TODAY NICARAGUA – The need has disappeared for an procedure for granting an annual waiver which used to be a restriction on bilateral assistance and support for international loans to Nicaragua.
The US Embassy in Nicaragua reported that “… The United States recognizes the work of the current government administration ‘to resolve pending claims in an expeditious and satisfactory manner.’ ”
The statement issued by the embassy says “… “We recognize and appreciate the determination shown by the Government of Nicaragua in recent months to resolve outstanding claims in an expeditious manner satisfactory to all parties. We hope the government of Nicaragua will make greater efforts to resolve complaints that do not fall within Section 527 ‘. ”
Elnuevodiario.com.ni reports that “… The president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise, COSEP, Jose Adan Aguerri, welcomed the announcement by the United States. ‘Positive news on the respect for private property and support for international lending to Nicaragua.'”
Source: elnuevodiario.com.ni
Article originally appeared at Todaynicaragua.com
This is great news for Nicaragua!
For many years Nicaragua sent more money to US than it received in aid from the US under the auspices of a US law forbidding the granting of aid to any country that failed to respect the property rights of US citizens in it. The wrinkle was that any Nica who emigrated to the US and obtained citizenship there later was protected by this law, so in effect the law forced the Nicaraguan government to pay compensation to the wealthy Nicas who had bled their businesses dry after the revolution and moved their capital to Miami, simply because after their departure their factories and such were confiscated by the government. It was a massive transfer of money from poor people in a poor country to rich people in a rich country because the Reagan administration granted the wealthy Nicas engaged in capital flight an easy path to citizenship.
In more recent years, only the most difficult of these legal claims to compensation for abandoned property remained–you know, the titles weren’t clear, that kind of thing–so Nicaragua has had to go hat in hand to the US every year to show that it’s still trying to resolve these disputes and request a waiver. Every once in awhile a few hotheads in Congress threatened not to grant the waiver, though every year the waivers were ultimately granted.
For Nicaragua, it’s been a real nuisance and humiliation to go through this, simply to receive foreign aid from the US it was not sure it even wanted. Most of the US aid doesn’t after all help Nicaragua. Instead it is earmarked for things the US wants in Nicaragua, and sometimes even funds the political parties the US favors under the guise of funding “civil society” groups.
Anyway, it’s good that this ugly chapter in US/Nicaragua relations is finally closed.