NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/10353

Text File | 1993-01-26 | 8.6 KB | 162 lines

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Nicanet Hotline 1/25/93
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/** 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 [phone].

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: [phone].
** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **