Nicaragua Network Hotline - May 27, 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Nicaragua Network Hotline May 27, 2002 Topics covered in this Hotline include: - Environmentalists Accuse World Food Program, USAID of Distributing Genetically-modified Foods and Seeds; - US "Retains" Alemán's Visa; - Tough New Measures to Stop Illegal Logging. Topic 1: Environmentalists Accuse World Food Program and USAID of Distributing Genetically-Modified Foods and Seeds The Alliance for a Transgenic-Free Nicaragua accused both the World Food Program and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) of using genetically-manipulated foods and seeds in their emergency relief programs in Nicaragua. The Alliance, a grouping of eight leading Nicaraguan environmental and other organizations which has the backing of powerful international environmental activist groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (Europe), based its accusations on tests carried out on samples taken from seed and food aid distributed in the Departments of Leon and Nueva Segovia. Going even further, the Alliance accused USAID in particular of actually experimenting with genetically-modified crops in some remote communities. Amado Ordoñez, Director of the prestigious Humboldt Center and chairperson of the Alliance, said that not only had food aid samples been tested in Nicaragua, but the disturbing discovery of the presence of certain "rogue" proteins had been confirmed by specialist laboratories in the United States itself. A US Embassy spokesperson said emphatically, "We are not using genetically-altered seeds. Neither USAID nor any other agency is promoting or financing the distribution of such seeds within Nicaragua." Representatives of the World Food Program also issued "denials" which on close reading did not deny anything: "WFP's first priority in every one of the eight-two countries where it works is, first and foremost, the health of the local population. We never distribute foods which are not fit for human consumption or which might damage people's health in any way. Everything we handle must have the required certifications which govern the international food trade. All our foodstuffs have met requirements which guarantee that they are free of disease." Ordoñez said that the Alliance for a Transgenic-Free Nicaragua had already presented its findings before the government Advocate for Human Rights and various committees of the National Assembly and is making formal denunciations against the World Food Program and USAID. He concluded by announcing that the Alliance was to meet with representatives of the United Nations during this coming week to lay the whole matter before U.N. officials. Topic 2: Tough New Measures to Stop Illegal Logging The terrible hemorrhaging of Nicaragua's magnificent and irreplaceable forests goes on apace. Still boasting the some largest stands of primordial rain forest north of the Brazilian Amazon, the Atlantic half of the country is the usual target for illegal logging. A full-grown mahogany or cedar can bring a profit of close to 10,000 US dollars on the international timber market. However, even the Pacific side, virtually denuded of original forest, still has a few tattered, but wonderful, remnants. To protect this last vital resort the municipal authorities of the southern Department of Rivas have decided to step up their vigilance and to impose strict new penalties on all illegal logging. The new strictures recognize that, although many of the municipalities have had a moratorium on timber extraction in place for some time, it has largely been ignored. Typically, the timber has been taken out during the hours of darkness, when few police dare to risk life and limb stumbling about remote logging trails or challenging heavily-laden trucks traveling at considerable speed. Recognizing these difficulties, delegates from the national police and local authorities in Rivas met with Frank Briceño, a special emissary of the Forestry Ministry, to hammer out tough new proposals to bring the illegal trade under control. In their statement to the press, the delegates announced a series of measures to, "stop the illegal logging, to promote re-forestation, organize the proper and appropriate use of forest resources, and to raise the ecological awareness of our people." Fine words, many of which have been heard before. However, the delegates seemed to tack on some serious teeth as they continued with, "We warn anyone found engaging in these illegal practices that not only will we impound their tools, including chain-saws, but they'll also receive a heavy fine and will find themselves with a criminal record." Also, to make it easier to spot delinquents, it was stipulated that no timber extraction may be carried on between the hours of 6pm and 6am even by those who have genuine permits and are logging within the law. "If anything moves after 6pm, we'll pull it over," said the police representative. "This new ruling gives us a fool-proof way of knowing who's doing what." Topic 3: US "Retains" Alemán's Visa Arnoldo Alemán, who has virtually disappeared from the public eye as one after another his henchmen have been falling before the belated scythe of Lady Justice, received what may well prove to be a mortal blow when it was revealed that the United States Embassy had "retained" his US visa. US officials, who backed Alemán heavily during his time as mayor of Managua and in the 1996 presidential elections, seem to have decided it's time for their former protégée to go. Intriguingly, it was the first dictator Somoza who inspired US president Franklin Roosevelt to make his infamously revealing remark, "Well, he may be an S.O.B., but he's our S.O.B." Alemán stands accused of having accumulated some US$250 million during his ten years of public "service." It took the Somozas all of forty years to scrape together that much, albeit in 30 year old -- and thus less inflated -- dollars. But, Aleman will now join Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, Ferdinand Marcos and the rest on the S.O.B. scrapheap, having stepped out of line just once too often. A spokesperson for Alemán's Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) confirmed with some reluctance that, besides Alemán himself, the US is also refusing visas to five out of the seven members of the Directorate of the National Assembly, all of them Liberals, and to several others besides, including Alemán's wife, Maria Fernanda, his daughter, Maria Dolores, and to his sister, Amelia, and his brother, Augustin. As a result, this latter had to suffer the indignity of being forced to submit himself to a Managua hospital for cardiac attention instead of following his usual practice of flying to the US for treatment. Embassy officials refuse to confirm or deny the visa retention, and it remains unclear whether the nearly twenty-day delay will become an absolute refusal or whether it is supposed to be just a warning, after which the visas will be granted. Nicaragua's impoverished citizens, robbed blind by both their own local crooks (and by the United States' steadfast rejection of the 1987 World Court judgment which found it guilty of destabilizing their legitimate Sandinista government and ordered the assessment of massive war damages), stand in line for days before the forbidding fortress of the embassy building in Managua, only to find their visa applications rejected over and again. It is therefore sweet to see that Alemán and his people are receiving something of the same insulting treatment after their years of special access. 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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