Nicaragua releases detainees..

Nicaragua's socialist regime announced on 10 January that it was freeing "dozens of persons" held in the country's prisons, as a conciliatory gesture and to mark the 19th anniversary of the presidency of Daniel Ortega. This seemed to include "more than 20" of some 60 or more jailed opponents," Spain's ABC newspaper reported, citing agencies and Nicaraguan exiles.The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemispheric Affairs reacted online, saying Ortega's presidential term, which began in 2007, should have ended some years back. The release was attributed to pressures by the Trump administration and echoed similar developments in Venezuela. There, the regime freed around 24 detainees on 12 January, in addition to 17 it released in recent days also under U.S. pressure, according to Foro Penal, a rights group. The interior ministry claimed in contrast that it had freed over 100 prisoners in recent days, and 187 in December, CNN reported.

Nicaragua said may want more of Colombian seas after Hague ruling

Nicaragua's representative before the International Court at The Hague told media on 11 May that his country had a right to claim more of Colombia's seas following a Hague Court ruling in 2012 that advanced Nicaragua's Caribbean frontier at Colombia's expense. The 19 November ruling provoked fury in Colombia and its President declared Colombia would in the future cease to submit to the Court's arbitration over frontiers; it seemed however not to have satisfied Nicaragua. Agencies cited the diplomat Carlos Argüello as saying that the November ruling - which ceded to Nicaragua 70,000 square kilometres of sea territory to delineate the states' disputed frontier - had not denied Nicaragua the right to push out its frontier to 200 miles or further on the offshore continental platform. The daily El Espectador interpreted his comments on 12 May as implying that Nicaragua believed it should hold the entire continental platform, which Argüello said was merely to be measured to establish the correct frontier line. Argüello said President Daniel Ortega would decide in following days whether or not Nicaragua would pursue its claim and when, the daily El Colombiano reported on 13 May. It was not immediately clear if Argüello was speaking in the Netherlands or Nicaragua. He stressed this was not a new claim but a logical interpretation of international laws and the 19 November ruling, Spain's EFE agency and ABC reported. Colombia had yet to formally accept or implement the court's instructions any case. A Colombian legislator said on 12 May that the only thing President Ortega should earn was that Colombia formalise its refusal to implement the ruling. Senator Alexandra Morena Piraquive of the small MIRA party and a member of a parliamentary committee that advises the President on foreign affairs, said Nicaragua was "daring" and "disrespectful" of international law, for not giving Colombia time to have the 19 November ruling reviewed. She said Colombia should "take a political posture" and "confirm" it would ignore the ruling, Caracol radio reported.

Catholicism reported in decline in Nicaragua

A survey carried out in Nicaragua in December 2012 showed the relentless decline of Roman Catholicism in that country between 1991 and 2012 and rise of Protestant Christianity, even if Catholics remained the largest religious community, El Nuevo Diario reported on 16 January. The Nicaraguan firm M & R Consultores carried out the survey for the Public Opinion Monitoring System (Sistema de Monitoreo de Opinión Pública, Sismo), interviewing 1,600 Nicaraguans between 17 and 28 December; the results were said to have a 95-per-cent confidence level and a margin of error of +/- 2.5 per cent. Just over 52 per cent of respondents described themselves as Catholics, compared to the 90 per cent figure for 1991. The survey indicated 30 per cent of Nicaraguans to be Evangelical, while 14.1 per cent said simply that they were "believers" and 0.3 per cent, atheists. A comparative table of the figures obtained in 1991, 1995 and 2005 indicated that the four per cent of Nicaraguans who said they were Protestant Evangelicals in 1991 increased to 15.1 per cent in 1995, a year when Catholics had declined to just under 80 per cent of the population. The latest survey indicated there were more Catholics in cities and in the western part of Nicaragua, El Nuevo Diario reported.

Nicaragua convicts Mexican "pressmen" on drug charges

A Nicaraguan court convicted on drug-trafficking and related charges on 19 December 18 Mexicans detained on 20 August 2012 after they entered Nicaragua parading as employees of the Mexican broadcaster Televisa. Over nine million USD and cocaine traces were found in some of the six vehicles they drove displaying Televisa logos; Televisa has denied they were employees. The 18 were found guilty of drug trafficking, money laundering and membership of criminal organizations, CNN reported citing Mexico's Notimex. Prosecutors asked for the maximum 30 years sentence envisaged for the charges but the presiding judge Edgard Altamirano was to issue a sentence on 18 January 2013, Nicaragua's La Prensa reported. Toward the close of the trial on 18 December, police testimonies indicated that a woman identified as head of the group had repeatedly telephoned a number identified as belonging to a vice-president of Televisa, Spain's EFE reported. Members of the Economic Investigations Directorate at the Nicaraguan police testified that Raquel Alatorre Correa dialled a Mexican number, said to belong to Televisa's Amador García Estrada, between 25 July and 24 August. The group also carried letters apparently signed by García although Nicaraguan prosecutors were waiting for the executive to send them a sample signature in January for verification. EFE cited a prosecutor as saying that Televisa had formally asked Nicaraguan justice to investigate whether or not someone inside Televisa had signed  letters for the group.

Nicaragua, Colombia in peaceful standoff over sea frontier

Reports indicated Colombian ships remained present in Caribbean waters which the International Court at The Hague recently ruled Colombia should cede to Nicaragua to settle a border dispute; it was not immediately clear if Colombia was simply ignoring the ruling. Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said after the 19 November decision that Colombia would use all peaceful means to defend the rights of citizens living in islands and cays now surrounded by Nicaraguan waters, and he and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega agreed on 1 December not to resort to force. Ortega told a military gathering in Managua on 5 December that Nicaragua would not seek UN help against "Colombian frigates" in its territorial waters but use "communication," the broadcaster Caracol reported, citing EFE.  Which resolution could the UN Security Council issue, he asked? "You only need a country to put a veto and there is no solution there," he said, adding there was no hostility now and the two navies maintained communications that were "serene, serious, without aggression." He was separately reported as saying, perhaps at the same event, that he had reassured Santos about his concerns over the fate of the Flor de Mar nature reserve now mostly inside Nicaraguan waters. Ortega said he promised Santos permits would not be given to explore oil in the UNESCO-listed biosphere reserve and that Colombians living in the San Andrés Archipelago would still be allowed to fish in Nicaraguan waters, Portafolio reported on 6 December, citing agency reports.

President voices Colombia's anger at Hague ruling

President Juan Manuel Santos said in Colombia on 29 November that he was "shocked" and "deeply hurt" by the recent ruling by the International Court at the Hague that ceded chunks of its sea territory to Nicaragua to settle a border dispute. He told a policy event in the northern town of Apartadó that the ruling had hit Colombians' "morale" but vowed to use all legal means to ensure it "does not harm" their rights. This he said he would do peacefully but "firmly," without "shouting" at Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, whom he was scheduled to meet informally on 1 December, El Tiempo reported on 29 November. Colombia has reportedly engaged lawyers to design a plan of response to the ruling. Santos said separately in Bogotá that day that Colombia would not implement the ruling until the rights of Colombians living in the San Andrés Archipelago - the islands now effectively surrounded by Nicaraguan waters - are assured. Colombia already announced it would leave the Bogotá Pact treaty that gave the Hague Court authority to arbitrate between American states, though it remained bound by its provisions for another year. President Santos was expected to meet with Daniel Ortega in Mexico City as both were to attend the formal handover of presidential powers on 1 December. The decision to leave the Pact was criticized by certain observers in comments published by the daily El Espectador on 29 November. The jurist Fabián Augusto Cárdenas told the daily that Colombia could still be "taken to court" in disputes for another year "when the withdrawal comes into effect. In fact the cases that were already before the court will continue their ordinary course." An example was given by Ecuador's foreign minister, who was cited as saying that Colombia's departure from the Pact would not affect Ecuador's ongoing legal action over the effects on its people and territory of chemical fumigation of coca plantations in Colombia, near the frontier. The daily also cited jurist Mauricio Herdocia Sacasa as saying that while other states could not in the future force Colombia to accept arbitration in disputes, it too would be unable to take them to court. "Whoever shuts the door to others is doing the same to himself, in a world where there is always conflict and there will always be more powerful countries that will seek to impose their will. The Bogotá Pact is the innocent victim of this dispute," he said.

Colombia leaves arbitration treaty after court ruling

Reflecting Colombia's anger at a 19 November ruling by the International Court at the Hague that ceded part of its sea territory to Nicaragua, President Juan Manuel Santos announced on 28 November that Colombia would leave the 1948 Bogotá Pact that gave the Court authority to arbitrate in frontier disputes. Santos made the announcement at gathering of coffee growers who cheered him, and said the decision was to prevent a repetition of such a ruling. He said this did not mean Colombia was no longer committed to peacefully resolving such disputes as the Pact demands of signatories, but that in keeping with "the highest national interests" land and sea frontiers should be set by treaties "as has been the juridical tradition in Colombia," RCN Radio reported on 28 November. The ruling had meant to settle a dispute over sea frontiers, but considerably reduced access to rich fishing waters for inhabitants of the San Andrés Archipelago, a range of islands and dependent cays belonging to Colombia, which in some cases would become surrounded by Nicaraguan waters. There was also concern in Colombia that Nicaragua would later explore and drill for oil in some of the waters given it, which are now a protected natural zone. Santos said Colombia "denounced" the treaty before the Organization of American States on 27 November, which effectively meant it was leaving. The pact or American Treaty on Pacific Settlement, which entered into force in 1949 and was ratified by 15 American states, foresees a range of diplomatic and legal means for resolving disputes, including arbitration by The Hague. The decision apparently did not affect Colombia's obligation to respect this ruling and its formal departure would be in a year. But the broadcaster cited Vice-President Marcelino Garzon as saying that "an understanding and agreement" was now needed between Colombia and Nicaragua that would "favour the fishing population." He said the dispute was now "in the hands of the United Nations."

International court issues ruling in Caribbean dispute

The International Court at the Hague issued its ruling on 19 November to settle a maritime frontier dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua, recognizing some of each country's territorial demands but disappointing Colombia by giving Nicaragua portions of the Caribbean it had hitherto administered. The ruling was to settle a dispute over territory thought rich in oil and fishing resources. Nicaragua was given two chunks of water east of the vertical Meridian 82 line, while Colombia retained sovereignty over seven disputed islets dependent on the San Andrés Archipelago including two now surrounded by Nicaraguan waters, El Colombiano reported on 19 November, showing also a map of the delineation. The area conceded to Nicaragua was 531 square kilometres while only 65 were given to Colombia, Spain's El País reported. Colombia had sought all waters east of Meridian 82 and its president said the court should have confirmed texts signed in 1928 and 1930 that set that as the frontier. Nicaragua had in turn sought a frontier line more to the east, running north-eastward and including Colombian waters as well as the disputed cays. While Nicaragua hailed the ruling as a victory, Colombian politicians expressed grief and there was no immediate consensus on how to respond. President Juan Manuel Santos said on 20 November that Colombia would do all it could to defend its rights, while Colombia's representative before the Court, Julio Londoño, said the government would study the ruling before deciding on a course of action. Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín, apparently faced with considerable criticisms, said in San Andrés on 20 November that she was ready to resign if that "appeased" the people of the San Andrés department, but that this was no time to be looking for scapegoats, El Espectador reported.

Sandinistas win Nicaraguan local polls

Nicaragua's ruling National Liberation Sandinista Front (FSLN), the party of President Daniel Ortega, won most city governments in the municipal elections of 4 November, amid the skepticism of some observers and post-election clashes in five municipalities. The United Alliance (Alianza Unida, AU) led by the Sandinistas was officially declared to have won 134 of 153 municipal governments including 14 of 17 departmental capitals and the capital Managua, Europa Press reported on 6 November citing reports of official declarations. The officialist mayoress of Managua Daysi Torres retained her post, reportedly winning some 230,000 votes more than her challenger Alfredo Gutiérrez. The head of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) Roberto Rivas reportedly gave 57.7 per cent as the participation rate of eligible voters and 75.69 per cent as the share of votes won by AU. The opposition Independent Liberal Party (PLI) won 12 municipal governments and Yatama, an indigenist party allied to the government, three, EFE reported. The agency added that three were killed in clashes in five districts in northern and western Guatemala; unspecified opposition offices were destroyed in one municipality, it reported. Not all observers were as delighted with the results as the government: the civic association Ética y Transparencia, which seeks strictly democratic institutions in Nicaragua, deplored the polls as a "farse" and alleged a "structure" parallel to the state had handled ballots unsupervised, EFE reported. The US State Department observed in turn that the elections had not been transparent enough to assure that "the process faithfully reflected the will of the Nicaraguan people." Its spokeswoman Victoria Nuland cited on 5 November reported irregularities including individuals being prevented from voting and "cases of voters being allowed to vote multiple times." The Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) sent by the Organization of American States suggested specific improvements to the electoral process, but stated it had observed a generally "civic atmsophere," Europa Press reported.

Nicaragua buys Russian armour to fight crime

Nicaragua bought "a small quantity" of armoured cars from Russia to fight drug cartels, its interior minister said in Managua on 16 October, EFE reported. Ana Isabel Morales Mazún told a press conference that the purchase was agreed on in a "recent" visit to Moscow by the Nicaraguan police chief, though she did not say how much Nicaragua was paying for this and related purchases. The vehicles were to be used by the three special police units that deal with organized crime or rioting, in cities and the countryside. Nicaragua also purchased vehicles to transport high-risk or violent detainees, as well as uniforms, technical equipment and training. Nicaragua and Russia signed an agreement to fight crime in February 2012 during a visit by the head of Russia's Federal Narcotics Service, Victor Ivanov. Bilateral ties have gained momentum since the return to power in 2007 of the socialist Daniel Ortega. Nicaragua was apparently using criminals' money to finance the fight against crime, though it was not immediately clear if such money paid for the purchases. Morales said her country would build "at least five prisons" with part of more than nine million USD confiscated from 18 Mexicans detained last summer and suspected of drug trafficking. The Mexicans were arrested on 20 August as they sought to enter Nicaragua from Honduras, initially identifying themselves as journalists and staff of the Mexican broadcaster Televisa. Televisa denied they were employees. Some 9.2 million USD as well as cocaine traces were found in their vehicles, painted with Televisa logos. The suspects were to be tried in Nicaragua on 3 December on drug-trafficking and money laundering charges, ACAN-EFE reported. Morales said Nicaragua would build one high-security prison with the money and upgrade a similar facility outside the capital. President Ortega was also reported to have said in September that part of the confiscated money would be spent on police equipment.