Shoddy Work Doesn’t Deserve Good Grades

The statement made by Ms. Phyllis M. Powers, U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua, regarding the “difficulty” her government would have in granting [fiscal transparency and property] waivers to Nicaragua this year should come as no surprise to the average well-informed Nicaraguan, much less to government and business leaders, or the economic analysts and Nicaraguan politicians.

In her speech before the American Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce on Friday, May 11, the U.S. ambassador flatly stated, “The continuing lack of fiscal transparency, the failure by the Nicaraguan government to make adequate progress in regard to resolving new takings and invasions of American citizen property, and especially the significant irregularities in the elections process of last year and the absence of indications of improvement for this year’s elections, make the decisions on waivers for this year especially difficult.”

As is well known, there are two categories of the famous American waivers: one of fiscal transparency, which provides access to bilateral aid programs from the United States, and the other, of resolutions to American citizens’ property claims, which allows the North American government to guarantee loans to Nicaragua from international financial organizations.

Ambassador Powers’ speech confirmed what U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had already alluded to in an official communiqué on January 25 this year. In that document, after mentioning that the recent November 6 elections “…were not conducted in a transparent and impartial manner, [and rather] marked a setback to democracy…” Secretary Clinton warned that, “as part of a review of our assistance and policy toward Nicaragua, the United States will continue to apply aggressive scrutiny to project loans…” And she added that her government would oppose “… any loan proposals that do not meet these institutions’ high standards, or do not provide sufficient development impact.”

After the Secretary of State’s message, Nicaraguan business leaders went to Washington to lobby for approval of the waivers. At the same time, they demanded a complete overhaul of Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council, among other democratic petitions, as a show of good faith by Nicaragua to rectify the undermining of the democracy achieved by the Daniel Ortega regime.

However, the only thing Ortega has done is approve farcical reforms of the Electoral Law, while keeping the bogus and fraudulent magistrates at their posts on the Supreme Electoral Council, so that they can continue laying the groundwork for more fraud during the upcoming November 4 municipal elections. Obviously, whoever does shoddy work cannot expect to be given good grades of approval. And if the United States approves the waivers, it guarantees the regression of democracy in Nicaragua which Ms. Clinton criticized in January.