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NICARAGUA NETWORKNICARAGUA MONITORMarch - April 2008 # 148

Nicaragua Network 1247 “E” Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003 202-544-9355 nicanet@afgj.org

Choosing a New Path of Dignity and Sovereignty:SOA Watch Visits NicaraguaBy Lisa Sullivan, SOAW Latin America Coordinator In late February a small SOAW delegation consisting of Fr. Roy Bourgeois and Lisa Sullivan traveled to Nicaragua as part of the SOAW Latin America Project. This initiative seeks to visit all the countries that send troops to the School of the Americas in order to dialog with their leaders and human rights activists about their continued presence at a school which has brought so much suffering and sorrow to their land. Since 2006, SOAW delegations have visited fi fteen countries, leading to decisions by fi ve of them to withdraw: Bolivia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela. Thanks to efforts by former SOAW prisoner of conscience Fr. Joe Mulligan - a Nicaraguan resident of many years, along with other Nicaraguan and North American activists, the delegation was

able to meet with several key government leaders. These included President Daniel Ortega, Army Commander General Omar Hallenslavens, Defense Minister

human rights organizations. Just as the School of the Americas has been a window through which U.S. policy towards Latin America can be viewed,

Fr. Roy Bourgeois and Lisa Sullivan talked with Daniel Ortega about ending the sending of Nicaraguan offi cers to the School of the Americas.

RuthTapia, Human Rights Ombudsman Omar Cabezas, as well as solidarity and

so has tiny Nicaragua has been a concrete example of what this policy can look like in action. Coveted as a possible canal site because of the short distance between its Atlantic and Pacifi c coasts, Nicaragua is a case in study of U.S. meddling, bullying, intervention and outright invasion, ranging from the colorful to the outrageous. In 1856 US mercenary William Walker declared himself president.

23 years of Solidarity with CondegaSee SOA Watch, p. 5.

By Tim JeffriesTim Jeffries is Coordinator of the Bend-Condega Friendship Project, and member of the executive committee of the Nicaragua Network This past February, members of the Bend-Condega Friendship Project made their annual offi cial visit from Central Oregon to the town of Condega, Nicaragua. We have been making the trip each year since March of 1985 (1985-1990 as the Fairfax-Condega Sister Cities Project, from Marin County, California). Part of the delegation involved delivering $20,000 worth of medicines and supplies to the public hospital in the city of Estelí, which serves the entire. Since 1991, St. Charles Medical Center, a regional hospital located in Bend, has generously donated over $400,000 worth of medical needs to the health center in

Condega. This year, it was decided that, as St. Charles desired to initiate a formal

sister hospital relationship, the decision was made to pair it with another, larger, regional hospital. The nearest facility is located in Estelí and serves the entire department of the same name, including Bend’s sister city. The medical supplies were gratefully received by director, Dr. José Angel Úbeda, and sub-director Dra. Marcia Gomez; the ceremony was covered by regional TV and radio stations, and a Managua newspaper, El Nuevo Diario. The BCFP also participated in a larger delegation from Bend, at the end of February. We facilitated a meeting between the Bendites and representatives of 5 different civic organizations. We got to hear updates from the condegeños on their activities, challenges and future plans, as well as listen to proposals from new groups.

Dr. Jose Ubeda and Tim Jeffries inpack medical supplies. See Condega, p. 8.

Later from 1912 to 1934 the U.S.

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The Nicaragua Monitor is published by the Nicaragua Network (a project of the Alliance for Global Justice) to educate US citizens about the effects of US policy on the people of Nicaragua and to build ties of peace and friendship between our two peoples.

Subscription information: $20 for one year (individuals), or $50 yearly (commit-tees). This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part to educate US citizens about Nicaragua and US policy. Credit the Nicaragua Network.

National Offi ce Staff: Katherine Hoyt, Chuck Kaufman, Jill HokansonNicaragua Network * 1247 “E” St., SE • Washington, DC 20003

Phone: (202) 544-9355 Fax: (202) 544-9359 nicanet@afgj.org

Web site: www.nicanet.org

Déjà vu All Over Again:CISPES Targeted by U.S. By Burke Stansbury[Burke Stansbury is CISPES executive director.] You may have seen or heard a news report recently titled “Grassroots Organization Accused of Being Foreign “Agent” of Salvadoran Leftists” and wondered if the year were actually 1986. Back then, CISPES was illegally targeted by the largest FBI Internal Security investigation of the Reagan era, and our handling of that particular incursion by the FBI was a major triumph of the Central American solidarity movement. So the U.S. government would never dare return to the tactics used during the infamous FBI infi ltration of CISPES, right? Wrong! In January of 2008, we received a letter from the Department of Justice that may have well been written in the 80s, except that it referred to the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, or FMLN, as a political party and not a guerrilla army. The letter cites the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, and questions our organization’s relationship with the leftist FMLN party. The letter refers to the CISPES website and an article published in the Washington Post following the December 2007 visit of the FMLN’s presidential candidate Mauricio Funes. It states that, “it has come to our attention… that the FMLN, and/or possibly its candidate for El Salvador’s 2009 presidential election, Mauricio Funes, hired your organization for the purposes of conducting a public relations media campaign to include political fundraising…”

Of course, CISPES has never had a contractual agreement with the FMLN or Funes, nor have we taken orders from the party to do publicity work in the U.S. Rather, we have a solidarity relationship based on shared political values that goes back to the struggle for democracy and economic justice that the people of El Salvador fought against a brutal U.S.-backed military regime in the 1980s. The Department of Justice gave no other evidence to back up its claim, and the aforementioned Washington Post article doesn’t even refer to CISPES. So what to make of all this? Well, it shows that the Bush Administration is terrifi ed of another Latin American country electing a Left party. The Salvadoran FMLN and its candidate Funes have gained broad support 12 months ahead of the 2009 election, in large part due to the failure of U.S.-supported neoliberal policies like CAFTA. Moreover, it shows a dangerous trend towards possible U.S. intervention in the 2009 elections should Funes stay on top in the polls. In 2004, the last time the FMLN had a chance to win the presidency, U.S. government offi cials issued statements showing clear support for the right-wing ARENA party and threatening to cut off money sent from Salvadorans in the U.S. to their families should the FMLN win. Such actions are a disruption of the Salvadoran electoral process, undermining the country’s sovereignty and self-determination. Recalling the Past In 1981 the FBI investigated CISPES

for allegedly acting as a foreign agent of the FMLN. When that claim proved baseless, the Department of Justice launched a full-scale investigation based on the claim that CISPES was a front for the “terrorist” FMLN. The FBI campaign of surveillance, harassment, and intimidation of CISPES and local and national groups that worked with CISPES lasted until 1987 and ultimately became a major embarrassment for the Bureau. Subsequent Congressional hearings showed the FBI to have conducted numerous illegal operations, led to an internal inquiry by the Bureau, and curtailed the scope of domestic

surveillance activities (later expanded again under the USA PATRIOT Act.) Despite the fact that the 1980s witch-hunt was a failure, the Bush Administration is back at it again, using the same law – FARA – to threaten CISPES. Our lawyer, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard from the Partnership for Civil Justice, put it very clearly: “That the Department of Justice would wrongly evoke the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to target this organization at this particular moment demonstrates the Administration’s fear of progressive change sweeping Latin America. It is an effort to intimidate and stifl e solidarity groups in the U.S. who oppose the Government’s efforts to install puppet regimes against the will of the people of Latin America.” Indeed, as progressive forces take power in more and more countries in Latin America, the Bush Administration is looking for ways to bolster its few

See CISPES, p. 8.

The FBI targeted CISPES in the ‘80s.

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Destroying Democracyat Home and Abroad

By Chuck Kaufman[Chuck Kaufman is National Co-Coordinator of the Nicaragua Network and Interim Coordinator of the Venezuela Solidarity Network.] The United States spends hundreds of millions of US taxpayer’s dollars each year on so-called “democracy building” programs. Everyone is in favor of democracy, right? We’d like to see it spread to every country in the world. I know I would. So how do these programs work? Let me lay out a couple of imaginary scenarios. Imagine a US electoral race in which a marginal candidate suddenly receives major funding from a foreign source. Let’s say, Lyndon LaRouche is funded by the large country of North Pebbleland.... Suppose that funding were equal to $20 per US voter, which allowed a saturation of the media with disinformation, misinformation, lies, threats and empty promises designed to sway votes for Mr. LaRouche. Suppose at the same time that foreign power was threatening violence and economic damage if the wrong candidate won. Absurd, right? Yet that is exactly what happened to Nicaragua in the 1990 election when the Sandinistas were defeated in supposedly free and fair elections. The US government combined 13 minor parties and even dictated that they would nominate Violeta Chamorro, wife of a martyred newspaper publisher who was killed by Somoza’s gunmen. Then the US spent more per voter on the election than two years earlier George Bush Sr. and Michael Dukakis spent COMBINED per voter on their US presidential race. In the US, it is illegal for foreign governments, groups, or individuals to contribute to a political campaign. But “free and fair” take on a whole new meaning if the US government wants to insure a particular outcome in another nation’s election. Let’s go even further with our imaginary scenario. Suppose that this hypothetical foreign nation put together a coalition of US citizens and organizations that were hostile to the current president and political power structure and were

calling for “regime change.” Suppose it trained and funded their armed wing just across the border in Canada. Imagine that the armed wing launched a violent urban and rural terror campaign within the United States and that North Pebbleland used that as a pretext to invade the US, kidnap the president, send him into exile, and install the violent opposition minority as the new government. Imagine further that armed supporters of the new government started to round up, arrest, and kill the deposed President’s supporters.

government to hold him incommunicado. Only when a small group of US citizens fl ew to the Central African Republic and smuggled a cell phone to Aristide did the fi ctions the US government was telling about Aristide’s supposed resignation begin to unravel. The Central African Republic was embarrassed and Aristide was allowed to leave, but to this day the US government has blocked his return to Haiti and Haiti continues to bleed. I could go on and make up imaginary scenarios that help explain the US role

Condoleezza Rice (center) converses with Carl Gershman, NED president, on her right. Photo: State Dept.

Needless to say, US citizens of all stripes and political beliefs would be out in the streets defending their government, their nation, and their right to self-determination. The people who tried to perpetrate this atrocity would

in the 2002 failed coup against President Chavez in Venezuela, its role in the last presidential election in El Salvador, its role in elections in Mongolia and the Ukraine – indeed all of those color coded so-called Revolutions in the former Soviet bloc. And I could make up scenarios for the unsuccessful efforts by the US government to sway the outcome of the 2006 presidential elections in Nicaragua and Venezuela. But I think you get the point. So how is all this done? While violence and the threat of violence are the ultimate tools for maintaining the US hegemony, the US has other tools in its intervention toolbox. Among these are its so-called “democracy building” programs. These are actually anti-democratic programs aimed at

See Democracy, p. 7.

The Alliance for Global Jus-tice is launching a “Respect for Democracy” Campaign

be arrested. The entire affair would be considered an act of aggression by the interfering foreign government. And yet, this again is an accurate description of what the US government did to Haiti on February 29, 2004, when US marines forced democratically elected President Jean Paul Aristide onto a US military plane at gunpoint, fl ew him to the Central African Republic and asked that

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The Same as Ever:Media Coverage of NicaraguaBy Robert Siegel[Robert Siegel is a member of the Executive Committee of the Nicaragua Network. He lives in New York City.] The major print and electronic media outlets in this country function, and have functioned for many, many years, as nothing more than a propaganda arm of the government, as nothing more than an echo chamber for government propaganda, disinformation, and lies. And, as sycophantically and squalidly as the U.S. media have “ performed “ on issue after issue after issue through the years, on no issue have they so thoroughly disgraced and debased themselves--and for so long-- as they have regarding Nicaragua. From the 1850s through the 1920s, all 14 of the U.S. military attacks against, and invasions of, Nicaragua (with many of those invasions followed by brutal military occupations) were either buried by the U.S. media or painted as benevolent interventions, bringing order and stability to that benighted country. After the last of those direct military invasions, and during the subsequent occupation from 1926-33, when the Nicaraguan people, led by Augusto Sandino were heroically fi ghting for their freedom, for their independence, against militarily superior U.S. forces, Sandino was regularly referred to by the U.S. government and in the U.S. media as an “ outlaw,” as a “bandit.” Augusto Sandino, Nicaragua’s national patriotic hero. Augusto Sandino, known not only in Nicaragua, but throughout Latin America as “The General of Free Men.” After suppressing for nearly half a century the crimes and atrocities of the U.S.- maintained Somoza dictatorship and the U.S.-created National Guard, the U.S. media sank to new lows during the 1980s as they parroted, unquestioningly and unblinkingly, the Orwellian lies spewed forth by the Reagan Administration. A campaign of lies so massive and so relentless that the Reagan Administration created in 1983 a separate propaganda agency---- the Offi ce of Public Diplomacy (OPD) operating out of the State Department, and headed by the aptly-named Otto Reich—to coordinate and direct the torrent of anti-Sandinista disinformation and lies. Senior Reagan

Administration offi cials described the OPD as a “massive propaganda operation of the kind usually directed against enemy populations during wartime.” A massive propaganda operation whose goal was “to slowly demonize the Sandinistas.” And, since the U.S. stole the 1990 elections from the Sandinistas, the U.S. government/media complex has never passed up an opportunity to try to discredit and smear the Sandinistas.

Sandinistas. Some media outlets have implied that, somehow, the attitude/position of Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas in the early 1980s brought on, or helped to bring on, contra terrorism. This is completely at odds with the facts. Despite the fact that the Carter Administration did everything it could, in 1978 and 1979, to quash the Sandinista-led national insurrection and to preserve”Somozaism without Somoza,” Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas, almost immediately after the July 19, 1979, overthrow of Somoza, reached out to the Carter Administration in an attempt to forge positive, amicable relations with the U.S. Six weeks after the overthrow of Somoza, Carter Administration offi cials said they were “ surprised and pleased” by the Sandinistas’ attitude and their “willingness to work with the United States” despite Washington’s long support for the repulsive Somoza regime. And, it was the U.S. that the Sandinistas fi rst turned to for military aid. In August of 1979 and, again in November of that year, the Sandinistas submitted to Washington a 54-page list of desperately-needed military weaponry and equipment to rebuild their depleted military and to protect Nicaragua from potential counterrevolutionary attacks. The Carter Administration responded by not only totally rejecting both requests, but by also cancelling $ 2.5 million in military aid that was already in the pipeline when Somoza was overthrown. And the Carter Administration laid the groundwork for the contra terrorist war against Nicaragua when, after Somoza’s overthrow and in violation of international law, it put phony Red Cross insignias on planes used to fl y top National Guard offi cers out of Managua to Miami. Even though the successor Reagan-Bush Administration’s hostility toward the Sandinistas was already a matter of offi cial, public record—with the July 1980 Republican platform stating “we deplore the Sandinista takeover of Nicaragua”—the Sandinistas still extended the olive branch to the new Administration, saying “we want friendly relations with the

Time magazine was “institutionally behind the con-tras” said a senior editor in the 1980s.

An example is the case of TIME Magazine. The following says it all about TIME’s coverage of Nicaragua. In 1987, TIME staff writer Lawrence Zuckerman found abundant evidence linking the contras to drug traffi cking. Zuckerman’s story was killed by his senior editor who said: “TIME is institutionally behind the contras. If this story were about the Sandinistas and drugs, you would have no trouble getting it in the magazine.” Parenthetically, it should be noted that, shortly afterward, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, then chaired by Sen. John Kerry, found the contras involved in “all phases” of drug traffi cking and smuggling. In brief, no one should ever rely upon, or give credence to, anything in major U.S. media outlets regarding Nicaragua and the See Media, p. 5.

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United States.” At the time of the Reagan Administration’s January 1981 inauguration, the U.S. was Nicaragua’s largest trading partner, accounting for roughly one-third of Nicaragua’s total trade (the value of all imports and exports). Within days of taking power, the Reaganites began taking steps—such as cancelling a pending $ 9.6 million wheat shipment to Nicaragua, ending all sugar imports (90 % of Nicaragua’s sugar was exported to the U.S.)—that, within a short time, would result in the complete termination of trade with, and aid to, Nicaragua. And, on November 23, 1981, Ronald Reagan applied the coup de grace, when he signed the Executive Order (National Security Decision Directive #17) authorizing the CIA to create the contra terrorist force. And, just for good measure, starting at an inaugural reception on January 20, 1981, when Secretary of State Alexander Haig made ominous statements to Nicaragua’s Ambassador, Rita Delia Casco, about “ going to the source,” senior Reagan Administration offi cials repeatedly dealt with the Nicaraguan Ambassador and her diplomatic colleagues in a hostile, threatening, and belittling manner. In sum, starting immediately after the overthrow of Somoza, the Sandinistas, in word and deed, made every possible effort to establish friendly, positive relations with the United States. It was nothing that Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista government did or said that provoked U.S. hostility, aggression, and terrorism. It was everything that the Sandinistas were, everything that the Sandinistas represented, everything that the Sandinistas embodied that ignited U.S. hostility, aggression, and terrorism.

Media, from p. 4.Marines occupied Nicaragua outright until they were able to turn the country over to the National Guard and their chosen leader Anastasio Somoza. For the next 45 years the Somoza dynasty received complete U.S. support, ending in 1979 with the Sandinista Revolution. Freedom from U.S. domination, however, was short-lived. Within a year, the illegal training and scandalous funding scheme for the

SOA Watch, from p. 1. were regulars at the SOA. After the Sandinista victory in 1979, however, the National Guard was disbanded and the country’s defense was put into the hands of the new Nicaraguan army, fi lled by the rank and fi le of the Sandinista fi ghters. Invitations to the Georgian halls of Ft. Benning stopped. Even after the U.S.-backed candidate removed the Sandinistas from power in 1990, the SOA continued to distrust Nicaragua’s army for a decade.

Thousands of offi cers of Somoza’s National Guard trained at the School of Americas when it was located here in the Panama Canal Zone. Photo: www.chagres.com

contras was set into motion by the Reagan administration, bringing the experience of sovereignty to an end, along with the end of 10% of the nation’s population. But Nicaragua is also an example of the amazing tenacity of a David vs. Goliath. A tiny country of 3 million [at the time of the revolution], its citizens have resisted earthquakes, volcanoes and dictators, while producing world-renowned, poets, musicians, artists and heroes such as Augusto Sandino. Decades after Somoza Sr. ordered Sandino’s assassination, thousands of poor and mostly young Nicaraguans took up his cause of sovereignty. In successfully overthrowing the brutal and corrupt Somoza Jr., their victory became the victory of an entire continent reeling under the devastation of dictatorships and thousands of disappeared. During the 45 years of the Somoza dynasty, offi cers of the National Guard

No Nicaraguan soldiers attended the SOA between 1979 and 2001. Under the presidency of Enrique Boloñas, Nicaraguan troops again returned to the halls of Ft. Benning. We visited a Nicaragua in the midst of change. In 2006 former president and Sandinista Comandante Daniel Ortega was re-elected president , and we found a country divided over what this change would bring. Some expressed concerns about alliances that allowed the return of a Sandinista to power, while others shared hope that initiatives strengthening public education and health care were a positive beginning. To the eyes of any visitor, Nicaragua is a country of extremes. New malls and U.S. companies share the streets with beggars. Ortega inherited a country with the dubious status of being the hemisphere’s second poorest country While Nicaragua may be divided over

See SOA Watch, p. 6.

Think about a Bequest!If you have been a supporter of the Nicaragua Network over the years

and believe in our mission, you may want to consider remembering the Network in your will in the form of a bequest. There are several forms

that this could take. For more information, call Chuck Kaufman at (202) 544-9355 or write him at

chuck@AFGJ.org or at Nicaragua Network, 1247 “E” Street SE,

Washington, DC 20003.

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Ortega’s return, the Bush Administration is not. The U.S. Southern Command quickly deemed Nicaragua a country of special security concern (along with Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador) because of its “radical populism.”. One needs to only spend about a half hour on the streets of Nicaragua to wonder what the U.S. army could possibly fear from this very poor and very tiny country. Shortly after we arrived in Nicaragua, President Ortega invited Fr. Roy to speak about the SOA at an event at the Engineering University where Ortega was scheduled to receive an honorary doctorate. After Roy spoke, Ortega took the podium to direct his words to Roy. “The Rev. Roy Bourgeois is carrying out a battle not just now, but for decades....mobilizing thousands of youth, thousands of patriots, so that no more soldiers of Latin American military will be trained (at the SOA). They were used as instruments of repression and death against their peoples…. Several thousand...of the Nicaraguan National Guard were trained there...to assassinate the people of Nicaragua.... “I want to express to Rev. Roy Bourgeois that the people and government of Nicaragua fully support this battle which they are liberating and that we also will direct ourselves to the Congress of the United States so that they will close this school.... Let us join forces! I commit myself to unite forces with you, Reverend, and with the members of the U.S. Congress and Senate who have taken on this issue, so that fi nally, the School of the Americas may disappear.” Ortega went on to call Roy to the podium with him, saying “I want to ask you to authorize me to share this doctorate with Rev. Roy Bourgeois, so that he may take it to the North American people who are struggling in the United States. It is not easy to struggle in the United States! ....We are going to put this medal on his chest which is full of love for our peoples...so that he may take it to his North American brothers and sisters who continue to liberate these battles for justice, for peace, for humanity.” President Ortega placed the honorary doctorate medal around Roy’s neck to a standing ovation. While we were very moved by the words of support to the struggle to close the SOA, we were concerned that in the same speech

SOA Watch, from p. 5. that Ortega indicated that troops were continuing to attend the SOA under his watch. This seemed a contradiction to us, and so we were glad when he invited us to meet with in private on the last day of our visit. We were privileged to spend several hours with this obviously busy head-of-state, but one who seemed to relish the possibility of being able to refl ect thoughtfully with others who were interested in the changes sweeping through Latin America. The key words Ortega used in defi ning this change were words we were hearing over and over again on our visits: sovereignty and dignity. He told us that Nicaragua was opting for an economic model different from the free market model of un-tethered capitalism. He described it as a complementary rather than competitive model, one based on solidarity, justice and fair trade. President Ortega made it clear that this choice is not received well by its large neighbor to the north. We left the president’s home genuinely moved by the sincerity of the conversation and hopeful that Nicaragua may well indeed chose to reaffi rm its sovereignty along with other nations who have said NO MORE to the SOA. We also realize the responsibility we have to our activists to share the serious nature of such requests and the real consequences that small countries may face for choosing this

option. We were greatly heartened by a wonderful meeting at the Ben Linder house in Managua, with dozens of U.S. and Nicaraguan activists. There was tremendous interest in the issue of the SOA and enthusiasm for encouraging Nicaragua to choose the path of dignity and sovereignty by saying ¡NO MAS! NO MORE. We are confi dent that many of the people at this meeting are following up on this issue in Nicaragua. Finally, one of the important victories of our visit to Nicaragua was an invitation extended to us by the Nicaragua’s Human Rights Ombudsman, Omar Cabezas, who is also the president of the FIO, or American Federation of Ombudsmen. The FIO is an organization representing the human rights leaders of 17 countries. Upon Dr. Cabeza’s invitation, we traveled to Mexico City to share with top human rights leaders about the campaign to close the SOA, and ask that they request that their nations’ leaders withdraw their troops. As I write this article, we are awaiting the decision of this board in regard to this request. But what is perhaps most important is that the issue of the SOA is being brought to the public forum in Latin America. Heads of state, human rights leaders and local activists are affi rming their dignity and their sovereignty by saying ¡NO MAS! to this hall of shame.

Only a few more days to sign up!

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•Plant trees in post-Felix Nica-ragua to help prevent further natural disasters!•Learn about the work being done to solve Nicaragua’s envi-ronmental problems!•Visit scenic areas in Estelí and Madriz!•Meet with environmentalists and governmental offi cials in Managua!Cost: $850 for everything except airfare to NicaraguaFor more information, write nicanet@AFGJ.org or call (619) 423-2909.

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Democracy, from p. 3.distorting and manipulating foreign elections to support US political and corporate domination. The best known agency of democracy building is the National Endowment for Democracy, a supposedly private organization that operates almost 100% with our tax money. The NED, as it is known, was created in 1983. As Allen Weinstein, a founder and theoretical planner for the NED, noted in a 1991 interview with the Washington Post, “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.” Considering the diffi culty researchers have getting detailed and up-to-date information about the NED and related agencies, the move away from the “covertness” of the CIA is, at best, only a relative notion. The National Endowment for Democracy is made up of four core groups – The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) are affi liated with the two major political parties. Sen. John McCain is chair of the IRI and former Clinton Secretary of State Madeline Albright chairs the NDI. The AFL-CIO has its own affi liate, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity also known as the Solidarity Center and to round out the engines of empire, the Chamber of Commerce has its affi liate, the Center for International Private Enterprise. To further confuse things, the NED operates its own grants and also makes grants to its sub-groups which they then give out under their own names. If you are confused, we can assume that they intend for us to be confused. That’s also why they call their electoral manipulation projects “democracy building” when they are actually just the opposite. NED’s fi rst success was to defeat the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in 1990. In 2004, the International Republican Institute trained and funded the Haitian thugs whose violence created the pretext for the US to kidnap President Aristide and remove him from the country. The IRI also has a program to train municipal police in Caracas, Venezuela who have committed many extrajudicial killings. The National Democratic Institute specializes in polling and quick counts. Its blatantly manipulated poll in the Venezuela recall election of 2004 claimed Chavez lost when he actually won with

60%. Its quick count in the Ukraine in 2003 cast doubt on the victory of the Socialist Party and spawned the so-called Orange Revolution. NDI offi cials were apparently hoping the same thing would happen in Venezuela as a result of their phony poll. NDI’s pollster is none other than Mark Penn who is now the top strategist in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The elite agents of Empire are all entangled with each other. They went to the same schools; they’re of the same social class, they party together and,

Moldova. These are just the countries where they have job openings, not all the countries where they are manipulating the political systems! Several months ago, at the time the Bush regime was announcing the creation of a US military Africa Command, the IRI’s job listings were almost all in Africa. In June and October 2006, I led delegations to Nicaragua and Venezuela to investigate US intervention in the Presidential elections in those two countries. NED claims to be nonpartisan

Venezuelans protest NED interference in Caracas. Photo: www.iefd.org.

Democrat or Republican, they have the same view of an assumed god-given right of the United States to rule the world. The AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, another core group of the NED, funded the anti-Chavez labor federation whose leader, Carlos Ortega, was one of the coup leaders in the 2002 coup. That coup failed because a million Venezuelans poured into the streets to demand the return of their president. Some people say that the Solidarity Center runs good programs in some countries, but as long as it receives 94% of its money from the US government and only 6% from unions, its programs will remain suspect. There is an obvious need for international solidarity between workers, but that solidarity needs to be funded by the unions, not by the US government. In 2004 Congress doubled NED’s budget with most of the additional money going to Iraq. Recently I pulled up the National Democratic Institute web page and it listed job openings in Afghanistan, Iraq, Angola, Russia, Azerbaijan, Sudan, Mauritania, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. The IRI web page offered jobs in Angola, Iraq, Georgia, Afghanistan, Jordan, Mexico, Sudan, Ukraine and

and that it does not support particular candidates or parties. However, Sandinista organizations in Nicaragua didn’t receive any NED grants and US Ambassador Paul Trivelli missed no opportunity to be photographed with the US favored right-wing candidate, Eduardo Montealegre. Our delegation met with the International

Republican Institute in Managua. Their spokesperson apparently didn’t research who we were because she told us some incredible things. She said, “The relationship between the US and Nicaragua is like a parent and a child, and a son should not argue with his father.” Does that encapsulate the history of colonialism and racism or what? She also said, “We created the Movement for Nicaragua” which was supposedly a nonpartisan civil society group that organized marches against Sandinista candidate Daniel Ortega and his so-called pact with former president Arnoldo Aleman. When we revealed all this in a press conference in Nicaragua, the spokesperson was fi red but the policies didn’t change. Ambassador Trivelli told us that the US was spending $13 million on the Nicaraguan election. Again, imagine the scenario I wove earlier about a foreign power interfering in a US election. Yet, despite the blatant US intervention, the threats to cut off remittances from Nicaraguans in the US who send money home to their families, and despite thinly veiled allusions to a new war, the people of Nicaragua elected Daniel Ortega president. The tactics that

See Democracy, p. 9.

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After 2 years of wading through bureaucracy, the independent Bend Fire Fighters’ Association fi nally was able to deliver a reconditioned fi re truck in late 2007. They returned as part of the delegation to aid in training the volunteers of the new Condega Fire Brigade. We were again joined by the wife-and-husband owners of Strictly Organic Coffee Company (SOC) of Bend. For the past 3 years they have bought organic coffee directly from the growers’ cooperative farms, located just to the east of Condega. Each year Rhonda and Richard have purchased more of the coop’s crops. In 2006, they bought 3000 pounds; in 2007, the volume was 6000 pounds; this year it was 9000. Strictly Organic, as the name implies, buys and sells only the best, organic coffee

use: they formed their own organization, expanded their membership, held instructional and enabling workshops on sexual rights and domestic violence, and started their own business. With small grants from the national government, the women bought the equipment and secured licenses to produce bottled natural juice. To paraphrase what Bill Lankford, executive director of CASEP, explained at the beginning of the process: “The solar cookers are almost merely the vehicle; the real prize is the self-empowerment that comes when the women realize they can do and get what they need for themselves, even in a machista society.” (For more information about solar cooker projects in Nicaragua, as well as in Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica, go to the CASEP website at http://solaroven.org.) The BCFP is committed to continue

Condega, from p. 1.

beans and prepares them in the roaster Richard designed and built himself. The local company always pays the Fair-Trade price; this year it was $1.91 per pound--far higher than those national brands and boutique franchises. The relationship Strictly Organic’s owners have with the growers goes beyond just business; they have become friends, and some of SOC’s profi ts are returned in the form of fi nancial aid for dance and art classes offered by the Casa de Cultura in Condega. In 2004, the Bend-Condega Friendship Project, along with SOC and a local church, made possible the fi rst solar cooker workshop in Condega. Conducted by CASEP, the Central American Solar Energy Project, ten women were taught how to build their own solar ovens. Since then, the women have put their ingenuity and self-confi dence to good

stove inside the house; women would have more time to pursue other endeavors, or simply get some rest, instead of having to tend the cooking fi re for hours. We are in the process of raising funds for another solar cooker workshop. The goal is to not only sponsor CASEP for a similar workshop, but to take the project to the next step: training some of the women to become trainers themselves. This would make the project self-sustaining--the women could then hold their own workshops and spread the use of solar ovens throughout the community. Paul Israel, the owner of Sunlight Solar Company, an alternative-energy design and installation fi rm in Bend, has pledged to match, dollar for dollar, all donations we receive. This means, instead of having to raise all $3300 for the next workshop,

we need to garner only $1650. We are hoping to have all the funds in time to arrange everything for a workshop this November. If anyone would like more information, or can help this worthwhile endeavor with a fi nancial contribution, please write me at tjeffries77@yahoo.com (our website is coming soon). All donations are tax-deductible by writing a check to “Lakes And Volcanoes”, with the memo line reading “BCFP solar cookers,” and mailing it to: 60850 Windsor Dr., Bend, OR 97702.

the aid to these and other women of the Condega area. The benefi ts are obvious: it would mean far fewer trees being cut for fi rewood; women’s health --and that of the entire family--would improve, as they would no longer have to slave over the traditional open, smokey wood

The Bend-Condega Friendship Project is raising money for another solar cooker work-shop such as this one. Photo: Tim Jeffries.

CISPES, from p. 2.remaining allies and to thwart the rise of parties like the FMLN. But the U.S.’s tactics of harassment and intimidation will not stop our solidarity work. CISPES will continue its work of supporting real democracy and human rights in El Salvador by taking delegations of election observers to El Salvador in March and January of 2009, by touring prominent Salvadoran labor leaders and human rights advocates in the U.S., and by continuing to oppose the U.S.-sponsored ILEA. We will also confront any and every attempt by the U.S. government to undermine the will of the Salvadoran people in their effort to elect an alternative government in 2009.

Subscribe to theNicaragua News Service

The Nicaragua News Service is a weekly report with up-to-date information sum-marized from the major Nicaraguan media outlets, with full citations. Among the subscribers to the Service are the li-braries of Stanford University, Ohio State University, and Tulane University along with well known Nicaragua scholars.Topics covered each week include:•Nicaraguan politics, including what is going on in the National Assembly, within the Ortega administration, and the other political parties•Economic news, including reports on the DR-CAFTA, small farmers, negotiations with the IMF, etc.•Environmental news, labor rights and indigenous rights issues, news from the social movements, including those sup-porting women, human rights, neighbor-hood groups, etc.Subscriptions: $60 per year e-mail; $80 postal service. Subscribe at http://www.nicanet.org/?page_id=347 or write nicanet@AFGJ.org

9

had worked so well in El Salvador’s last presidential election failed in Nicaragua. So, the US, with all its money and might does not always prevail. The US also spent $26 million on the Venezuelan election. Three million of it was NED money and the other $23 million was US Agency for International Development (USAID) money. USAID is supposed to be the US humanitarian aid agency but under the Bush regime its programs have been even more aligned with the government’s other foreign policy objectives than ever before. The obsession of the neo-conservatives with imposing their twisted version of democracy on the world has meant that USAID has converted much of its focus to direct election manipulation. The Associated Press fi led a Freedom of Information Act request for the list of USAID grant recipients in Venezuela. They got the list but the recipient’s names were blacked out. About all we know is that there were no pro-Chavez groups on the list. Another interesting fact is that the money was administered by a US embassy department called the Offi ce of Transition Initiatives. We were refused a meeting with them. But it’s a revealing name isn’t it? Transition to what? A Venezuela without Chavez of course. A transition back to when the international oil companies and a few local Venezuelans profi ted from the oil wealth while the vast majority lived in poverty. Is it any wonder Chavez won reelection with 63% of the vote? So, US democracy manipulation schemes don’t work everywhere, but they do work often enough. Even the somewhat benign programs such as training poll watchers aren’t really benign at all. Their intent is to train foreigners to accept that the only kind of democracy is the free trade, liberal democratic system that we have in the United States where the citizen’s only role is to periodically go to the polls to vote for one of two candidates representing of the ruling class. It is a democracy of, by and for the elites. The rest of us are just props in their little kabuki plays. Until we realize that, and act on that knowledge, the US war machine will just keep rolling over the world’s ordinary people. That is why the Alliance for Global Justice is launching a Respect for Democracy campaign which will run

Democracy, from p. 7. throughout the US presidential election. We have two demands:1) Close the mis-named National Endowment for Democracy and stop meddling in elections in other countries!2) Advance real democracy at home by insuring our votes are verifi able and removing the corrupting infl uence of corporations. We hope to have “campaign headquarters” in communities around the country with “campaign rallies,” press releases, and speaking tours. Eva Golinger has volunteered to be a campaign advisor. Her book, The Chavez Code, exposed the US role in the failed 2002 coup against Chavez and her Freedom of Information Act requests have peeled back the lid and let a little light shine on the so-called democracy building programs of NED and USAID. I think she’ll give

us better advice than Hillary Clinton gets from Mark Penn or Barak Obama gets from Zbigniew Brezinski. There’s no point in even going into who is advising McCain. As head of the International Republican Institute, he is an architect of the democracy manipulation programs. The goal of the campaign is to use the US presidential campaign as a teaching moment to educate people in the US about the exciting advances in real, participatory democracy in Latin America, to teach them about what their government is doing to crush real democracy throughout the world, and to help them realize that the system we call democracy in the US is neither perfect nor the only form of democracy. Michael Plattner is a vice-president of the National Endowment for

The Alliance for Global Justice presentsThe Respect for Democracy Tour

Exposing the truth behind U.S. democracy building abroad, the lack of true democracy at home, and the

threat neo-liberal economics poses to your community.

•Learn how the U.S. government manipulates elections in other countries in order to assure favorable conditions for U.S. corporations. •Find out how so-called Free Trade Agreements limit your ability to pass laws in your com-munity, and undermine the sovereignty of the country.

To schedule a presentation or workshop, please call 202.550.7025 or email info@respect4democracy.org.

More information can be found at www.respect4democracy.org

See Democracy, p. 10.

10

Democracy, and he is an editor of the NED’s Journal for Democracy. In his article, “Globalization and Self-Government,” published in July 2002, he wrote, “Globalization has fostered democratization, and democratization has fostered globalization. Moreover, both trends generally have furthered American interests and contributed to the strengthening of American power….Understood in this way, globalization goes beyond more frequent and more intensive contact among peoples; it is a process of integration that draws together individuals living in different countries. In so doing, it makes national differences not only less sharp but also less consequential. ... this view of globalization holds that it is creating a world where borders matter less and less, or an increasingly borderless world.” If Mr. Plattner’s statement was an accurate description of corporate-led globalization, I daresay we progressives would be among its foremost advocates.

What we have to understand is that he is talking about a borderless world for capital. Borders matter very much indeed for fl esh and blood people as we can see from the racist, nativist anti-immigration

Democracy, from p. 9. about the meaning of democracy, though much less today than a couple of decades ago, when some still took seriously such notions as “people’s democracy”…. Well Mr. Plattner, some of us still take seriously indeed the notion of “people’s democracy.” Some of us are very excited about the strides countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua are making to move democratic processes from the rarifi ed heights of the political and economic elites down to the neighborhood level such as Venezuela’s Community Councils and Nicaragua’s Councils of Citizen Power. Our goal with the Respect for Democracy campaign is to help spark a real democracy movement in this country. Raul Castro said recently that to maintain that the US has a two party system is like saying that Cuba has a two party system, one led by Fidel and one led by Raul. It’s a ridiculous notion. There is no difference. At least when it comes to US foreign policy and support for corporate globalization, Raul Castro hits the nail right on the head.

movement that shames our country today. Plattner went on to write, “There is also, of course, considerable controversy

Reporters without Borders has received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy. Photo: www.voltairenet.org.

abroad in 2008, about US$600 million is expected to come from the United States while about US$200 million will come from Costa Rica. Between Apr. 8 and 11 Judge Julio Cesar Arias and Special Prosecutor Armando Juarez seized CENIS (Certifi cates of Negotiated Investment) bonds held by the Bank of Production (BANPRO) and the Bank of Central America (Bancentro) which make up a major part of the CENIS debt. After initial resistance from BANPRO, the confi scation process was completed on Apr. 11. The CENIS were issued under the government of Enrique Bolaños to turn the private debt of three banks which failed due to fraud into public debt. In February Judge Arias had ordered the Nicaraguan Central Bank to suspend all payments on the illicit CENIS debt. President of the Nicaraguan Central Bank Antenor Rosales stated on several occasions that he refused to obey Judge Arias’ order, however, arguing that, in doing so the Central Bank would violate the General Law of Bond Values. According to Rosales, the General Law of Bond Values prohibits the suspension of payments on any bond unless a seizure is imposed on the bond itself. Thus, a week before the Central Bank was scheduled

to pay some US$20 million to Banpro and Bancentro as part of the CENIS debt Attorney Juarez and Judge Arias seized the bonds. On Apr. 9, a day after the process of seizure began, Public Finance Minister Maria Esperanza Acevedo confi rmed that, in accordance with Judge Arias’ initial order to suspend payments issued in February, the Nicaraguan government would not pay the US$48 million allocated to service the CENIS debt in the 2008 National Budget. In agricultural news, the president of the Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG), Alvaro Fiallos, said that in spite of what is expected to be a good third harvest of beans in Nicaragua, high international prices would keep the price of beans in the country for consumers around US$0.63 per pound [in the past it had been as low as US$0.37.] Alvaro Cantillan of Comercializadora Lafi se said, “These are the years of the farmer.” He added, “In the past it was the farmer who was not able to cover costs.” (In Nicaragua bean producers are mainly small farmers.) Cantillan said that the price of beans had shot up after Hurricane Felix. Some merchants hoarded beans in order to raise the price but had to lower their prices when the government National Enterprise of Basic Foods (ENABAS) distributed

cheaper beans. This caused the price to come down from US$1.05 per pound to between US$0.63 and US$0.68 where it stands now. Environment and Indigenous Rights On March 8, eight ambassadors (including the representatives of Denmark, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Iran, and Peru), along with seven Nicaraguan and foreign investors visited the Caribbean Coast community of Monkey Point to examine the site where Nicaraguan authorities hope to build a modern deep water port and the terminus for a railroad that would carry freight across the country to a Pacifi c Coast port. According to Virgilio Silva, President of the Nicaraguan Port Authority, Nicaragua presently loses US$130 million every year because it has to use the Caribbean ports of neighboring countries to import and export its products. “We have done many studies,” he said, “and all of them indicate that Monkey Point is the best option for the construction of a deep water port on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua.” However, Pearl Watson, president of the Creole Communal Council of Monkey Point, said that while she was not necessarily against the project, it should not be built until the central government fi nishes the demarcation of the lands of the

News, from p. 12.

See News, p. 11.

11

indigenous and ethnic communities of the Atlantic Coast, and most particularly of Monkey Point. Allen Clair, vice-president of the community, said that he wanted to tell Lourdes Aguilar, director of the National Commission for Demarcation and Titling, that there would be no type of negotiation until the demarcation and titling of land at Monkey Point was concluded. “If they think that it will be easy to throw us out of our little houses to build docks, warehouses and railroad lines, they are mistaken,” he said. “We’re not against progress,” said Sandra Morales, “we know that our community surrounded by nature will change forever; what we can’t accept is that our rights be violated and they take away from us this land and this sea that we inherited from

from Latin America and the Caribbean, the region which will elect the president of the General Assembly this year. UN General Assembly spokesperson Janos Tisovszky confi rmed that it is “most probable” that D’Escoto will be elected considering that he is the only candidate for the position. D’Escoto was foreign minister during the fi rst Sandinista government (1979 – 1990). D’Escoto, who is also a Maryknoll Catholic priest, currently works as a foreign affairs advisor to President Ortega. On Mar. 12 Nicaragua offi cially resumed diplomatic relations with Colombia after suspending them on Mar. 6 in solidarity with Ecuador. Colombia had attacked a camp of the FARC guerrillas in Ecuador, a violation of Ecuador’s sovereignty condemned by every country in the Organization of American

There are over 1,600 people in Managua’s largest garbage dump, Chureca, who live from collecting recyclable materials and another 400 or 500 who wash and sell the materials.Sociologist Cirilo Otero, Director of the Center for Environmental Policy Initiatives said, “The solution is to get the “Chureca” workers out of there, train them and employ them in something healthy and productive. By taking them out of there you would be saving the lives of the children who die after consuming contaminated food.” Of the 1,600 “Chureca” workers, over 500 are between the ages of 7 and 18 according to a study carried out by the Two Generations Center. On Mar. 27 during the weekly meeting “El Pueblo Presidente,” hosted by President Daniel Ortega, members of Ortega’s cabinet gave details about the advances of the government’s social programs. Judith Silva, president of the Institute of Urban and Rural Housing (INVUR), gave details of the government funded housing projects. Since the Sandinista (FSLN) government came to power in Jan. 2007 INVUR has funded the construction of 641 houses, benefi ting 3,205 people and creating over 6,000 jobs. INVUR is currently coordinating 57 housing projects in 14 departments of the country which will build a total of 5,365 houses benefi ting 27,030 people and creating 77,442 direct and indirect jobs. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Fernando Martinez announced that work on the “Streets for the People” program would begin during the week of Mar. 31 – Apr. 4 with the paving of eight streets in two of the poorest sectors of the Batahola Sur neighborhood. This program is funded by Venezuela as part of the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America (ALBA). Agriculture Minister Ariel Bucardo said the government program “Zero Hunger” has given out 12,000 food production packages to campesina (female) heads of households over the last fi fteen months in rural areas across the country. As a result, said Bucardo, 19,300 direct jobs and 60,000 indirect jobs have been created. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAGFOR) aims to give out another 14,547 food production packages to campesina heads of households during the rest of 2008.

News, from p. 10.

Residents of Monkey Point express concern about the possible building of a deepwater port and railroad terminus on their lands. Photo: La Prensa

our ancestors who were fugitive slaves and from whom we also inherit rebellious blood.” Port Authority head Silva warned the residents of Monkey Point not to let themselves “be manipulated by anyone or you could scare off the investors.” According to government documents, the port project could cost US$350 million. La Prensa reported that the ambassadors and investors were impressed by the natural beauty of the area.International Relations Former Foreign Minister Fr. Miguel D’Escoto appears almost certain be elected to preside over 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (September 2008 – September 2009) according to UN offi cials speaking to journalists in New York on Mar. 24. According to the offi cials, D’Escoto has the “full” support of the representatives

States except the US. President Daniel Ortega said he feared a similar attack on Nicaragua’s sovereignty due to the maritime border dispute between the two countries. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe promised to withdraw the war ships his Navy had located along the 82nd Meridian (which marks the disputed maritime border between Nicaragua and Colombia) during the XX Summit of the Rio

Group, and Ortega decided to normalize relations. Social Issues Throughout March, over one thousand informal workers who make a living from selling recyclable waste (metal, plastic and glass) dumped on Managua’s municipal garbage dump “La Chureca” blockaded the entrance to the dump in protest against the decreasing amount of valuable waste being deposited there. According to the protesting workers the more valuable waste was extracted by the garbage collectors who work for the local government before the trucks are unloaded at “La Chureca.” Finally, on March 26, Managua Vice-Mayor Nery Leiva announced that an accord had been reached between the city and the Chureca workers which was expected to go into effect the next day. Leiva had met with 200 of the protesters.

12

The News from NicaraguaPolitical Issues Opposition political parties in Nicaragua paralyzed the National Assembly to pressure the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) not to suspend municipal elections in three municipalities of the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN). However, on April 4, the CSE announced that the elections would indeed be suspended. Local elections are scheduled throughout the country for Nov. 2. On Feb. 27 the council of the regional government in the RAAN had asked the CSE to suspend the municipal elections in Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas), Prinzapolka and Waspam because destruction and population displacement from Hurricane Felix would not allow an election process to take place smoothly.

while the PLC-led coalition registered former presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre and PLC rebel Enrique Quiñonez for Managua mayor and vice mayor. The Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), which concentrates most of its support in Managua, registered economist Enrique Saenz and journalist Azucena Castillo as its candidates for Managua mayor and vice mayor. Currently the governing FSLN controls 87 of the 152 municipal governments, 5 out of 6 of the municipalities of the department of Managua and 25 of the 42 most important towns in the country. Economic Issues Javier Chamorro, president of the state agency Pro-Nicaragua which promotes foreign investment, announced on Mar.

Investment and Exports (CEI). Most of Nicaraguan exports to the US are food products such as coffee, beef, prawns, fruit, vegetables, peanuts, dairy products, beans and rum. Domingo Frixione, an analyst with a doctorate in business, and Nicaraguan economist Rene Vallecillo agree that Nicaragua’s participation in the Latin American integrationist program the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America (ALBA) and the signing of a trade agreement with the European Union will help to reduce Nicaragua’s dependence on the US. In other economic news, an IMF mission between Feb. 25 and Mar. 7 was unable to reach agreement with the Nicaraguan government. At the time IMF negotiator Luis Cubbedu confi rmed that the government had met most of the macroeconomic goals for 2007 and congratulated the government on its economic policy. The three year economic program being negotiated is worth US$111.3 million, US$18.5 million of which has already been disbursed. On Feb. 12, with 64 votes in favor the 2008 Budget was passed by the National Assembly. The budget contemplates a total expenditure of just over US$1.5 billion with a defi cit of US$270 million which will be made up with international loans and donations. According to president of the National Assembly Economic Commission Francisco Aguirre, the 2008 Budget maintains the level of Nicaragua’s international reserves. Aguirre went on to say the budget will directly create 70,000 new jobs. The remittances that Nicaraguans living abroad sent to their family members in Nicaragua reached US$739.6 million in 2007, according to the Central Bank of Nicaragua. This was the highest fi gure in the last two decades according to the Bank. Between 1994 and 2003, the average amount was only US$234.1 million. The Central Bank predicts that in 2008 the value of the remittances will reach US$800 million., greater than the amount received in foreign aid, which amounts to about US$500 million each year. Of the US$800 million expected to be received by Nicaraguan families from

See News, p. 10.

Activists for and against postponement of municipal elections in the RAAN gathered at the Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas) airport. Photo: El Nuevo Diario.

Oposition political parties claim that President Daniel Ortega does not want to hold elections in these municipalities because he fears the Sandinista (FSLN) led alliance [which includes the indigenous party Yatama] will lose. Opposition parties said they would not approve the Anti Fraud Law which is required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before it will disburse millions of dollars to the government as part of a three year economic program. Meanwhile, on Mar. 14, as scheduled, the country’s various political alliances registered their candidates for mayor, vice mayor and city councilors for the municipal elections. As expected, the Sandinista-led coalition registered the former world featherweight boxing champion Alexis Arguello as its candidate for mayor of Managua and journalist Deysi Torres for vice mayor

25 that foreign investment in Nicaragua increased 15.5% during 2007 compared to 2006. While in 2006 foreign investment in the country totaled US$290 million, this fi gure grew to US$335 million in 2007. Chamorro went on to say that Pro-Nicaragua expects a further 18% increase in foreign investment during 2008 with companies from countries as diverse as Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, Venezuela and Iran planning to invest in Nicaragua. “Contrary to the claims of opposition forces,” said Chamorro, “there is a stable climate [for investment] in Nicaragua.” Reportedly, in the two years since the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) came into force in Nicaragua on Apr. 1, 2006, Nicaraguan exports to the US have increased by 35.5% (from US$243.4 million in 2005 to US$328.3 million in 2007) according to the independent Center of Promotion of