Nicaraguan Government grants a mega exoneration to U.S energy company

The Daniel Ortega regime granted a mega tax exemption to the Nicaraguan branch of New Fortress Energy, a US company that will develop a natural gas-based energy project located in the coastal town of Puerto Sandino.

Exemptions include import taxes, income tax, payment of benefits, municipal taxes, and payment of tax stamps.

Last February, the US company signed a contract with the electricity distributor Disnorte - Dissur, to build a thermal plant that would generate about 300 megawatts at a cost of 700 million dollars.

However, the North American company has concerns regarding the chain effect of the U.S sanctions on PDVSA, which would affect Albanisa, and eventually Disnorte-Dissur.

Read the full report (in Spanish) here. 

2. Deputies approve Gag Law

The Sandinista majority in the National Assembly approved the Special Cybercrime Law, known as the “Gag Law,” which aims to regulate the content of news on the Internet and silence the critical voices of Daniel Ortega's opponents.

The Law establishes sentences of up to eight years in prison for new crimes such as spreading false news or disclosing confidential information from State institutions.

The legislation, which has been questioned by the IACHR's Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, empowers the Nicaraguan Government to request service providers to “collect, extract or record data relating to a user, as well as data traffic in real-time ”.

Read a story on the matter (in English) here. 

3. Life sentence will be approved this week in Nicaragua 

The pro-government deputies will approve life imprisonment against so-called "hate crimes" after three million signatures from Sandinista sympathizers were supposedly collected.

This law would be incorporated through constitutional reform to article 37, which currently establishes maximum sentences of thirty years. This reform to the Nicaraguan Constitution will also be approved in a second term of the National Assembly, in 2021.

Read an article on the matter (in Spanish) here.

4. Daniel Ortega's regime will prevent free and fair elections in 2021

Photo:  Archive | Confidencial

The analysis unit of the British firm The Economist warned that Daniel Ortega's regime intends to stay in power, by hindering the chances of free and fair elections in 2021.

The Economist Intelligence Unit also warned that the Nicaraguan government is preparing to manage the presidential elections in a very restrictive way.

On the economic front, the firm projects that Nicaragua's GDP will contract by -7% this year; after predicting a fall of -5.5% last September.

Read the full report (in Spanish) here.

5. Alianza Cívica leaves the National Coalition

The Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy abandoned the National Coalition, to promote a unitary and inclusive political and electoral platform.

After leaving, academic Ernesto Medina announced his retirement from the Civic Alliance, while the leaders of the Alliance in León, Estelí, Madriz, and Chontales, as well as several departmental and municipal directives of the Alliance reported that they will remain within the Coalition.

Sources linked to the National Coalition confirmed that the integration will take place next week, under an organization apart from the Civic Alliance.

Read an interview on the matter (in Spanish) here.

6. Relatives of political prisoners threatened by prison officials  

Officials from La Modelo prison forced the relatives of political prisoners to sign a document stating that their relatives, who remain in prison, are in good health.

In the document, they also promise not to denounce human rights violations. Citizens were told that if they did not sign, their relatives would be excluded from visits and they would suffer ill-treatment in prison.

7. Joe Biden will maintain sanctions on the regime if he is elected president

Daniel Ortega | Joe Biden: // EFE

The Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, Joe Biden, assured that he will not eliminate or soften the U.S sanctions against the Daniel Ortega regime.

Biden also affirmed that he will not deport migrants fleeing the repression of regimes such as those of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

The democrat is emerging as a favorite in the polls, compared to his opponent, Republican President Donald Trump, in the elections that will take place this Tuesday, November 3 in the United States.

Read the full report (in English) here. 

8. Sandinista councilors seized the mayor’s office of Wiwilí

Councilors of the ruling Sandinista Front seized the facilities of the Wiwilí municipal mayor's office, in the municipality of Jinotega, by force, which was governed by the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC).

The Sandinistas had the support of National Police agents and the Nicaraguan Institute of Municipal Development to carry out the seizure of the building.

Read the report (in Spanish) here.

9. More than 430 sexual assaults are reported on Twitter

Some 430 complaints of male violence and aggression were posted on Twitter by Nicaraguan women, adolescents, and men, according to a report by the feminist collective "Give back what was stolen."

These complaints of harassment, abuse, rape, and other types of assaults were registered between April 9 and 16 of this year.

Read a report on the matter (in English) here.

This article has been translated by Ana Maria Sampson, a Communication Science student at the University of Amsterdam and member of our staff*