From: nicanet@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Nicaragua News Update 1/3/93
Date: 4 Jan 93 22:23:00 GMT
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Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!nicanet    Jan  4 14:23:00 1993


Subject: Nicaragua News Update 1/3/93
From: nyxfer!nicanet (NicaNet NY)


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

excerpted from...

         Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York
       339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

             Weekly News Update #153, January 3, 1993


NICARAGUAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY UNDER CUSTODY OF ARMY

On Dec. 30, by order of President Violeta Chamorro, a provisional
board of directors assumed custody of the installations and
documents of the Nicaraguan National Assembly. Chamorro dismissed
the previous leadership of the Assembly, headed by Alfredo Cesar,
and ordered military occupation of the building. The legislature
began its recess on Dec. 15 and will renew sessions on Jan. 9,
when it must elect a new directorship for 1993. Governance
Minister Alfredo Mendieta said that no deputy or anyone else will
enter the parliament building until the internal elections are
held. The parliament has been in crisis since Sept. 2, when Cesar
presided over the election of two secretaries to the board,
despite the lack of a quorum; the Sandinista bloc and eight
deputies from the so-called center group of the ruling UNO
coalition began a boycott of the legislature, and on Sept. 29 the
Supreme Court ordered all Assembly proceedings since Sept. 2 null
and void. [Diario Las Americas (Miami) 1/1/93 from AFP]
 

NICARAGUA STARTS 1993 WITH NO BUDGET, NO TRUCE

The Nicaraguan government begins 1993 without a budget and
without managing to achieve the political truce considered
necessary to stabilize the country. Last year's budget of some
$330 million has been extended through the first trimester of
1993, during which time no new projects can be initiated to
jumpstart the economy. 
 
Nicaragua's main political forces rejected the proposed political
truce shortly after it was presented last week. Expressing his
disappointment at the failure of the truce, Foreign Cooperation
Minister Erwin Kruger said that to continue the confrontations
between political sectors in Nicaragua "is to prolong the tragedy
and condemn ourselves to eternal underdevelopment." Kruger added
that the international community has promised to grant Nicaragua
$730 million in aid for 1993, of which $510 million is already
agreed on and $200 million pending negotiation. 
 
The truce, proposed at the beginning of December by the Social
Christian Party, was supported by the government and by army
chief Gen. Humberto Ortega. The ruling UNO coalition rejected the
political pact, arguing that it was an attempt to silence critics
of the Chamorro administration. The Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN) also rejected the truce, and recommended
instead an "economic truce" to fight hunger and misery. Ex-
president and FSLN General Secretary Daniel Ortega called the
political truce "not viable," since Nicaragua's 23 political
parties never managed to achieve such a pact before. He added
that a economic pact between the workers and the producers is
more feasible, since "they are the ones who produce the wealth."
Ortega pointed out that "if there is a national agreement for
economic and social order, then the politicians will have no
other option but to support it; if not, they will go on talking
to themselves." Ortega received no response to his proposal. [DLA
1/1/93 from EFE; El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 12/31/92 from EFE]
 

NICARAGUAN ARMY CHIEF DENIES POWER AMBITION

Sandinista Popular Army (EPS) chief Gen. Humberto Ortega denied
on Dec. 29 that he wants to enthrone himself in the army, or that
his stay in the army is due to "an ambition for power." In an
interview with Sandinista daily Barricada, Gen. Ortega clarified
that his stay in the military will be defined by the army's
Organic Law (charter), which is to be approved in 1993 by the
National Assembly or by executive decree. The draft of the
charter prepared by the army sets the army chief's term limit as
no less than four years and no greater than six; the reforms
would go into effect once approved, which would guarantee Gen.
Ortega's position until 1997. In October, Gen. Ortega had
insisted that he would remain in the army until 1997, despite
claims to the contrary by President Violeta Chamorro. 
 
Gen. Ortega says that once he leaves the army, "I will dedicate
myself to research." He added, "I don't see myself as a political
activist of the Sandinista party, nor do I want to." [ED-LP
12/30/92 from AFP]
 

OBANDO WARNS NICARAGUANS AGAINST VIOLENCE

Speaking with journalists after receiving a visit from Managua
Mayor Arnoldo Aleman, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo warned that
Nicaragua must "stop moving on the twisted path" of solving
everything with the motto of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth." Aleman had showed Obando death threats he recently
received; Obando said he regretted such threats, but that the
Church "cannot do anything, since it doesn't have arms or police
forces." He added, "It doesn't even have money, since the
construction of the cathedral has been paralyzed for lack of
funds."
 
Obando said all Nicaraguan factions should abandon the protection
of crime and the "culture of death," including those which
"sometimes come here to the church," adding that, "hopefully they
are around here and they hear us." According to Noticiero
Nicaraguense, this was interpreted as an allusion to top
political leaders who have recently come to the church offices.
[DLA 12/19/92 "Del Noticiero Nicaraguense"]
 

NICARAGUAN TELEPHONE SYSTEM TO BE UPDATED

A deputy minister at the state-owned telecommunications company
TELCOR has confirmed that the government is planning a major
overhaul of Nicaragua's telecommunications system in 1993.  The
project includes large-scale government and private investment to
refurbish communications plants, double the number of installed
telephone lines, and put hundreds of new public phone booths into
service. Nicaragua has one of the most outdated and
underdeveloped telephone systems in Latin America with only about
42,000 installed phone lines. Government economic planners say
underdeveloped transportation and communications infrastructure
is a central impediment to foreign investment. [Latin America
Data Base 12/18/92 from UPI]
 

TWO MANAGUA HOUSES RETURNED TO FORMER OWNERS

On Dec. 1, the Foreign Ministry announced that the government
returned to former owners two houses which had been confiscated
during the previous Sandinista administration.  One of the homes
was returned to former world boxing champion Alexis Arguello, and
the other to Mimi de Porro. Both properties are located in
Managua's wealthy Las Colonias neighborhood, and both had been
assigned to the Russian diplomatic mission in Nicaragua. [LADB
12/11/92 from EFE]
 

NICARAGUAN GOVERNMENT CLAIMS PRIVATIZATION IS GOING FINE

On Dec. 6 Ivan Saballos, chief official in charge of overseeing
privatization of state-owned enterprises, told reporters from
Spanish news service EFE that despite pressure from labor unions,
the privatization process is moving ahead according to schedule
and will be concluded as originally scheduled by the end of 1993.
Saballos said that of a total 351 state-owned enterprises
inherited by President Violeta Chamorro's administration, 213 are
no longer under government control, though he explained that
government revenues from privatization have been far less than
projected, since few of the enterprises have been sold outright. 

According to Saballos, 97 enterprises have either been leased or
sold on credit to Nicaraguan investors, to workers from the
enterprises in question, or to former members of the Sandinista
Popular Army (Ejercito Popular Sandinista, EPS), as well as
former contras. An additional 64 firms which had been
expropriated by the former administration have been returned to
their former owners, and 36 enterprises were deemed economically
not viable and were dissolved. Among those dissolved were textile
plants Texnicsa, Fanatex and Cotexma, as well as several
metallurgy firms. According to Saballos, in the majority of
privatized firms, workers have been granted access to 25% of
shares in accordance with an agreement reached in 1991 between
government and union representatives; FNT leader Lucio Jimenez
has accused the government of failing to comply with these
commitments and added that by denying access to credit, the
government is trying to drive worker-owned enterprises into
bankruptcy.  
 
According to Dayton Caldera, head of the government's National
Public Administration Corporation (CORNAP), the next large-scale
enterprise slated for privatization is the Pacific coast tourist
resort at Montelimar. Caldera said bids for the facilities at
Montelimar have been submitted by investors from France, Italy,
Canada and Spain. Caldera added that the bidding process will
soon be initiated for several of the country's largest hotels and
for four mining complexes. In addition, government sources say
the World Bank has been asked to compile a study on the
efficiency and competitiveness of the country's port system. 
Depending on study results, port administration may also be
privatized. [LADB 12/11/92 from ACAN-EFE]

                               -30-

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