criesdif@mtxinu.COM (09/25/89)
/* Written 3:51 pm Sep 23, 1989 by criesdif in ni:ni.centam-elect */
/* ---------- "Nica: UNO program - Part 3" ---------- */
PART 3
From "La Prensa"- August 26, 1989
CHAPTER V ECONOMY
Urgent measures:
The Government of National Salvation, acting on its
Fundamental Objectives for starting to solve the country's
more acute economic problems such as instability in the
economy, in the national currency, in prices, wages, budgets
and productive programs, will proceed immediately to take,
among others, the following measures:
1.-The eradication without exception of all forms of
embezzlement, fraud, abuse, disorder, bureaucracy and
deficiency within the State organs.
2.-It will impose austerity in the making of the
Republic's Expenditure Budget, and in the administration and
practical management of the same. The budget will be
detailed and available to the public.
3.-The Government of National Salvation will have to
take on a vast national debt, the full amount of which is
not yet known, and it will do everything possible to solve
this problem in the manner most advantageous to national
development interests.
4.-As a means of starting to overcome the problem of
inflation, the Government of National Salvation will take
action in the following areas:
a)Public Spending: Drastic reduction in military
expenditure. Reduction of bureaucratic expenditu in favor
of productive investment.
b)Production: In order to encourage the production of
exportable and consumer goods, it will make use, among
others, of the following resources:
-Loans acquired from various international finance
sources for that purpose.
-The State's main resources, as well as any which the
country's private sector can contribute.
-Resources made available through foreign investments.
5.-As well as encouraging exports, programs will be
initiated to increase production of food and other basics
essential to the daily life of the people.
Fundamental guidelines: For democratic reconstruction,
national development and the country's social progress, the
Government of National Salvation proposes to pursue the
following fundamental guidelines:
1.-Defining completely and clearly a way to guarantee
the harmonious functioning of private, state, cooperative,
and mixed enterprises and properties, thus avoiding
artificial contradictions in the solution of problems
between these. Once this is done, harmonizing and
coordinating common efforts to overcome Nicaragua's economic
crisis by increasing production. The Government of National
Salvation will promote a Statute which will establish the
rights, guarantees and duties of the private sector and the
cooperatives as regards their property and their products,
as well as the correct way of managing state and mixed
property. The State will ensure that property fulfills its
social function.
2.-Eliminating the dictatorial state method in the
planning, direction, and control of the national economy. A
National Council for Economic planning will be created for
this purpose, consisting of representatives from the
Government, private enterprise, cooperatives, and workers
organizations.
One function of this Council will be to plan
national production systematically, and it will be
answerable to the Central Government.
3.-Agrarian Reform: A complete Agrarian Reform will
take place which will rectify the sectarian and technical
abuses, limitations, and deformities which occurred under
the Sandinista regime.
As part of this, once their cases have been reassessed
technically and fairly, campesinos and their families who
are able and have the desire to produce, but lack the
adecuate means, can be given state lands for this purpose.
Farming areas and production units will be technically
delimitated, an efficient system of technical assistance and
agricultural credit will be established, and family
heritages will be accepted. The gathering of the campesino
population in farmable areas and their concentration in
townships and villages will be promoted, so that all the
benefits of civilization such as health improvement, the
increase of rural schools, construction and improvement of
campesino housing, encouragement of local crafts, promotion
of forestry for ecological and economical reasons, and the
development of agro-industrialisation can be offered them.
The campesino's traditional initiative and capacity to
work will be reestablished and improved, and the historical
levels of production and productivity in Nicaraguan
agriculture will be regained and surpassed.
As complementary measures for the complete development
of the whole country, repairs and construction of new roads
and highways will be undertaken, the railway will be rebuilt
and extended to become one of the main forms of
interregional transport, river and lake transport will be
improved, factories and economic enterprises at present in
recession will be reactivated, genuine literacy programs
will be undertaken following a harmonious and productive
plan of school education, and technical instruction will be
provided for the rural population.
4.- Confiscations which took place under Decree No. 3
will hold firm, but deserving cases will be guaranteed
reassessment.
5.- Cases of private property affected by confiscation,
expropriation, land invasion and intervention, outside the
law or based on laws which violate human rights, can be
reassessed upon request by the affected parties. Properties
will either be returned or suitable compensation given if
this should not be possible.
6.- Because of the urgency of our case, and to make
available the resources necessary to overcome the crisis and
promote development, national plans will consider any
convenient international financial and technical assistance,
either through cooperation or investment.
7.- A new Law of Foreign Investments adapted to
Nicaragua's development will be approved.
8.- Work will be directed at the balanced economical
and social integration of Central American countries
including the reactivation of the common market as a means
of promoting the economic development of the area.
9.- The exclusive and excluding function of the State
in national and international commerce will be eliminated.
The participation of the public sector must be subsidiary,
except in cases of extreme national interest where the State
can take control.
10.- Tax policies will be reformed in the shortest
possible time so that the fiscal tendency of charging
consumers a series of indirect taxes can be brought down,
and the whole taxation system will be revised to avoid the
confiscating tendencies it has due to its inflationary
impact.
11.- Active and passive interest rates will be
established which will on the one hand stimulate
repatriation of capital and on the other, make possible the
development of productive activities with preferential
rates. The capitalization of interest will not be put into
practice.
12.- Industrialization will be encouraged for the
agricultural development of the country and the maximum use
of our raw materials and natural resources.
13.- National reconstruction and the economic
development of the country will stem mainly from the maximum
use made of its natural resources and raw materials, and
from the creative work of Nicaraguans.
Above and beyond spiritual incentives, all workers'
productive efforts will be recompensed by wages in line with
the cost of living, which will allow them to save money, and
by material incentives which will satisfactorily repay
individual output in productivity.
14.- The Government of National Salvation will
strengthen the development of municipalities by transferring
resources acquired through taxing their districts back to
them.
CHAPTER VI SOCIAL AREA
The Government of National Salvation will allow the
historically marginalized and exploited sectors of
Nicaraguan society access to the material and spiritual
benefits which society as a whole produces, extending the
radius of social justice in this fashion. For this purpose
the following steps will be taken:
1.- Labor legislation wil be brought up to date
according to the demands made to UNO by the workers, and
bearing in mind the democratic changes which will be taking
place on a worldwide level.
Freedom to form unions, unionism, union democracy,
collective contracting, the right to work and to strike, are
the pillars on which this legislation will be based.
2.- Promoting training programs for workers so they can
make agreements with employers about their participation in
the firms' capital and in the administrative planning and
economic and social development of the same.
Workers will take part in sharing the profits of firms.
3.- Promoting safe and hygienic working conditions and
abolishing abuses and labor regulations which affect workers
physical integrity and intellectual capacity.
Any special regulation must be discussed and approved by the
Ministry of Labor, the employers, and the workers.
5.- Guaranteeing a minimum wage in proportion to the
cost of living, strengthening real wages, paying the
thirteenth month in full and improving workers' standard of
living. A Minimum Wage Law will be established for this
purpose, as well as a National Minimum Wage Committee.
6.- Introducing programs for nutritional orientation
which will contribute to the improvement of the people's
diet.
7.- Guaranteeeing workers the promotion of educational,
cultural, and sports plans.
8.- Creating programs specifically directed at women
with the intention of establishing a true concept of their
dignity in terms of their total integration with the family,
social, economic, and political functions of our society.
9.- Childhood is considered one of the most important
issues by the Government, which will promote constant
activity to benefit children from the moment of conception,
with the intention of giving them an integral development in
order to strengthen the base of our society.
At the same time, adecuate protection will be given to
mothers and children during nursing to reduce infant
mortality figures.
10.- Retirement pensions will be established according
to the minimum needs of workers. Special programs will be
created for retired peoople with the intention of
incorporating them as much as possible in social activities.
11.- There will be programs for the professionals and
technicians of the country which will guarantee them fairly
paid jobs, adequate social and political conditions, and at
the same time permit them to develop scientifically in the
field of their profession.
Encouraging the return of Nicaraguan professionals and
technicians who have left the country by assuring them
living conditions applicable to their professional status
and human dignity.
12.- Developing a broad housing program with favorable
payment conditions in the cities and the countryside,
preferably using national construction materials. Both
private and state investment will be encouraged in order to
make dignified and comfortable housing available for all
economic levels, and at the same time contribute to the
aesthetic value of the cities. These same concepts will
apply to construction taking place in rural areas.
13.- The abolition of the Single Health System, to be
replaced by a scientifically organized National System,
which will give autonomy back to Social Security and which
will build new hospitals, health centers, and children's
nurseries. The old ones which have been weakened by the
present administration will be repaired, the organization of
private clinics and hospitals will be encouraged, and the
scientific level of the medical profession will be raised.
As far as health is concerned, campaigns for environmental
health, the erradication of endemic diseases, vaccination
programs, and preventive medicine will take place.
Clinics will be set up to attend to those who need
special services such as the elderly and the disabled.
14.- Education will be based on the norms of good
morals and good citizenship, as well as on principles of
highly qualified scientific techniques which will allow for
the complete formation of the individual. The right of
parents to choose their childrens education will be
respected.
Primary and secondary education will be free and
compulsory. As an alternative, technical education will be
accessible to all youth and compatible with the conditions
and needs of the country.
A Teachers' Statute will be established which will
asssure permanent work, adequate salary, professional
promotion, academic qualification, free organization, loans,
retirement plans, and a general improvement of the living
standards of Nicaraguan teachers.
15.- A real literacy campaign will take place, in the
form of a continuous primary education over several years
which will be devoid of all political party propaganda.
16.- Books, magazines, and pamphlets will be published
and radio and television programs broadcast on the subjects
of national history and geography, national riches, our
values, and the development of our society.
17.- Information on the different cultural expressions
of other peoples will be widespread and available to all.
18.- An efficient public and collective transport
service will be guaranteed for the city. As well, regional
and interregional private transport wil be encouraged.
19.- Provide townships with the basic infrastructure
and with opportunities and facilities for recreation,
leisure and beautification for their inhabitants.
20.- Programs for the cleaning up of the environment
will be promoted.
NATIONAL OPPOSITION UNION (UNO)
Dr. Ernesto Somarriba - Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC);
Agustin Jarquin Anaya - Democratic Party of National Trust
(PDCN); Roberto Urroz Castillo - Nicaraguan Democratic
Movement (MDN); Eli Altamirano Perez - Nicaraguan Communist
Party (PCdeN); Dr. Eduardo Rivas Gasteazoro - National
Action Party (PAN); Dr. Andres Zuniga - Neo-Liberal Party
(PNL); Mauricio Diaz Davila - Popular Social Christian Party
(PPSC); Guillermo Potoy A. - Social Democratic Party (PSD);
Dr. Gustavo Tablada Zelaya - Nicaraguan Socialist Party
(PSN); Dr. Myriam Arguello Morales - Conservative Popular
Alliance Party (PAPC); Dr. Silviano Matamoros - National
Conservative Party (PNC); Dr. Virgilio Godoy Reyes -
Independent Liberal Party (PLI); Dr. Hernaldo Zuniga
Montenegro - National Conservative Action (ANC); Dr.
Alejandro Perez Arevalo - Central American Integrationist
Party (PIAC).
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