by Nick Cooke

Word has it …

·         Passing from a presidential to a parliamentary system has been put forward by Sandinista General Secretary Daniel Ortega. An FSLN legal team is drafting proposals for such a move for presentation to the Executive Branch. Part and parcel of any parliamentary system would be votes of non-confidence to oust a government and force an election and a daily question period, complete with table thumping and loud cheers from the backbenchers.

·         The much talked about sea-to-shining-sea rail link, or “dry canal” is entering into the final stages of approval, according to Leonel Teller, legal representative for the interoceanic canal consortium CINN. Having spent US$12 million so far in preliminary studies, the US, Canadian, European, and Asian venture capitalists are to spend about $16 million more on an environmental impact appraisal. Teller stated that, if approved, work on the $2.8 billion transport project could begin in the next two years.

·         Ir must be in the blood. Illustrative of how sap trickles down through the family tree, three grandsons of the first dictator in the Somoza line, Anastasio Somoza García, have signed on with the Liberal Nationalist Party (PLN) with an eye to participating in next year’s municipal elections and the general elections of 2006. Luis Somoza Debayle fathered Álvaro and Lilliam, the only daughter of Somoza García and sister of the number two and three dictators of the dynasty, Luis and Anastasio Somoza Debayle (R.I.P.), respectively fathered Luis Ramón and Alejandro. The family ruled over Nicaragua from 1936 to 1979.

·         Do you believe in magic? A Nicaraguan has made it good over the pond in Great Britain. Waving a pen, not a wand, Ana María Alvarado is on as a character designer for the hugely successful series of Harry Potter movies. Back here at home, however, the Harry Potter books and movies have rankled the religious righteous since they allegedly promote the worship of witchcraft and demonology. Meanwhile, the public remains spellbound in anticipation of the next flick.

·         It’s a boon for consumers! You can literally shop till you drop in the new multi-acre PriceSmart in Managua. The US-based corporation opened its warehouse shopping venue and with it, fierce competition with local retailers. Supermarket chains La Colonia, La Unión, and PALI will logically have to offer up more shoppers’ specials and loss leaders, as will other shops specializing in imported items, such as La Familiar.

·         Buckle up for safety and monetary savings. Traffic police all over the country have their eyes peeled for that strap over your shoulder. The 200 córdoba fine for this infraction is not extreme, yet it could add up depending on the number of beltless passengers. Strapping in will also minimize maiming in collisions with cows. Tenderizing beef is one thing; tenderizing your ribs on the steering wheel is quite another.

·         Going, going, gone. The first contingent of Nicaraguan sappers and medical personnel are off to post-attack Iraq. The government made arrangements for ¾ of a million dollars to cover the costs of this Coalition contribution. A suit has been filed with the Supreme Court charging that the dispatch is unconstitutional. Other local commentators have stated that the government should be held responsible for any incidents involving uncleared mines here at home.

Gambling rules

Draft legislation to regulate gaming operations is ready to run the gamut of Nicaragua’s National Assembly, possibly by year’s end. Control systems to prevent money laundering are one aspect, as are Interpol checks of operators, from the owners down to the dealers. Payback rates will be established for slot machines and slots operations in local neighborhoods will be a thing of the past in an attempt to keep kids away from pushbutton bandits.

New casinos will have to be associated with hotels. Gambling outlets cum peeler bars and short-term backroom rentals will have to choose between one or the other. Sex tourism and gambling are considered a bad cocktail, rife with possibilities for corruption to reach ever-lower levels.

To jail, or not to jail?

That is the question. And for how long?  Former president Arnoldo Alemán was placed in the private prison behind the Hotel Intercontinental (pyramid-style) in early August amidst protests by Liberal proponents. Concerns about his health voiced by Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo are leading up to probable preferential treatment and multiple visits to healthcare facilities.

That is the question. And for how long?  Former president Arnoldo Alemán was placed in the private prison behind the Hotel Intercontinental (pyramid-style) in early August amidst protests by Liberal proponents. Concerns about his health voiced by Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo are leading up to probable preferential treatment and multiple visits to healthcare facilities.

As though the family was fated and being visited for Arnoldo’s alleged sins of corruption, his son, an aunt, and his brother have all died over the last 12 months. Adding ignominy to injury, prison authorities clamoured for camera surveillance in order to cut the costs of incarceration in the Los Chiles manor house up on the windswept moors of El Crucero to the south of Managua. With due respect to the Bard, wailing in the wind a haunting lament was heard; “A house, a house, my prison for a house!”

In-house web cams have become unnecessary for the time being with the transfer of Alemán to quarters formerly occupied by other prominent white-collar public figures accused of a variety of fraudulent behaviors and corrupt police officers.

Meanwhile, rumours flurry about a possible reprieve and release, possibly in time for Christmas, or even earlier. Alemán´s defense lawyers had been clinging to claims of immunity from prosecution for his status as a deputy in the Central American Parliament. But in early August, that body refused to extend that privilege.

Leaks from the backroom wheeling and dealing in the upper echelons of the court system have it that Dr. Juana Méndez, the judge overseeing this particular batch of charges will move up to a seat on the Managua Appellate Court. Her replacement, an avowed Liberal loyalist, would then proceed to acquittal.

The price of coffee

It has been dubbed the coffee crisis. World prices tumble, coffee growers default on loans, and plantations are repossessed. And the farm workers? Left out on a limb. The past couple of years have borne witness to their plight and to the actions they take to draw attention to it.

Left unemployed with the bankruptcy of many small and medium growers following the debacle of the backbreaking scandals earlier this century, the countryfolk or campesinos as they are referred to here, resorted to protest to alleviate their situation. Camping out around the central square of the city of Matagalpa. Sitdowns along the roadways. Those actions last year resulted in the reaching of agreements with government officials and the concomitant promises of government land for cultivation, along with seed corn and beans and implements of agricultural production.

The repossessed lands in the hands of the government were put up for auction, the seeds never appeared, and the people never got what they wanted, let alone what they needed.

Desperate for a solution, 5000 of them set off on foot to the capital, Managua in August in order to bring their case before President Enrique Bolaños. Commenting on the march replete with images of pot-bellied malnourished children and reports of deaths en route, the President stated that it is “political,” suggesting that others behind the scenes were manipulating the situation in order to take advantage and obtain control over farmlands.

Be that as it may, starving tykes falling by the wayside is, or should be, political. Nicaragua was once the breadbasket of Central America. The land still has that potential. The question is whether the country’s leaders have the wherewithal.

We don’t need no education

A proposed manual on sex education for local schoolteachers has run into a wall of opposition from fundamentalist Christian groups, some Catholic sectors, and a variety of ultra-conservative pro-life groups.

Accusing the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) of going against the “true” sentiments of the majority of Nicaraguans, opponents claim that the manual promotes condom use, abortion, and homosexuality. Untrue, claim representatives of one teachers’ union who read it over and found no such basis for these concerns.

Attempts in the past to encourage family planning or the use of prophylactics in order to avoid sexually transmitted diseases have run head on into opposition from conservative religious sectors, including some of the top figures in the Catholic Church.

Though the Book of Genesis in the Bible does contain the edict to “go forth and multiply”, deistic stalwarts may want to remind themselves that that was mandated when Adam and Eve were the lone human occupants of the Garden of Eden. Nicaragua’s particular piece of paradise now has over 5 million and is growing at one of the highest rates in the world.

The estimated overall fertility rate is 3.8 children per woman, somewhat above the Central American average of 3.1. The rate varies depending on the part of the country. While it is 2.1 offspring per woman in Managua and León, it reaches 5.2 in Jinotega and the North Atlantic Autonomous Region.

Trade free

Time for an elementary language lesson. TLC is the Spanish acronym for Free Trade Agreement (Tratado de Libre Comercio).

Used to be that TLC meant “tender loving care” in notes passed at school. And a free trade meant that no one in the schoolyard complained about a swap. Baseball cards for marbles, whatever. Now, however, one has to wonder whether marbles are being lost or if all are playing with the same deck.

The CAFTA, or Central American Free Trade Agreement, is on the table. Central America, Nicaragua included, has been offered a fast track to such an accord. All the region’s countries have to do is reach agreement on a variety of terms. Yet it would seem that reaching consensus in this isthmus is somewhat akin to forming an Afghani parliament.

It is a broken playing field with close to 98% of the region’s imports originating in the United States while only about 1% of US imports come from here. Agricultural production comprises a serious bone of contention. The USA will not negotiate subsidies to its farmers, yet wishes to disallow subsidies for Central American farmers.

Nicaraguan farmers are given words of encouragement about diversifying crop production in preparation for the inevitable day when US-produced beans, corn, and rice are made available at (temporarily) cheaper prices. Nicaraguan farmers would have to seek out production alternatives or face elimination from the marketplace. As Nicaraguan Vice-President José Rizo stated to farmers in the central highlands, “It’s easy to say diversify… It is difficult to create a new tradition of production.”

Talks are underway between 33 negotiators for Central America and 200 for the United States. Some of the former are from the USA. Perhaps they might consult with Canada or Mexico in relation to those countries’ experiences with the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.