cries@mtxinu.COM (09/02/89)
/* Written 6:07 pm Aug 30, 1989 by cries in ni:cries.regionews */
/* ---------- "Nica: A Programmed Opposition" ---------- */
NICARAGUAN CAMPAIGN TRAIL 1989-90
A PROGRAMMED OPPOSITION
(cries.regionews from Managua August 30. 1989
The opposition group, UNO (United Nicaraguan Opposition)
intensified its campaign in August. After lengthy sessions,
the multi-party bloc released its program of government. At
the same time, this anti-Sandinista formation accused the
government of non-compliance with the agreements signed on
August 4 after the marathon all-party dialogue held with
President Daniel Ortega.
******************
August 25, a key date in the electoral calendar set down by
the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), marks the beginning of
the official pre-campaign period. Prior permission from the
authorities is no longer necessary for the holding of
outdoor rallies, and parties only have to inform and post a
bond with the regional electoral council in the area of the
activity.
As well on that day, political party broadcasts began on one
of the government-run television channels which recently had
its transmission facilities refurbished and its signal
boosted so that it reaches the whole of western Nicaragua.
Some parties were ready with televised messages while
others, not trusting the government to keep its promise,
were caught by surprise.
The broadcasts so far consist of someone reading or speaking
into the camera - not exactly what could be classed as good
TV. However, political parties are contracting agencies to
design video propaganda and it can be expected that some
will try to take full advantage of the potential of that
medium. Good programming will be necessary in order to draw
Nicaraguan viewers away from the Brazilian tele-novellas
that run on the other channel during prime-time hours.
Members of the UNO coalition claim that the government is
breaking its commitment made during the all-party session
held on August 3-4 regarding allotments of TV time. The
declaration states that each party has the right to 30
minutes per day on Channel 2. UNO claims that that half hour
is above and beyond the time allotment stipulated in the
Electoral Law adopted a few months ago. As well, they object
to having to pay for time for broadcasts beyond the
scheduled half hour.
The amount of time legally alotted is important to
opposition parties which want to use one portion for their
own propaganda and the rest for the production of their own
version of national and international news. Having lost the
battle around their demand to have a privately-run channel
established, they are trying to stretch the limits
established in negotiations held to date.
Charges of Non-Compliance
More denunciations of governmental non-compliance have been
coming from the opposition camp, and UNO leaders are
threatening to withdraw their signatures from the August 4
all-party agreement. The government, they say, has not
introduced legislation to make reforms to a number of laws
which would make the election process more open. (The
National Assembly sessions had been tied up for some time
with debate over the question of how to handle a rash of
evictions which had been occurring as a result of property
disputes. Bills were introduced on August 29 for reforms to
the laws listed in the all-party agreement.) The opposition
daily "La Prensa" began complaining about the pace of the
reform process just 11 days after the signing of the
agreement.
UNO parties habitually criticize most everything in the
electoral process in order to push for further concessions.
But, complaining for complaining's sake is an UNO practice
which will inevitably detract from any legitimate grievances
that may arise.
An example of this has to do with the CSE's formation of a
Consultative Body, a mechanism by which parties can bring
forward and develop ways of implementing suggestions from
the broad spectrum of parties contesting the elections. All
parties were to submit names for consideration to make up
the 7-member body. UNO has complained that its member
parties do not have a majority in this committee and has
raised this as an example of unfair conditions under which
to compete electorally.
Foreign Funding
UNO, without giving details, has also griped about the
handling of donations from abroad to political parties. The
CSE has established the guideline that 50% of cash donations
will go to the "Fund for Democracy" and will be distributed
to contending parties in order to finance their campaigns.
As well, 50% of the estimated value of material goods worth
over $20,000 will go to that fund. Materials such as hats, T
shirts, and other election propaganda which could only be
used during the campaign period and would not be of benefit
to the party afterwards are exempted from this valorization.
Parties receiving donations will inevitably try to
circumvent this guideline given that substantial sums will
be involved. UNO, for example, recently received a pledge of
support from a newly formed exile group, the "Nicaraguan
Civic Task Force". This Miami-based outfit has set itself
the task of uniting the different organizations in exile in
order to send aid to the opposition. "We will provide them
with what they need," said Dr. Jose Antonio Alvarado,
president of the task force. His group will campaign among
the estimated 200,000 Nicaraguans living in Miami.
One way that the opposition will try to get around the
ground rules for donations from abroad will be to set up
front groups aimed at promoting democratic participation
which are ostensibly non-partisan. One of these which
launched itself is called "Via Civica" (Civic Way).
At the press conference to announce its existence, Hortensia
Rivas said her group would be "working on voter
registration, informed voting, and vigilance over the
electoral process." Via Civica says it will put its emphasis
on the question of "why vote?" and won't induce people to
vote for or against anyone.
However, the composition of its executive committee casts
doubt on the non-partisan nature of the group. Rivas is
leader of the newly formed independent teachers' union and a
member of the Socialist Party of Nicaragua (PSN), a member-
group of UNO. Other members include Gilberto Cuadra, leader
of the right-wing private sector umbrella group COSEP, Jose
Maria Briones, also of COSEP, Joaquin Mejia, vice-president
of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), and Carlos Quinonez,
another PLI leader. Via Civica appears to all intents and
purposes to be a para-political offshoot of UNO, and because
of its alleged mandate, would be a logical candidate for
receiving funds from the US-based National Endowment for
Democracy which has budgeted a few million dollars for the
promotion of democracy within the Nicaraguan electoral
process.
"Left" In UNO
Although some nationalistic parties refuse to have anything
to do with UNO (see related material in this upload), other
parties are less staunch in upholding what they say are
their principles. The Communist Party of Nicaragua (PC de N)
led by Eli Altamirano is one. Asked by "La Prensa" about the
contradiction inherent in his party's alliance with
representatives of the Nicaraguan bourgeoisie, Altamirano
explained that it was due to the four months in the early
years of Sandinista rule that he spent sharing a prison cell
with former COSEP leader Enrique Dreyfus and with current
COSEP president Gilberto Cuadra. "We shared everything," he
said.
Altamirano, who says he is in "total" agreement with
"perestroika", received strong criticisms earlier this year
for a photo which showed him and contra military chieftan
Enrique Bermudez embracing each other at a reunion of
Nicaraguan anti-Sandinistas in Guatemala. At that time, he
stated that his alliance with the former colonel in Somoza's
National Guard was an example of that process currently
underway in the Soviet Union.
In response to criticisms by the FSLN, which calls the
Communist Party a "rightist" formation, he declared to "La
Prensa", "The Sandinistas have only taken from Marxism that
which is convenient for penetration into the masses."
Despite the fact that the PC de N statutes declare that the
party is for "the abolition of private ownership of the
fundamental means of production," Altamirano figures in the
list of signatories of the UNO political program, adopted on
August 24, which has defense of private property as an axis
running throughout.
UNO Promises
The August 24 UNO program, adopted unanimously by the 14
parties in the bloc, is viewed by the opposition as a
triumph over its characteristic divisiveness. The platform
is made up of a long list of promises which could be
considered attractive by Nicaraguan voters. Stable
employment, fair wages, an improved health system, economic
development, an expanded education system, better public
transport, favorably priced housing, decent pensions,
workers' training programs, cultural development - all these
and much more are included in the UNO document.
The plan's authors state that it is not left nor right nor
center but rather is "a progressive plan for national
advancement." "La Prensa" congratulated UNO on the drafting
of the program which it called "serious, responsible, [and]
centered on a democratic orientation which when applied,
will benefit each of the sectors that make up the great
Nicaraguan family."
The first comments from the FSLN on the opposition program
came three days later. At a campesino rally in the northern
town of Pancasan, Victor Tirado, one of the nine comandantes
on the Sandinista National Directorate, declared, "The
center of debate during the campaign will have to be
economic, a defense by the people of their program against
another program which is reactionary."
Tirado stated that UNO's program proposes that the state
role in running the economy be eliminated and that the
private sector direct the agrarian reform and run the banks.
That would result, said the Sandinista leader, in a
situation like in the past with inequalities in the
distribution of benefits to the people.
The FSLN program, which will defend the postulate of a mixed
economy directed by the state, is to be made public in early
September.
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