by Nick Cooke
Direct foreign investment
Nicaragua reached new heights in
There has been a 60.7% increase in direct investment over the last four years. Naturally, hopes are that this tendency continues. But all agree, it depends largely on the situation, political and otherwise, in the country.
Tourists: bring ‘em on
Will one aftershock of the Indian Ocean tsunami be a tidal wave of tourists to Nicaragua? It is one consideration in the minds of national tourism officials, along with possibly benefiting from the fear of terrorist attacks elsewhere in the world. This country is looking more oasis-like all the time.
In fact, Nicaragua is the fastest growing tourist destination in Central America. Twelve local operators recently attended the International Tourism Fair in Spain, where they received positive feedback to their promotional efforts, reported Lucia Salazar, President of the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (INTUR).
INTUR’s Regina Hurtado says other factors are drawing visitors. The strength of the Euro means Europeans can get more bounce from their buck here, while that same currency relation has people from the States thinking that their dollar goes farther here than on some European sojourn.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Nicaraguans living in the diaspora are being encouraged to come back to their home and native land. The National Assembly approved in early February a law to give incentives to returnees. The bait is tax-free entry of up to $50,000 in household goods and a new or used automobile worth no more than $20,000 for those wishing to resettle. One condition is that these vehicles cannot be sold here for three years unless entry duties are paid on them.
Managua Blues
They are coming soon to a street corner near you. New Managua Mayor Dionisio Marenco has discussed with the National Police the idea of setting up a municipal force of men and women in blue. This corps would oversee security in city parks, cemeteries, and markets and would also have some traffic-related functions, mainly parking enforcement. Watch for tickets under your windscreen wipers before you leave from that space under the “No Parking” sign.
License plate change
The National Police have announced for the second year running that all vehicle license plates will be switched over to new ones. In order to separate the wheat from the chaff of the nation’s vehicular fleet, chassis and motor serial numbers will be checked to see that they correspond to what is on the registration papers and there will be an emissions test. The idea is to have Nicaragua be freer from the noxious gases spewing from tailpipes. Will they exhaust all possibilities in order to reduce automobile pollution?
Deputy, get your gun
A law about weapons has been working its way through the Nicaragua’s National Assembly. One aspect of it that meets the approval of Assembly deputies would allow them to carry automatic weapons for self-defense, a concern in the remote areas of the country that the assembly members rarely visit. When astonishment was expressed about having them bear sub-machineguns, one parliamentarian replied, “We’re not talking grenade launchers.” That’s a relief! Will they have to check their weapons on entry into the halls of the Assembly like Mad Max and the Thunderdrome?
Coffee crisis over?
World coffee prices are climbing again and are now above $110 dollars for a
Oh say, canyon see?
How could it have been missed all this time? Tucked away in the folds of a mountain just outside of Somoto in northern Nicaragua, a canyon was just sitting there, waiting to be discovered. The area is one of the oldest parts of the Central American isthmus that rose up from the marine depths some 75 million years ago, more or less. Two natural scientists from the Czech Republic exploring the area stumbled onto it late last year.
Baptized “Namancambre,” this not-so-grand canyon (more a slash in the mountain slope) is one of the headwaters of the Río Coco coursing its way from the heart of the cordillera eastwards from the continental divide. The country abounds with multiple wonders, some natural, some social, some political. This unique natural gem adds sparkle to the jeweled crown of Nicaragua’s site-seeing opportunities.
National tourism authorities are mulling over what to do with it. Access is a problem since until now, no one even knew it was there. It is obviously well off the beaten track. If you do go and “Czech” out this “lost” canyon, be sure and let someone know so a search party can be sent to look for you later.
Lost and found,
Adventure tourism sounds like fun, until you lose your way on the slippery slopes of a tropical volcano and nightfall descends. Two tourists —one from the US, the other from the UK— did not return to their lodging on Ometepe Island after going for an unguided hike up the slopes of the Maderas Volcano.
Search parties went out for days and eventually all hope was lost. The two were found dead at the bottom of a 350-foot gorge not long after the search was called off. That same week, another foreign happy wanderer came stumbling out from the undergrowth of the tropical forest that characterizes much of Maderas. No one had even known that he was missing.
Adventurous spirit not withstanding, common sense dictates that such exploratory expeditions should employ the assistance of a local guide. In order to err on the side of caution, Nicaragua has inspectors from the Tourism Institute to see to it that operators comply with certain personal safety measures in order to assure, as much as possible, that no one gets hurt while attempting some stunt or other, like base jumping, hang-gliding, rafting, etc. But if you don’t use your head, it’s your neck you risk. May we suggest surfing Ometepe or sandboarding Cerro Negro?
Panamanian money launderette — hold the starch, please
While former president Arnoldo Alemán serves out his sentence for money laundering, he has not been hung out to dry. His Liberal Party loyalists maneuver to do anything to free him so he can run for president again in 2006. They have been ironing out the wrinkles in several political concessions made to the FSLN party so that justice officials controlled by that party will lean the right way when it comes to declaring his sentence invalid.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Panama has come up with evidence of laundering $74.7 million of Nicaraguan State funds through 40 accounts in 12 Panamanian banks in the name of paper companies set up in that country. Alemán is even a signing authority on some accounts, though most can be signed for by persons who practice “identity-rent,” lending their names out in order to cover over the paper trail.
Aleman is probably chortling up in his luxury farmhouse just outside of the capital. He knows Nicaraguans cannot be extradited to face charges in other countries. And Panama will be just one more country that he will not be able to visit once he eventually is freed.
Army under attack
The Nicaraguan Army has come under fire recently, but not the in-combat kind. Suggestions have been floated regarding possible insecurity in safekeeping for the surface-to-air missiles in the army arsenal. Last year about half the stockpile was destroyed, but US officials have implied that perhaps some or all of the remainder could fall into the hands of terrorists.
President Bolaños got his licks in, insinuating that possible prices offered on the black market could entice almost anyone in the army to enter into an illegal trade of these anti-aircraft weapons that could potentially be fired at a commercial jetliner on take-off or landing. Outgoing army head General Javier Carrión pooh-poohed such speculations, citing the professionalism of Nicaragua’s armed forces.
Carrión even commented to the effect that Nicaraguan military personnel put their bodies on the line in Iraq last year as part of a coalition commitment, yet the US still harbors mistrust.
The Bloodless Coup That Wasn’t
President Enrique Bolaños ran up against the most difficult moments of his mandate so far. Starting late last year, a power struggle between the Branches of Government and involving most major political figures in the country went supernova. Politicians were not so much blinded by the light as they were blinkered by visions of the power to come to their hands.
Bolanos lost the support of the Liberal Party whose ticket he rode to power on and that party, though the majority in the National Assembly, declared itself to be the opposition. Former president and convicted felon Arnoldo Alemán directs this wing from the heights of his farm mansion in El Crucero on the plateau to the south of the capital. Another former president and perpetual candidate for the post, Daniel Ortega of the FSLN, directs another wing of that unified opposition vulture circling overhead, waiting to pick clean the bones of Bolaños and his administration.
Who hogs the sheets?
This unity of strange political bedfellows decided to reform the Constitution to take away powers from the presidency, attempting to leave Bolaños as some sort of toothless lion with figurative powers of no real consequence. It was openly suggested that these reforms would be reformed back once someone else took the presidential office.
Ortega and Alemán met at the latter’s hacienda and signed a joint proclamation. That Arnoldo has no right to be involved in political activity while serving out his sentence for embezzlement of public funds and money laundering seems not to bother them in the least. Vice President José Rizo smelled the roses and jumped into bed with them, letting it be known that he was more than willing to step in to replace Bolaños.
Bolaños challenged the reforms. He filed a document with the Supreme Court to have it declare the reforms unconstitutional. However, the Magistrates of that court had joined in a “coalition of the willing” that signed a public proclamation to pressure Bolaños to give in, thereby nullifying their right to rule on the constitutionality of it all since they had already taken a side. A stalemate or legal limbo of sorts was reached.
The heads of the National Police and Nicaraguan Army held a press conference and called on all branches of government to “reach an understanding.” Understandably, they were not overly eager to have to follow a presidential order to restore order in which no one would know who is giving orders.
Show me the money!
Meanwhile, the international donor community was expressing concern about political stability or the lack thereof and hints were dropped that some funding already in the pipe would be postponed unless some form of order was reigned in. This appears to have swung the balance towards the outcome.
After all, it’s not rocket surgery. Exercising their combined brain power, it didn’t take long for the Liberal and Sandinista Assembly members to wonder what good is it to have power and privilege when there is no pot of gold at the end of the bi-partisan rainbow.
So, in January an agreement was reached to allow Bolaños to remain as President and he agreed to allow the Assembly to make changes to the national budget. The deck of power cards has been reshuffled. Some cards have been passed under the table, others remain well-hidden up sleeves. The shares of political power have been redistributed once again.
The question, however, still remains: what will actually get done now that stability is the watchword?
And they’re off!
The next presidential and parliamentary elections are not until November 2006, but the jockying has already started. Who will be riding which horse to power when the race enters the final stretch?
Former Managua Mayor Herty Lewites, more of a businessman than a politician, threw his hat into the ring as a self-declared pre-candidate for the FSLN, putting himself in a political pickle by postulating himself as a presidential hopeful. This does not sit well with Daniel Ortega, that party’s perpetual candidate. Rather than face a run-off in party primaries, Daniel decided to give a rendition of the old Leslie Gore hit, “It’s my party and I’ll expel you if I want to…” And so it came to pass.
Lewites is called “traitor” by some FSLN heavies. Another top Sandinista leader, Tomás Borge of revolutionary years fame, called Lewites “diabolical” for wanting to split the party. He said the former mayor will face the “crushing steamroller” force of the party as it closes ranks around its leadership. There has been talk of expelling anyone who supports Herty’s bid. That really would divide the political formation given the range of support already stated for his candidacy, which includes a number of past and present party leaders and substantial chunks of the rank and file. And the Liberals would laugh all the way to the ballot box.
The Sandinistas are working on a number of ploys to get Herty out of the running. There is talk of prosecuting him for malfeasance of public funds while he was Managua Mayor, specifically spending money on a concert in the lakeshore band shell inaugurated shortly before the end of his term in office. This breach of impeccable honesty in the use of public coffers has never happened before (NOT!). Watch for a swift trial and sentencing.
And it looks like Herty will ride a pale horse since FSLN lawyers are going before the Supreme Electoral Council to make it so that he can’t use the colors or symbols of the party in his campaign.
Meanwhile, back at the hacienda
All the while, the Liberals are attempting to get former president Alemán a get-out-of-jail-free card. They have made several recent political concessions to Ortega and his Sandinistas and fully expect to have Arnoldo’s sentence revoked, if at all possible. Legal experts are working on it. No one can believe it. But it may happen.
However, in the event that the former head honcho of the Liberals does not get the law bent his way and run to victory, several other wannabe presidents are slowly sticking their necks out of the Liberal stables. Liberal factions are uniting, as they are wont to do in any pre-election period, and they are putting up names, albeit timidly. One has even stated already that he will gladly renounce his potential candidacy should Alemán make a bid to reach the winner’s circle. Enjoyment of Arnie’s political favor is requisite. From his time in power, he has dirt on everyone and they had better keep their nose clean with him.
The man so far with the most presidential material from the Liberal side is former Finance Minister Eduardo Montealegre. He enjoys some popular following but not the favor of the man under house arrest in his hillside hacienda. There is talk about trying him for some crime or other to do with illegal election funding during the 2002 campaign. Substantial amounts of Liberal campaign funding came from bank accounts linked to the theft and laundering of State monies.
This weapon of the “electoral crimes” scandal has been brandished before, most recently against President Bolaños. That brush can tar a lot of feathers, not just Montealegre’s, and it is likely there will not be liberal use of it.
