals through its health services as part of the Family and Community Health Model (MOSAFC). The letter from the PAHO/WHO representative, Dr. Ana Elena Chévez, notes that “we reiterate our congratulations and PAHO’s willingness to continue supporting you in the implementation of the Digital Health Project to increase the abilities of the programmatic components, including the approach to Non-Communicable Diseases by the health services.” Nicaragua was selected from among 24 countries that applied, thanks to its leadership in working with the population, its demonstrated capacity to mobilize resources and general and specialized knowledge. The award also noted the challenges faced, the obstacles overcome, and the innovative approach of Nicaragua’s strategy which serves as an example to other countries. The Ministry of Health will receive the Plaque on Jan. 18 in a special ceremony. (La Primerisima,16 January 2024)

Students and Teachers Celebrate 17 Years of Free Education
More than one hundred schools in the Department of Managua participated on Jan. 11 in a carnival of joy in celebration of Education Day in Nicaragua. Students and Teachers began their tour at the Rigoberto López Pérez school, ending at the university traffic circle. The technology advisor of the Ministry of Education (MINED) in District One, Sergio Aguilar, said that the 17 years of triumphs in quality education and restoration of rights are also being celebrated. He recalled that the government has guaranteed different education programs in the countryside and mentioned the implementation of English language instruction, among others. In the rest of the country, similar activities are being developed in the different educational centers. [Note: In the neoliberal period from 1990 to 2006, fees were charged for public primary and secondary education as mandated by the IMF. When the FSLN returned to government after the elections of 2006, those fees were eliminated just in time for the new school year in February 2007. School enrollment went from 700,000 to over 1,000,000 in a matter of days. There were not enough classrooms and classes were held under trees and in any space available until more classrooms could be built.] See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/estudian ... educacion/ (La Primerisima, 11 January 2024)

In 17 years, the Sandinista Government Has Built 35 Technical Centers
Enrollment has increased in the government’s technical education centers around the country from 48,000 in 2006 to a current average of 520,000 students per year, of which 68% are women. INATEC reports that between 2007 and 2023 progress was made in expanding coverage in the countryside and in cities, with new modalities of technological training for young people and adults for work and life. The courses are free of charge. There are 35 new centers, offering 77 technical specialties in 2023 in on-site and virtual modalities. The first training center for teachers of technical education was opened and to date 14,171 teachers have been trained. A virtual training platform was created offering nine technical specialties and 40 online courses. As for the Municipal Schools of Trades and Technical Schools in the countryside, 691,183 participants have attended. Progress has been made in strengthening the technical, administrative and entrepreneurial capacities of 1,693,571 women in the Zero Usury program. Bilingual technical training is for students who learn English at the same time as they pursue their careers; to date, 31,000 students have been trained in this program. Likewise, national platforms have been created such as hackathon Nicaragua and INNOVATEC Innovation Center, which specialize in promoting the talent of 280,000 young people in innovation, entrepreneurship and good use of technologies. (La Primerisima, 11 January 2024)

Since 2007, Children Have Been at the Center of Social Policies
As part of the restoration of rights promoted by the Sandinista government in the last 17 years, there are currently 276 Child Development Centers (CDI) that attend to the needs of some 16,900 children under six years of age. Until 2006, there were only 32 CDIs in some departments. A Ministry of the Family (MIFAMILIA) report notes that under a national policy for early childhood care, the Ministry has made 700,000 home visits to promote the participation of families in the program for the integral development of children under six. Family counseling centers were created, which did not exist during the neoliberal governments, serving 315,895 people from 2007 to 2023.

The number of children in orphanages has been reduced. In 2006, there were 6,803 children and adolescents living in orphanages, principally due to poverty. Starting in 2007, the government implemented the strategy of loving return, reintegrating minors and adolescents with family members. Currently only 311 children are in 10 special protection centers. Likewise, the emergency telephone line 133 was installed for free 24/7 attention, providing information and guidance to one million people in 17 years of uninterrupted attention. Child support payments have increased, achieving the payment of US$13.3 million by 2023, benefitting 62,627 children and adolescents, compared to 2006, when only 17,558 children and adolescents were assisted. Last year, 20,107 specialized psychological services were provided to children and adolescents in situations of sexual violence, bereavement, depression, or vulnerability. This was not done by the neoliberal governments. 190,326 children were registered in the civil registry through the Right to a Name Program. Until 2007, there were no national strategies to promote harmony and family unity. Starting in 2020, the government has promoted the dissemination of 16 booklets for harmonious living, reaching more than two million people through MIFAMILIA in neighborhoods around the country. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/desde-20 ... -sociales/ (La Primerisima, 16 January 2024)

Agricultural and Livestock Production has Doubled since 2007
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) reported that in 17 years of the Sandinista government, the country has achieved food security with increased food production. According to a report, from 2006 to 2023, agricultural production grew 112.5%. Agriculture grew 125.9% and livestock production grew 99.0%. Nicaragua went from subsistence agriculture to an agriculture that supplies domestic markets and has agro-export capacity. The production of basic grains in the last 17 years has grown 39%, driven by the growth of 118% in the production of red beans and 119% in rice. Agro-export items show an average growth of 111.4%, with the largest increases in the production of peanuts, coffee, bananas, tobacco, cocoa and African palm. Production of vegetables has grown by 270.5% compared to the 2010/2011 cycle, with tomato, cabbage, carrot and potato showing significant growth. Over the last 17 years root and tuber production has grown by an average of 82.4%, driven by higher volumes of cassava. Similarly, beef production grew 78% with respect to 2006; milk production and collection in industrial and artisanal plants grew 121% and 171%, respectively; domestic pork production grew 118%, mainly due to small-scale production. Poultry production has grown by 85% in meat production and 60% in egg production. (La Primerisima, 13 January 2024)

Vatican receives 2 Bishops, 15 priests and 2 seminarians from Nicaragua
On January 14, the Nicaraguan Government issued the following press release. The unofficial translation is from Tortilla con Sal.

The Presidency of the Republic, the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity and the People of Nicaragua, express deep thanks to the Holy Father Pope Francis, the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, its Titular Cardinal His Most Reverend Eminence Pietro Parolin and his Work Team for the very respectful and discreet coordination carried out to make possible the journey to the Vatican of two bishops, fifteen priests and two seminarians.

The list of these people is as follows:

1. BISHOP ROLANDO JOSÉ ÁLVAREZ LAGOS
2. BISHOP ISIDORO DEL CARMEN MORA ORTEGA
3. OSCAR JOSÉ ESCOTO SALGADO
4. JADER DANILO GUIDO ACOSTA
5. PABLO ANTONIO VILLAFRANCA MARTÍNEZ
6. CARLOS JOSÉ AVILÉS CANTON
7. HÉCTOR DEL CARMEN TREMINIO VEGA
8. MARCOS FRANCISCO DIAZ PRADO
9. FERNANDO ISAÍAS CALERO RODRÍGUEZ
10. SILVIO JOSÉ FONSECA MARTÍNEZ
11. MIKEL SALVADOR MONTERREY ARIAS
12. RAÚL ANTONIO ZAMORA GUERRA
13. MIGUEL AGUSTÍN MANTICA CUADRA
14. JHADER ANTONIO HERNÁNDEZ URBINA
15. GERARDO JOSÉ RODRÍGUEZ PÉREZ
16. ISMAEL REINEIRO SERRANO GUDIEL
17. JOSÉ GUSTAVO SANDINO OCHOA
18. TONNY DANIEL PALACIO SEQUEIRA
19. ALESTER DE JESÚS SÁENZCENTENO

They have already been received by Vatican authorities, in compliance with Agreements of Good Faith and Goodwill, which seek to promote understanding and improve communication between the Holy See and Nicaragua, for peace and good.

We acknowledge frank, direct, prudent and very serious, responsible and careful dialogue, which has made it possible to arrive at this day of praise to the God of all, who enlightens and guides us to continue cultivating trust and to increase, out of faith, tranquility of spirit and the right to justice and the life of Nicaragua’s families.

Managua, January 14, 2024
Government of Reconciliation
and National Unity, Republic of Nicaragua

Background from NicaNotes: Bishop Rolando Alvarez was tried and sentenced in February 2023 for money laundering, conspiracy and treason for undermining national integrity, and propagation of false news through information and communication technologies to the detriment of the State and Nicaraguan society. Radio stations and TV channels in Matagalpa run by Álvarez since 2016 received US funding that was channeled for the undermining of the government. Despite government warnings that these activities were in violation of the law as well as their status as religious media, Alvarez never closed the channels down or ceased his destabilizing efforts. Eventually, seven radio stations and two TV channels were closed for legal violations in 2022 by Telcor, the entity that regulates communications. Alvarez, along with two other bishops were important leaders in directing and encouraging the 2018 US-backed coup attempt. He has been given the opportunity at least two other times to leave the country, but hasn’t gone, until now; directed to leave by the pope.

Many Catholic churches were directly involved in the 2018 coup attempt. Priests openly supported the violence and even in some cases were present at torture sessions. Catholic church leaders, especially members of the hierarchy like Bishop Alvarez, were part of the coup leadership. Even before the coup, sermons were used to give anti-government messages to encourage people to act against the government. Many priests allowed the opposition to use their churches as headquarters as well as to store weapons, food, cash and stolen items such as medicines. This has badly affected the church’s standing in Nicaragua amongst ordinary people, naturally. And the numbers of people who declare themselves Catholic has been reduced.

A sector of Catholic churches including clergy and Catholic agencies in Nicaragua, as well as the Vatican, also actively supported the US backed contra war. The Reagan administration was determined to destroy liberation theology since it provided support for the revolution. Reagan’s propagandists lied repeatedly about “persecution” of religion in Nicaragua. Anyone who was in Nicaragua at the time knows this. Those same lies have been revived today: “They persecute religion” is just one of Washington’s inventions to try to destroy the revolution.

During the revolution there was a struggle within the Catholic Church between proponents of liberation theology with a special option for the poor, on one hand, and the conservatives with a special option for the rich and powerful. The church was and still is politicized. The Sandinista government is continuing to resist and defend itself from imperialism including defending itself from a weaponized church.

Departmental Hospital in Ocotal to Be Finished this Semester
Representatives of the Ministry of Health made a site visit to evaluate progress in the construction of the Departmental Hospital in Ocotal municipality, Department of Nueva Segovia. The new 25,000 square meter hospital is 95% completed and will become fully operational in the first semester of this year, benefiting 279,000 inhabitants in 12 municipalities. The US$72 million-dollar project is being financed through the General Budget, with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). (La Primerisima 12 January 2024)

New León Stadium Will Be a Gift to Mothers
The construction of the new baseball stadium in the City of León, which will be named after Rigoberto López Pérez, is scheduled to be completed on May 30, after 29 months of work that began in January 2022. Vice President Rosario Murillo reported that the stadium currently in operation, called Héroes y Mártires de Septiembre, will be used for alternate games. “The new stadium is big, beautiful, and was built to the standards of the Major Leagues so that national or international championship games can be held there,” she said. The new stadium will have 4 levels, a capacity for 6,371 seats, 17 special boxes, radio and television transmission booths, electronic timekeeper and messenger, fire prevention system, lighting system, automatic irrigation system for natural grass and parking for more than 600 vehicles. It will provide all the necessary facilities for the organization of world-class events. With an investment of more than US$32,4 million, its construction has generated more than 300 direct jobs and more than 1,500 indirect jobs. See Photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/nuevo-es ... -leonesas/ (La Primerisima, January 11 2024)

Achievements of ADELANTE Program in 2023
On Jan. 9, the Ministry of Family Economy published a report on achievements of the Program to Finance Production, Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses (ADELANTE) in 2023. The report states that last year US$18 million in support was provided to 11,000 small producers and entrepreneurs to strengthen the quality and competitiveness of products and services they offer in rural and urban areas of the country. The ADELANTE program is part of the Creative Economy Model being implemented by the government to promote integral economic development in Nicaragua. (Nicaragua News, 10 January 2024)

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I am always bemused when admonished to contact 'my' representative in DC. I live in South Carolina, you gotta be kidding.

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NicaNotes: We must stop new sanctions on Nicaragua from advancing in Congress!
January 24, 2024
By Jill Clark-Gollub

Jill Clark-Gollub organizes study delegations to Nicaragua and has published in outlets including COHA, Popular Resistance, and Alliance for Global Justice


Cutting off loans to Nicaragua from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), as the new sanctions bill seeks to do, would cut funding for new hospitals such as this one in Chinandega. (Photo: CABEI)

The deceptively named Restoring Sovereignty and Human Rights Act is advancing through Congress. Designed to do the exact opposite of promoting sovereignty or human rights, it must be stopped.

We must urge legislators not to impose such collective punishment on the Nicaraguan people, which will hurt the most vulnerable and exacerbate migration.

Senate Bill 1881 was filed by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) in June 2023. It will likely be discussed in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before mid-February. Its companion, House Bill, H.R.6954, was filed on January 11th and has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The legislation would:

Work with bank member countries to curtail lending to Nicaragua from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) – the only bank still lending to Nicaragua in amounts that help development.
Ban some imports into the United States of Nicaraguan beef, coffee, and gold.
Initiate measures to remove Nicaragua from the regional free trade agreement, DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement).
Prohibit new US investment in Nicaragua.
Impacts of sanctions

The US government has illegally imposed unilateral coercive measures (a.k.a. sanctions) on some 40 countries around the world, in which one-third of humanity lives. Whole populations are ultimately denied access to the necessities of life, such as adequate food, clean water, medicines, and fuel. The most vulnerable citizens – children, the elderly, the sick and the poor – are most heavily impacted.

Ever increasing sanctions on Nicaragua could lead to situations such as that of Venezuela, with 40,000 excess deaths in just one year due to the US blockade of its oil sector. In Cuba, the people are suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in their history from the ever tightening 60-year blockade.

The NICA Act, imposed in 2018, already caused Nicaragua to lose over $1.4 billion between 2018 and 2021, amounting to 90% of its funding from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the International Monitory Fund (IMF). This has impacted development of the Caribbean coast, school lunch programs for vulnerable children, child development programs, access to safe drinking water in rural areas and much more.

From 2018-2022 Nicaragua saw its IDB loans fall by $131 million annually, money which would have enabled the country to build 265 kilometers of roads and four hospitals, and to improve drinking water systems in two main cities. CABEI has been picking up the slack, so the US Congress is now pressuring this bank to withhold loans to Nicaragua. And the US does not even hold membership in CABEI while Nicaragua holds 10.6% of shares.

What we must do

Now is the time for US-based friends of the Nicaraguan people who care about peace and justice to tell their members of Congress to vote NO on S.1881 and H.R.6954!

1.Find your representative here and your senators here and call them. When you call, ask to speak with the aide who handles foreign policy. If the foreign policy aide is not available, ask to leave a message on his or her voice-mail. Here is a sample script (even better if you put this in your own words):

My name is _______ and I am a constituent from (town/city), in (your state). I want senator or representative _______ to vote NO on Senate bill 1881/ H.R.6954 that would impose further sanctions on the people of Nicaragua. Unilateral coercive measures are illegal under international law and have been extensively proven to cause suffering and death among the most vulnerable people—children, the elderly, the sick, and the poor. The measures do not improve conditions in the targeted countries, they negatively impact human rights, and they exacerbate migration. For these reasons and more, I urge you to vote NO on S.1881 or H.R.6954. Thank you.

Email your representative (here) and your senators (here). You could use the above paragraph and add the following detail:
S.1881/H.R.6954 would ban some gold, coffee, and beef exports from Nicaragua to the United States, which could impact thousands of jobs in Nicaragua, destabilize the economy, and force people to migrate. Measures to expel Nicaragua from the DR-CAFTA trade agreement and exclude it from financing at the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, could not be accomplished without violating the law and interfering in the sovereign decisions of other Central American countries. Those countries would also likely be destabilized by disruption of the Nicaraguan economy. For these reasons and more, I urge you to vote NO on S.1881 or H.R.6954. Thank you.

Request a meeting by contacting the office of your Senator or Representative.
Sign here to tell Congress to support the House Resolution to Annul the Monroe Doctrine, including its call for the elimination of all unilateral economic sanctions.
Write to the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition here to join our efforts to stop further sanctions.
Share this message with all your contacts and encourage them to tell Congress to Vote NO on S.1881/H.R.6954!
______________________________________________________________________________________

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

Government Boosts Caribbean Coast Development
In the last 17 years, the Sandinista government has strengthened the development model for the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast and the Upper Wangki and Bocay. In 2006, there was no plan of attention and development for this area of the country. The Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples did not have legal title to their lands. In 2007, Nicaraguan authorities formulated a development strategy for the region. In recognition of their ancestral rights, 37,252.91 sq. km. were demarcated and titled, representing 31.4% of national territory. Since 2007, after the demarcation and titling of the 23 Indigenous and Afro-descendant territories, the governance of the territorial governments has been strengthened. The Miskitu and Mayangna Indigenous peoples who live along the banks of the Wangki and Bocay rivers were also forgotten peoples. It was not until 2007 that President Daniel Ortega decreed the creation of the Special Development Regime for Executive Attention to the Miskitu Indian Tasbaika Kum, Mayangna Sauni Bu and Kipla Sait Tasbaika Indigenous Territories, located in the Upper Wangki and Bokay River Basin. Before 2007, there were no public defenders for Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants. Currently there are 16 accredited and certified public defenders to accompany the judicial processes of the traditional authorities. (La Primerisima, 17 January 2024)

Regional Elections a Conquest of Caribbean Peoples
Magistrate Brenda Rocha, president of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), announced that conditions are in place to hold Regional Elections on the Caribbean Coast on Sunday, March 3. Rocha said that the regional elections are a conquest of the historical struggle of the Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples. She said that the people of the Caribbean coast will elect 45 councilpersons in the North and South Caribbean, each one with their respective alternates. She added that 745 voting boards (polling stations) have been set up which are located in 310 voting centers (usually schools) in those regions. (La Primerisima, 19 January 2023)

Half Million Women Receive Loans from Zero Usury
The Sandinista Government launched the Zero Usury Program on July 17, 2007, to grant loans at interest rates of 5% per year to women organized in “solidarity groups” with at least five members. This in itself was revolutionary because for the first time since 1990, women had the possibility of accessing credit under favorable conditions, with easy terms, low installments and without offering property as collateral. Before 2007, what had been operating in the country were private banks, private microfinance companies and loan sharks, with usurious interest rates and loans granted with collateral, which were seized if payments were not made. As of January 10, 2024, the Zero Usury Program has provided loans to 548,000 women in 5,400 neighborhoods and communities in 144 municipalities throughout the country. In total, the women, organized in Solidarity Groups, have received 1,715,800 loans. The loans range between US$270 and US$1,350. The Sandinista Government has allocated an average of US$25.3 million each year for the Zero Usury Program. In total, in 17 years, the Program has placed loans for US$417.2 million. (La Primerisima, 22 January 2024)

Foreign Trade Increased by 247% from 2007 to 2023
The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Development (MIFIC) presented a report on advances in Nicaraguan foreign trade from 2007 to 2023. The report highlights that over the last 16 years Nicaragua has gone from three Free Trade Agreements in force to 13 bilateral and multilateral trade agreements in 2023. The report added that foreign trade registered a 247% growth during that period, going from US$2.13 billion in 2007 to US$7.4 billion last year. MIFIC Minister Jesús Bermúdez noted that “since 2007 to the close of last year, Nicaragua has diversified its destination markets going from 8 to 14. Likewise, the main exportable product list has grown from 8 products to 15.” (Nicaragua News, 19 January 2024)

Gross International Reserves Have Grown 21.1%
On Jan. 15 the Central Bank (BCN) published the monetary report corresponding to December 2023 which states that Gross International Reserves (GIR) were US$5.45 billion as of December 31, an increase of 21.1% compared to the same month in 2022. (Nicaragua News, 16 January 2024)

IMF Highlights Sound Economic Policies
On Jan. 19 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published its executive board evaluation report pertaining to the Article IV Consultation, which measures the current standing and economic prospects of the country. The report noted that Nicaragua’s economy has remained resilient in the face of multiple shocks, supported by appropriate economic policies, substantial buffers, and multilateral support. “After a very strong rebound in 2021, the economy grew at a steady pace since 2022 and is expected to grow by 4% in 2023. Inflation is declining, and the government is maintaining a small surplus and healthy government deposits. Remittances are projected to reach 28% of GDP at the end of 2023, double their 2021 end level. Likewise, foreign exchange inflows and prudent macroeconomic policies contributed to a rapid accumulation of gross international reserves totaling US$5 billion by end of October of last year.” The IMF recognizes that the Nicaragua Government has taken steps to strengthen governance and anticorruption frameworks, adopting measures that enhance fiscal transparency. It recommends continued effective application of the AML/CFT anti money laundering/combatting the financing of terrorism framework, to ensure the country fares well in the next evaluation round after being removed from the “gray list” in 2022.
(Nicaragua News, 22 January 2024)

One Hundred Families Move into New Homes
Vice President Rosario Murillo announced that 100 more houses will be turned over to an equal number of families in the Caminos del Río housing development in Managua.

“One hundred families who will live in better conditions, who will recognize the blessing of God in each of these houses,” she said. She reported that in Matiguás 12 houses will be delivered. And in San Sebastián de Yalí, Rivas, San Isidro, Villa Sandino, Chinandega, Yalagüina and San Lucas, three houses will be delivered in each municipality. In the same report, she announced that the 288th Women’s Police Station will be inaugurated in the Mining Triangle and the 289th station, which is the second one in Diriá, Granada, will also open; as well as a citizen security unit in San José de Bocay, Jinotega. On Jan. 22 the 199th fire station will be opened in the municipality of El Tuma-La Dalia, Matagalpa. (La Primerisima, 22 January 2024)

Better Highways for the People
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MTI) inaugurated the first section of the El Jicaral-San Francisco Libre highway benefitting 44,821 inhabitants. MTI Minister Oscar Mojica stated that “The 14-kilometer section provides a new route for highway connectivity between the Departments of Managua and León, strengthens the agricultural sector and reduces operating costs for national and international trade.” The US$11 million-dollar project was financed through the General Budget with support from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and is part of Phase IX of the Highway Maintenance and Expansion Program that the government is implementing in nine municipalities on the Pacific and both Caribbean Coast Regions. (La Primerisima, 11 January 2023)

Diriamba Dances to its Patron, Saint Sebastian
In the Rubén Darío Plaza of Diriamba, in Carazo, a cultural festival took place on Jan. 20, as part of the patron saint festivities in honor of Saint Sebastian. In the park and outside the cathedral there were presentations of typical dances such as El Toro Huaco, El Gigante, El Viejo y la Vieja, Las Húngaras and El Güegüense, among others. Some of the faithful climbed up onto the main dome of the basilica to put ribbons on the statue of Saint Sebastian. The day closed with the presentation of the Ballet Folklorico Nicaragüense, led by Master Ronald Abud Vivas. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/diriamba ... -jeronimo/
(La Primerisima, 21 January 2024)

Green House for Genetic Improvement of Red Beans Inaugurated
On Jan. 11 the Nicaragua Institute of Agricultural Technology inaugurated a greenhouse for the genetic improvement of red beans in the municipality of San Marcos to strengthen the technical capabilities of 200 small agricultural producers. The new US$85,000 center includes a biological input production module, a traditional and improved red beans seed bank, a research module, as well as plots for genetic improvement of red beans. The funding is part of the Strategy for Agricultural Development and Transformation that the government is implementing. Small red beans are a main staple of the Nicaraguan diet. (Nicaragua News, 15 January 2024)

Government Issues Press Release in Support of South Africa’s World Court Suit
On January 23, the Nicaraguan government issued the following press release:

The Government of Reconciliation and National Unity informs the people of Nicaragua and the international community that today it has filed before the International Court of Justice a request for permission to intervene in the case initiated on December 29, 2023, by South Africa against Israel related to the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.

As a State Party to the Convention, Nicaragua has the obligation to prevent Genocide and to cooperate to this end with the other Contracting Parties, including by resorting to the competent organs of the United Nations of which the Court is the main judicial organ, in accordance with the provisions of articles VIII and IX of the Genocide Convention.

Nicaragua’s request to participate in said process has been made under Article 62 of the Statute of the Court, which implies that if said intervention is authorized, Nicaragua would participate as a state party to the process with all the legal implications derived from the Court’s ruling.

Nicaragua’s decision to request intervention as a state party on the merits of the matter, and not as a simple participant in the interpretation of the Convention, reflects the commitment of the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity and the people of Nicaragua to the liberation of the Palestinian people and humanity in general from the scourge of genocide, and demonstrates its determination to fulfill its obligation to contribute to preventing and punishing the genocidal acts that are being carried out in the Gaza Strip.

Nicaragua, like the international community, considers that the actions undertaken by Israel constitute clear violations of the Convention against Genocide, which acts have been accompanied by statements from the highest authorities of Israel that clearly reveal the genocidal intention and dehumanization to which the Palestinian people have been subjected.

Given the urgency of the situation, Nicaragua emphasizes that its request for intervention clearly indicates that it should not delay the Court’s procedures and deliberations related to the urgent request for provisional measures, which is expected to be decided soon. Nicaragua once again urges Israel to fulfill its obligations under international law and to end immediately its military assault against the Palestinian people. Likewise, it calls for the end of the occupation, the establishment of conditions for a lasting and permanent solution that respects the 1967 borders with a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.

The Government of Reconciliation and National Unity reaffirms its firm commitment to the Rule of Law at the International Level and the peaceful settlement of disputes between States. Managua, January 23rd, 2024 Government of Reconciliation and National Unity, Republic of Nicaragua. (Nicaraguan Embassy in the US, 23 January 2024)

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NicaNotes: Unilateral Coercive Measures and Human Rights
February 1, 2024
By Alfred de Zayas

Alfred de Zayas is a law professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and served as a UN Independent Expert on International Order 2012-18. He is the author of twelve books.



[This article was first published in Counterpunch on Dec. 29, 2023.]
As a matter of proper terminology, it is best not to use the term “sanctions” too loosely, because the term is judgmental and implies that the entity imposing them has the legal or moral authority to do so. This is the case, for example, when the United Nations imposes certain coercive measures under article 41 of the Charter. By contrast, what politicians and media routinely denominate sanctions are actually “unilateral coercive measures” (UCMs) imposed by a country in pursuance of its geopolitical agenda and lacking any international legitimacy. Such measures actually constitute the “use of force” within the meaning of Art. 2(4) of the UN Charter, and their purpose is also illegitimate since they entail the unlawful interference in the internal affairs of other States. For decades the General Assembly, the UN Commission on Human Rights and more recently the Human Rights Council have rejected UCMs as contrary to the UN Charter, customary international law, and the principles of freedom of trade and navigation. More than two thirds of the international community reject them.

The “sanctions” currently being imposed by the United States on some thirty countries do not qualify as “retorsion” or “countermeasures” under articles 49/50 of the Code on Responsibility of States adopted by the UN International Law Commission in 2001. Unilateral coercive measures constitute “collective punishment” against innocent persons and contravene the very foundations of the rule of law, the presumption of innocence and the principle of individual responsibility.

The impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights is predictable, demonstrable and measurable. UCMs dislocate the economies of the targeted countries, adversely affecting the standard of living of entire populations, restricting their access to food, water and sanitation, medicines, health services, shelter, education, employment, etc. and making the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals illusory.

Bearing in mind that human rights are interrelated and interdependent, it is inevitable that violations of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) will also engender violations of the civil and political rights enunciated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). UCMs also directly violate civil rights laid down in domestic legislation and numerous other international agreements, and raise issues under the following provisions of the ICCPR:

Art. 1 – the individual and collective right of self-determination of peoples, the right over their natural wealth and resources, the right to property, the right not to be deprived of means of subsistence.

Art. 2 – the right to a remedy

Art. 3 – women’s rights, since women disproportionately bear the consequences of the dislocations caused by UCMs

Art. 6 – the right to life. UCMs demonstrably kill.

Art. 7 – the right not to be subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment or punishment

Art. 12 – freedom of movement

Art. 14 – due process of law, the prohibition of collective punishment, the presumption of innocence

Art. 17 – honour and reputation of persons whose names appear on sanctions lists

Art. 20 – the prohibition of war propaganda and incitement to hatred. UCMs are routinely accompanied by fake news, fake history, negative stereotypes, hate speech against China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Syria, Russia, Venezuela, etc. The media campaign of Russophobia and Sinophobia have been crucial in the attempt to render UCMs palatable to a democratic society.

Art. 22 – freedom of association. Individuals and groups are frequently made to suffer defamation and financial loss just because of their association with persons or countries subjected to UCMs. Even UN sanctions regimes can adversely affect the right of freedom of association.

Art. 24 – rights of the child. UCMs are a factor in the rise of infant mortality and in the violation of the right to health and physical integrity of children.

Art. 26 – the prohibition of discrimination, in particular when assets are frozen or confiscated on a discriminatory or arbitrary fashion.

The gravity of the impact of unilateral coercive measures cannot be overstated, but the gravest violation of the human rights of individuals and groups is the violation of the right to life. In countries like Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela, UCMs kill people by making it nearly impossible for the targeted governments to obtain sufficient food, medicines and replacement parts for medical equipment necessary to prevent deaths. UCMs have caused desperation and consequent suicides, triggered uncontrolled migration flows, sometimes accompanied by tragedy in the seas.

Unilateral coercive measures entail a revolt against fundamental principles of the UN Charter, international law and international order. Most importantly, it must be finally understood that UCMs are not innocent tools of “soft power”. UCMs kill, just as much as bullets in war. The level of deaths caused by UCMs in some 30 countries over the past decades are sufficient to raise issues under the 1948 Genocide Convention, which stipulates inter alia

“…genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part …”

Besides the assault on the right to life, UCMs seriously affect the right to property, which is protected in the domestic legislation of most countries. Interestingly enough, the right to property is not specifically protected in the ICCPR, but article 26 ICCPR would be violated if the property were confiscated or frozen in a discriminatory fashion. The right to property is protected ratione materiae in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and in the domestic legislation of most countries. WTO law provides for the protection of private property, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade prohibits restrictions of imports and exports, as well as the freezing of assets and the restriction of international transfers and payments.

Another consequence of unilateral coercive measures is their impact as a “push factor” generating uncontrolled migration movements. In this context it is pertinent to make a distinction between the legal regimes protecting the rights of refugees and migrants. As I learned during my 2017 mission to Venezuela as UN Independent Expert on International Order, the vast majority of the persons who have been constrained to leave Venezuela since 2015 did not do so because of political persecution, but because of the economic crisis brought about by UCMs, because enterprises went bankrupt, people lost their jobs and could not feed their families.

In a more general sense, UCM’s constitute an attack on democracy itself, bearing in mind that UCMs deliberately aim at imposing one country’s economic system on another, thereby violating the right of the targeted nation to choose its own form of government. UCM pressures are incompatible with paragraph 135 of General Assembly Resolution 60/1, which stipulates:

“We reaffirm that democracy is a universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives. We also reaffirm that while democracies share common features, there is no single model of democracy, that it does not belong to any country or region, and reaffirm the necessity of due respect for sovereignty and the right of self-determination. We stress that democracy, development and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.”

Purposes and effectiveness of UCMs

Pronouncements by many US government officials since the days of President J.F. Kennedy document the real intent of US coercive legislation and financial blockades. A good explanation of the purpose of UCMs with regard to the Cuban embargo is contained in the statement of the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America Lester Mallory in 1960. He stated:

“The majority of Cubans support Castro … The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship … Every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba … A line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of Government.”

In other words, the purpose of unilateral coercive measures is to cause suffering in the hope that chaos will lead to violence and “regime change”. Yet, in more than sixty years, the UCMs and financial blockades against Cuba did not succeed in inducing the Cuban population to overthrow their government. The same applies to Nicaragua, where US coercive measures since the 1980s failed to dislodge the Sandinistas. Ditto in Venezuela, where the economic war since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998 and the attempted coups in 2002 and 2019 have failed.

Over the past years, a less offensive narrative has been concocted to try to make the geopolitical nature of unilateral coercive measures appear reasonable and acceptable. According to the new apologetics, UCMs are intended to advance “human rights” and “persuade” the targeted governments to change their economic policies and make them more in line with those of the world leader in human rights, namely the United States. In order to make UCMs appear more “palatable” to a democratic electorate, propaganda is deployed to demonize the targeted governments, placing the blame on their “authoritarian” and “corrupt” leaders, who are allegedly guilty of gross violations of human rights and democratic principles.

UCMs are presented as a form of benign pressure aimed at bringing an end to alleged human rights violations. Actually, there is little new in this tactic. Already Tacitus in the first century AD noted that it is human nature to try to blame the victims of our actions. Government propaganda and the echo chambers of the mainstream media are enough to anaesthetize the electorate of democratic countries so that they “accept” the moral legitimacy of UCMs. This kind of demonization of foreign governments includes false accusations of being “sponsors of terrorism” and therefore constitute a threat to the “national security” of the country imposing the UCMs. This is compounded by a hybrid media war that incites hatred and clearly violates article 20 of the ICCPR.

Human rights restrictions by the targeted State in response to UCMs

As shown above, the purpose of UCMs is to cause chaos, a national emergency, a volatile situation with unpredictable consequences. At the same time, the political narrative continues to invoke human rights and humanitarian principles as their true purpose. However, there is no empirical evidence whatever to prove that countries subjected to UCM have improved their human rights records.

Experience shows that when a country is at war – any kind of war — it usually derogates from some civil and political rights. Similarly, when a country is enduring non-conventional hybrid warfare and is subjected to UCMs and financial blockades, the result is not an expansion of human rights, but exactly the opposite. When UCMs trigger economic and social crises, governments routinely impose extraordinary measures and justify them because of the “national emergency”. Accordingly, as in classical war situations, when a country is subject to a siege, it closes ranks in an attempt to reestablish stability through the temporary restriction of certain civil and political rights.

Article 4 ICCPR envisages the possibility that governments may impose certain temporary restrictions, e.g. the derogation from Art. 9 (detention), Art. 14 (fair trial proceedings), Art. 19 (freedom of expression), Art. 21 (freedom of peaceful assembly), Art. 25 (periodic elections). While such derogations are undesirable and should be as brief as possible, every state’s priority is survival, the defence of its sovereignty and identity. International law recognizes that governments have a certain margin of discretion in determining the existential threats posed by internal or external danger, whether by UCMs, paramilitary activities, subversive propaganda or sabotage.

Article 4 ICCPR stipulates: “In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and do not involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin.”

Scholars have documented how external pressures to destabilize targeted governments have resulted in the adoption of emergency legislation in response. This has been the case in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, where the enjoyment of certain civil rights has been restricted in the name of national security. Accordingly, it can be demonstrated that far from facilitating the improvement of the human rights situation in a targeted country, UCMs often result in the enactment or strengthening of restrictive domestic legislation that aim at maintaining stability and safeguarding vital interests. In such cases UCMs reveal themselves as counter-productive.

If the international community wants to help a country improve its human rights performance, it should endeavour to eliminate the threats that make governments retrench instead of opening-up. Precisely because UCMs aggravate a country’s economic and social situation and disrupt the proper functioning of state institutions, they actually weaken the rule of law and lead to retrogression in human rights terms.

In the light of the continuing threats by some politicians against countries subjected to UCMs, it would seem that an old French adage applies:

— la bête est très méchante, lorsqu’on l’attaque, elle se défend.

The beast is very nasty — when you attack it, it defends itself.

Another collateral effect of UCMs is that targeted governments frequently use their own propaganda means to bring about a “rallying around the flag” effect, emphasizing national identity and “embattled sovereignty”. North Korean and Iranian leaders have succeeded in appealing to nationalistic feelings among their populations in an attempt to make them accept the government’s resilience to sanctions. During my UN mission to Venezuela in November/December 2017, I discovered that the mood in the population, universities and churches was one of being under “siege” by the US, and a majority of those whom I interviewed, including dozens of persons active in the large NGO community, blamed the US for their misery and not the Maduro government.

The bottom line is that “democracy” cannot be exported and imposed by force, that human rights are not the result of a vertical, top-down enforcement but rather require a horizontal recognition of the dignity of every human being. The exercise of human rights depends on peace, education, mutual respect and solidarity.

In my own reports to the General Assembly and Human Rights Council, I have proposed that the General Assembly adopt a resolution under article 96 of the UN Charter referring the legal questions around unilateral coercive measures to the International Court of Justice, requesting an advisory opinion on the consequences of the continued imposition and enforcement of UCMs. The ICJ should also estimate the level of compensation due to the victims of these international wrongful acts.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

Progress in Caribbean Coast Electoral Process
On Feb. 22, the Nicaragua Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) presented a report on progress in the electoral process leading up to the March 3rd regional elections in the North and South Caribbean Coast regions (RAAN and RAAS). The report states that political parties and electoral alliances presented their provisional lists of candidates for members of the Regional Councils. The report also noted that the authorities that will make up the 15 Regional and Municipal Electoral Councils have been sworn in and, in compliance with the Law on Equal Rights and Opportunities, eight women will head Electoral Councils and seven will be headed by men. CSE President Magistrate Brenda Rocha explained that “In the upcoming elections there will be 308 Voting Centers and 751 Voting Stations (polling places) to ensure an agile and transparent electoral process for the 500,000 citizens that make up the regional electoral registry and are eligible to exercise their right to vote on the Caribbean Coast.” (Nicaragua News, 23 February, 2024)

Palestine Thanks Nicaragua for its Unwavering Support
The Palestinian National Council thanked Nicaragua for its outstanding position in defense and support of the Palestinian cause and the struggle for its liberation.

In the letter signed by Council President Rawhi Fattouh and addressed to President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, Fattouh expressed his sincere appreciation and gratitude for Nicaragua’s courageous position in supporting the case of South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. He highlighted Nicaragua’s stance in defending human lives, human rights and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. In the letter, Fattouh recognizes that they have the support of Nicaragua and the free people around the world who defend justice, freedom and firmly oppose the 75 years of oppression of the Palestinian people and the complicity of the US in aiding and abetting that oppression. Finally, he states that he hopes to deepen the relationship between the two nations and increase ties of cooperation. Nicaragua was the first country to formally ask to join the court case against Israel initiated by South Africa. The Anti-Apartheid Department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) called on all free countries to support South Africa’s position and join the lawsuit. It also expressed the need to boycott and isolate the occupying state and hold it accountable for all the crimes it has committed against the Palestinian people, including genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and settlements. (La Primerisima, 24 and 28 January 2024)

Malnutrition in Children Drops
Last week, the Ministry of Health presented its report on the 2023 Nutritional Census, carried out to study the nutritional conditions of children from birth to 14 years of age in rural and urban areas of the country. The census surveyed 1.4 million boys and girls in 2023, finding that between 2022 and 2023 acute malnutrition in children between the ages of zero and six years was reduced 9.3% and chronic malnutrition fell 8.2%. In children ages six to 14, acute malnutrition fell 13% and chronic malnutrition fell 4.3%. Health Minister Martha Reyes explained that “With this data, programs like Zero Hunger, Family Gardens, School Lunches, Food Production Bonus, the Family Support Plan and the Healthy Schools Plan will be strengthened, enhancing efforts to eradicate malnutrition through adequate nutrition guidelines, vaccination and periodic weight and height monitoring of children.” (Nicaragua News, January 25, 2024)

South Korea Supports Livestock and Sesame Development
Authorities of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) and the Korean Cooperation Agency Kopia signed a cooperation agreement to support the continuity of livestock and sesame development in the country. The agreement will have a duration of three years in order to increase sesame planting areas and sesame yield as well as genetic improvement in milk and meat. During the signing of the agreement, the director of INTA, Miguel Obando, said that INTA expects that more than 2,000 sesame producers and 3,000 livestock farmers will benefit. Korean ambassador Jeahoon Min explained that the signing also represents an economic collaboration of US$240,000 for each project to achieve the improvement objectives. (La Primerisima, 25 January, 2024)

Ensuring Health Services for North Caribbean Coast
The Ministry of Health announced that, within the framework of the My Hospital for my Community Health Campaign, medical brigades at the Nuevo Amanecer Regional Hospital carried out 15,000 medical consultations and programmed surgeries in nine specialties in three municipalities of the Northern Caribbean Autonomous Region, benefiting more than 5,000 Indigenous and Afro-descendant inhabitants. The campaign is part of the Family and Community Healthcare Model being implemented nationwide. (Nicaragua News, January 29, 2024)

Over 400 Bluefields Families Receive Affordable Housing
The Municipality of Bluefields and Institute of Housing have radically changed the living conditions of 419 families who have received decent housing free of charge. These houses have provided happiness and, above all, stability and security to the families.

Mayor Gustavo Castro said that the delivery of the houses has given a 360-degree turnaround to the beneficiaries and that the government is committed to continue lifting this region of the country out of poverty. The mayor explained that the houses are aimed at low-income families or where there are people with disabilities, humble families that with the few resources they receive do not have the ability to build a house. Beneficiary María Tenorio Corea said that, thanks to the government, her children have something secure. Last year the roof of the house where they lived was bad, they were afraid of a hurricane, but now she says they feel safe and live in better conditions. (La Primerisima, 30 January 2024)

President Ortega Ranks High in Government Management
On January 24 M&R Consultants polling firm presented the results of its most recent regional survey “Approval of Government Management in the Americas,” corresponding to the third quarter of 2023. The survey states that with 83.4% job approval, President Daniel Ortega ranks second in the Americas among the best evaluated Presidents, surpassed only by Nayib Bukele of El Salvador with 84.4% job approval. It added that the Nicaragua Government registered 85.6 on the Government Management Capacity Index, ranking first in the region followed by the Government of El Salvador with an index of 83.5; Mexico (61.3); Costa Rica (49.3); Dominican Republic (48.6) and Uruguay (42.7). (Nicaragua News, 25 January 2024)

Government Provides Gifts to Children as School Year Begins
More than 1,800,000 students across the country return to the classroom on January 29 to start the 2024 school year. Products were delivered to public and subsidized schools to guarantee a meal to students in the classrooms. Backpacks were also delivered to students and briefcases with materials to teachers. The Ministry of Health carried out a fumigation day in schools to eliminate mosquitoes. The students starting classes were enrolled in Initial, Special, Primary and Regular Secondary Education and Normal Schools. The Ministry of Education delivered also toys this past weekend to students of kindergarten, special education and first and second grade prior to the beginning of the 2024 school year. The children received dump trucks, dinosaurs, balls, bows and arrows, billiard tables, dolls, cup sets, dollhouses, among others. The gifts have been distributed to the children by teachers in the schools. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/gobierno ... o-escolar/ (La Primerisima, 28 January 2024)

Ensuring Good Education and Facilities
On Jan. 29 the Ministry of Education reported that US$2.4 million was invested to rehabilitate, expand, and equip the Blanca Aráuz School in Managua, benefiting 1,757 students. The financing is part of the Project for Improvement and Rehabilitation of Educational Centers that the government is implementing throughout the country, ensuring access to free and quality education for all. (Nicaragua News, 30 January 2024)

More than 4,000 Inmates Begin 2024 School Year
On Jan. 30 more than 4,400 inmates began the 2024 school year in the country’s penitentiaries. The different courses that are taught include literacy, primary, secondary and even university subjects such as agribusiness, all coordinated with the Ministry of Education and the National Agrarian University. Commissioner René Vargas Artola, director of penal education said, “We have an enrollment of 4,461, including men and women.” He also said that higher technical courses of study with a duration of three years will begin in coordination with INATEC: In Matagalpa, agronomy; and in Estelí, business administration and accounting. “The prison sentences are educational and every prisoner has the opportunity to improve himself or herself,” he added. Enrollment this year 2024 is higher than in 2023 and new students will continue to be recruited in all study levels during the month of February. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/mas-de-4 ... tivo-2024/
(La Primerisima, 30 January 2024)

President Xi Jinping Receives Credentials from Ambassador Campbell
On Jan. 30 the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, received the credentials of Nicaraguan Ambassador Michael Campbell Hooker. During a ceremony in which he also received the credentials of 42 other ambassadors, President Xi stressed that China values its bilateral relations with all countries in the world, which are based on respect, solidarity and mutually beneficial cooperation. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/presiden ... -campbell/ (La Primerisima, 30 January 2024)

https://afgj.org/nicanotes-unilateral-c ... 148c425a48

[blindpig]

The “Human Rights Industry” and Nicaragua[/n]
By John Perry - February 6, 2024 0


Why do United Nations human rights bodies focus on some countries, but not others? Why do organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International appear to ignore important evidence presented to them? And why do the media repeat stories of human rights abuses without questioning their veracity?



[Source: amazon.com]

These issues and more are examined in one of 2023’s most remarkable books: The Human Rights Industry by Alfred de Zayas. It is remarkable for two reasons. One is that it brings together the insights of de Zayas and other experts into the ways in which “human rights” have been distorted to serve the interests of Western governments, principally those of the United States.

But it is also remarkable because it is not the view of an outsider, but that of someone who is perhaps more immersed than anyone of his generation in the whole field of human rights, bringing 50 years of experience to his analysis. His conclusions are damning, but de Zayas is far from pessimistic, offering a multi-point plan as to how questions of human rights could be better addressed globally, with the real interests of ordinary citizens paramount, not subservient to those of Washington, the European Union or other centers of power.

As a reader, one whose work is very briefly referenced, what struck me forcefully is how much of the book rings true for the country where I live, Nicaragua. It does not receive the same attention as countries like Venezuela or Syria, but almost all of the analysis in the de Zayas book applies to the abuse and manipulation of human rights issues in the Nicaraguan context.

This article identifies some of the key insights in The Human Rights Industry, and shows how they fit, in many cases remarkably closely, with experience in Nicaragua, focusing on the period before, during and after the coup attempt against the Sandinista government in 2018. The subject matter ranges from the macro-level of Nicaragua’s treatment by the United Nations and its human rights mechanism, through its treatment by regional bodies, by individual governments and by international human rights organizations, right down to the behavior of the handful of so-called human rights bodies in Nicaragua itself.


Alfred de Zayas [Source: libertaddigital.com]

Nicaragua’s “Human Rights” Bodies
The base of the “human rights industry” consists of small, local organizations which, as de Zayas points out, may in some cases do excellent work. However, he qualifies this by saying: “There are few fields that are as penetrated and corrupted by intelligence services as the human rights NGOs.”

De Zayas estimates that perhaps 30% are so penetrated—a remarkable assertion that must be taken seriously given his knowledge of the sector. He goes on to warn specifically against those funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) or George Soros’s Open Society Foundation.

The NED’s website shows that, between 2016 and 2020, it spent almost $1.2 million in funding “human rights” bodies in Nicaragua, in addition to funding many other activities. In 2018, Nicaragua had three main “human rights” NGOs, known for their initials in Spanish as the CPDH, ANPDH and CENIDH, as well as several smaller organizations, most receiving foreign funding. Both CPDH and ANPDH were financed by the NED. CPDH also received more than $7 million from an offshoot of the Organization of American States (OAS).


[Source: dagobertobelluci.wordpress.com]

The ANPDH was originally set up by the Reagan administration at the time of the Contra war in Nicaragua, to whitewash Contra atrocities (the funding of these bodies by the NED in the 1980s, through an intermediary called Prodemca, was reported at the time by The Washington Post). CENIDH is not known to have received NED funding but in the build-up to the coup attempt was awarded a staggering $23 million by various European institutions, some with government connections. Over $10 million of this was allocated for staff salaries alone, an astonishing amount in a low-income country.

De Zayas warns that human rights assessments by such bodies may be compromised and should be treated with skepticism. In Nicaragua’s case, their biased coverage and one-sided assessments, especially in terms of killings and other abuses during the 2018 coup attempt, have been documented in detail. The most extreme example is that of the ANPDH, which actively accompanied violent opposition activists and even attempted to cover up their worst atrocities.

As The Grayzone reported in 2019, when the ANPDH broke up in 2018 and its employees left for Costa Rica, they accused the former director, Álvaro Leiva, of appropriating funds from U.S. bodies such as the NED. Worse, they revealed that Leiva ordered them to inflate ANPDH’s casualty counts during the coup attempt, because he believed padding the death tolls would help secure extra U.S. funding.


Álvaro Leiva [Source: thegrayzone.com]

One of the enduring myths of the coup attempt was that hundreds of people were killed by the police. Within ten days of the start of the violence, The New York Times was already reporting “…the deaths of dozens of people this month, many at the hands of the police, human rights groups say.” The Guardian later said that “At least 322 people have been killed and 2,000 others injured—mostly by the police and pro-government paramilitary groups.”

According to ANPDH, the figure reached 561, although the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said the “crackdown” led to 325 deaths. Detailed analysis by the Nicaraguan National Assembly’s Truth Commission put the real death toll at 270. Most importantly, a minority were protesters; most were bystanders or people trying to pass through opposition roadblocks, Sandinista supporters or police officers (22 of the latter were killed, and more than 400 injured).

A lawyer and analyst, Enrique Hendrix, showed in detail how the “human rights” NGOs inflated their figures. De Zayas concludes that “foreign-funded NGOs built up a completely distorted picture…in which all violence was blamed on the government.”


The violence of the anti-Ortega protesters during the country’s 2018 U.S.-backed coup attempt was obscured in the U.S. media and by the human rights industry. [Source: ticotimes.net]

Not surprisingly, all three “human rights” bodies were closed down by the government after 2018, having exhausted its patience with their blatant propaganda activities. Similar bodies now operate from Costa Rica: For example, CENIDH was reborn as El Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca Más; it gives no indication of its funding source on its website, but it received a “democracy award” from the NED in 2021. It continues to offer poorly evidenced reports, for example, that, by the end of 2023, one in every nine Nicaraguans had been forced to leave the country.


El Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca Más as featured on NED website. [Source: ned.org]

ANPDH reopened in Costa Rica and received more than $700,000 from USAID in 2020-2021. U.S. agencies such as the NED and USAID are still actively working with many organizations linked to Nicaragua, and the Open Society Foundation has just contracted a prominent opponent of the Sandinista government to administer a $25 million fund to promote women’s political leadership.

The Corrupt Role of the OAS and IACHR

“At international level,” Alfred de Zayas writes, referring specifically to Nicaragua, “numerous institutions relied on unverified reports to advance a caricature of a despotic regime that kills its citizens, white-washing opposition violence.” He goes on to name the OAS, the IACHR and even the United Nations as echoing “the same biased narratives.” All of these bodies fed on the information provided by local NGOs and still do so now that many are based abroad. Yet soon after the start of the violence, these bodies were all invited by the Nicaraguan government to visit and conduct their own appraisal of events.

This is where it went wrong. Various human rights experts such as the Chilean lawyer Antonia Urrejola (later foreign minister in Boric’s government) came on such official missions, were presented with detailed evidence by the government and allowed to make a range of visits (e.g., to prisons). However, they then presented extremely biased reports which largely ignored the government’s evidence and omitted accounts by victims of opposition violence, in many cases having refused even to meet them. Understandably, after months of showing considerable patience, in December 2018 the government rescinded its agreement to allow delegations from these international bodies.


Antonia Urrejola [Source: wikipedia.org]
.
Here are two of the worst examples of IACHR bias. One was the result of a group of “experts” visiting the country with the government’s approval during a six-month mission.

The GIEI-Nicaragua (Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes) provided a 468-page report to the IACHR, focused particularly on deaths that occurred on May 30, 2018, when two large marches were held in Managua, one by the opposition and one by Sandinista supporters. The report examined deaths among government opponents, and only briefly referred to Sandinista deaths and injuries to police officers.

Crucially, it was shown to have ignored and manipulated evidence from its own experts. It ignored evidence of the use of firearms by the opposition, manipulated the analysis of its own weapons expert, and omitted any evidence that contradicted its findings. As a result of the report’s gross distortion of the May 30 events, a large number of organizations and individuals wrote to the IACHR and separately to the OAS, but received only a peremptory reply.

In another example from March 2021, the IACHR held an open session on Indigenous people’s rights in Nicaragua, to which no democratically elected representatives of Indigenous communities were invited, only spokespeople from two opposition-oriented NGOs. One was CEJUDHCAN, a recipient of USAID finance. The other, CALPI, has accused the Nicaraguan government of genocide. Four NGOs from outside Nicaragua also spoke, including the Oakland Institute in California, which is funded (inter alia) by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

The U.S.-based Alliance for Global Justice, a supporter of the Nicaraguan revolution, made a submission to the IACHR before the hearing, but this was ignored and no one from AFGJ was called to give evidence. In fact, of several witnesses, the only support for the government’s excellent record in serving Indigenous communities came from Nicaragua’s attorney general. She successfully rebuffed the opposition arguments, and the IACHR pursued them no further, but of course it was the false accusations made at the hearing which received publicity.

Alfred de Zayas specifically notes the tendency for the IACHR to make “politically sensitive petitions disappear.” At the IACHR, he remarks, “politically incorrect” victims have “little or no chance of being heard.” These are just two of the more egregious examples of the IACHR doing exactly that.


A part of the human rights industry. [Source: cpressrelease.com]

The Bias Shown by United Nations Human Rights Institutions

De Zayas points out that UN bodies often “capriciously decide to target one country but not another,” especially picking on countries which “oppose the Western unipolar vision.” This can lead to “demonizing a particular country in furtherance of other countries’ foreign policies.” This has repeatedly happened with the OAS and IACHR in relation to Nicaragua, but is now also the regular practice of UN bodies. Typically, the Human Rights Council or the Human Rights Commissioner will issue a report based largely on “evidence” from opposition spokespeople or NGOs, many now based outside of Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan government will oppose the report, but their representations or those of pro-government bodies will be ignored.


[Source: youtube.com]

Only a year ago, the UN Human Rights Council established a “Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua” (GHREN) which, in February 2023, published a highly biased report. It went so far as to claim that Nicaragua’s government had committed “crimes against humanity.” The “experts” even went beyond their mandate and recommended further economic sanctions. A ”collective” of small opposition NGOs had open access to the GHREN, and clearly had a strong influence on their work. The pro-revolutionary Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition quickly prepared a detailed critique of the report. For example, it showed how the GHREN’s chronology of events in the city of Masaya during the coup attempt omitted almost all opposition violence, including murders, torture and destruction of municipal buildings and Sandinista homes.

Alfred de Zayas joined other human rights specialists in condemning the report as being unprofessional, biased, incomplete and concocted to justify further coercive sanctions to damage Nicaragua’s economy (such unilateral coercive measures have been condemned by the UN General Assembly, most recently in Resolution 77/214 of December 2022 and by the Human Rights Council in Resolution 49/6). Yet when the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition sent the lengthy petition and supporting evidence to the UN Human Rights Council and to the “group of experts,” there was no response. After multiple emails containing further evidence, only a single, one-line reply was received, pointing the Coalition to the material on the GHREN’s website.


[Source: youtube.com]

In The Human Rights Industry, de Zayas concludes that the real purpose behind such expert groups or commissions is “to denigrate and destabilize the targeted government to facilitate undemocratic ‘regime change’ as desired by one or more powerful countries.” They are part of the “hybrid war arsenal” which such countries employ. He goes on to refer specifically to the GHREN’s report on Nicaragua, labeling it a “political pamphlet” and saying that its accusations of crimes against humanity are undeserving of detailed comment.

Needless to say, the GHREN’s judgment was reported widely in the international media; none investigated the GHREN’s work or how its conclusions were reached.

Since the report was published, opposition figures have often been invited to address the UN. Félix Maradiaga, recipient of U.S. funding via the NED and other bodies, spoke at a UN human rights summit in May 2023. Medardo Mairena, found guilty in Nicaragua of organizing an attack on a police station in 2018 which left five people dead, but released under a 2019 amnesty, spoke at a UN Human Rights Council event in December 2023, decrying Nicaragua’s “grave human rights violations.”


Medardo Mairena [Source: wikipedia.org]

The Role of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International

Neither Human Rights Watch (HRW) nor Amnesty International (AI) escapes the attention of The Human Rights Industry. De Zayas points out that HRW can be “instrumentalized as an arm of U.S. pressure against independent states” and that it often “discredits governments seeking socialist alternatives.” On Nicaragua (as on China and Venezuela) HRW “seems to follow the State Department line,” especially in its endorsement of sanctions (known more precisely as “unilateral coercive measures”) and has even taken credit for the new sanctions imposed by Trump in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

De Zayas is critical of AI’s dependence on sources of funding aligned with U.S. foreign policy, its likely penetration by the U.S. security services and its reliance on poorly sourced information from local NGOs. In fact, AI paid particular attention to Nicaragua during and immediately after the 2018 coup attempt, issuing two major reports that were based overwhelmingly on opposition sources—whether local NGOs or so-called “independent” media that were heavily funded by U.S. agencies.

A group of activists working with the Alliance for Global Justice was so alarmed at the obvious bias in AI’s work that it prepared a detailed response to the second report, which AI pejoratively titled Instilling Terror. AFGJ’s Dismissing the Truth showed in detail the bias, omissions and errors in AI’s report. For example, it unraveled the story of a police officer who, according to AI, was killed by his fellow officers. This unlikely explanation had been offered by his estranged mother, an opposition supporter, via a local NGO. In reality there was convincing evidence, including from his partner (also a police officer), that he was killed by an opposition sniper.

Several attempts were made to engage with AI about its report, including a formal complaint via their published procedures and the offer to discuss it at their London headquarters. There was never anything more than a peremptory response.

“Human Rights Industry” Reports Are Endorsed by Corporate Media
Alfred de Zayas says of the mainstream media that, when aggressive action is taken against countries like Nicaragua that have governments not favored by Washington, their response is to demonize the leaders of such countries. Nicaragua could hardly be a clearer example, with its elected leader Daniel Ortega regularly referred to as a “dictator” running an “authoritarian regime” and of course—as we saw earlier—committing “crimes against humanity” or even “genocide.”

Nicaragua has suffered from a succession of concocted stories, relating to its alleged “failure” to tackle Covid-19 to the accusation that Nicaraguan migrants are fleeing “repression.” One that originated from a local “human rights” group attempted to label U.S. meat imports from Nicaragua as “conflict beef” because cattle ranches were allegedly displacing Indigenous people protecting Nicaragua’s forests. The story, shown by Reveal and the PBS NewsHour and then picked up by other news outlets such as the BBC, was shown to have glaring gaps and falsehoods by FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). The NGOs promoting the “conflict beef” story, including the journalists involved, were shown by Rick Sterling, writing in CovertAction Magazine to be linked back to bodies such as USAID and Soros’s Open Society Foundation.


[Source: fair.org]

The Government Tightens Up on Foreign-Funded NGOs
Having tolerated dozens of NGOs that received U.S. money to promote “human rights” and “democracy” in the period before 2018, only to see them play key roles in the attempted coup, it was inevitable that the government would clamp down on their activities. It did so by passing legislation comparable to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which the U.S. has had in place since the 1930s and has since strengthened on various occasions. De Zayas points out the irony: “When Nicaragua passed legislation comparable to FARA, when they started enforcing the law and some U.S. allies and funding recipients…were punished, the US media sent out howls of outrage.”

Nicaragua was in the unusual position, for a small country with only seven million people, of having thousands of NGOs, many set up in the 1980s, of which a proportion were still active but many were redundant. As well as affecting the few dozen NGOs actively engaged in U.S. regime-change activities, the result of applying the new law to all NGOs was that many closed, in some cases because they were already defunct, and in others because they could not meet the new, stringent requirements, or refused to do so. The media labeled this as a “crackdown” which was “laying waste to civic society”; The Washington Post said the country is “a dictatorship laid bare.”

As I pointed out for FAIR, none of the media reports asked basic questions, such as what these non-profits have done that led to the government taking this action, whether other countries follow similar practices, or what international requirements about the regulation of non-profits Nicaragua is required to comply with.

Nicaragua’s reality is that it is the subject of continuing U.S. aggression. The local “human rights” NGOs, rightly closed down after their role in the coup attempt, are like the hydra-headed monster, springing up afresh in Costa Rica and still fostered not only by Washington directly but also by its allies in the international “human rights” industry. If there is less space for dissent in Nicaragua than there was before 2018, this is evidently what Washington wants. Decrying “human rights” abuses, imposing unilateral coercive measures on a country with one of the lowest incomes per head in the continent, refusing to recognize a popularly supported election and expressing alarm about Nicaragua’s ties to Russia and China, all help to sustain the myth that (as claimed by Presidents Trump and Biden) the country is an “extraordinary threat” to U.S. security.

Washington’s regime-change plans failed in 2018, but it has not given up.

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2024/0 ... nicaragua/

[blindpig]

NicaNotes: Nicaragua Leads the World: Holding Countries Accountable Without War or Sanctions
February 15, 2024
By Becca Renk

Becca Renk grew up in North Idaho and has lived in Nicaragua since 2001 working in sustainable community development in Ciudad Sandino with Jubilee House Community and its project, Center for Development in Central America.

[This article was first published by the Casa Ben Linder on February 13, 2024.]


Palestine Park was recently inaugurated in Managua. (Photo: Becca Renk

I was 13 years old the day I got braces on my teeth and the United States bombed Baghdad, launching the “first” Iraq war.

“Today, Wednesday the 16th of January 1991, we had just gotten out of the dentist’s office and Mom told me the news,” I wrote in my journal. “She started saying, ‘Oh my God!’ and I was silent, wanting to cry and throw up.”

My 8th grade class organized a “speak out” in the school library. The students sat cross-legged on the carpet and took turns struggling to express our feelings through the tangle of meaningless phrases we’d heard adults around us using. One of my classmates stood up to say she was worried about her dad; he was a soldier and had been deployed. “I support our troops,” she declared.

I remember how scared we all were, just kids together confronting the illogical concept of war. I stood up and nervously spoke around my newly-installed braces to say that I supported soldiers as people, but didn’t support the war that sent them into danger.

The kids around me asked, “But how else can we protect the defenseless Kuwaitis?” We had heard about Iraqi human rights abuses when a Kuwaiti nurse gave emotional testimony before Congress telling how she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers take babies out of incubators in a Kuwaiti hospital and leave the newborn babies to die.

“If we don’t use force, then how else can we stop a monster like Sadaam Hussein?”

The only possible alternative to war that we heard mentioned was “sanctions.”

Of course, I didn’t know then what I know now: Firstly, that the “nurse” was actually the 15-year old daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S., and her “testimony” was organized by a public relations firm hired by the Kuwaiti government to manipulate the U.S. public into supporting armed conflict.

Secondly, unilateral coercive measures, or “sanctions,” are rejected by more than two-thirds of the international community and actually hurt the most vulnerable people by restricting their access to food, water, sanitation, medicines, health services and employment.

Today, when not actively bombing other countries, the U.S. continues to use unilateral coercive measures – currently imposed on 30 countries – harming the civilian populations of sovereign nations in order to further its own geopolitical agenda.

Right now the U.S. is seeking further unilateral coercive measures against Nicaragua through Senate Bill 1881, “Restoring Sovereignty and Human Rights in Nicaragua Act.” The bill proposes blanket sanctions on broad sectors such as gold and beef, and proposes to eject Nicaragua from regional agreements which could only be implemented by violating those agreements, impinging on the sovereignty not only of Nicaragua but also its neighbors.

Take action to oppose new sanctions against Nicaragua by clicking here!

The U.S. is trying to destabilize Nicaragua’s democratically elected government using “human rights” as an excuse with no evidence of actual human rights violations by Nicaragua. At the same time, the U.S. not only ignores real human rights violations by Israel in Gaza, but is actively participating in the genocide of the Palestinian people by arming Israel.

Nicaragua, in contrast, is showing the world how to defend human rights without resorting to the destruction of war or sanctions. Nicaragua doesn’t just talk about the international rule of law, it makes use of the structures that exist for the purpose of holding countries accountable for their actions. Nicaragua won a case against the U.S. in the ICJ in 1986 and has used the World Court more recently to resolve maritime border disputes with Colombia. It is now the first country to join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice in support of holding the government of Israel to account for its violations of the Genocide Convention in Gaza.

On February 1st, Nicaragua went further and also called on the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada to stop arming U.S.-Israeli genocide announcing that “it will hold the four countries responsible under international law for gross and systematic violations” to the Genocide Convention.

Nicaragua is not afraid of being David against Goliath. Nicaragua has a long history of Davids who have bested Goliath: Andrés Castro, who in 1856 literally threw a stone and killed a U.S. mercenary in battle who was part of William Walker’s attempt to annex Nicaragua as a slave state; Augusto C. Sandino and his army of 300 against the U.S. Marines; Sandinista revolutionaries against the well-armed U.S.-backed dictator Somoza.


Children play in the glow of giant flower-like lamps in the new Palestine Park in Managua. (Photo: Becca Renk)

A few nights ago, I went to the inauguration of Palestine Park in Managua. There were children playing in the soft glow of giant flower-like lamps around a beautiful fairy statue. It made me feel like a child, small and cherished and protected, as all children should feel. It is a poignant symbol of Nicaragua’s solidarity with Palestine, located near the newly inaugurated Gaza Street.

These lovely symbols would lose their meaning, however, if they were merely symbolic. But Nicaragua has moved beyond the symbolic to act in solidarity with Palestine, using international rule of law to attempt to stop the genocide as the death toll in Gaza approaches 30,000. Nicaragua is leading the way toward future of options beyond war; hopefully other countries will soon have the courage to follow its example.

Support Nicaragua and oppose sanctions here. For more information on sanctions and action suggestions from NicaNotes, go here and here.

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

Nicaragua: Universal and Free Vaccination
In 17 years, the Sandinista government has managed to build an efficient vaccination system, which has allowed the country, among many other things, to achieve 100% vaccination against Covid-19. Since President Daniel Ortega took office on January 10, 2007, a successful national vaccination program for 19 diseases has been implemented. To achieve greater efficiency and control, the Ministry of Health (MINSA) implemented a digital registry system of all vaccinated persons. Whereas in 2006, there were only seven biological banks, in 2024 there are 20, which guarantees greater vaccine safety. In 2006, the vaccine schedule protected against 12 diseases; in 2024, protection against 19 diseases is ensured, including Covid-19 and the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccines. Between 2021 and 2022, Nicaragua was the only country in Central America to achieve coverage of almost 100% of the population against Covid-19 with a complete schedule. In 2006, vaccination programs only vaccinated children under 6 years of age and pregnant women; since 2007, coverage has been extended to 100% of the population. From 2007 to 2023, Nicaragua is certified as a country that guarantees surveillance of measles, rubella and polio cases. MINSA currently has 10 cold chambers for vaccine storage and has expanded equipment for the storage and conservation of vaccines. (La Primerisima, 8 February 2024)

Half a Million Young People Study Technical Fields
In 2024 more than half a million young people will be able to receive a technical and technological education, in 61 specialized centers located throughout the country. The executive director of INATEC (Nicaraguan Institute for Technical Education), Loyda Barreda, reported that this year more than 548,000 young people and adults from the countryside and the city will study in technical areas, 46,000 more than in 2023. There are seven new specialties related to agricultural and agro-transformation training which will help make the national plan to fight poverty more of a reality. Today there are courses available in all 153 municipalities compared to only 27 in 2007. On Feb. 7, INATEC inaugurated the 2024 school year. In 17 years, INATEC has served 176,840 students just on the Caribbean Coast, expanding the academic offerings and marking historic growth. (La Primerisima, 12 February 2024)

With Free Education, Universities Register Record Enrollment
Thus far more than 246,000 high school graduates have entered public and private higher education this year, a milestone in the growth of education, said Ramona Rodríguez, president of the National Council of Universities (CNU). “For us it is an important increase: we are growing by more than 60,000 young people [a year] who are entering universities. That is why 2024 marks a milestone in the history of higher education because of the free education decreed by the government, with no fees, tuition payments, or other charges that used to be required,” the academic stated. On Feb. 7 representatives of 41 national, public and private universities had their first meeting with board members of the CNU to discuss the new University Management Model, the fulfillment of the regulatory framework. “We are holding the first meeting of the CNU universities to explain and address the new model of university management, which is supported by the reform of Law 89 and the General Education Law,” said Rodriguez. She added that the National Council of Universities will continue working through a technical commission to harmonize studies in agronomy, agro-industry, forestry and veterinary sciences, to train the professionals needed by the country and so that more people obtain a university degree. (La Primerisima, 7 February 2024)

Nearly 17,000 Enter Ricardo Morales Avilés University
On February 10 the national multidisciplinary Ricardo Morales Avilés University started its classes, reported the rector of this university, Ligia Pasquier. She said that they have 16,922 students, now the fourth largest university of the National Council of Universities. Branches are located in Masaya, Granada, Carazo, Managua, Juigalpa, Jinotega, Boaco, Rivas and Río San Juan. Degrees are offered in four major areas: health, administrative and economic science, engineering sciences, education, arts and humanities. No payments are required; wonderful news for the young people and adults because it allows them to train professionally. The Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing is one of the courses of study in high demand, followed by English, Business Administration, Public Accounting and Engineering. (La Primerisima, 12 February 2024)

3,000 First Year Students to Attend Engineering University in 2024
The National University of Engineering (UNI) will open its three campuses throughout the country to 3,320 first year students, reported Angel Chavarria, President of UNEN (National Union of Students). He said that the first-year students are currently in a mathematics course that started on January 29 to strengthen their knowledge.

He added that after the course, the first-time university students will formally register from March 4 to 9 without paying any fees. On March 11 classes begin for first-time students and re-entry students. Specialties include civil, mechanical, agricultural, industrial, chemical, electronic, computer and systems engineering as well as architecture. (La Primerisima, 13 February 2024)

Loan from Chinese Company to Expand Punta Huete Airport
On Feb. 9 the National Assembly approved a loan agreement between Nicaragua and the China CAMC Engineering Company, for the reconstruction, expansion and improvement of the Punta Huete International Airport in San Francisco Libre municipality, Managua Department. The US$40 million-dollar agreement includes expansion of the existing airstrip to 3,600 meters in length and 60 meters in width elevating it to an international airport with a category 4E/4F runway that will have a capacity to serve 3.5 million passengers and handle 35,000 metric tons of cargo annually. National Assembly Deputy Wálmaro Gutiérrez, chair of the Committee on Economy and Budget, stated that “The project will represent one of the most important advances in aerial infrastructure for Nicaragua in the last 50 years and will allow the country to strengthen the socioeconomic development strategies established in the National Human Development Plan.” (Nicaragua News, 12 February 2024)

Important Reduction in Housing Deficit
The Nicaragua Institute for Urban and Rural Housing (INVUR) has presented a report on the 2023 Casas para el Pueblo Low-Cost Housing Program that the government is implementing throughout the country. The report states that 7,952 homes were built in 2023 for a total of 138,628 low-cost homes built over the last 16 years, contributing to a major reduction of the housing deficit. INVUR Codirector, Gabriela Palacios, stated that “INVUR plans to build 7,674 homes this year to contribute to the goal of 50,000 affordable homes built by 2026.” (Nicaragua News, 7 February 2024)

Percentage of Families with Electricity in their Homes Increases to 99.42%
Minister of Energy and Mines Salvador Mansell reported that national electricity coverage was 99.42% at the close of the month of January, with 72.07% generation based on renewable sources. He said that “Twenty electrification projects were carried out between January 2nd and 31st this year, benefiting 4,000 inhabitants with electricity coverage that has expanded from 54% in 2007 to 99.42% in January 2024.” (Nicaragua News, 9 February 2024)

First Section of Road Between Ochomogo and Las Salinas Ready
Almost half of a strategic highway that will link the Southern Panamerican Highway with the Pacific Coast Highway is finished and in use. On Feb. 7 the Sandinista Government inaugurated the first 15 of the 33 kilometers that make up the road. The highway will link the Pan American Highway near the Ochomogo bridge, with the community and surf beaches of Las Salinas on the Pacific coast. The road benefits more than 80,000 inhabitants of Paso Real, El Caimito, Santa Juana, Cebadilla, Mancarrón, Betania, Samaria, La Estrella, Miravalle, La Esperanza, Escalantillo, Escalante, Los Ángeles and San Pedro, and 11 more communities located up to the Pacific coast. See photos and map: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/listo-el ... s-salinas/ (La Primerisima, 12 February 2024)

La Concordia Celebrates its Patron Saint – The Virgin of Lourdes
The municipality of La Concordia, Jinotega, celebrated its patron saint, the Virgin of Lourdes during the first weeks of February. These celebrations take place throughout the year in each of the 153 municipalities. Along with masses in the Catholic church, there were also numerous festivities for all ages: clown shows, face painting, balloon twisting, cotton candy, free entrance to the Ferris wheels and other rides, presentations by local folklore dance groups, a motorcycle stunt contest, music concerts, horse parades and more. Manuel Rivera, resident, said he was very happy to see how the citizens have participated in the activities and have honored the Virgin. (TN8TV, 13 February, 2024)

https://afgj.org/nicanotes-nicaragua-le ... -sanctions

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NicaNotes: The Human Rights Industry and Nicaragua
February 29, 2024
by John Perry

[This article was first published in Covert Action Magazine on February 6, 2024]
John Perry is based in Masaya, Nicaragua, and writes for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, London Review of Books, FAIR and other outlets.


Photo: Clarity Press

Why do United Nations human rights bodies focus on some countries, but not others? Why do organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International appear to ignore important evidence presented to them? And why do the media repeat stories of human rights abuses without questioning their veracity?

These issues and more are examined in one of 2023’s most remarkable books: The Human Rights Industry by Alfred de Zayas. It is remarkable for two reasons. One is that it brings together the insights of de Zayas and other experts into the ways in which “human rights” have been distorted to serve the interests of Western governments, principally those of the United States.

But it is also remarkable because it is not the view of an outsider, but that of someone who is perhaps more immersed than anyone of his generation in the whole field of human rights, bringing 50 years of experience to his analysis. His conclusions are damning, but de Zayas is far from pessimistic, offering a multi-point plan as to how questions of human rights could be better addressed globally, with the real interests of ordinary citizens paramount, not subservient to those of Washington, the European Union or other centers of power.

As a reader, one whose work is very briefly referenced, what struck me forcefully is how much of the book rings true for the country where I live, Nicaragua. It does not receive the same attention as countries like Venezuela or Syria, but almost all of the analysis in the de Zayas book applies to the abuse and manipulation of human rights issues in the Nicaraguan context.

This article identifies some of the key insights in The Human Rights Industry, and shows how they fit, in many cases remarkably closely, with experience in Nicaragua, focusing on the period before, during and after the coup attempt against the Sandinista government in 2018. The subject matter ranges from the macro-level of Nicaragua’s treatment by the United Nations and its human rights mechanism, through its treatment by regional bodies, by individual governments and by international human rights organizations, right down to the behavior of the handful of so-called human rights bodies in Nicaragua itself.

Nicaragua’s “Human Rights” Bodies

The base of the “human rights industry” consists of small, local organizations which, as de Zayas points out, may in some cases do excellent work. However, he qualifies this by saying: “There are few fields that are as penetrated and corrupted by intelligence services as the human rights NGOs.”

De Zayas estimates that perhaps 30% are so penetrated—a remarkable assertion that must be taken seriously given his knowledge of the sector. He goes on to warn specifically against those funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) or George Soros’s Open Society Foundation.

The NED’s website shows that, between 2016 and 2020, it spent almost $1.2 million in funding “human rights” bodies in Nicaragua, in addition to funding many other activities. In 2018, Nicaragua had three main “human rights” NGOs, known for their initials in Spanish as the CPDH, ANPDH and CENIDH, as well as several smaller organizations, most receiving foreign funding. Both CPDH and ANPDH were financed by the NED. CPDH also received more than $7 million from an offshoot of the Organization of American States (OAS).

The ANPDH was originally set up by the Reagan administration at the time of the Contra war in Nicaragua, to whitewash Contra atrocities (the funding of these bodies by the NED in the 1980s, through an intermediary called Prodemca, was reported at the time by The Washington Post). CENIDH is not known to have received NED funding but in the build-up to the coup attempt was awarded a staggering $23 million by various European institutions, some with government connections. Over $10 million of this was allocated for staff salaries alone, an astonishing amount in a low-income country.

De Zayas warns that human rights assessments by such bodies may be compromised and should be treated with skepticism. In Nicaragua’s case, their biased coverage and one-sided assessments, especially in terms of killings and other abuses during the 2018 coup attempt, have been documented in detail. The most extreme example is that of the ANPDH, which actively accompanied violent opposition activists and even attempted to cover up their worst atrocities.

As The Grayzone reported in 2019, when the ANPDH broke up in 2018 and its employees left for Costa Rica, the employees accused the former director, Álvaro Leiva, of appropriating funds from U.S. bodies such as the NED. Worse, they revealed that Leiva ordered them to inflate ANPDH’s casualty counts during the coup attempt, because he believed padding the death tolls would help secure extra U.S. funding.

One of the enduring myths of the coup attempt was that hundreds of people were killed by the police. Within ten days of the start of the violence, The New York Times was already reporting “…the deaths of dozens of people this month, many at the hands of the police, human rights groups say.” The Guardian later said that “At least 322 people have been killed and 2,000 others injured—mostly by the police and pro-government paramilitary groups.” According to ANPDH, the figure reached 561, although the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said the “crackdown” led to 325 deaths. Detailed analysis by the Nicaraguan National Assembly’s Truth Commission put the real death toll at 270. Most importantly, a minority were protesters; most were bystanders or people trying to pass through opposition roadblocks, Sandinista supporters or police officers (22 of the latter were killed, and more than 400 injured).

A lawyer and analyst, Enrique Hendrix, showed in detail how the “human rights” NGOs inflated their figures. De Zayas concludes that “foreign-funded NGOs built up a completely distorted picture…in which all violence was blamed on the government.”

Not surprisingly, all three “human rights” bodies were closed down by the government after 2018, having exhausted its patience with their blatant propaganda activities. Similar bodies now operate from Costa Rica: For example, CENIDH was reborn as El Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca Más; it gives no indication of its funding source on its website, but it received a “democracy award” from the NED in 2021. It continues to offer poorly evidenced reports, for example that, by the end of 2023, one in every nine Nicaraguans had been forced to leave the country.

ANPDH reopened in Costa Rica and received over $700,000 from USAID in 2020-2021. US agencies such as the NED and USAID are still actively working with many organizations linked to Nicaragua, and the Open Society Foundation has just contracted a prominent opponent of the Sandinista government to administer a $25 million fund to promote women’s political leadership.

The corrupt role of the OAS and IACHR

“At international level,” Alfred de Zayas writes, referring specifically to Nicaragua, “numerous institutions relied on unverified reports to advance a caricature of a despotic regime that kills its citizens, white-washing opposition violence.” He goes on to name the OAS, the IACHR and even the United Nations as echoing “the same biased narratives.” All of these bodies fed on the information provided by local NGOs and still do so now that many are based abroad. Yet soon after the start of the violence, these bodies were all invited by the Nicaraguan government to visit and conduct their own appraisal of events.

This is where it went wrong. Various human rights experts such as the Chilean lawyer Antonia Urrejola (later foreign minister in Gabriel Boric’s government) came on such official missions, were presented with detailed evidence by the government and allowed to make a range of visits (e.g. to prisons). However, they then presented extremely biased reports which largely ignored the government’s evidence and omitted accounts by victims of opposition violence, in many cases having refused even to meet them. Understandably, after months of showing considerable patience, in December 2018 the government rescinded its agreement to allow delegations from these international bodies.

Here are two of the worst examples of IACHR bias. One was the result of a group of “experts” visiting the country with the government’s approval during a six-month mission. The GIEI-Nicaragua (Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes) provided a 468-page report to the IACHR, focused particularly on deaths that occurred on May 30, 2018 when two large marches were held in Managua, one by the opposition and one by Sandinista supporters. The report examined deaths among government opponents, and only briefly referred to Sandinista deaths and injuries to police officers. Crucially, it was shown to have ignored and manipulated evidence from its own experts. It ignored evidence of use of firearms by the opposition, manipulated the analysis of its own weapons expert, and omitted any evidence that contradicted its findings. As a result of the report’s gross distortion of the May 30 events, a large number of organizations and individuals wrote to the IACHR and separately to the OAS, but received only a peremptory reply.

In another example from March 2021, the IACHR held an open session on Indigenous people’s rights in Nicaragua, to which no democratically elected representatives of Indigenous communities were invited, only spokespeople from two opposition-oriented NGOs. One was CEJUDHCAN, a recipient of USAID finance. The other, CALPI, has accused the Nicaraguan government of genocide. Four NGOs from outside Nicaragua also spoke, including the Oakland Institute in California, which is funded (inter alia) by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

The US-based Alliance for Global Justice, a supporter of the Nicaraguan revolution, made a submission to the IACHR before the hearing, but this was ignored and no one from AFGJ was called to give evidence. In fact, of several witnesses, the only support for the government’s excellent record in serving Indigenous communities came from Nicaragua’s attorney general. She successfully rebuffed the opposition arguments, and the IACHR pursued them no further, but of course it was the false accusations made at the hearing which received publicity.

Alfred de Zayas specifically notes the tendency for the IACHR to make “politically-sensitive petitions disappear.” At the IACHR, he remarks, “politically incorrect” victims have “little or no chance of being heard.” These are just two of the more egregious examples of the IACHR doing exactly that.

The bias shown by United Nations human rights institutions

De Zayas points out that UN bodies often “capriciously decide to target one country but not another”, especially picking on countries which “oppose the Western unipolar vision.” This can lead to “demonizing a particular country in furtherance of other countries’ foreign policies.” This has repeatedly happened with the OAS and IACHR in relation to Nicaragua, but is now also the regular practice of UN bodies. Typically, the Human Rights Council or the Human Rights Commissioner will issue a report based largely on “evidence” from opposition spokespeople or NGOs, many now based outside Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan government will oppose the report, but their representations or those of pro-government bodies will be ignored.

Only a year ago, the UN Human Rights Council established a “Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua” (GHREN) which, in February 2023, published a highly biased report. It went so far as to claim that Nicaragua’s government had committed “crimes against humanity.” The “experts” even went beyond their mandate and recommended further economic sanctions. A ”collective” of small opposition NGOs had open access to the GHREN, and clearly had a strong influence on their work. The pro-revolutionary Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition quickly prepared a detailed critique of the report. For example, it showed how the GHREN’s chronology of events in the city of Masaya during the coup attempt omitted almost all opposition violence, including murders, torture and destruction of municipal buildings and Sandinista homes.

Alfred de Zayas joined other human rights specialists in condemning the report as being unprofessional, biased, incomplete and concocted to justify further coercive sanctions to damage Nicaragua’s economy (such unilateral coercive measures have been condemned by the UN General Assembly, most recently in Resolution 77/214 of December 2022 and by the Human Rights Council in Resolution 49/6). Yet when the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition sent the lengthy petition and supporting evidence to the UN Human Rights Council and to the “group of experts”, there was no response. After multiple emails containing further evidence, only a single, one-line reply was received, pointing the Coalition to the material on the GHREN’s website.

In The Human Rights Industry, de Zayas makes the points that the real purpose behind such expert groups or commissions is “to denigrate and destabilize the targeted government to facilitate undemocratic ‘regime change’ as desired by one or more powerful countries.” They are part of the “hybrid war arsenal” which such countries employ. He goes on to refer specifically to the GHREN’s report on Nicaragua, labelling it a “political pamphlet” and saying that its accusations of crimes against humanity are undeserving of detailed comment.

Needless to say, the GHREN’s judgment was reported widely in the international media; none investigated the GHREN’s work or how its conclusions were reached.

Since the report was published, opposition figures have often been invited to address the UN. Felix Maradiaga, recipient of US funding via the NED and other bodies, spoke at a UN human rights summit in May 2023. Medardo Mairena, found guilty in Nicaragua of organizing an attack on a police station in 2018 which left five people dead, but released under a 2019 amnesty, spoke at a UN Human Rights Council event in December 2023, decrying Nicaragua’s “grave human rights violations”.

The role of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International

Neither Human Rights Watch (HRW) nor Amnesty International (AI) escapes the attention of The Human Rights Industry. De Zayas points out that HRW can be “instrumentalized as an arm of US pressure against independent states” and that it often “discredits governments seeking socialist alternatives.” On Nicaragua (as on China and Venezuela) HRW “seems to follow the State Department line”, especially in its endorsement of sanctions (known more precisely as “unilateral coercive measures”) and has even taken credit for the new sanctions imposed by Trump in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

De Zayas is critical of AI’s dependence on sources of funding aligned with US foreign policy, its likely penetration by the US security services and its reliance on poorly sourced information from local NGOs. In fact, AI paid particular attention to Nicaragua during and immediately after the 2018 coup attempt, issuing two major reports that were based overwhelmingly on opposition sources – whether local NGOs or so-called “independent” media that were heavily funded by US agencies.

A group of activists working with the Alliance for Global Justice was so alarmed at the obvious bias in AI’s work that it prepared a detailed response to the second report, which AI had pejoratively titled Instilling Terror. AFGJ’s Dismissing the Truth showed in detail the bias, omissions and errors in AI’s Instilling Terror report. For example, it unraveled the story of a police officer who, according to AI, was killed by his fellow officers. This unlikely explanation had been offered by his estranged mother, an opposition supporter, via a local NGO. In reality there was convincing evidence, including from his partner (also a police officer) that he was killed by an opposition sniper.

Several attempts were made to engage with AI about their report, including a formal complaint via their published procedures and the offer to discuss it at their London headquarters. There was never anything more than a peremptory response.

“Human rights industry” reports are endorsed by corporate media

Alfred de Zayas says of the mainstream media that, when aggressive action is taken against countries like Nicaragua that have governments not favored by Washington, their response is to demonize the leaders of such countries. Nicaragua could hardly be a clearer example, with its elected leader Daniel Ortega regularly referred to as a “dictator” running an “authoritarian regime” and of course – as we saw earlier – committing “crimes against humanity” or even “genocide”.

Nicaragua has suffered from a succession of concocted stories, relating to its alleged “failure” to tackle Covid-19 to the accusation that Nicaraguan migrants are fleeing “repression”. One that originated from a local “human rights” group attempted to label US meat imports from Nicaragua as “conflict beef” because cattle ranches were allegedly displacing Indigenous people protecting Nicaragua’s forests. The story, shown by Reveal and PBS NewsHour and then picked up by other news outlets such as the BBC, was shown to have glaring gaps and falsehoods by FAIR (“Fairness and Accuracy in reporting”). The NGOs promoting the “conflict beef” story, including the journalists involved, were shown by Rick Sterling, writing in Covert Action, to be linked back to bodies such as USAID and Soros’s Open Society Foundation.

The government tightens up on foreign-funded NGOs

Having tolerated dozens of NGOs that received US money to promote “human rights” and “democracy” in the period before 2018, only to see them play key roles in the attempted coup, it was inevitable that the government would clamp down on their activities. It did so by passing legislation comparable to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which the US has had in place since the 1930s and has since strengthened on various occasions. De Zayas points out the irony: “When Nicaragua passed legislation comparable to FARA, when they started enforcing the law and some US allies and funding recipients… were punished, the US media sent out howls of outrage.”

Nicaragua was in the unusual position, for a small country with only seven million people, of having thousands of NGOs, many set up in the 1980s, of which a proportion were still active but many were not. As well as affecting the few dozen NGOs actively engaged in US regime-change activities, the result of applying the new law to all NGOs was that many closed, in some cases because they were already defunct, and in others because they could not meet the new, stringent requirements, or refused to do so. The media labelled this as a “crackdown” which was “laying waste to civic society”; the Washington Post said the country is “a dictatorship laid bare.” As I pointed out for FAIR, none of the media reports asked basic questions, such as what these nonprofits have done that led to the government taking this action, whether other countries follow similar practices, or what international requirements about the regulation of nonprofits Nicaragua is required to comply with.

Nicaragua’s reality is that it is the subject of continuing US aggression. The local “human rights” NGOs, rightly closed down after their role in the coup attempt, are like the hydra-headed monster, springing up afresh in Costa Rica and still fostered not only by Washington directly but also by its allies in the international “human rights” industry. If there is less space for dissent in Nicaragua than there was before 2018, this is evidently what Washington wants. Decrying “human rights” abuses, imposing unilateral coercive measures on a country with one of the lowest incomes per head in the continent, refusing to recognize a popularly supported election and expressing alarm about Nicaragua’s ties to Russia and China, all help to sustain the myth that (as claimed by Presidents Trump and Biden) the country is an “extraordinary threat” to US security.

Washington’s regime-change plans failed in 2018, but it hasn’t given up.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

Palestine President Expresses Great Affection for Nicaragua
On Feb. 24, Roberto Morales Hernandez presented to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine, his credentials as Nicaragua’s new ambassador. Morales conveyed the fraternal greetings of President Daniel Ortega, Vice President Rosario Murillo, and all the Nicaraguan people. He also expressed the desire of President Ortega to continue strengthening relations of friendship and cooperation between the two nations.

For his part, Abbas expressed his great affection and admiration for the Nicaraguan people and highlighted the decades of friendship with Nicaragua and especially its support for the Palestinian cause. He also urged the continuation of work to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and to achieve the recognition of the State of Palestine as a sovereign state. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/presiden ... nicaragua/ (La Primerisima, 24 February 2024)

Native Languages are Part of National Pride
“They are native languages, true languages of great value.” This is how Johnny Hodgson, political secretary of the FSLN in the South Caribbean Autonomous Region, refers to the diversity of languages in the area, which were called dialects to belittle them during the Somoza dictatorship and neoliberal governments. Hodgson stated that, with the FSLN, development with identity is being achieved on the Caribbean Coast since the native languages and the diverse cultural expressions are now promoted. Interculturalism and multilingualism are immersed in social, cultural and religious activity. The coastal leader said that they work with the premise that there is no superior culture, rather it is a national culture enriched by the Mestizo, Creole, Garifuna, Misquito, Ulwa and Rama peoples and their customs. Hodgson stated that Indigenous, Afro-descendant and Mestizo peoples work in the construction of a unity in diversity, preserving their identity. “Intercultural bilingual education is strengthened in schools, so that children who speak Miskito in their community, at home, can go to school and find a teacher who speaks the language they speak,” said Hodgson. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/las-leng ... -nacional/ (La Primerisima, 25 February 2024)

Loan from Saudi Arabia for New Hospital on the Caribbean Coast
President Daniel Ortega authorized the Ministry of Finance to sign a loan agreement with the Saudi Fund for Development from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in support of the project to build and equip the Carlos Centeno-Las Minas Departmental Hospital in Siuna municipality, Southern Caribbean Autonomous Region. The US$103 million-dollar agreement will be used to build a 20,000 square meter hospital with capacity for 223 beds, 4 operating rooms, 27 clinics, attention in 23 specialties, emergency room, as well as a clinical and pathology laboratory benefiting the 266,000 inhabitants of the three municipalities in the mining triangle. (Nicaragua News, 22 February 2024)

Exports to China Going Strong
Nicaragua has exported US$22 million worth of goods to the People’s Republic of China (through Feb. 26), which represents an increase of 50% in value compared to the same period in 2023, an increase of about US$13 million. Nicaragua has exported shrimp, lobster, sugar, beef and more. The volume of exports is also growing. (La Primerisima, 27 February 2024)

Campaign Launched to Encourage Reading
On Feb. 26 the Ministry of Education launched the National Library Plan. This project includes various strategies, such as the formation of book clubs and the promotion of digital platforms among students, in order to encourage the habit of reading. The Minister of Education, Mendy Araúz, explained that the main objective of the National Library Plan is to instill a culture of reading not only among teachers and students in schools, but also among families and communities that have municipal libraries. The initiative seeks to create a dynamic and natural environment in order to develop creativity, critical thinking and neurolinguistics in users. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/inicia-c ... a-lectura/
(La Primerisima, 26 February 2024)

85% Approve Ortega’s Management Skills
The management capacity of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo is approved by 85.6% of the population, according to the latest survey released Feb. 28 by the firm M & R Consultores. President Ortega leads the ranking, leaving behind the presidents of El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Honduras, Colombia, Bolivia, Guatemala, Panama and Peru, among others. See more information and charts: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/mas-del- ... de-daniel/ (La Primerisima, 28 February 2024)

Campaign Launched for Prevention of Forest Fires
The Interinstitutional Commission for Fire Prevention and Control launched the 2024 National Plan for the prevention and control of forest, agricultural and brush fires. This plan, that has been implemented annually since 2007, seeks to prevent and reduce fires by strengthening monitoring by ecological brigades in the dry areas of the country; training the agricultural sector and the general population on the proper and safe handling of waste; periodic evaluations of early warning systems, evacuation, and rescue plans, as well as promoting tree planting and education on flora and fauna conservation. (Nicaragua News, 21 February 2024)

Ensuring Safety during Holy Week
The Ministry of Health (MINSA) announced that, as part of the 2024 Summer Plan, 325 medical brigades and mobile clinics will be established in tourism destinations of the country during Holy Week to attend medical emergencies. MINSA Secretary General, Carlos Sáenz stated, “We urge the population to continue implementing the measures established for the prevention of COVID-19 as well as for the prevention of dehydration and sun burns with special emphasis on the care of children and seniors.” The specialized brigades will also be visiting tourism service establishments, carrying out analysis of potable water and food to prevent illness. (Nicaragua News, 23 February 2024)

https://afgj.org/nicanotes-the-human-ri ... 6d880deab0

[blindpig]

NicaNotes: Climate Justice = Holistic Transformation, Not Tinkering around the Edges
March 21, 2024
By Helen Yuill

Helen Yuill lives in London and works for the UK-based Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign.

[This article was originally published on 29 February 2024 on the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign web page.)


Nicaraguan Delegation Head Valdrack Jaentschke speaks at COP28 in Dubai. Photo: Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign

‘The climate crisis has many dimensions: social, political, economic, environmental, moral, ethical, and ideological. The way out of the crisis must address the root cause: the endless, limitless, mindless accumulation and concentration of capital on a planet with finite resources,’ Valdrak Jaentschke, head of the Nicaragua delegation, said in his speech at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai. In turn, climate justice must be multi-dimensional recognising that climate justice is an integral part of social, political, environmental, and ethical justice.

In a blaze of triumphant celebrations, the Paris Agreement (COP21) was adopted on 12 December 2015. It entered into force on 4 November 2016. The overarching goal was to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”

However, the Nicaraguan delegation led by the late Dr Paul Oquist, refused to sign it, let alone celebrate, given the gaping hole between the immensity of the crisis and the lack of ambition of developed countries. According to the calculations of Dr Oquist, actual commitments would at best ‘take the world to more like three degrees over pre-industrial levels.’

Dr Oquist went on to criticise the lack of transparency and narrowness of scope of a process that failed to acknowledge the facts. The Agreement was of such limited ambition, he said, that it merely tinkered around the edges rescuing the governments of the countries that have caused global warming, ‘passing the cost to those least responsible who will die in the largest numbers unable to make good their losses, much less adapt to a change in climate increasing in intensity as the century wears on.’

In short, rather than solve problems, the Agreement postponed them, at best ‘passing a three degree world onto our grandchildren, great grandchildren and great, great grandchildren.’

Fast forward eight years, the crisis has intensified almost to the point of no return across the globe. The demands of UN general secretary Antonio Guterres and millions of others, particularly in the Global South, echoed those of Dr Oquist. ‘End the use of fossil fuels and stop kicking the can down the road,’ urged Guterres at COP28 in Dubai December 2023.

In line with Dr Oquist’s predictions, the International Panel on Climate Change has already stated that even 1.5 degrees above pre-industrialised levels would be unsustainable. ‘Even at this level Small Island States of the Pacific and Caribbean and the lowland areas of Central America would disappear. It’s not a question of if this would happen, it will happen and whole nations will disappear,‘ according to Jaentschke.

Antonio Guterres went on to state, ‘Every year of insufficient action to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius drives us closer to the brink, increasing systemic risks and reducing our resilience against climate catastrophe.’

COP28 ‘typifying the real face of an unequal world’

A small Nicaraguan delegation led by Minister Valdrack Jaentschke were among the nearly 100,000 people who attended COP28 or joined online. It is supposed to be Conference of Parties, meaning countries, and 197 countries registered to attend. But corporate fossil fuel and agribusiness lobbyists were among those embedded in national delegations of countries of the North. Why? To use their clout to ensure that nothing emerged that had any significant impact on their interests.

In a webinar co-ordinated by the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition, Jaentschke outlined the positions taken by Nicaragua at COP28 arguing that the ‘predatory capitalist model of production and consumption is the main reason we are on the brink of catastrophe. The capitalist assumption of limitless growth is at profound odds with the fact that we live on a planet with finite resources.’

Climate Justice = common but differentiated responsibility for cutting carbon emissions

COP28, after more than a decade of lobbying by countries of the Global South, established the principle that all countries are responsible for emissions but those with the highest level of emissions currently and historically have the greatest responsibilities.

COP28 also signalled ‘a transition away from fossil fuels, the beginning of the end for the fossil fuels era’. This was a critical step forward but as the Nicaraguan delegation and other countries of the Global South highlighted, there must be some level of flexibility not for the major polluters but ‘for developing countries that face capacity questions in terms of the speed at which they are able to transition away from fossil fuels‘.

‘Developed countries are constantly looking for ways of avoiding responsibility; some examples of this are carbon trading and carbon markets to achieve carbon neutrality; this is a big lie,’ Jaentschke said. He went on to state, ‘What we currently have is the dictatorship of capitalist imposition and bullying, greed and belief in their right to control the world.’

Mitigation and adaptation: the UN Green Climate Fund (GFC)

Developed countries have, in theory, pledged to provide US$100 billion per year to the UN Green Climate Fund (GFC). In turn, developing countries, can present applications for projects to mitigate and/or adapt to the climate crisis. However, the amount actually delivered by the UN Green Climate Fund of US$13.5 billion to date indicates how irresponsibly inadequate this Fund is in providing resources to enable vulnerable countries to confront ‘humanity’s greater challenge’.

As well as the chasm between the level of the crisis and the level of GFC financing, Jaentschke raised concerns about the complexity of the application process making it inaccessible for many countries. According to the GCF website 243 projects have been approved to date to the value of US$13.5 billion of which Nicaragua has received US$91.2 million for three projects.

Climate justice = climate finance for loss and damage

Progress has proceeded at a snail’s pace on the inclusion of the concept of loss and damage, something that vulnerable countries of the Global South have been demanded for decades. Loss and damage refers to climate finance that acknowledges the impact of irreversible economic and other losses caused by global warming. It includes not only disasters linked to extreme weather, but also slow onset events such as sea level rise, loss of life and livelihoods, migration, biodiversity, and cultural heritage.

However, as with the Climate Green Fund, only a small fraction of the estimated $US400 billion needed for loss and damage compensation annually was actually pledged.

Climate justice = reparations

In addition, many countries of the Global South including Nicaragua, argued not just for financing of immediate loss and damage but also for reparations for climate related impacts of colonialist development, a concept that North America and Europe are at great pains to avoid.

How the climate crisis impacts Nicaragua

Jaentschke explained that Nicaragua, with a population of 6.2 million, is responsible for 0.05% of global emissions. Yet it suffers multiple climate related crises such as extremes of temperature, hurricanes, floods, droughts and erratic seasonal shifts. All of these events take a heavy toll particularly in low lying areas.

The country has to invest US$4 billion annually to mitigate/adapt to climate change; this constitutes 8% of GDP. This calculation takes into account road infrastructure, production, environment, health, energy, water, sanitation, telecommunications, and agriculture.

In addition, Nicaragua is situated on a criss-cross of earthquake fault lines and a chain of volcanoes.

All of this in a small country has an enormous impact in undermining development. But it’s not just a question of finance needed to rebuild but also the psycho social impact.

What is Nicaragua doing to cut its own carbon emissions?

Jaentschke highlighted that everything that the Sandinista government has achieved, how much the country has advanced including on climate justice, is within the framework of independence and self-determination and eradicating poverty.

Nicaragua is playing its part in cutting emissions according to its means. An example of this is the transition to renewable energy from 25% to 75% since 2007.This consists of a diverse matrix of solar, geothermal, wind, and biomass.

A message from Nicaragua to campaigners in countries of the North:

♦ The debate and pressure needs to accelerate in countries of the North, focusing on transformation rather than tinkering around the edges.

♦ Climate justice is a moral, ideological and ethical question that must be placed in the wider context of social justice.

♦ Building global networks, coalitions, and alliances, is essential to raising awareness of what is happening, who is responsible, and actions to take.

♦ Civil society organisations in developed countries are key. As the UN Secretary General Guterres has stated, rhetoric and actions must address the causes and must be about transformation – the age of tinkering and kicking the can down the road for future generations is over. In short, we must end the myth that we can continue to live as we always have on a planet with limited resources.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Briefs
By Nan McCurdy


To register: bit.ly/NicaMar24

Nicaragua to Be First in Electricity Coverage in Central America
Nicaragua will occupy first place as the country with the highest electricity coverage in the Central American region with 99.57% at the end of 2024, surpassing Costa Rica which has 99.50%, Honduras with 85.2%, Guatemala with less than 90%, and El Salvador with 99.42%. An official report shows that as of February 29th of this year, 99.437% of the new goal of 99.57% was reached, providing 1,288,320 homes and 3,714,273 inhabitants with this fundamental benefit of electricity. Nicaragua went from 54% coverage in 2006 to 99.43% in March 2024 and from 616,840 homes with electricity to 1,288,320. The electricity network has been rehabilitated in Managua, Jinotega, Matagalpa, Leon, Boaco, and Rivas, with a total of 81.4 kilometers of networks and an investment of US$ 4.76 million. In addition, networks are being renewed in Chinandega, Leon, Managua, and Matagalpa, for which US$4.07 million was allocated to regularize 7,556 homes. According to the official report, between January 1 and March 3 of this year, electricity generation was 73.08% from renewable sources and 26.92% from non-renewable sources. [Renewable energy varies widely from month to month.] Solar energy contributed 0.44%; 7.39% hydroelectric; 11.92% geothermal; 16.63% biomass; 20.27% wind; and 16.42% from imports in the Central American regional market, for a total generation of 914.96 GWh. Twenty-four new electric chargers will be installed this year to supply electric vehicles and motorcycles, eight at the León Substation; eight at the Granada Substation and eight at the Los Brasiles Substation in Managua. [There are already 60 charging stations in the country.] (La Primerisima, 13 March 2024)

Investment in Roads Throughout the Country
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has rehabilitated 1,218 kilometers of roads, in 13 departments, two Autonomous Regions and 62 municipalities of the country, as part of the Plan Verano [Summer Plan – summer being December to May – the dry season] 2024. In this way, conditions are improved for the population and for more than three million tourists who visit the different tourist destinations, sites of natural beauty, cultural, popular and religious activities during this summer season. The Summer Plan 2024 executed by the MTI has reached 77% compliance and will end in the last week of March. (Primerisima, 14 March 2024)

New Road Ready from Pan-American Highway to Pacific in Rivas
On March 21 the Sandinista Government will inaugurate the second section of the Ochomogo-Las Salinas highway, in the municipality of Tola, department of Rivas. With these 14 new kilometers of road, the construction of the 29-kilometer Ochomogo-Las Salinas Road infrastructure project will be complete. The project improves the connection between the Pan-American Highway South and the Pacific coastline, making travel safer and shortening travel time for the residents of Rivas and for tourists visiting the country’s southern Pacific beaches. (La Primerisima, 18 March 2024)

Almost Half a Million Children Given Vitamins and Dewormed
The Ministry of Health reported that in compliance with the activities of the national plan to follow-up on the nutritional status of children between birth and 6 years of age, 417,792 children were seen as of March 17. Over 200 thousand house-to-house and school visits were made to children under 6 years of age, who received deworming, vitamin A, zinc and micronutrients treatments. Also 55,470 women received counseling on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding of babies up to six months of age and continued breastfeeding up to the age of two years. In addition, 36,229 children received attention to monitor and improve their nutritional status. Nearly 37 thousand members of the community network were trained and certified to identify children with nutritional problems and promote healthy lifestyles. And 20,368 campaigns, nutritional health fairs and meetings were held in the communities with parents, teachers, students, pregnant women and community leaders to exchange experiences about the benefits of breastfeeding, healthy eating and physical activity for growth. Over ten thousand visits were made by the Community Network as part of the Program for Monitoring and Promoting Growth and Development. MINSA also monitored 3,828 pregnant women who are receiving follow-up attention due to low weight gain in their babies. In addition, 4,808 premature infants received care in all health units. (La Primerisima, 18 March 2024)

Presentation of a Map on Tradition, Art and Popular Culture
On March 14 the Ministry of Education (Mined) presented the National Map of Nicaraguan Tradition, Art and Popular Culture, to promote the cultural richness of the municipalities throughout the country. The educational authorities said that the map is a tool of vital importance in academic formation and in the promotion of tourism at the local and international level. The head of MINED, Mendy Aráuz, said, “These are tools that allow members of the educational community to strengthen their knowledge, identity and pride as Nicaraguans. That is why we are officially launching the map on Nicaraguan culture. It is a tool that contains a lot of information about our cuisine, cultural practices and national heritage that we must know, preserve and promote.” It is an easy-to-use tool and has several tabs, each of them classifying the aspects to be learned such as gastronomy, dances, crafts, and other components. Professor Wilmor Lopez said that “It is a unique map in Latin America, an interactive map that serves as a tool for students, cultural scholars and tourists; it is a contribution to culture and identity, to better knowing this beautiful country and its cultural strength.” Go to https://www.mined.gob.ni/mapatradicionesculturapopular/ to access this map. (La Primerisima, 14 March 2024)

Pet Parade in Honor of San Lázaro in León
Wearing exotic costumes, the pets with their owners were part of a religious parade held on March 17 in the Indigenous neighborhood of Sutiaba in the city of Leon. The activity was a salute in honor of San Lazaro, which is celebrated on the fifth Sunday of Lent. Young people from the Guardabarranco Environmentalist Movement gave prizes to the owners of the pets with the best costumes. A similar religious event is celebrated in other parts of the country including Monimbo, Masaya. The celebration originates from the Gospel parable about the rich man and Lazarus, a beggar who was accompanied by dogs that licked his sores. This saint has been celebrated in Nicaragua since a cholera epidemic in the 19th century. Since then, many have entrusted themselves to Lazarus to heal their ailments. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/realizan ... an-lazaro/ (La Primerisima, 18 March 2024)

Moody’s Raises Nicaragua Ratings to B2; Maintains Stable Outlook
International risk rating agency Moody’s Ratings raised the long-term local and foreign currency issuer ratings of the Government of Nicaragua to B2 from B3, noting that the outlook remains stable. “The upgrade of Nicaragua’s ratings from B3 to B2 reflects Moody’s view that Nicaragua’s credit profile has strengthened structurally due to the accumulation of significant fiscal and external buffers above Moody’s previous expectations, as a result of the authorities’ concerted policy efforts to mitigate the challenges of international sanctions,” Moody’s said, noting that Nicaragua has managed to accumulate more than US$5.6 billion in international reserves. (Informe Pastran, 19 March 2024)

Honduras Ratifies Maritime Boundary Agreement with Nicaragua
On March 19, the Honduran National Congress unanimously ratified the maritime limits treaty signed between Honduras and Nicaragua in a controversial session in which the leaders of the Honduran legislature at one point ordered the departure of the journalists who were covering the proceedings. The “Treaty of limits between the Republic of Honduras and the Republic of Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea and waters off the Gulf of Fonseca” was signed on October 27, 2021, by President Daniel Ortega and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who before leaving office in January 2022 asked the new authorities to adopt it. The treaty confirms the maritime border between the two countries in the Gulf of Fonseca in accordance with the 1992 ruling of the International Court of Justice (World Court) in The Hague. The seventh clause of the Treaty reads as follows: “The Gulf of Fonseca and its internal waters up to the closing line shall continue to be recognized as a historic bay and the rights of the [adjacent] States to its use, including navigation, shall continue to be respected. With this in mind the Contracting Parties agree to invite El Salvador to continue with the efforts to maintain the Gulf of Fonseca as a Zone of Peace, Sustainable Development and Security and to expand the ties of cooperation.”

The treaty was supported by 122 Honduran congressmembers who voted in favor of its ratification. “Today the Congress ratified the treaty of the Gulf of Fonseca that was signed in 2021 by Nicaragua,” said Carlos Zelaya, secretary of the National Congress. The treaty also establishes that Honduras and Nicaragua recognize the authority of the International Court of Justice to determine the maritime limits of both nations in the Caribbean Sea and in waters outside the Gulf of Fonseca.

Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina noted that the ratification of the treaty between Honduras and Nicaragua is of great importance because it marks a historic milestone that comes to strengthen a zone of peace and sustainable development. Reina stated that he went to the National Congress on behalf of the government Xiomara Castro to a session he described as “transcendental.” He stressed that in order to strengthen the rights and national sovereignty of Honduras, the National Congress voted unanimously in favor of this treaty that puts an end to more than a century of territorial disputes between the two nations, emphasizing that the treaty “ends cases before the ICJ and treaties, using the peaceful means that international law provides for the settlement of disputes and for brotherhood and peace.” (La Primerisima, 20 March 2024)

https://afgj.org/nicanotes-climate-just ... -the-edges

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Nicaragua joins South Africa at the ICJ in support of Palestine

The way that different countries have responded to the ongoing genocide in Gaza says everything about which interests their governments really represent.

The anti-imperialist solidarity between the revolutionaries and national-liberation movements of Nicaragua and Palestine is not new, but it is testament to the principled leadership of the Sandinistas that Nicaragua is willing to put itself forward against zionism on the world stage, knowing full well that this will bring the opprobrium of international finance capital down on its head.
Proletarian writers

Monday 25 March 2024



While Yemen has been the first state actor to deliver full practical solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, and South Africa was the first to have recourse to international law, the government of Nicaragua has been the first to file a formal application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.

In making its application, Nicaragua also asked the ICJ to declare that Israel “must perform the obligations of reparation in the interest of Palestinian victims, including but not limited to allowing the safe and dignified return of forcibly displaced and/or abducted Palestinians to their homes, respect for their full human rights and protection against further discrimination, persecution and other related acts, and provide for the reconstruction of what it has destroyed in Gaza”.

Representatives of the Nicaraguan government joining an international conference on Palestine in Tehran in February stated: “The Palestinian people are victims of unimaginable atrocities that move, dismay and outrage the people of this planet. The atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, against innocent children and defenceless women are condemnable, the government and people of Nicaragua denounce and strongly condemn them.

“The government of Israel is becoming a state incompatible with the community of states that make up the United Nations. Their supremacist criminality is unparalleled in the history of humanity. The international community rejects and condemns this atrocious and despicable behaviour.”

The case against Germany
Not resting there, the central American state has also filed charges against Germany for continuing to provide aid to Israel after the ICJ had ruled that special measures were needed to ensure the prevention of genocide in Gaza.

In its application, Nicaragua has charged Germany not only with continuing to give financial and military aid to Israel but also with defunding the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa), in violation of both the 1948 genocide convention and the 1949 Geneva conventions on the laws of war in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Reflecting once again the urgency of the situation in Gaza, where famine is now endemic amongst the population and Israel is threatening to launch an invasion of the southernmost Gaza town of Rafah (which has become a vast tent city housing the 1.5 million Palestinians who have been displaced from the rest of the strip), the ICJ has scheduled a hearing for the case against Germany on 8 and 9 April.

Most of the imperialist camp will be watching this development nervously. If ever a day comes when ICJ rulings can be backed up by actions, governments and officials from across the Natosphere could find themselves in trouble.

Not only are they all backing Israel with weapons and other aid, but most of them have also joined the USA in pulling funding from Unrwa – which is responsible for delivering nutritional, educational and health services to Palestinian refugees across the occupied territories and in refugee camps across the region (Lebanon, Jordan and Syria). Other governments liable to find themselves in the dock are those of Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland and Australia. Canada and Sweden had initially joined this US-instigated group of Unrwa ‘de-funders’, but reversed their decision earlier this month.

Germany is one of the largest arms exporters to Israel, after the United States, and its sales to the zionist occupation forces ballooned massively in the last quarter of 2023, after 7 October.

Although the true extent of military support from Britain is not known, publicy available figures put it in third place, traditionally supplying around 15 percent of the components used in F-35 bombers. The UK is also home to Israeli arms companies such as Elbit, which has been consistently targeted by Palestine Action for its role in the Palestinian genocide.

Meanwhile, under pressure from their domestic populations, and with one eye to the persistence of ICJ prosecutions, Canada, Spain and Belgium have all halted arms exports to Israel, while the Netherlands is in the process of being forced by a legal order from its domestic courts to follow suit.

Nicaragua’s history with the ICJ
Meanwhile, unknown to most workers in the west today is the fact that Nicaragua has been pursuing its own legal case against the United States since 1986.

When the case was heard, the ICJ found in Nicaragua’s favour and decided that the USA had indeed violated international law by supporting the armed rebellion of the ‘Contras’ against the Sandinista government and by mining Nicaragua’s harbours. Not only was a verdict pronounced against the United States, but reparations were awarded to Nicaragua.

Nicaragua then brought its case to the UN security council for enforcement, where the USA simply vetoed the resolution, thus demonstrating how much the imperialists really respect the international order they pretend to uphold.

When Nicaragua turned to the general assembly, the resolution in favour of the Latin-American nation was passed by a majority of 94-3. Which had zero effect on the USA’s refusal to admit guilt or pay what it owes.

In 2023, President Daniel Ortega sent a letter to UN secretary general António Guterres demanding that Washington be forced to pay up. “There exists a historical debt with the Nicaraguan people that 37 years later has not been settled by the United States … It is an obligation clearly established in a final judgment of the highest international judicial authority, the International Court of Justice.”

This earlier case highlights what the case against Gaza has brought into the centre of a global spotlight: the toothless charade of the supposed ‘international UN system’ and the impotence of most ‘member states’ to affect any real outcomes. At the UN, all are allowed to speak (on the floor of the general assembly) but only one nation has any meaningful executive power (via its veto at the UN, its physical control over.

Any branch of UN activity that acts with independence is liable to find its funding arbitrarily pulled – as was cruelly demonstrated by the barbaric cutting of funds to Unrwa just when its services are most desperately needed.

It has been said that the United Nations was long ago transformed into the colonial office of US imperialism.

The UN’s inability to stop the US-backed genocide in Gaza, or even to bring effective relief to the Palestinian people, despite the overwhelming desire of the governments and peoples of the world, are providing us with ample proof for this assertion.

https://thecommunists.org/2024/03/25/ne ... -genocide/