NicaNotes: Nicaragua Defangs US Regime Change Tactics by Renewing Partnership with China and Leaving the OAS

By Ben Gutman

[This article was first published on January 20, 2022, by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) at https://www.coha.org/nicaragua-a-renewed-partnership-with-china-defangs-us-regime-change-tactics/]

(Ben Gutman is an independent writer, researcher, and organizer. He is currently working on the outsourcing of US border militarization to Guatemala in collaboration with the Guatemala Solidarity Project and the Promoters of Migrant Liberation. Jill-Clark Gollub, COHA’s Asistant Editor, and Patricio Zamorano, COHA’s Director, contributed as editors of this essay.) Endnotes follow the article.

Chinese Embassy official Yo Bo visits the National Assembly and meets with its president, Gustavo Porras. (Photo: Radio La Primerisima)

In a bold and consequential decision with rippling geopolitical implications, Nicaragua recognized the “One-China Principle” and resumed diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for the first time since the beginning of the neoliberal period in 1990.[1] This was announced December 9, 2021, shortly after a meeting of the China-CELAC Forum in which CELAC’s 32 Latin American member states[2] agreed to adopt a China-CELAC Joint Action Plan for Cooperation. The strengthening of Chinese ties with Western Hemisphere partners in a forum without US presence comes as a red flag for US hegemony and control over its own “backyard,” which, since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, has been firmly fenced off from other “external” global actors seeking influence in the region. However, unlike the last two centuries of US imperialism, China offers an approach that respects the rule of law and national sovereignty.

The replacement of Taiwanese investment with the sustainable socio-economic development model of the PRC’s “Belt and Road Initiative” in Nicaragua on January 16 is particularly threatening to regional US economic domination. In 2014, Nicaragua partnered with a Chinese firm to initiate construction of a second shipping lane connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in addition to the current US-dominated Panama Canal.[3] The anti-Sandinista opposition party Unamos (formerly known as the Sandinista Renovation Movement or MRS), whose leaders frequently met and provided information to the US embassy, helped organize  an NED-engineered pseudo-movement in opposition to the project, which eventually came to a halt during the political violence of 2018.[4] The potential relaunch of the Nicaraguan canal project could prove to be a pivotal point in the US’s New Cold War and flailing bid to remain the world’s lone superpower.

Nicaragua leaves the OAS, the de facto diplomatic branch of the US in the Americas

On November 19, following the re-election of President Daniel Ortega, the Nicaraguan government announced its withdrawal from the US-dominated Organization of American States (OAS), joining Venezuela and Cuba in what former Bolivian president Evo Morales called “an act of dignity.”[5] In an official letter to OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro, Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister Denis Moncada repeated previous condemnation of the OAS as an “instrument of interference and intervention” with the “mission to facilitate hegemony of the United States with its interventionism against the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.”[6]

As reported by John Perry for COHA, the OAS produced a 16-page report within 48 hours of the alleged “illegitimate elections” that contained no evidence of fraud on election day. In lockstep with the White House’s perverse and ridiculous claim of support for the “inalienable right to democratic self-determination of the Nicaraguan people,” Almagro’s coup-fomenting false narrative of fraud came straight out of the US/OAS playbook used during their facilitation of the 2019 coup d’état against Morales’ MAS party in Bolivia.[7] The OAS was constructed by the US as an anti-socialist alliance of right-wing regimes at the onset of the First Cold War, and its delegitimization of the 2021 Nicaraguan election reflects continuity of its role as “Ministry of Colonies” of the United States, as it was referred to by Fidel Castro.[8]

Nicaragua’s withdrawal from the OAS and its reestablishment of relations with the PRC are bold decisions that flex Nicaraguan sovereignty and communicate to developing countries that a path of resistance against Western coercion leads to independence, inclusive development, and promising new opportunities. The Sandinista Front’s defeat of a three-year long US regime change operation, which culminated in the inauguration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on January 10, 2022, has translated the sacrifices made by the Nicaraguan people into a concrete plan to further the egalitarian principles of the Sandinista Revolution.

Against a militarized and neoliberal model for Central America

With support from the fastest growing economy in the world with a population of 1.4 billion, in addition to an array of other governments and solidarity movements, Nicaragua has earned the ability to lead a more aggressive charge against Washington’s proposed militarized security and neoliberal development model for Central America.[9] Such a model which aims to enrich corporations through private investment and austerity to the detriment of the poor and working-class remains the antithesis to the Chinese and Sandinista revolutions. During his inauguration speech, President Ortega elucidated this key point, stating that the “Chinese revolution and the Sandinista revolution [have] the same north star, the same path, the same destiny, which is to end poverty.”

As the process of poverty alleviation runs contrary to the exploitative goals of Western imperialists, the US and EU levied coordinated unilateral coercive measures against Nicaraguan officials on the day of President Ortega’s inauguration.[10] However, the strategy of relentless hybrid warfare used to isolate and punish “enemy states” like Nicaragua has lost some of its impact. “The unipolar world is over. It’s a multipolar world,” said Black Alliance for Peace’s Margaret Kimberley at the inauguration. The Nicaraguan people’s defeat of US regime change attempts over the last three years is a remarkable accomplishment that helped the paradigm shift towards a multi-polar world. However, it is important to recognize the inevitable sacrifices that come with resistance, to dissect imperial destabilization strategies, and to reflect on the manufactured policies that have brought us to where we are today.

Revisiting the 2018 Attempted Coup, and the US media supported narrative

In Nicaragua-based journalist Ben Norton’s investigation titled “How USAID Created Nicaragua’s Anti-Sandinista Media Apparatus, Now under Money Laundering Investigation,” Norton presents documented evidence that the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation received more than $7 million of the $10 million funneled to Nicaraguan opposition media from the US’s soft-power arm the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) between 2014 and 2021.[11] The majority of this funding was distributed amongst some 25 publications including Chamorro Foundation-owned outlets that are widely quoted by the international press and elite US think tanks like the Open Society Foundation, which characterized El Nuevo Diario, Confidencial, and La Prensa (all Chamorro owned) as “the most important online news providers” in Nicaragua.[12] As reported by Norton, the foreign funding and cultivation of these opposition and media groups led to arrests under Nicaragua’s law 1055, which was then framed by the corporate media as an authoritarian crackdown against opposition leaders.

Many international corporate media outlets like the BBC framed “Nicaragua’s worsening crisis” in 2018 as “unexpected” and a result of grassroots movements peacefully protesting against a corrupt dictatorship.[13] This false narrative was exposed by John Perry in a report for The Grayzone titled “A Response to Misinformation on Nicaragua: It Was a Coup, Not a ‘Massacre.’” First, Perry points out that even anti-Ortega mainstream academics had admitted that US institutions like the USAID and NED were “laying the groundwork for insurrection,” debunking the narrative that the protests were organic and fortuitous.[14] Second, Perry makes it clear that in an attempt to facilitate the established “peaceful protester” narrative by white-washing violence perpetrated by coup-supporters, academics and corporate media engaged in the systematic omission of inconvenient facts including the murder of 22 police officers and the torture of Sandinista civilians. The Nicaragua-based anti-imperialist collective Tortilla con Sal published independent researcher Enrique Hendrix’s in-depth analysis of this bad-faith framing as well as additional evidence backing claims of torture used against Sandinistas.

Much like corporate media and billionaire-funded foundations, a Nicaraguan human rights industry intricately connected and funded by US and European governments pushed propaganda, including the decontextualization of deaths and faulty death count figures, to provide cover for US regime change goals masquerading as unprovoked government repression.[15] In the article “The Rise and Fall of Nicaragua’s ‘Human Rights’ organizations” published in the Alliance for Global Justice’s NicaNotes, John Perry relays how three vocally anti-Sandinista human rights groups wielded disproportionate influence over the narratives presented in international bodies such as Amnesty International and the UN Commission for Human Rights (UNHCR). For example, included in the UNHCR’s 2018 report on Nicaragua were detailed references to the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH), which was created by the Reagan administration to whitewash Contra atrocities and received $88,000 from the NED and $348,000 from other US sources in 2018.

In June of 2019, to the dismay of many Sandinistas whose family members were murdered during the coup attempt, the Nicaraguan government passed an Amnesty Law pardoning and expunging the records of those involved in violent and treasonous acts as part of a national dialogue with the opposition.[16] This clemency came even after the opposition refused to ask the United States to end illegal unilateral coercive measures packaged as the 2018 NICA Act (passed in the US House of Representatives under unanimous concent with zero opposition), which opposition activists themselves had requested in 2015.[17] During coverage of the peace and reconciliation process and in a continuation of the 2018 information warfare campaign, corporate media outlets like Reuters took a rather one-sided approach highlighting the law’s “protection to police and others who took part in a violent clampdown on anti-government protesters,” but failed to mention the violent acts committed against the police by these so-called anti-government protesters.[18]

US Hybrid Warfare Revisited during the 2021 Nicaraguan Presidential Election

In the months prior to the November 7 election, the US government and its affiliated ecosystem of obedient corporate media, social media, and hawkish think tanks took aim at Nicaragua in an effort to further isolate the nation with the ultimate goal of regime change to a more business-friendly neoliberal leadership.

A USAID regime change document leaked to independent Nicaraguan journalist William Grigsby in July 2020 and analyzed in John Perry’s “The US Contracts Out its Regime Change Operation in Nicaragua” provides useful insight into US destabilization plans. This RAIN or Responsive Assistance in Nicaragua document provides Terms of Reference for a contract to hire a company to oversee the “transition to democracy” in Nicaragua. The word “transition,” an obvious euphemism for regime change, is used more than 60 times throughout the document to describe different post-election scenarios. In the case of a “delayed transition” or Sandinista victory, the hired company would provide “research and planning for USAID and for civil society leadership with discrete technical assistance.” In other words, the company would continue USAID’s work subverting Nicaragua’s democratic process by funding, training, and directing opposition groups and media hostile to the FSLN.

However, despite clear evidence that the US was engaged in a multidimensional destabilization campaign before, during, and after the 2018 coup attempt, even progressive publications like NACLA failed to accurately report on events in Nicaragua. In the article “How Can Some Progressives Get Basic Information About Nicaragua So Wrong?” John Perry and Rick Stirling dismantle a popular State Department narrative promoted by NACLA that the November 7 election was rigged because seven potential candidates were prevented from running for president, by laying out the real crimes of which they are accused and the dubiousness of their candidacies. While the corporate media pushed this narrative ad nauseum regarding Nicaragua, it was almost completely absent prior to the 2021 Ecuadorian presidential election during which neoliberal president Lenin Moreno jailed, exiled, and banned Correístas from running in elections.[19]

In addition to news media propaganda, a bizarre censorship campaign launched by social media monopoly Facebook in the days leading up to the November 7 election silenced around 1,300 Nicaragua-based accounts run by pro-Sandinista media outlets, journalists, and activists on Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram, as reported by The Grayzone’s Ben Norton.[20] Facebook justified this action by claiming that the censored accounts were part of a “troll farm run by the government of Nicaragua and the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party.”[21] In John Perry’s COHA article titled “Facebook Does the US Government’s Censorship Work in Nicaraguan Elections”, Perry points out that “many commentators suffered double censorship: blocked because they were falsely accused of being bots, then prevented from proving that the accusations were false when they posted videos of themselves as real people.” Facebook and other tech giants like Google and Microsoft have an extensive history of collaboration with the U.S. security state, often enjoying lucrative U.S. Defense Department contracts, and are known to have a revolving door with the public sector.[22] Norton shows this connection by exposing Facebook’s Head of Security Policy Nathaniel Gleicher as the former director for cybersecurity policy at the White House National Security Council who had also worked at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Despite intense and ongoing hybrid warfare targeting the integrity of Nicaragua’s 2021 presidential election, 65% of the eligible 4.4 million Nicaraguans voted and 75% of those voters chose to re-elect Comandante Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista Front. While the Nicaraguan government did prevent the OAS from sending observers given its role in the 2019 Bolivian coup, there were 165 election observers and 67 journalists from 27 countries present on November 7.[23] Members of delegations from the U.S. and Canada, including COHA’s Jill Clark-Gollub, who observed the elections held a press conference during which they characterized the election process as “efficient, transparent, with widespread turnout and participation of opposition parties.”[24] In the COHA report “Despite US led Dirty Campaign, Nicaraguans Came Out in Force in Support of the FSLN”, Clark-Gollub expressed her disbelief that corporate media and the Biden administration had declared the vote a fraud with as few as 20% of the electorate turned out to vote. “This flies in the face of my own experience,” Clark-Gollub said.[25] However, despite US and NATO rejection of the election results, 153 sovereign nations around the world supported Nicaraguan democracy by recognizing the election results at the United Nations.[26]

Conclusion: A Brighter Future for Inclusive Economic Development in Nicaragua?

After more than a century of US aggression, including three decades of global hegemonic control, Obama’s “pivot” to Asia in 2016 marked a paradigm shift and the start of a New Cold War against China. The People’s Republic of China’s unparalleled economic growth and eagerness to use its deep coffers to jumpstart economic development projects in the “third world” is a direct threat to neoliberal capitalist hegemony, as China offers developing nations an alternative to the predatory debt traps sprung by western lending institutions like the World Bank and IMF.

Mere weeks after Nicaragua’s resumption of diplomatic relations with the PRC, Chinese government representative Yu Bo extended an invitation to Nicaragua to join its Belt and Road Initiative during the newly established Chinese embassy’s flag-raising ceremony in Managua. Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister Denis Moncada responded to the invitation with approval stating, “we are sure that we will continue working together, strengthening each day the fraternal ties of friendship, cooperation, investment, [and] expanding communication channels with the Belt and Road…”.

This bilateral economic partnership brings a potential scaffolding with which the “pueblo presidente” can “start with a clean slate” and get back on the road to the progress being made prior to April 2018. In the words of Comandante Ortega, this means “building peace to combat poverty…so that there can be roads and paths…so families can feel confident; their children can feel confident in their work; [and so] they feel confident in having a dignified life.” Nicaraguans can also feel confident that economic development in partnership with the Chinese will not come with the relinquishment of national sovereignty through coerced neoliberal structural adjustment programs or debt trap gangsterism.

If the Sandinista government chooses to reject future development proposals put forth by China through Belt and Road, they can expect good faith negotiation without the threat of violent hybrid warfare favored by the U.S. and NATO. In a 2019 interview,  Jamaican-British rapper Akala explains this key difference in the context of Jamaican participation in the Belt and Road Initiative: “There are several projects that the Chinese have proposed in Jamaica that the Jamaican people said ‘no’ to, [so] the Jamaican government had to say ‘no’… what was the Chinese response? Was it to send the CIA in? Was it to overthrow the Jamaican democracy? Was it to cut off aid to Jamaica? No. They said ok, we proposed a business deal and you said no. Here’s another one.”

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Endnotes:
[1] Escalante, Camila. “China and Nicaragua to Collab on New Multipolar World.” Kawsachun News, 10 Dec. 2021, kawsachunnews.com/china-and-nicaragua-to-collab-on-new-multipolar-world.
[2] Officially formalized in 2011 as an alternative to the OAS, CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) is a cooperative venture among developing nations.
[3] Voltaire Network. “Nicaragua Could Bring Canal Project Back to Life.” Voltaire Network, 12 Dec. 2021, www.voltairenet.org/article215032.html.
[4] Norton, B. (2021, November 18). From Nicaraguan revolutionaries to US embassy informants: How Washington recruited ex-sandinistas like Dora María Téllez and her mrs party. The Grayzone. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://thegrayzone.com/2021/11/05/nicaragua-us-informant-dora-maria-tellez-mrs/
[5] JF, teleSUR/. “Withdrawal of Nicaragua from OAS Is an Act of Dignity: Morales.” News | teleSUR English. teleSUR, November 22, 2021. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Withdrawal-Of-Nicaragua-From-OAS-Is-An-Act-Of-Dignity-Morales-20211122-0002.html.
[6] Norton, Benjamin. “Nicaragua Leaves US-Controlled, Coup-Plotting OAS: ‘We Are Not a Colony.’” Medium, 19 Nov. 2021, benjaminnorton.medium.com/nicaragua-leaves-us-controlled-coup-plotting-oas-we-are-not-a-colony-2ffe83c319ae.
[7] Curiel, John, and Jack Williams. “Bolivia Dismissed Its October Elections as Fraudulent. Our Research Found No Reason to Suspect Fraud.” Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2020, Washington Post Link HERE.
[8] Staff, Reuters. “Castro Says Cuba Doesn’t Want to Rejoin ‘Vile’ OAS.” U.S., 15 Apr. 2009, www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-oas-sb-idUKTRE53E07K20090415.
[9] Chomsky, A. (2021, March 30). Will Biden’s central american plan slow migration (or speed it up)? TomDispatch.com. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://tomdispatch.com/will-bidens-central-american-plan-slow-migration-or-speed-it-up/
[10] Al Jazeera. (2022, January 10). US slaps new sanctions on Nicaragua on Ortega’s Inauguration Day. Elections News | Al Jazeera. Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/1/10/us-slaps-new-sanctions-on-nicaragua-on-ortegas-inauguration-day
[11] Norton, Ben. “How USAID Created Nicaragua’s Anti-Sandinista Media Apparatus, Now under Money Laundering Investigation.” The Grayzone, 26 June 2021, thegrayzone.com/2021/06/01/cia-usaid-nicaragua-right-wing-media.
[12] Perry, John. “NPR Should Ask Where Nicaraguan Non-Profits’ Money Comes From.” CounterPunch.Org, 23 May 2021, www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/24/npr-should-ask-where-nicaraguan-non-profits-money-comes-from.
[13] BBC News. “Downward Spiral: Nicaragua’s Worsening Crisis.” BBC News, 16 July 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44398673.
[14] Waddell, Benjamin. “Laying the Groundwork for Insurrection: A Closer Look at the U.S. Role in Nicaragua’s Social Unrest.” Global Americans, 10 July 2020, theglobalamericans.org/2018/05/laying-groundwork-insurrection-closer-look-u-s-role-nicaraguas-social-unrest.
[15] Perry, John. “NicaNotes: The Rise and Fall of Nicaragua’s ‘Human Rights’ Organizations.” Alliance for Global Justice, 21 Aug. 2019, afgj.org/nicanotes-the-rise-and-fall-of-nicaraguas-human-rights-organizations.
[16] teleSUR/ov-MV. “Nicaragua Approves Amnesty Law To Bring Peace.” News | TeleSUR English, 9 June 2019, www.telesurenglish.net/news/Nicaragua-Approves-Amnesty-Law-To-Bring-Peace-20190609-0001.html.
[17] Nicanotes: The revolution won’t be stopped: Nicaragua advances despite US unconventional warfare. Alliance for Global Justice. (2020, July 22). Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://afgj.org/nicanotes-the-revolution-wont-be-stopped-nicaragua-advances-despite-us-unconventional-warfare
[18] Lopez, Ismael. “Nicaraguan Congress Approves Ortega-Backed Amnesty Law.” U.S., 9 June 2019, www.reuters.com/article/us-nicaragua-amnesty-idUSKCN1TA00U.
[19] Emersberger, J. (2021, February 16). Ignoring repression and dirty tricks in coverage of Ecuador’s election. FAIR. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from https://fair.org/home/ignoring-repression-and-dirty-tricks-in-coverage-of-ecuadors-election/
[20] Norton, Ben. “Meet the Nicaraguans Facebook Falsely Branded Bots and Censored Days before Elections.” The Grayzone, 2 Nov. 2021, thegrayzone.com/2021/11/02/facebook-twitter-purge-sandinista-nicaragua.
[21] Company, Facebook. “October 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report.” Meta, 5 Nov. 2021, about.fb.com/news/2021/11/october-2021-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior-report.
[22] Levine, Yasha. Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet. Icon Books Ltd, 2019.
[23] Norton, Ben. “Debunking Myths about Nicaragua’s 2021 Elections, under Attack by USA/EU/OAS.” The Grayzone, 12 Nov. 2021, thegrayzone.com/2021/11/11/nicaragua-2021-elections.
[24] Escalante, Camilla. “North Americans Debunk US & OAS Claims on Nicaragua Election.” Kawsachun News, 10 Nov. 2021, kawsachunnews.com/north-americans-debunk-us-oas-claims-on-nicaragua-election.
[25] Clark-Gollub, Rita Jill. “Despite US Led Dirty Campaign, Nicaraguans Came Out in Force in Support of the FSLN.” Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 12 Nov. 2021, www.coha.org/despite-us-led-dirty-campaign-nicaraguans-came-out-in-force-in-support-of-the-fsln.
[26] Kohn, Richard. “NicaNotes: Nicaragua’s Election Was Free and Fair.” Alliance for Global Justice, 2 Dec. 2021, afgj.org/nicanotes-12-02-2021


Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

The Economy Grew by 10.3% in 2021
The Nicaraguan economy grew by 10.3% in 2021, the first year of growth after three consecutive years of closing in the red. “In 2021, economic activity showed a rapid and solid recovery, overcoming the negative affectations generated by the various shocks that the economy has faced in recent years, among which the still ongoing global pandemic of Covid-19 stands out,” the Central Bank explained in a preliminary report. “Thus, preliminary information indicates that in 2021 Nicaragua’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) showed a growth of 10.3%,” it detailed. The Central Bank had forecast that Nicaragua’s GDP would grow between 7.5% and 9.5% in 2021. The Nicaraguan economy had contracted by an average of -3.03 % annually in the 2018-2020 period. GDP decreased by 2.0 % in 2020, a product of the Covid-19 pandemic and the damage caused by hurricanes Eta and Iota in November of that year. In 2019, it fell 3.7% and 3.4% in 2018, due to the socio-political crisis that has been affecting the country for 47 months since April 2018. For 2022, the Central Bank of Nicaragua estimates an economic growth of between 3.5 % and 4.5 %, and an estimated inflation in a range of between 2.5% and 3.5%. https://forbescentroamerica.com/2022/03/21/economia-nicaraguense-crecio-un-103-en-2021-tras-tres-anos-de-contraccion/ (Forbes Centroamerica, 21 March 2022)

Exceptional Management Highlighted
The Executive President of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) Dante Mossi stated that “the inauguration of the new CABEI office cements the close relationship between the Bank and Nicaragua, which is one of our most significant partners in the region. Nicaragua has the largest, best structured, and perfectly executed program of projects, for which I believe the Nicaraguan people should feel very pleased.” (Nicaragua News, 16 March 2022)

President Ortega among Best Presidents
In the latest Cid Gallup survey carried out between January and February 2022, President Daniel Ortega is number 4 in Latin America in the list of best presidents and Costa Rica’s Carlos Alvarado is among the worst. The survey was carried out as part of a series of Public opinion surveys begun 45 years ago and financed through the sale of information to various international institutions. 1,200 people were surveyed in each country from a representative sample of the adult population with cell phones. Colombia president Iván Duque had the lowest rating. (Radio La Primerisima, 22 March 2022)

Nicaragua Has the Best Roads in the Region
Dante Mossi, Executive President of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) said that Nicaragua has the best roads in Central America during the inauguration of the new CABEI Central America Offices in Managua. He said that CABEI currently supports projects like the improvement of roads: The World Economic Forum, on many occasions has pointed to Nicaragua as the Central American country with the best roads in the region. Mossi recalled that in 2020 they were the first multilateral development agency to respond to the call of the Central American presidents in the face of Covid-19. “We created in record time the special support and preparedness program for Covid-19, which since its inception preserved more than 60,000 jobs at the regional level, of which 25,500 jobs were in Nicaragua; we facilitated credit for the purchase and supply of inputs, medical equipment and vaccines throughout the region. Supporting priorities is our raison d’être and is reflected in the country strategies on our website; there you will find details of our operations in response to the transparency and access to public information to which we are committed,” he said. Minister of Finance Ivan Acosta pointed out that Nicaragua has a portfolio of 50 projects with CABEI, of which 20 have already been completed, making the country a true example of perfect execution. “We…have transformed the country, targeting three relevant issues: reducing poverty and extreme poverty, creating the best infrastructure to support production and increase exports, and a very strong social spending averaging 54.5% [of the national budget] in recent years.” (Radio La Primerisima, 16 March 2022)

El Realejo Dry Port to be Built by CABEI and the Government
The Nicaragua Port Authority (EPN) and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) signed a contract for US$26.5 million to build and equip the Julia Herrera Pomares Dry Port in El Realejo, Chinandega department. EPN President Virgilio Silva stated that “the construction of the new dry port will improve unloading services at Corinto seaport and is part of the US$209 million investment being carried out by the Government with support from CABEI to improve and expand Puerto Corinto.” (Nicaragua News, 18 March 2022)

Nicaragua Ranked among Top Ten in the World in Renewable Energy
On March 15 the international magazine “Sustainability” published the article “Top 10 Nations that are leading the renewable energy charge,” highlighting Nicaragua with 99% electricity coverage and 75.2% production from renewable energy sources. “Nicaragua implements an electrification program and promotes policies that increase national electricity coverage using geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, solar and biomass renewable energy sources, going from an energy grid based on 26% renewables in 2006 to 75.2% in 2020.” See article: https://sustainabilitymag.com/net-zero/top-10-nations-that-are-leading-the-renewable-energy-charge-countries-emissions
(Nicaragua News, 18 March 2022)

Rivas Hospital Remodeling Inaugurated
On March 21 the Ministry of Health inaugurated the remodeled emergency room at Gaspar García Laviana Hospital in Rivas. The project which cost US$2.5 million includes a new electrical system, trauma, fever care unit, waiting room and a children’s area. It was financed by the General Budget benefiting 182,000 inhabitants in ten municipalities. (Nicaragua News, 22 March 2022)

Coffee Production Increased over Last Year
The System of Production, Consumption and Commerce reported on March 19 that the 2021-2022 premium coffee harvest is at 99%, and produced 3.65 million hundred weights, a 7.3% growth over the 2020-2021 cycle. (Nicaragua News, 22 March 2022)

Fuel and Gas Prices Will Not Increase
The Sandinista Government decided not to let the prices of fuels and cooking gas increase despite the high international prices. A joint communique from the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Nicaraguan Energy Institute (INE) reports that “for the week of March 20 to 26, the prices of gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas will remain the same, without any adjustment”, the same as last week. In the future “it will take the corresponding measures to mitigate the impact of the increase in these prices on the economy of Nicaraguan families”. (Radio La Primerisima, 19 March 2022)

More Support for Artisanal Fisher People
In support of people who make their living through artisanal fishing activities in the municipality of Puerto Cabezas, Northern Caribbean Autonomous Region, affected by hurricanes IOTA and ETA, the Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture delivered 108 Fishery Packages consisting of outboard motors, thermoses, and materials to make nets. The donation supports recovery of production and increased yield of the fishery sector, strengthening food security and family nutrition. This is part of the Zero Hunger Program implemented in the country. (Nicaragua News, 16 March 2022)

El Bluff is Free of Illiteracy
On March 22 the Ministry of Education and the South Caribbean Regional Council declared the port of El Bluff a territory free of illiteracy. The national director of literacy and primary education for  youth and adults of MINED, Professor Luz Damira Avilés said “we are very happy to celebrate 0.8% illiteracy; we delivered the flag ‘free of illiteracy’ to the mayor’s office.” Delia Sebastiana Luna, a newly literate woman now in the sixth grade stressed the importance of knowing how to read and write and said she will continue to study thanks to the  Sandinista Government. Outstanding literacy teachers were also recognized. (Radio La Primerisima, 22 March 2022)

Hate Crime Laws Under Review
National Assembly members of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee as well as the Peace, Defense, Governance and Human Rights Committee, heard from relatives of the deceased and victims of hate crimes like torture that occurred between April and July of 2022. One of the witnesses’s son was murdered and burned in the middle of a public road and another citizen spoke about the total destruction of his family business of more than 25 years. Those consulted stated that they agree with the legal framework established to apply the law to those who commit hate crimes, and believe that the perpetrators should have to compensate in some way for the damage they have caused. Laws related to hate crimes are being analyzed, as well as laws relating to those who receive foreign funding to create instability in the country and undermine national sovereignty. (Radio La Primerisima, 17 March 2022)

25 NGOs Lose Legal Status
The National Assembly cancelled the legal status of 25 non-governmental Organizations that did not provide their financial statements to the Ministry of the Interior and did not update their boards of directors as required in their own statutes. Deputy Wilfredo Navarro stated that among the cancelled NGOs are the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, FUNIDES, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Association of Journalists of Nicaragua, Operation Smile, Local Development Fund, Humbolt Center, Women’s Collective March 8, among others. The NGOs did not provide information on where funds received from abroad went, nor did they present the identity documents of their donors. The report of the Department of Registration and Control of Non-Profit Civil Associations showed that the organizations did not report financial statements corresponding to recent fiscal periods with breakdown of income, expenses, balance verification, detail of the origin of donations, and final beneficiaries. The report states that these organizations failed to comply with the Law against Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and they lack transparency about the administration of funds.
List of disqualified NGOs:
Fundacion Nicaraguense de Desarrollo Economico y Social (Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development, Funides).
Fundación Violeta Barrios de Chamorro para la Reconciliación y la Democracia (Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation for Reconciliation and Democracy).
Grupo Cívico Ética y Transparencia (Ethics and Transparency Civic Group).
Vital Voices Nicaragua Association.
Foundation for Freedom.
Agora Nicaragua Foundation.
Foundation for the Autonomy and Development of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (Fadcanic).
Youth Entrepreneurs Association of Nicaragua.
Harvard Club Association of Nicaragua.
Alexander Von Humboldt Center for the Promotion of Land Development and Environmental Management (Centro Humboldt).
Fundación para la Dignidad Humana Nicaragüense (Foundation for Nicaraguan Human Dignity).
Matagalpa Social Club.
Fundación Cruzada Ciudadana por la Democracia (Citizen Crusade for Democracy Foundation).
Kolping Foundation Nicaragua.
Fundación Instituto para la Observación para la Democracia y los Derechos Humanos (IDH).
Asociación Civil Colectivo de Mujeres 8 de Marzo (8 de Marzo Women’s Collective Association ).
Fundación Fondo de Becas de Exalumnos del Colegio Centroamérica (Central America School Alumni Scholarship Fund Foundation).
18 Asociación Fondo de Desarrollo Local (Local Development Fund Association).
Asociación Foro de Mujeres de Nicaragua (Nicaraguan Women’s Forum Association).
Asociación Operación Sonrisa Nicaragua.
Doctor Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal Association of Journalists of Nicaragua.
Center for Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast (Cejudhcan).
Christian Center for Human Rights Association (CCDH).
Center for the Prevention of Violence (Ceprev).
Nicaraguan Democratic Civic Association (ACDN). (Radio La Primerisima, 17 March 2022)

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