Nicaragua Network Hotline -- July 4, 2007
 
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 01:55:22 -0500 (CDT)

------------------------------------------------------------ Nicaragua
Network Hotline www.nicanet.org July 4, 2007 Topics covered in this
hotline include:

1.  Ports to be modernized; Dry canal revived

2.  Ortega visits Mexico and promotes ALBA

3.  Ortega says that the U.S. should pay for the fight against drug
trafficking

4.  Civil society groups march to demand government transparency

5.  World Bank says poverty has diminished in Nicaragua

Topic 1: Ports to be modernized; Dry canal revived

The purchase of equipment to improve and modernize several wharves
and ports, in addition to the plan to construct an international
port on the Atlantic Coast, were two of the subjects that the
National Ports Company (EPN) presented before directors of the
Chamber of Commerce of Nicaragua (Caconic). For the business sector,
improvements in harbor infrastructure are urgent, but, an international
port on the Atlantic much more urgent in order to lower costs of
exports and imports.

Caconic President Josi Adan Aguerri said that 80 percent of Nicaraguan
freight that goes to Europe and the East Coast of the United States
leaves by neighboring countries' ports and is costing the country
US$100 million a year. Out of five million tons of merchandise that
Nicaragua exported the last year, 46 percent left from Puerto Cortis,
in Honduras, and Puerto Limsn, in Costa Rica.

Executive President of the EPN, Virgilio Silva, said a diagnosis
of what is needed for the modernization of the Port of Corinto is
being done and he thinks that the results will be positive. Silva
said that in approximately one month new equipment will arrive from
Italy, which will begin to operate in Corinto on August 1, along
with equipment from the Netherlands. The investment in equipment
for Corinto is US$2.6 million, which will facilitate service to
shipping companies, importers and exporters.

On the Atlantic Coast consideration is being given to investing
nearly US$2 million in Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas), where a wharf was
destroyed because previous governments did not pay attention to it.
The local fishing industry has been severely affected as a result.
A Venezuelan company is now interested in investing US$20 million
in the port terminal.

The largest project being considered is construction at Monkey
Point, located on the southern Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, where
a modern international port would be built, with a modern highway
to El Rama and a railroad that would extend to Corinto. The difference
with previous proposals would be placing the Pacific Coast terminus
at the existing port of Corinto rather than a new port at Pie de
Gigante, a much shorter distance.  Silva said that the investment
in Monkey Point would be approximately US$250 million to construct
a multipurpose port that would allow for handling bulk, liquid and
container loads. He added that this port will facilitate the
transportation of imports and exports and will lower costs. Silva
said that investors from Dubai have already visited the Monkey Point
zone and are interested in investing in a port there.

The port and high speed railroad are opposed by residents of Monkey
Point and environmentalists.

Monkey Point is home of the Rama Indians whose way of life would
be destroyed by this mega project designed primarily to move goods
from Asia to the US East Coast and to Europe.  Few jobs would be
created after the initial construction phase and even fewer Rama
would be qualified to fill them.  In addition, the wide swath cut
from East to West across the country would cut the Meso American
Biological Corridor in two, blocking the migration route for many
animals.

Topic 1: Ortega visits Mexico and promotes ALBA

President Daniel Ortega made an official two-day visit to Mexico
on June 27 and 28. Ortega and Mexican President Felipe Caldersn
analyzed the bilateral Free Trade Agreement between the two countries,
which went into effect on July 1, 1998. Mexico insisted that Nicaragua
finish the adopting laws necessary in order to comply with the
bilateral agreement.

Mexican Minister of the Economy Eduardo Sojo stated in an official
notice that the purpose of the visit was also to promote regional
integration. Sojo and Nicaraguan Economy Minister Orlando Solsrzano
"agreed that the next step is to combine the three Free Trade
Agreements that Mexico has with Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El
Salvador-Guatemala- Honduras."

Foreign Minister Samuel Santos said that other subjects on the
agenda included communication, infrastructure and transportation,
industry and loans. "We need to look at loans from Mexico that are
pending under the Pact of San Josi, which we want to use build
highways," said Santos. He added that with funds originating from
the Pact of San Josi, by means of which Mexico provides petroleum
to Central America and soft loans for projects in the region,
Nicaraguan officials are anticipating the construction of three
highways within the country. Mexico continues to push its Plan
Puebla Panama which envisions a giant industrial zone stretching
from Southern Mexico to Panama.

The two presidents signed an agreement that increases the length
of resident visas for citizens of each other's countries from three
to five years and supports a line of credit for building the three
highways. The agreement includes continued efforts to help lessen
the energy crisis that affects Nicaragua and has caused blackouts
of up to 18 hours a day.

At a press conference after meeting with Caldersn, Ortega made a
speech criticizing the neoliberal economic policies advocated by
the United States for the Latin American region in the two last
decades. As an alternative, he suggested developing policies to
"fight against the interests of global capitalism and the empire
that still do not share and work for a just world, in solidarity,
peace, democracy and freedom."

Ortega advocated the integration of the "great Latin American and
Caribbean mother country" and expressed his conviction that someday
the dreams of the Simsn Bolivar and the Nicaraguan hero Augusto
Cesar Sandino will be a reality.

Topic 3:  Ortega says that the U.S. should pay for the fight against
drug trafficking

President Daniel Ortega said on June 29 that the United States
should assume the expenses and arrange for more means to fight
against drug trafficking in Central America. Ortega spoke at a press
conference at the end of the presidential summit of Central American
countries with Mexico in the island of San Pedro, in northeast
Belize. "Drug trafficking has never reached the levels it has reached
now and it has become a threat to our countries," Ortega said. "The
problem is that in the north we have the great drug consumer," he
added in reference to the United States. Ortega asked the United
States to consider immediately that it "must finance the fight
against the drug trafficking."

The Central American and Mexican presidents reaffirmed their
willingness to pursue the proposal to formulate a Regional Plan
against Gangs, Drug Trafficking, and Organized Crime between the
United States, Mexico and Central America.

Topic 4:  Civil society groups march to demand government transparency

Thousands of activists marched on June 28 in protest against
government secrecy.  The march was organized by the Civil Coordinator,
a network of several hundred organizations, to demand more openness
from the government about conversations with the International
Monetary Fund and more openness in general about government policies.

Among the marchers were members of cooperatives, indigenous groups,
members of non-governmental organizations, and former banana workers
affected by the pesticide Nemagon.

Participants accused the government of pressuring owners of busses
and vans not to bring people from cities around the country to
Managua and of setting up check-points on the highways entering the
capital.

"We are confronting a government of the right with a discourse of
the left," stated Manuel Hernandez, a representative of the banana
workers.  Georgina Muqoz, head of the Civil Coordinator, demanded
that the government respect the Law on Citizen Participation, which
some believe is threatened by the new government's Citizen Councils
which are to be inaugurated on July 19.

Topic 5:  World Bank says poverty has diminished in Nicaragua

Against all reason, the World Bank claims that general poverty in
Nicaragua has diminished 10%, from 1993 to 2005, and extreme poverty
has decreased between 20 and 25% according to a recent study. The
figures, however, do not concur with the analyses of independent
economists who consider that instead there is an increase of poverty.
The report explains that to be able to reduce poverty the country
needs an economic growth of at least 5.5% annually, to increase the
number of jobs and improve productivity, among other things not
very easily obtained.

One of the conclusions of the study was that half of the country's
social expenditure and nearly half of what is classified [by
international financial institutions] as payment for the reduction
of poverty in Nicaragua is not benefiting the poor. The study also
indicated that it will be difficult for the country to fulfill many
of United Nations Millennium Goals.  This is especially true because
the World Bank's sister organization, the International Monetary
Fund, continues to press Nicaragua to continue failed neoliberal
policies such as not raising the salaries of teachers and not
investing in health care and education.

In 1993, nearly 50 percent of the population was living in poverty,
whereas in 2005 the percentage lowered to 40 percent. Given that
2000 was the height of the coffee crisis and tens of thousands of
coffee workers unemployed with thousands camped along the major
highways or city squares begging for food, the poverty reduction
claimed by the World Bank is simply not believable. According to
the study, in 1993 one of every five citizens (20%) was living in
extreme poverty, whereas around 15 percent was living in extreme
poverty in 2005.

The WB study does not coincide with the analysis of economist Nistor
Avendaqo, who in his last book, "The Economy and Poverty of Nicaragua
2002- 2006," notes that during this period poverty grew because
part of the external debt cancellation the country received was
used to pay part of the "onerous"

internal debt. The economist adds that it is necessary to prioritize
social expenditures in education and in health, so that the growth
of the economy benefits the poor, in addition to increasing access
to houses, water, sewage systems and other services on which point
the World Bank expressed agreement.

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