National Workers' Front FNT condemns NICA Act
NSCAG News |
on: Friday, 28 July 2017
The National Workers' Front, FNT, has issued a press release condemning renewed interference in and aggression against Nicaragua by the United States.
The press release reads as follows:-
'The National Workers’ Front, FNT and its nine affiliated trade unions reject and condemn the promotion of the NICA Act by the United States. This represents a continuation of the United States policy of damaging interference in the affairs of Nicaragua.
The Nica Act is harmful to the interests of our people and it will be the most vulnerable sectors of society who will be directly affected by this initiative, the sole purpose of which is to destroy our model, a model which has led the way towards prosperity, peace and democracy.
The FNT condemns the actions and decisions of certain national political groups in Nicaragua which have sold out our country and lobbied members of the US Congress in order to promote the NICA Act.
In spite of these harmful actions which seek to derail the advances of the revolution, the FNT gives its overwhelming support to our Government of Reconciliation and National Unity and will continue working and contributing to the policies and proposals of national unity. We will continue to develop the model of dialogue, alliance and consensus.
We will support this year’s municipal elections so that they pass peacefully and we will work for a climate of peace, democracy and development because we are all protagonists of democracy, freedom and security.
The FNT supports the legal case which the Government has initiated against the US government in order to require the US to honour payment of the indemnity ordered in 1986 by the International Court of Justice in the Hague, as compensation for the fatal damages caused to the people and Government of Nicaragua as a result of the destructive and illegal interference of the United States in our national affairs.
Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
Gustavo Porras, National Coordinator, FNT'
On 27 July, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the bill known as the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act of 2017, or Nica Act, in an effort to impose economic sanctions on Nicaragua over alleged authoritarianism and corruption by President Daniel Ortega. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives for a final vote in September and is seen by many as the United States using its muscle to condemn Nicaragua for its support for Venezuela - see article here
Nicaragua currently relies on 70 percent of foreign funds for its budget. The bill seeks to add conditions to the provisions of aid from international financial institutions to the country. If implemented, it will hit the poorest and most vulnerable in Nicaragua who have benefitted from the social and economic programmes introduced by President Ortega's government since 2007 and leading to substantial reductions in poverty and inequality.
The Nica Act initially went out of circulation in the House of Representatives when the 2016 congressional session closed, only to be reintroduced in the U.S. House and Senate by Republican Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, as well as Democrat Albio Sires in April.
The new bill, significantly more stringent than the original, seeks to impose economic sanctions on Nicaragua over alleged authoritarianism and corruption practiced by democratically-elected President Daniel Ortega and restrict the conditions of loans from multilateral organizations.
The Nicaraguan government released a statement in April calling the Nica Act an “ irrational proposal conceived by insensitive minds.”
For further information on the NICA Act see here
