University of Leon - July 17, 2008

We visited the University of Leon, the oldest public university in Nicaragua. The university will be celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2012. There are 15,000 students currently enrolled in one of the 36 major programs. Diversity at the university is scare, only 520 students enrolled are from rural areas, the rest are from urban areas. The reason is that the rural primary schools do not provide students with the necessary skills to be successful in the university.

Tecnico La Salle - July 17, 2008

The Tecnico La Salle is a 500 student high school that promotes quality education so kids can get a good job and a good salary. The school was established in 1903 the focus of the school is on electrical, mechanical, industrial, and technological education. There are wood shops, computer labs, a wheel chair building program, and renewable energy projects using solar, wind, and geothermal energy. Renewable energy is a main area of focus and Nicaragua recognizes the energy problem is worldwide and needs to be a global effort. Unfortunately, the school has not received support from the central government. In addition, Nicaragua has very few engineers with experience in this area.

Tecnico La Salle supports two wind turbines.


Teacher and two students at Tecnico La Salle.


Students at Tecnico La Salle.

Mayor of Leon, Nicaragua - July 17, 2008

We met with, the mayor of Leon, population 200,000. Leon is dominated by the Sandinista party. We discussed the responsibilities of city government in Nicaragua. The central government gives each of the municipal governments 6 percent of the central budget which equates to $23 million Cordova, or about $1.2 million. Taxes are also collected amounting to $195 million Cordova, or about $10.3 million. Tax collection has improved in Leon, from 2,400 residents paying taxes a few years ago to 6,500 currently paying taxes on property and garbage collection.

We have heard throughout our trip that obtaining a voting card was very difficult due to the paperwork and the necessity of a birth certificate which many Nicaraguan’s do not possess. Leon has a remarkable 95 percent of eligible citizens registered to vote. There is an agreement in Leon between the hospital and elections commission to register babies when they are born, to be eligible for a voting card. Approximately 60 percent of Leon citizens vote in the elections, more vote in the national elections than the municipal elections, which is typical in most places.

Millennium Challenge Commission - July 17 2008

The Millennium Challenge Commission (MCC) is a $175 million grant awarded over five years to Nicaragua to reduce poverty through economic development in the western region to increase income. The MCC awards grants to countries that already are in the development phase and have the capacity and commitment to implement programs but do not have the necessary resources to do it effectively.

There are three main areas the grant is addressing:
1. Increase value added of business which is being accomplished through a rural business development program for agricultural farms including, milk, beans, and aqua plans
2. Strengthening property rights through the land projects
3. Reduce transportation costs through the transportation regularization project

The project is in its second year and to date there has been $50.9 million committed and $23.5 million committed. There have been 5,819 beneficiaries, 20 percent are women, and 2,949 new jobs created. Sixty-eight kilometers of primary roads and 300 kilometers of secondary roads have also been built under this grant.

American College - July 16, 2008

The end our day, we met with Jorge Luis Agestas, the President of American College, a private higher education institute and students. American College is not government run. Students apply for admission and approximately half are accepted to the school to study. Currently enrollment is at 800 students. At American University, students have the option of five different majors and are not given a placement assessment to determine what they should be studying or what job they should take.

We had the good fortune of meeting with students that provided insight to the importance of their college education and why it is important for them to continue to foster democracy.

IPADE- July 16, 2008

Mauricio Zuniga Garcia from a non-governmental organization met with us to discuss development and democracy, the main goal of IPADE. The organization is funded by international grants and corporations, specifically in Canada and the U.S. Their concerns echoed the same things we have been hearing this week, Nicaragua needs fair elections, transparency in government, and they are looking for support from the U.S.

Pictured left to right: Marshand, Joe, Antonio, Mauricio Zuniga Garcia, Josh, and Marianne.


Pictured left to right: Christy, Valerie, Marshand, Joe.

COSEP- July 16, 2008

Jose Adam Aguerri is the executive director of COSEP which is the umbrella organization for the private sector in Nicaragua, we met with him on Wednesday morning. The organization has been in existence for 35 years and COSEP us not a political organization. Members of COSEP represent all political parties in Nicaragua and politics is put aside when discussing private business and how to ignite the economy.

The main priorities for COSEP are, in this order, food- to ensure all Nicaraguan’s are able to afford food and that food meets health standards for exporting, health- that more citizens have health care, education- to provide more resources to education to develop the leaders of tomorrow, and energy- provide renewable energy sources. To advance their agenda, COSEP actively works with the National Assembly. COSEP communicates their policy positions and provide an economic agenda that the National Assembly can understand from a policy and technical perspective as well as being able to act on it. When presenting the economic agenda, all political parties agree to the policies and projects before it is placed on an agenda.

Pictured left to right: Adam, Valerie, Christy, Jose Adam Aguerri, Marianne, Josh, Marshand, and Joe.


COSEP had a nice building with a neat courtyard.

Viva Nicaragua - July 16, 2008

On Wednesday morning there was a peaceful demonstration to promote democracy in the streets of Managua. We observed the demonstration from afar.


Or, maybe we did get a little closer. Pictured left to right: Christy, Adam, Josh, Marshand, Joe, Valerie, and Marianne.


Well, some of us (Josh and Valerie) may actually have participated.

Movement for Nicaragua - July 15, 2008

Our last meeting of the day with Felix and Juan Carols Amador from the Movement for Nicaragua (MpH), a non-profit organization, reenergized the delegation. The goal of MpH is the establishment of the rule of law, or constitution, creating a framework for democracy by pushing a very basic agenda. Democracy is a matter of values, according to MpH, a national identity. A recent poll showed that Nicaraguan citizens are willing to sacrifice democracy for income; these results have prompted MpH to start a more intense education and communication campaign.

MpH has main three tasks to accomplish:
1. voter registration, their goal is 100 percent of citizens age 16 and over have the opportunity to vote.
2. vote, once citizens are registered to actually vote in elections
3. reorganize the candidate selection process for elections by adding primaries

MpH also organizes demonstrations and encourages democracy through increasing citizen participation. Getting the 2.5 million Nicaragua’s living abroad is a key to this success. MpH has offices across Nicaragua and is funded through donations from their members and grants from international organizations including support from Japan and Taiwan. Rumors that MpH is funded by the CIA were refuted by the organization.

Pictured left to right: (front) Marianne, Valerie, Christy and (back) Josh, Marshand, Felix, Juan Carlos, Joe, Adam.


Voter ID Card Campaign

CPDH – July 15, 2008

Marcos Carmona Riveria the Executive Director and Denis Darce Solis are the leaders from CPDH, a non-governmental organization that was established to defend human rights. Like the Human Rights Commission, this organization works to ensure citizens are treated fairly and are education about their rights. One project the CPDH talked specifically about was human trafficking. Each year approximately 6,000 kids are victims. CPDH has a program to teach kids in the schools the risks of human trafficking and how to stay safe. They are also doing a radio campaign in Granada to raise awareness about the human trafficking risk some tourists pose to kids. The funding for this project is coming from international grants from Switzerland and Taiwan.

Pictured left to right: Marianne, Antonio, Joe, Josh, Marshand, Valerie, and Adam.

U.S. Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua– July 15, 2008

Visiting the U.S. Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua was an exciting experience. This was my first time ever visiting a U.S. Embassy. Ambassador Paul Trivelli and officials from the public affairs, political affairs, and economic affairs offices made time to meet with our delegation to give us an on the ground perspective on U.S. – Nicaraguan relations.

We learned that the U.S. has a long standing supportive relationship with Nicaraguan and that relations between the countries are good. Since 1990, the U.S. has provided nearly $2 billion in support for debt relief, disaster recovery, and promoting political participation and transparency, and election support. The U.S. enjoys a very high approval rating from Nicaraguans.

The countries have partnered in efforts to promote business in Nicaragua and reduce government corruption, human trafficking, and international narcotics trade through a defacto power sharing agreement.

We were not permitted to take photos at the Embassy or in the Embassy. But, we did get a picture of the sign when entering the parking lot. And, Marianne decided it was a good idea to take a picture of the seal on the building from the van- security did not think the same way as Marianne- she had to put the camera away.

National Assembly – July 15, 2008

Jamileth del S. Bonilla, President of International Affairs Commission of the National Assembly and member of the Education Commission, met with our delegation on Tuesday morning. Bonilla provided us with an overview of the National Assembly and gave us a tour of the assembly floor. There are 92 members in the National Assembly that serve five year terms. Members are elected by proportional representation plus the previous president and runner up in the previous presidential election are granted seats.

Pictured left to right: Joe, Marianne, Christy, Marshand, Jamileth del S. Bonilla, Valerie, Josh, Adam.


The National Assembly is responsible for enacting laws, approving the budget, electing supreme court judges, and providing checks on the president. While these are the official duties of the National Assembly, and have been sine 1995, there is skepticism as the whether they have this power. In our meeting we learned that political government is secretive, and the National Assembly and citizens are interested in creating more transparency in the process. The elections also need to be more transparent and the process for registering to vote needs to be easier and more accessible to citizens.

Pictured: Valerie and Christy on the balcony of the National Assembly meeting hall.


We also discussed education and learned that the liberal part is not wholly supportive of primary education and that Daniel Ortega runs education. The concern about education is evident in the National Assembly and political parties we have met, but there is not a policy initiative to advance the education agenda. One thing that needs to be done in Nicaragua is to revise the education curriculum to not include propaganda. We were given an example of a simple math problem with pictures in a national text book: If I have one gun and you have two guns, how many guns do we have total?

Higher education is more of a priority. Approximately six percent, $1.6 million U.S., of Nicaragua’s national budget is spent on the 49 government run higher education institutions. At this time there are approximately 75,000 students in the universities; this is triple the number that was enrolled in the 1980s, however, more students are part-time or never finish. Young people in rural areas have the least access to higher education primarily because their high school did not provide the academic skills need to continue to higher education.

National Assembly Meeting Hall

Human Rights – July 15, 2008

Tuesday started meeting with Adolfo Jarquin Ortel, the Director of the Human Rights Commission, Procuraduria Para Defensa de los Derechos Humanos. The Human Rights Commission is a government fund institution established to protect the rights of Nicaraguan citizens. Concerns infringing on human rights in Nicaragua include social, political, and economic issues.



The Human Rights Commission will be closely watching the upcoming elections using national and international supervisors. They are working to ensure citizens are not denied the right to vote by helping them gather the appropriate documentation (including a birth certificate which not all citizens have) to obtain their voting card. Another issue is ensuring that the justice system is fairly applied to any citizen appearing in court and done in a timely manner.

American Chamber of Commerce – July 14, 2008

On Monday afternoon we met with Avil Ramirez at the American Chamber of Commerce of Nicaragua. The Chamber’s primary purpose is to bring business and investors to Nicaragua. The two main investment opportunities in Nicaragua are tourism and manufacturing textiles. Nicaragua is a member of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-PR, Puerto Rico is also part of the agreement) and as a result, exports to the U.S. have increased by 30 percent since inception and this has created more jobs in Nicaragua. Currently, 60 percent of Nicaragua’s trade occurs with the U.S.


Nicaragua boasts tremendous prices for setting up businesses as land in many parts of the country is very inexpensive. However, there are still concerns about property rights and infrastructure when considering growing a business in Nicaragua. Inflation too has stymied the economy at about 25 percent this past year as commodities and transportation become more expensive as we are seeing across the world.



The Chamber supports education in Nicaragua providing over $2 million per year on scholarships, development of instructional materials and curriculum. The Chamber is providing resources to teach kids how to grow food and providing them the tools to do so. Teaching English is also an education initiative the Chamber has been working on.

Conservative Party (PC) – July 14, 2008

Our second meeting on Monday was with the Conservative Party (PC). We met with Azalea Aviles, President of the Conservative Party, Alejandro Bolanos Davis, Director and Alfredo Cesar A., Foundation President (He will be attending the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN the first week in September), and others. The PC has also been abolished by the current administration’s Supreme Electoral Council. As a result, the PC is not represented on the upcoming municipal election ballots and will not be on the national ballot in November 2011 unless the party is restored.



The PC first and foremost priority is party restoration. After receiving the May 21, 2008 letter from the liberal party an investigation was opened the next day. PC worked with independent observers to demonstrate that the claim for abolition was inaccurate and that the PC met the law with 80 percent of municipalities having a PC member on the ballot using the official Supreme Electoral Council’s list and has followed up on the case with further communications but has not received back an official response.



The PC political agenda is to primarily economic believing in investment to generate employment which will resolve issues of wealth by creating employment and giving people the opportunity to produce. PC believes in small governments that regulate rather then governments that are active in economic development and investment. The foundation of their policy agenda rests on strongly supporting education believing it will prepare people to support themselves.

Pictured left to right: Christy, Alfredo Cesar A., and Josh.


Picture left to right: Josh, Alfredo Cesar A., Valerie, Marshand, ..., Marianne, Christy, ..., Alejandro Bolanos Davis..., Adam, Joe.

Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) – July 14, 2008

On Monday morning we started our day meeting with two of the three National Assembly members from the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), Victor Hugo Tinoco and Hugo Torres. The MRS has been abolished by the current administration’s Supreme Electoral Council. As a result, the MRS party is not represented on the upcoming municipal election ballots and will not be on the national ballot in November 2011 unless the party is restored.



The MRS political agenda is to build democracy and fight poverty. To accomplish this agenda, the MRS is fighting for transparency in government and the national budget to reduce corruption and asking to articulate a real dialogue to develop a National Agreement and clear policy on supporting farms, tourism, and production and manufacturing. They believe the potential for growth is real, but corruption impeding its progress.

First Day of Meetings in Nicaragua - Monday, July 14, 2008

I had an amazing day! And, I have no idea how to do an organized blog about these meeting but think doing a separate posting for each meeting will be the easiest to follow.

A little background on Nicaraguan politics. Daniel Ortega is the President; the Sandinista de Liberation Front (FSLN) is the ruling party. This is Ortega’s second term as President; his first term was from 1985-90. His first term as President was characterized by acontrovertial program of land reform and wealth distribution, hostility from the United States, and armed rebellion by the U.S. backed Contras.

President Ortega won the national election with 38% of the vote in November 2006. Ortega has developed a pact with Arnaldo Aleman of the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC). This pact developed to solidify control over all major institutions in Nicaragua. The relationship between Ortega and Aleman is personal and about political and economic power for them and their families; their alliance accomplishes both even though their political ideologies do not align.



Nicaragua has a unicameral National Assembly consisting of 92 members serving five year terms and representing over a dozen parties. Two political parties, the Conservative Party (PC) and the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) were abolished in May 2008 by the Supreme Electoral Council under the current administration. We had an opportunity to meet with leaders in both of these parties.

Life at the Holiday Inn in Managua, Nicaragua

We checked into the Holiday Inn Managua on Friday night and will be here through the following Friday before leaving for San Salvador, El Salvador. It appears to be the nicest hotel in town demonstrated by the wedding reception on Friday and Saturday, a party on Sunday, and a Bastille Day celebration on Monday with the French Ambassador and the who’s who of Nicaragua politics in attendance, not to mention the policia nacional.

View from my third floor king non-smoking room. It is a beautiful view or the pool, patio, fitness center, and the lush forested rolling hills of Managua. The fitness center is nice, but not air conditioned.

Each morning we eat at the breakfast buffet provided at the hotel. I have been living on made to order omelets (green olives and cheese) and rice and black beans and a pastry with the best orange juice I have ever had. I am pictured here with Valerie.

Nicaragua- Quick Overview

Capital: Managua
Population: 5.8 million (approximately 2.5 million Nicaraguans are currently living abroad)
Official Language: Spanish
Currency: Cordova, exchange rate $1 U.S. equals Approximately 19 Cordova
Government Type: Republic
President: Jose Daniel Ortega Saavedra
Primary Religion: Roman Catholic
Literacy rate: 67.5 percent, down from 87 percent in 1987
Education: 54 percent of high school age students attend school
Economic: Second poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti is the poorest

Approximately 60 percent of Nicaraguans live on $2 U.S. dollars a day or less
Approximately 60 percent do not have access to potable water
Approximately 50 percent do not have access to electricity

Masaya, Nicaragua

On Sunday we travelled to Masaya to sightsee. This is our last day of “vacation,” we start meetings early tomorrow morning. Picture left to right: Valerie, Marshand, Christy, Adam, Marianne, Joe, and Josh.


We stopped first at the scenic overlook in Masaya and took pictures of the lakes and lush, tropical hillsides before having a snack and heading to the marketplace. Our wonderfully knowledgeable guide and guardian, Jose Antonio Moreno, gave us the following advice before heading into the marketplace: “Wait until I am with you to buy something, I can help negotiate. Once you start talking they will know you are not from Nicaragua.” This is excellent advice, and we generally followed it. However, some of us thought maybe the shopkeepers could tell we were not from Nicaragua even before we started talking. Picture left to right: Marshand, Jose Antonio Moreno, Christy, Adam, and Armando.


We also made some friends today. The kids really liked having their picture taken and then looking at it on the digital camera; we took lots of them!




We also found out that dogs in Nicaragua do not like to eat strawberry Mentos but they do like to eat banana chips.