Nicaragua Network Hotline - Jan 21 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Nicaragua Network Hotline January 21, 2002 Topics covered in this Hotline include: - Aleman maneuvers to retain power bases - Bolaños government brings modest aid to big coffee farmers; virus strikes cattle - Teach-ins and demos planned for World Economic Forum Topic 1: Aleman maneuvers to retain power bases As expected, Oscar Moncada, Arnoldo Aleman's stand-in, resigned his position as National Assembly President so that the former president could be elected to the post and thus retain a substantial quota of power after turning over the executive branch to his successor, Enrique Bolaños. Liberal Jaime Cuadra, who ran against Moncada in the first round, gallantly threw his somewhat crumpled hat back into the ring, only to have it trampled, 47 votes to 5, as the Sandinista deputies boycotted the whole affair. The FSLN justified the abstentions saying that they wanted "to avoid giving the election legitimacy," but many observers pointed out that had the Sandinista Front made it clear from the start that they would support Cuadra again, more Liberals might well have joined the Alemán opposition. In any case, had they all voted with a resounding "No!", no one could accuse them of actually supporting him. After all, the same critics noted, a mere two votes less would have left Alemán stranded. The whole affair has engendered questions and debate about yet further dimensions to the Alemán/Ortega "pact." Ex-president Aleman was also sworn in as a member of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) although the officers of the Central American body ruled last week that "it was inappropriate for Mr. Aleman to attempt to exercise the function of representative in both legislative bodies at the same time." Their ruling continued, "He will be sworn in as a member, but will not be permitted to participate in PARLACEN sessions while he continues to exercise his office in the Nicaraguan Assembly." They cited the case of the nephew of former Guatemalan president Efrain Rios-Montt, who was barred from serving in PARLACEN on similar grounds. In Ciudad Dario, Aleman stole the show from the Bolaños administration's new Minister of Education Silvio De Franco on the day of the celebration of the 135 anniversary of the birth of Ruben Dario. (Dario, one of the greatest poets of the Spanish language, was born in Dario, then Metapa, and grew up in Leon.) While De Franco, waited for the mayor and other dignitaries to arrive at the site of a new fountain, which he was supposed to dedicate to the bard, the mayor was actually occupied in another part of town, watching fondly as Alemán unveiled a bust - not of Dario - but of the ex-president himself. The Education Minister was not pleased, leaving in a thunderous mood to report to President Bolaños. While it appeared that Alemán would be "earning" more out of office than in, since he would be receiving three substantial incomes as member of both the National Assembly and PARLACEN, plus the guaranteed life-time pension of a former president, demands continued that the former president reveal the true proportions of his wealth along with details of its provenance. Former Director of the Office of Probity Rafael Córdova said last week, "The dual facts that, as a public employee, he waited until the very last moment [before being sworn in as a member of the National Assembly] and then urgently requested that his documentation be 'kept in a strong box' to prevent the news media from getting access to it, are in themselves tacit confessions that he has something serious to hide." Córdova continued, "His behavior is a clear rejection of President Bolaño's 'New Era' of transparency and honesty in government. He could end up in jail for several years." Topic 2: Bolaños government brings modest aid to big coffee farmers while virus strikes cattle With this year's coffee harvest already almost over, the newly-installed Bolaños government offered a hundred of Nicaragua's largest farmers US$25 per hundredweight (100lbs) on beans harvested and delivered to the drying plants. Between them, these growers produce 10% of Nicaragua's total coffee production, with a joint harvest of around 100,000 hundredweights. The money is being made available through an assistance program set up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAG-FOR), in coordination with the Central Bank and other financial institutions. José Augusto Navarro, the new minister at MAG-FOR, said, "This is an immediate palliative to an ongoing problem. Many coffee farmers have no money to pay their workers even to pick the harvest; we had to do something." As for small and medium farmers, the best hope that the minister could offer was that "we are working hard to find a solution which will give them some support in time for the next harvest." Navarro continued by saying that those producers that brought in their harvests in timely fashion would receive an extra US$5 per hundredweight to help defray expenses incurred earlier in the year in maintaining their plantations. This crisis is the result of several policy failures: 1) the World Bank encouraged too many countries to plant coffee six years ago; 2) the corrupt Aleman government, because it had stolen so much, had to keep the money allocated for coffee relief in the Central Bank to show liquidity to the IMF and World Bank; and 3) the Inter-American Development Bank and IMF pressured President Aleman to veto a coffee grower foreclosure moratorium passed by the National Assembly, which would have helped save the harvest and the land of many farmers. Topic 3: Teach-ins and demos planned for World Economic Forum Among the many activities planned to protest the agenda of the World Economic Forum in New York City is the Teach-in planned for Feb. 1st by the International ANSWER Coalition (of which the Nicaragua Network is a member). The teach-in is scheduled from 10 am to 4 pm at Community Church on 35th Street between Park and Madison Avenues. Plan to attend. Here is the program of activities: 10 am - 11:15 am: Opening plenary The World Economic Forum: The connection between corporate capitalism and George Bush's war at home and abroad 11:30 am - 1 pm: Workshops (see below) 1:15 pm - 2:45 pm: Workshops (see below) 3 pm - 4 pm: Plenary What's Behind the so-called "War on Terrorism?" covering: *U.S. Strategy Towards the Third World; *The Military-Industrial Complex; and *The war against civil rights and civil liberties at home WORKSHOPS: Racial and Political Profiling: What you need to know about John Ashcroft's new "anti-terrorism" laws, with Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messenio, Partnership for Civil Justice, NLG Mass Legal Defense; and Riva Enteen, San Francisco National Lawyers Guild, NLG Mass Legal Defense Invisible Workers = Superprofits: The role of immigrant labor, organized by the National Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty of Undocumented Workers >From Palestine to Iraq: Understanding U.S. Strategy in the Middle East, organized by Students for International Peace and Justice, the International Action Center, and the Committee in Support of the Iraqi People Globalization Makes us Sick: The state of healthcare around the world, organized by Doctors for Global Health, Doc Bloc & others Indymedia: It's history and how activists can use it, organized by members of the Independent Media Center Resisting Military Recruitment on College Campus, organized by the Center for Concience and War (formerly NISBCO) U.S. Policy Towards Central America, Latin America and the Caribbean: Keeping Colonies for the Corporations, organized by the Nicaragua Network, the Network in Solidarity with Guatemala (NISGUA), the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), the Colombia Action Network, and the International Action Center, Stop the U.S. War in Colombia Committee MASS INDOOR RALLY Merging the Struggles Against War, Racism and Corporate Globalization 7 pm @ FIT Auditorium (27th St. between 7th and 8th Ave.) VOICES OF OPPOSITION: SPEECHES AND MESSAGES FROM Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general; Barbara Lee, congresswoman, Oakland, California Mumia Abu-Jamal (taped message); Larry Adams, President, National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 300; Nadia Ahmed, Students for International Peace and Justice; Asha Samad-Matias, Muslims Against Racism and War; Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO/Pastors for Peace; Ron Daniels, Center for Constitutional Rights; Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney, Partnership for Civil Justice; Peta Lindsay, School Without Walls High School; Larry Holmes, International Action Center; Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Macrina Cardenas, Mexico Solidarity Network Rev. James Forbes On February 2, there will be a mass rally at the World Economic Forum on Park Ave., between 49th and 50th, starting at 11:00am. Bring signs, puppets, street theater, noise-makers, and your creativity to say: NO to war in Afghanistan and the Middle East! NO to corporate-centered globalization! YES to jobs, education, health care, and civil rights! This hotline is prepared from the Nicaragua News Service and other sources. To receive a more extensive weekly summary of the news from Nicaragua by e-mail or postal service, send a check for $60.00 to Nicaragua Network, 1247 E St., SE, Washington, DC 20003. 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