NICANET HOTLINE - Sept. 22, 1997


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit


              NICARAGUA NETWORK HOTLINE ** 202-544-9360
                          September 22, 1997
                            

You have reached the Nicaragua Network Hotline recorded Monday, 
September 22, 1997.  To reach our office call 202-544-9355.

Topics covered in this hotline include: Somoza family pushes for 
return of property; government proposes land "re-distribution" scheme; 
and Nicaragua signs free trade agreement with Mexico.

TOPIC 1

     Dismissing the announcement two weeks ago of a comprehensive 
property accord between the government and the FSLN that is expected 
to bring closure to this ongoing conflict, members of the Somoza 
family continue to demand the return of properties confiscated after 
the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution.  The latest offensive began 
on September 19 when Alejandro Sevilla Somoza (nephew of dictator 
Anastasio Somoza Debayle) held a press conference to announce a "legal 
war" against all those who hold properties confiscated from the 
dictator and his family under Decree 3.  When the dictatorship fell, 
Somoza owned approximately 25% of the nation's arable land, much of 
which he had appropriated illegally and was re-distributed to landless 
peasants by the Sandinistas.  Sevilla Somoza said, "The Commission to 
Review Confiscations has closed the administrative channels for our 
claims, but the legal channel was left open, so we are going to take 
action against all those who stole the properties of our family."  The 
position of his family, not surprisingly, is that every single 
confiscation affecting his family was illegal.  He told reporters, 
"The Sevilla Somoza family continues to be a victim of a decreed 
'civil death' as a result of political revenge."  
     Despite this declaration of a "legal war," the Somoza family 
continues to resort to illegal means to reclaim its properties.
For instance, in August, the El Consuelo farm was invaded by people 
hired by the Sevilla Somoza family; Rafael Solis and other owners of 
the farm have begun legal action against the Sevilla Somoza family as 
a result.  The press conference was somewhat heated when this issue 
was brought up, with a number of the journalists openly challenging 
Sevilla Somoza.  He responded arrogantly, claiming that his family's 
only intention is "to return to Nicaragua and attract foreign 
investors to the country."  
     Frank Rizo, lawyer for the Association of Confiscated Property 
Owners, spoke at the press conference, reminding those assembled of 
Aleman's campaign promise to return all confiscated properties.  
Sevilla Somoza called the Aleman government "accomplices" of the FSLN 
because of the recent accord reached on the property issue.  He also 
tried to differentiate his family from his uncle's, and said that his 
family condemned the "things" that his uncle's family had done. 
[Sevilla Somoza's father served as Somoza Debayle's ambassador to the 
US at the height of the dictatorship's repression and his grandfather, 
Anastasio Somoza Garcia, founded the dictatorial dynasty.]  Discussing 
the past, however, he said that when his uncle was in power, 
"Nicaragua was the breadbasket of Central America, and a paradise for 
investment."
     Meanwhile, the property accord, referred to as the "Law Reforming 
Rural, Urban, and Agricultural Property," has been sent to the 
National Assembly and is expected to be signed into law by October.  
However, Liberal deputy Guillermo Selva said that the accord will be 
amended in the National Assembly.   He said that some Liberals feel 
that "the law does not even consider technical aspects that are needed 
to correct abuses of Law 86 [which covers urban houses and plots].  
This doesn't mean that the accord is in danger, because we have the 
votes."  However, La Prensa reports that other Liberal deputies, 22 of 
which had property confiscated during the 1980's, have serious 
differences with the accord and predicted "difficult discussions" once 
it comes up for debate in the National Assembly.   Observers say that 
a third of the Liberal deputies will vote against the bill, meaning 
that any amendment made will have to have the support of the 
Sandinista bench if the law is to be passed.  

TOPIC 2

     In what appears to be an attempt to undermine the recent property 
accord, Deputy Finance Minister Guillermo Arguello Poessy said last 
week that some 50% of the lands handed out as part of the agrarian 
reform are lying fallow, and that it would be necessary to carry out a 
new distribution of land.  Arguello discussed the possibility of the 
government buying up some of the currently non-cultivated lands and 
then redistributing them, to ensure their use for agricultural 
production.
     Arguello failed to address the issue that many small land holders 
do not have sufficient access to either credit or technical assistance 
to be able to make adequate use of their lands.  While the details of 
this proposal are sketchy at the moment, it seems clear that it would 
lead to to the re-concentration of land in the hands of a few, at the 
expense of those beneficiaries of the Sandinista and Chamorro land 
reforms.  

TOPIC 3

     Mexico and Nicaragua signed a bilateral free trade agreement last 
week in Mexico.  The agreement will now be sent to the 
Mexican and Nicaraguan legislatures for approval.  Mexico signed a 
similar accord with Costa Rica in 1994, and is currently negotiating 
one with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.  Mexican Minister of 
Commerce Herminio Blanco said that the Central American region is a 
"natural market, particularly for our small and medium-sized 
industries."  Ninety percent of Nicaraguan products exported to Mexico 
will enter the country free of import restrictions, if the legislation 
is approved.  While the Nicaraguan newspapers did not give exact data, 
they did acknowledge that Mexico exports "far more" to Nicaragua than 
it imports from the country.  The Nicaraguan market will therefore 
likely be flooded with cheap Mexican imports, making it difficult for 
nascent Nicaraguan industries to compete.

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