Will you help us say NO to illegal US interference in Nicaragua's elections?

If you follow this site, you know by now that the U.S. government is illegally interfering in the Nicaraguan elections to be held in November. In June, with the help and signatures of many of you, we ran an open letter denouncing this interference as half-page ads in Nicaragua's two main newspapers. This ad generated a lot of media attention, but U.S. Ambassador Paul Trivelli has continued his blatant and outrageous attempts to influence the election's outcome.

Report finds condemnation of US role among Nicaraguan parties and civil society groups.

WASHINGTON - July 10 - The Nicaragua Network sent a delegation of academics and representatives of human rights and solidarity groups to Nicaragua June 17-24, 2006, to investigate the role of the US government in Nicaragua's presidential election scheduled for November 5, 2006. The Nicaragua Network is a national network of local committees which has worked for 27 years to change US government policy toward Nicaragua.

[This analysis prepared by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs] Last April, the Nicaragua Network, a Washington-based solidarity group, “condemned” the intervention of U.S. Ambassador Paul Trivelli in Nicaragua’s election process. Arnold Matlin, of Nicanet’s board of directors, asserted that “what the U.S. government is doing in Nicaragua would be illegal if a foreign government tried to do it in the U.S.” The April 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations supports Matlin’s assertion, providing that representatives or diplomats “have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that state” to which they may be assigned. But regardless of international law, the U.S. has rarely felt constrained over intervening in the internal affairs of many countries, and for 150 years Nicaragua has borne the brunt of more interventions than almost any other country in this hemisphere. However, it is far from being alone.

President Toledo has introduced the U.S. Peru Free Trade Agreement to Peru's national legislature for a vote. The vote may happen as early as today. Toledo will be leaving office in late July. The new President of Peru, Alan Garcia noted in an interview on Monday that "he would insist on revising – line by line – the free-trade agreement that Peru's outgoing government of President Alejandro Toledo signed with the United States in April."

A blogger named Boz (whose blog is simply called Bloggings by Boz) publishes poll numbers (mostly about elections) towards the end of each week. Here’s the Nicaragua bit from this week's entry:

When I come across Nicaragua-related stories reading my Bloglines feeds (I share my public feeds "here":http://www.bloglines.com/public/rbt) I'll post them to Windmills with a few key paragraphs.

            The chances for a short term conclusion to trade negotiations between the U.S. and Ecuador were handed a major setback last week, when the national government decided to revoke its operating contract with Occidental Petroleum and seize $1 Billion of its assets.  This action was taken after the energy ministry ruled that the company had acted improperly when it transferred 40% interest in its oil fields to EnCana, a Canadian oil company. 

Good analysis from Council on Hemispheric Affairs on Morales' decision to nationalize Bolivia's national gas industry - and some specifics on what that means. It is not an expropriation of existing infrastructure - despite the theatre of soldiers of occupying facilities.   Morales is fulfilling a promise he made during the campaign, and it is a move that could bring many benefits if that state company is able to manage the new contracts well. There is also some good analysis here of the regional political situation, and how this may play out with Brazil.

Below is a nice analysis of U.S. intervention in Nicaragua’s election process from Brynne Keith-Jennings of Witness for Peace’s international team in Nicaragua. Published by the International Relations Center (IRC) at http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3238

Given the asymmetries in the WTO system, it is not clear that it is the best forum for a new trade deal, as argued in the report (though a truly multilateral aproach would clearly be better than the bi-lateral forums that have delivered disasters such as CAFTA and the free trade deal with Peru). But the critique of the current Doha round here is very important to take note of. Press release, with links to the report follow.