Nicaragua Network Hotline - Jan 7, 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - NicaNet Nicaragua Network Hotline January 7, 2002 Topics covered in this Hotline include: - URGENT! Call White House to Stop the Confirmation of Otto Reich - Nicaraguan Island Raffled Off - Network to Challenge School Costs Topic 1: URGENT! Call White House to Stop the Confirmation of Otto Reich! Call the White House Comment Line at (202) 456-1111 and tell the President that he should not make an interim appointment of Otto Reich to be Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. When you make your call you may talk to a live operator or be offered the chance to leave a voice message. So be prepared for either option! President Bush may take advantage of the Senate recess (until January 23rd) to make an interim one-year appointment of Otto Reich to be Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. It is urgent that you call the White House Comment Line at (202) 456-1111 and tell the President that he should not appoint Otto Reich to this high State Department position. Reich is a right-wing Cuban American who was ambassador to Venezuela. As an Assistant Secretary of State, he would oversee U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America and Canada. Otto Juan Reich was the director of the State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy (OPD) for Latin America and the Caribbean from 1983 to 1986. He was accused by Congress in 1987 of engaging in "prohibited, covert propaganda activities" in his efforts to promote the Reagan administration's policies toward Nicaragua. In the 1980's, as the head of the State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy (OPD), Reich maintained a private network of individuals and organizations whose activities were coordinated with, and sometimes directed by, Colonel Oliver North as well as other officials of the National Security Council. These private individuals and organizations raised and spent funds for the purpose of influencing congressional votes and U.S. domestic news media. Reich's office ran smear campaigns against US journalists and activists that were perceived as being too pro-Sandinista, often alleging that they were either financially, politically, or sexually involved with Sandinistas. In carrying out this work, Reich was specifically responsible for hiring Psychological Operations staff from the CIA to try and sway American opinion. Otto Reich directed this office in cooperation with Oliver North, and though he was not punished for his work with the OPD, the OPD was the only office shut down as a result of its activities during the Iran Contra scandal. The major U.S. media sees Reich's appointment as causing conflict within the Republican Party between Florida's powerful Cuban-American exile lobby and a growing number of conservative business leaders and farmers who want to open new markets in Cuba. But analysts are also saying that a Reich appointment could sour goodwill gestures to the rest of the Americas, setting up a showdown with Mexico and other nations. The Dallas Morning News reports that Mr. Bush appears to be depending heavily on Cuban-Americans for key foreign policy advice. Since his time at OPD, Otto Reich has been a lobbyist for particularly unsavory causes. He is a lobbyist for Bacardi, Inc., and has represented the tobacco and arms industries. He was one of the key players in drafting and lobbying for the Helms-Burton legislation in 1996 that tightened the embargo against Cuba, and that would allow the US to sue foreign companies for doing business in Cuba. He has also been involved in the dispute with Cuba over Havana Club rum, lobbying for legislation that would allow the US government to ignore Cuba's trademark rights to produce the rum. He has lobbied for Lockheed Martin, trying to get fighter jets sold to Chile, despite a 20 year moratorium on selling arms to South America. If you point your web browser to www.wrapapparel.org , you'll find the homepage of what appears to be a group devoted to championing the oppressed and exploited worker. The Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP) program bills itself as an independent, non-profit effort to certify that the clothes you wear were produced under humane and legal conditions, and proudly trumpets the vita of its vice-chairman, "Ambassador Otto Reich." WRAP is, in fact, a creature of the American Apparel Manufacturers Association. An article in The American Prospect quotes Terry Collingsworth, an attorney with the International Labor Rights Fund, as saying it was "set up as an industry dominated monitoring project as a cover to avoid legitimate monitoring. It's a dodge, and is so regarded by everyone except the industry." The National Security Archive has placed on its web site numerous documents that reveal Reich's role in the Reagan Administration's Central America policy. Visit the site at www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ to learn more about Mr. Reich's career. Articles about Otto Reich and biographical information are posted on www.stopottoreich.net Topic 2: Nicaraguan Island Raffled Off A twenty-five year old Dutch student apparently "won" Frenchman Cay, one of Nicaragua's beautiful Caribbean off-shore islands, in a radio raffle last October (2001). The exquisite islet is situated about 3 miles out from Bluefields. Monique de Koning, who is studying banking, took part in a phone-in show on Radio Yorin FM, a Dutch station with national coverage. While her co-finalists had to content themselves with mere trips to exotic places, Monique herself got one actually given to her. It seems that Radio Yorin bought the property rights to the island from US businessman, Peter Tsokos, whose acquisition of Atlantic Coast islands and other properties is currently under legal challenge from the indigenous and ethnic peoples of the region. The challenge is based on the Coast's autonomous status as set out in the Nicaraguan Constitution, which supposedly guarantees that both mainland and islands belong to the indigenous inhabitants in perpetuity, and cannot be bought, sold or mortgaged. Having acquired seven of the glorious, environmentally delicate islands for a mere US$36,000, Tsokos has already re-sold several at prices in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fishermen and other local people, who use the formerly uninhabited islands as occasional storm-ports, to refill fresh water supplies, or to rest during long trips, have found their ancient rights violated by wealthy foreigners who have bought "their" islands from Tsokos. Officials from the local office of MARENA, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, and from the Advocate for the Environment, had their boat fired on, despite its being clearly labeled. In another case, markers set to protect turtle nesting sites had been moved, again seemingly by the newcomers. Perhaps worst of all, local people are profoundly concerned for the ecological devastation that any prolonged human presence will have on the islands themselves, the waters, mangroves and coral reefs around them. Dutch news sources that have been following the story told Koning that her glamorous new property could cost her heavily. Just to get there and back from Holland would cost US$2,500, while building even a cabin on it would come in at around US$11,000 and land taxes would set her back US$500 per year. So, she gave the island back to the radio station, in return for a trip to the Dominican Republic and an undisclosed quantity of cash. Topic 3: Network to Challenge School Costs To study in Nicaragua's public schools, each pupil has to pay an average of US$22 per school year. This doesn't seem like much, except that even a school teacher only earns about US$54 per month. Recent studies have shown that 70% of Nicaraguans live below a poverty line of $2 per day. According to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the payment for schooling is "entirely voluntary." This year, thirty-two organizations are banding together into the Forum for Education and Human Development (FEHD) to make sure that education is indeed free, and that any monies that are paid over are indeed given voluntarily. Taking as their theme, "More children in school, more money into education," the thirty-two member forum, which include the Community Movement and the Office of the Advocate for Children, are concerned that this year's reduced education budget of only US$35 million will lead to greater emphasis on the parental contributions and more pressure to extort them. Miguel de Castilla, FEHD General Secretary, said, "This concept of 'Autonomous Schools' where the parents are forced to give 'voluntarily,' doesn't exist anywhere else. Indeed, many people regard it as covert privatization. To make sure that our children's education is indeed free, we're setting up to train people to serve as observers within the schools. Their job will be to check that no costs are imposed on the students in any way. They might be parents, they could be teachers or even students, what counts is that they are vigilant." Jorge Mendoza, legal advisor to the Advocate's Office, emphasized that the Code of Child assures all children of free education as a right. "There are currently no fewer than three bills related to education before the National Assembly," he went on. "It seems very fitting that the idea of establishing a monitoring system would find a home within one of them." Both men expressed their earnest hope that the incoming Bolaņos administration would back the initiative for education truly without cost, and announced plans to meet with the appropriate ministers as soon as possible after they take office on January 9th. The imposition of fees for primary health and education services (known as "cost recovery") has been promoted by the IMF and World Bank and the U.S. government as an essential part of the structural adjustment programs Nicaragua has been required to put in place in order to receive loans. Last year, however, the U.S. Congress passed a law which would require our IMF and World Bank representatives to vote "no" on any new measure that includes "user fees" on primary health and education services. The World Bank has stated recently that it opposes education fees. Therefore, this effort on the part of Nicaraguans to make sure that their primary education system is indeed free is extremely important. The Nicaragua Network will be in touch with the FEHD and will closely observe future structural adjustment negotiations and support Nicaraguans efforts to oppose "user fees." 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. We can be reached by phone at 202-544-9355. 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