Nica News Roundup – Tuesday Edition (March 5)

March 5, 2019

Nicaragua

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In this edition:

Nicaraguan Bishops will not be Toyed With.

Nicaragua’s Bishops’ Conference (CEN) issued a press release on Monday, stating their willingness to participate in the negotiations between OrMu and the Alianza, that is, if they are invited by both sides. However, no one has yet reached out officially to the CEN.

“Since up to now we have not received any [invitation], we understand that [our presence] is not an inescapable necessity for the negotiations. At this historic moment, our greatest contribution, as Pastors of the Church in pilgrimage in Nicaragua, will be to accomany the people in there suffering and pain, in their hopes and joys. […]. We are grateful to have been taken into account at some point in this process,” reads the statement.

The announcement came at the close of the fourth day of negotiations that started with OrMu’s rejection of Mons. Rolando Alvarez, who had been announced as one of the Church’s witnesses at the proceedings.

The bishops’ letter also stated that Cardinal Brenes had attended the first meeting as a “gesture of good will.” Absent a written invitation, Cardinal Brenes will no longer be participating.

The secretary of the Episcopal Conference, Mons. Abelardo Mata, indicated that, should they receive an invitation, they would “analyze the sincerity of the petition. We will not be used in delay tactics, and we will not rubber-stamp agreements worked out a priori.”

Bishop Mata also criticized both negotiating teams in harsh terms, according to La Prensa. He characterized OrMu’s negotiators as “people who have had a political trajectory with little transparency,”  and said of the Alianza that “they have yet to incorporate true representation of all popular forces. Just look at the example of the Peasant Movement, whose natural leaders object to those who represent them [in the Alianza] and consider them as usurpers.”

The Alianza accredited new representatives of the Peasant Movement over the weekend, and has said nothing about the objections voiced by Francisca Ramirez and other leaders within the movement, who have since been expelled.

Nicaragua has had a long history of pacts among elites, the latest one being the Aleman-Ortega Pact that opened the doors for Daniel Ortega’s reelection in 2007, by removing the constitutional prohibition against it.

The Alianza responded with statements by Carlos Tunnerman and Azalea Solis. Both indicated that the bishops’ participation is not only desirable, but crucial. Tunnerman stated that “the Episcopal Conference is the most credible institution in the country, and we believe that they must be there, witnessing what we are discussing.” Tunnerman also said that the government is not opposed to the bishops’ participation. However, both sides are discussing what that participation will look like.

Last week, anonymous sources told journalist Luis Galeano that the OrMu administration objected to the bishops’ acting as mediators.

The Alianza as a whole has not issued any official invitation. However, via a press release, the organization said that they “support the bishops’ accompaniment of the process that seek justice and democracy for Nicaragua.”

In contrast, the OrMu administration has not gone on the record about the role of the church in the negotiations. Nevertheless, the relationships between OrMu and the Catholic Church soured after the first national dialogue, and Ortega disparaged the bishops on multiple occasions, even accusing them of supporting the alleged coup against him.

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OrMu-Alianza Stalemate Continues.

The fourth day of negotiations concluded with another press release indicating that the OrMu and the Alianza are still discussing the “roadmap” for the negotiations. No agenda has been agreed upon yet.

The flow of information has settled into a predictable pattern. First, both sides issue a bland statement that says very little. Then, Alianza members hold informal press gaggles on the record,  or they leak information to the independent press, usually about the OrMu side’s objections.

Following this pattern, Alianza members Carlos Tunnerman and Azahalea Solis held a press gaggle yesterday, after the session and official press conference. According to Tunnerman, the negotiating teams had discussed the role of “witnesses, partners, and counselors. We will have witnesses, partners, and counselors.” Teams also spoke about the guarantors. Those discussions are expected to continue today.

The OrMu side remains hermetically sealed, and has even refrained from insults against Alianza members or the Catholic Church. In fact, whenever Rosario Murillo, the OrMu Propaganda media, or any of the OrMu surrogates and/or allies mentions the negotiations, they refer to the proceedings as “the encounter”, rather than “the dialogue” or “the negotiation.”

According to Foreign Brief, the disagreement over international guarantors would derail the negotiations for good because if the government won’t compromise on something that is “a relatively minor issue, it seems unlikely that [they] will budge on other demands that all political prisoners be released and elections be brought forward.”

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Accounts of Torture and Sexual Violence Come Out of OrMu Prisons.

Sunday’s broadcast of Esta Semana featured the testimony of a young woman, identified as Virgo, who was sexually assaulted while in custody, after police officers grabbed her during a protest rally.

Virgo is now in exile in Costa Rica. She told Cindy Regidor that she had been sexually assaulted by two female police officers, while male officers threatened to rape her. She described her feelings in the aftermath of the abuse

“Being a victim of sexual assault is not easy. It is even worse because I was abused not only by men, but also by women. That affected me even more because I always felt an empathy and a love towards my fellow women. That makes it harder because, at first, I felt guilt. I asked myself why, as a defender of human rights and women’s rights, I didn’t say no.

I recognize that what happened wasn’t my fault. It was the fault of a power that a government had over our bodies. Facing a weapon, I couldn’t say no, even though I wanted to.

I feel I’ll never forget what happened, but it also motivates me to keep fighting for women.”

Virgo’s case is one of many that has been reported to Human Rights’ entities, including the Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes (GIEI, by its Spanish Acronym). In December, the GIEI issued its final report, in which the National Police was described as an instrument of repression

The GIEI verified that the National Police carried out a massive and indiscriminate policy of arbitrary and illegal detention of men, women and adolescents during police raids. In addition to that, these detainees were subjected to disproportionate and illegitimate use of force, and there were complaints about inhuman conditions of detention in police cells and prisons. There were also reports that describe various forms of torture and sexual violence, which must be investigated when there are adequate institutional conditions to do so (p. 3). 

Another person that spoke about his time in prison was Julio Espinoza. Mr. Espinoza is a former riot police member, who was imprisoned after refusing to participate in repressive actions. Mr. Espinoza was accused of multiple crimes, including terrorism.

Mr. Espinoza described how he was denied medicine for seizures, which he suffered after being hit in the head while in active duty in Monimbo, during operation clean up. In addition, Espinoza described how he and other inmates were beaten on February 19, for singing the national anthem.

They beat us; they kicked us and hit us. They used tear gas and pepper spray on us. I convulsed twice, and I have a broken tooth. God granted the miracle of getting me out, and I owe everything to him.

The plight of political prisoners, starting by their release, is one of the issues included in the Alianza’s proposed agenda for negotiation.

 

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