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Contents contributed and discussions participated by bennetttony

bennetttony

US Congress Seeks to Expose Corruption in Nicaragua | The DC Dispatches | Law, Policy, ... - 0 views

  • On September 21, the House of Representatives approved passage H.R. 5708, the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act (NICA) of 2017 that, if it becomes law, will prohibit loans by international financial institutions (“IFIs”) to the government of Nicaragua unless Nicaragua takes steps to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections as well as strengthen the rule of law.
  • The left-wing Sandinista government is economic and political disaster. Nicaraguan autocrat, Daniel Ortega, and his power-obsessed wife Rosario Murillo, are running for president and vice president in the upcoming November elections. Unless the opposition unites, quickly, the power hungry Ortegas may pull it off. The road to this point is paved with enough human rights abuses and corruption to keep tribunals and courts busy for years.
  • The Nicaraguan people seem to be reaching their limit. When Ortegas sacked the opposition party leadership a few months ago in the mostly puppet Congress, it seems to have lit a spark within the opposition as well as within his own Sandinista party.
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  • In addition to the domestic problems, Nicaragua, a staunch ally of Communist Cuba and Venezuela, is causing regional tensions to rise.
  • Corrupt officials, for example, should be denied U.S. visas to visit the United States, something that should extend to immediate family members
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    This article talks about measures that the US is taking to help combat the corruption in Nicaragua (even though the US isn't doing too much).
bennetttony

Nicaragua Corruption Report - 0 views

  • Nicaragua's police are corrupt and enjoy impunity. Prosecution and criminal sanctions against police officers in corruption cases are delayed due to bribery, ineffectiveness and an opaque justice system (HRR 2013)
  • Foreign companies encounter red tape and corruption when dealing with Nicaragua's public services administration.
  • Foreign companies experience discriminatory and arbitrary treatment and extortion in meetings with tax officials in Nicaragua. Tax audits of foreign firms are reported to be frequent and lengthy, which often hinders normal business operations and increases corruption risks and business costs (ICS 2014).
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  • The overall implementation and enforcement of Nicaragua's anti-corruption legislation is weak, and the level of compliance with the law is poor among Nicaragua's public officials.
  • The Constitution of Nicaragua provides for freedom of the press, but the government restricts and controls all information available to the public.
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    This article highlights the corruption going on in Nicaragua in many different areas like legislation, civil society, police, etc.
bennetttony

Nicaragua Dispute Over Indigenous Land Erupts in Wave of Killings - The New York Times - 0 views

  • Thirty years later, even after the native communities were granted autonomy over the lands and given preferential treatment under the law, critics say a new land grab is underway as the Sandinista government looks the other way.
  • The Sandinistas are poised to assume another four years in office after elections on Nov. 6, and the Miskitos worry that old grudges still loom large. And that more settlers will come.
  • But the farmers and the Miskitos say the government has not done enough to settle the issue.
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  • But in practicality, people on both sides of the dispute say the government has allowed the settling and the violence to continue unabated, partly because several of the indigenous leaders implicated in the illegal land sales are Sandinista government officials.
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    This article talks about how the Nicaraguan government turned their backs on the indigenous people as they were being killed.
bennetttony

Nicaraguan presidential and legislative election expected to deliver more of the same -... - 1 views

  • President Daniel Ortega can expect the country's presidential and legislative election to give him a third consecutive 5-year term as he enjoys broad support and appears to have secured the other avenues to victory.
  • First Lady Rosario Murillo already has a prominent role in the government. The BBC reports that she is widely seen as sharing power with her husband, and critics accuse the first couple of running Nicaragua like a personal fiefdom.
  • August showed that 65 per cent of those surveyed planned to vote for Ortega's FSLN, compared with just 13 per cent for the opposition.
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  • He is widely criticized for constitutional changes in 2014 that repealed term limits, a change that allows him to run in November.
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    This article highlights both Ortega's accomplishments as a politician, as well as his shortcomings (like how he changed the rules so that he could run again).
bennetttony

United States Could Sanction Nicaraguan Government over Authoritarian Turn - 0 views

  • A new bill in the United States’ Congress aims to to sanction Daniel Ortega for his many crimes and recent dictatorial behavior.
  • She referred to the refusal of the Nicaraguan government to accept oversight by international and national observers.
  • The Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act she presented reportedly aims to adopt sanctions against the Nicaraguan government for its most recent behavior.
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    This talks about how a bill in the US Congress is trying to sanction Daniel Ortega and how the Nicaraguan government is not accepting oversight by international observers.
bennetttony

More Than 70% of Nicaraguans Support Ortega's Re-Election | News | teleSUR English - 1 views

  • The latest result was released by the pollster M&R Consultores, which also said that 64.8 percent of respondents approve of the Sandinista government, highlighting the social programs, infrastructure, free health care and education, stability and economic growth, among other achievements.
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    This shows that many people continue to support Ortega even though there is evidence of him doing wrong things in the Nicaraguan government.
bennetttony

Nicaragua Canal: Rights groups protest project that may have already failed - Humanosphere - 1 views

  • Earlier this year, a coalition of farmers turned in 28,000 signatures opposing the law that grants concession for the project.
  • The report argues that the delayed $50 billion canal deal breaches Nicaragua’s own constitution and denies its people’s rights to property, adequate housing, water and food. The report also expressed concerns over Cocibolca Lake, which it said is the “main fresh water reserve for all of Central America.” The construction of a massive waterway “will surely affect the 80,000 people who use the lake’s water,” the report stated, “and the 40 different varieties of fish living in it.”
  • The canal would also uproot some 120,000 farmers, according to the report, who have no means of relocating and have received insufficient compensation from the government.
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    This outlines the issue of the Nicaragua Canal. The government and its investors want to go through with the project even though it will negatively affect many people and perhaps breaches the Nicaraguan Constitution.
bennetttony

How Ortega Took the Suspense Out of Nicaragua's Presidential Election - 0 views

  • And we can already predict with absolute certainty that Daniel Ortega will be elected president. Again.
  • Since coming to power, the former Marxist rebel’s ideology has taken an idiosyncratic twist, blending elements of capitalism, populism, new age spirituality and, above all, the tendencies of an autocrat whose paramount objective is to remain in power
  • Next week’s election will mark the seventh time he runs for president, after having ruled the country from 1979 to 1985 as head of the junta.
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  • The last time Ortega won, in 2011, the election results were vehemently rejected by the opposition, which declared that Ortega had become a dictator. The Carter Center said the elections lacked “the most basic guarantees for the integrity of the voting process.”
  • The decision to put her on the ticket formalizes what has already been a high-profile role for the first lady. She is the official government spokesperson, and as such the only government figure authorized to speak to the media. But her influence goes far beyond that.
  • Murillo plays a pivotal role in strengthening the Ortegas’ standing with women, which suffered enormously after he was accused in 1998 by his stepdaughter, Zoilamerica Narvaez, of sexually abusing her for many years, starting when she was a young girl.
  • Nicaraguans believe that Ortega, who is 70 years old and reportedly having health problems, is working to secure his family’s hold on power when he is ready to relinquish the rudder.
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    This article outlines how presidential candidate Ortega is taking advantage of the government in Nicaragua and how he plans on using it for his own benefit.
bennetttony

Nicaragua president's running mate: his wife | Albuquerque Journal - 1 views

  • “That woman is the one who rules in the country. She is powerful,” said fruit vendor Roberto Mayorga. “If ‘the man’ dies, she’ll be there. She has been his shadow. There is nobody who can keep her from being next.”
  • She is said to run Cabinet meetings and many Nicaraguans credit her for social programs that have helped keep the ruling Sandinista party’s popularity ratings high.
  • And she’s equally reviled by government opponents, who see her presence on the ticket as another step in the 70-year-old Ortega’s push to maintain the couple’s grip on power in a country with a long and uncomfortable history of dynastic families.
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  • “The Ortegas really seem to be intent on increasing the family’s control over much of Nicaraguan political, social and economic life …” he added. “And so this would be a way to really guarantee that sho
  • Critics accuse Ortega of blatantly rigging the system despite the fact he would likely win anyway.
  • “And mafia-style, he picks his wife to give her the kind of institutional power that she already had de-facto.”
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    This article shows how one of the candidates in the the presidential election in Nicaragua has his wife as a running mate so that they get what they want in the government.
bennetttony

Nicaragua's New Boss, Same as the Old Boss | Americas Quarterly - 1 views

  • “The election is a farce, a mega-fraude is taking place and we cannot legitimize it."
  • In July, he banned 28 deputies of the Independent Liberal Party from running in the elections, including its leading presidential candidate, Eduardo Montealegre
  • In August, Ortega chose his wife, Rosario Murillo, for the vice-presidential ticket. “They have created a dynastic dictatorship …
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  • “Recent developments aimed at undermining the political opposition are simply a continuation of Ortega’s ongoing efforts to consolidate his control over all aspects of Nicaraguan political life
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    This article outlines the corruption of one of the candidates in the Nicaraguan presidential campaign.
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