From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Nicanet Hotline 1/25/93
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 06:00:52 GMT

/** reg.nicaragua: 37.0 **/
** Topic: NICANET HOTLINE -- 01/25/95 **
** Written  1:12 pm  Jan 25, 1993 by nicanet in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
            NICARAGUA NETWORK HOTLINE ** 202-544-9360
 
                         January 25, 1993
 
You have reached the Nicaragua Network Hotline recorded Monday, 
January 25, 1993.   To reach our office, call: 202-544-9355.
 
Topics covered in this hotline include: Cuban American National 
Foundation torpedoes Clinton's Afro-Cuban State Dept. nominee; 
UNO right-wing vies for a strategy; Healthworkers strike settled; 
and, Recontra attacks increase.
 
President Clinton appears to have backed down from his intention 
to nominate Afro-Cuban American lawyer Mario Baeza as Assistant 
Secretary of State for Interamerican Affairs.  That is the 
position currently held by Bernard Aronson.  The ultra right 
Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) led by Jorge Mas 
Canosa, who wants to be president of Cuba, generated so much 
pressure on the Administration that despite support for Baeza by 
the Black and Hispanic caucuses of Congress and moderate Hispanic 
groups, Clinton reportedly has caved in.  This is the second 
African-American the CANF has vetoed.  The furor they raised 
about a position in the Transition Office and possible cabinet 
post for Spellman College President Johnetta Cole, lost for this 
Administration one of the finest minds in the US. Besides 
positions that are at the extreme right of the political 
spectrum, CANF has been accused of racism in its actions.  While 
Baeza was not an ideal candidate from our perspective due to his 
lack of experience in Central America and his expertise in cross 
border corporate mergers and acquisitions, we strongly object to 
the influence that the Cuban American National Foundation appears 
to hold on the Clinton Administration.  We are still asking 
activists to call Secretary of State Warren Christopher to demand 
immediate release US aid to Nicaragua.  We also suggest you 
register your objection to the Cuban American National Foundation 
having veto power over administration nominees.  The State 
Department number is (202) 647-4000.
 
The 11 remaining parties of the original 14 party UNO coalition 
reiterated last week their intention to aggressively oppose the 
Chamorro government in the National Assembly.  However, 
internecine warfare for leadership of the coalition causes some 
observers to predict a break-up of the union.  Managua Mayor 
Arnoldo Aleman, who has benefited politically from public works 
projects he has funded with US aid may be the one to watch.  He 
is vying for leadership with Vice President Virgilio Godoy and 
former National Assembly President Alfredo Cesar.  Godoy was the 
first leader of the right, but lost Chamorro's good will even 
before the two of them took office and he has never been given a 
substantive role in her government.  Cesar's star is also in the 
decline because his confrontational tactics led to UNO's loss of 
control of the National Assembly.  However, Cesar, who earned the 
name "Seven Daggers" for the groups he has betrayed, has risen 
from the political dead before, and some people believe he should 

not be counted out.  Also competing for leadership is Christian 
Democrat Luis Humberto Guzman who will be the parliamentary 
leader of the UNO bench in the National Assembly.  However, 
Guzman may be too conciliatory for the rabid right.  He tried to 
find a political solution to the Assembly deadlock in 1992, and 
has called for talks with the FSLN.
  Five UNO delegates, mostly from Cesar's camp, met with 
President Chamorro in response to her invitation for a dialogue.  
However, they insulted the President by refusing to sit down.  
Instead they read a prepared statement that rejected the idea of 
talking in the presence of the UNO Center Group, and then walked 
out.  Cesar then renewed his call for a plebiscite on whether 
Chamorro should continue in office.
  In the meantime the purge of Cesarites in government continues.  
The highest ranking Cesar ally still in power is Controller 
General Guillermo Potoy.  Last week he blasted Minister of the 
Presidency Antonio Lacayo in the pages of La Prensa.  Lacayo 
blasted back accusing him of being unprofessional and having "put 
his office at the service of political allies."  Lacayo said, 
"You may be absolutely sure, Mr. Controller, that it will not be 
I who deposes you....But I will salute the day when our 
government has a Controller who instead of blathering and 
defaming, effectively controls the hundreds of public officials 
who work for the state..."  Lacayo's words sent shock waves 
through the right wing because the Controller General is elected 
by the National Assembly and UNO no longer controls the Assembly.  
The replacement of Potoy with a government ally will allow the 
exposure of corruption by Cesar allies in the National Assembly 
who have been shielded thus far by Potoy. 
 
The two month old strike by healthworkers which had virtually 
paralyzed all but emergency health services was settled, and 
appears on the surface to be a victory for the workers.  All 
healthworkers will receive a raise equivalent to about $20 a 
month.  This isn't much for a doctor, but the mass of healthcare 
workers make about $80 per month, and it is a substantial raise 
indeed for them.  However, the written agreement did not mention 
the raise, allegedly because the government does not want to 
upset the international lenders who opposed public sector raises.  
The Chamorro government has failed to honor many of its written 
promises, so it will be instructive to see how they treat this 
unwritten promise.  The Ministry of Health also guaranteed job 
security, an extension to the end of 1993 of the collective 
bargaining agreement, and a commitment to make positions 
available for new nursing school graduates.  The healthworkers 
union FETSALUD, did give in to the government on some issues 
involving private health care, so the agreement was not totally 
positive; but for now, it at least makes non-emergency care again 
available to all but the poorest Nicaraguans who can not even 
afford the small fees Chamorro has imposed for treatment at 
public hospitals.
 
The New York Weekly Update, citing Spanish language newspapers 
reports this week that recontra attacks have increased and spread 

south to the northern part of the Department of Leon.  They 
report that 50 people had been killed between Jan. 1 and 19 in 
clashes between the army and recontras, and that on Jan. 23 a two 
hour battle along the Honduran border left 40 dead and 30 
wounded.  The army reported that since the beginning of the year 
there have been 34 recontra attacks against civilian vehicles, 13 
murders, and 8 civilian kidnapings, and La Prensa published 
photos on Jan. 20 of recontras with a Redeye missile which was 
given to the contras by the US during the contra war.  The 
recontras are reported to have at least a dozen of them which had 
been hidden in Honduras or buried in the mountains when the 
contras were disarming in 1990.
 
And finally, the government has identified three suspects of the 
murder of Arges Sequeira, right-wing leader of the Association of 
the Confiscated.  They were identified as a lieutenant colonel 
and a lieutenant who had been in the old State Security 
department of the army and a former lieutenant of the National 
Police.  None of the three were presently working for the army or 
police.  The two army officers had been discharged last August as 
part of the reduction in the size of the Army.  The government 
withheld comment "for the moment" on the so-called Punitive 
Forces of the Left, a previously unknown group that took credit 
for the assassination.  None of the suspects have been arrested.  
They are alleged to have fled the country to Guatemala and 
Mexico.  FSLN leaders unanimously condemned the assassination and 
Barricada editorialized that any violence by Sandinistas against 
the right only works to further the agenda of the right wing.
 
To become a supporter and receive our publications and mailings, 
please contact us.  The Nicaragua Network's address is: 1247 E 
St., SE, Washington, DC  20003; our phone: 202-544-9355.
** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.censorship,alt.activism,talk.environment