The deceptive start of the so-called Social Security dialogue

by the Movimiento Democrático Popular

The installation of the Plenary Table of the misnamed “Dialogue for the Social Security Fund,” which took place on Monday, February 8, has exposed the shameless maneuvers of the government to impose the will of the business groups, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and risk rating companies, aimed at deepening the privatization of pension funds. To do this they need to merge the system of individual accounts, the retirement subprogram called exclusively defined benefit (solidarity), and the mixed fund of individual contributions.

They also require a modification of the organic law that allows a single system of individual accounts, as well as the installation of a “managerial” board of directors that can decide the delivery of said funds to private companies dedicated to the administration of retirement funds. This would turn out to be an extraordinary business for employers and a catastrophe for retirees, who would receive pensions well below 50% of the average of their last best 10 years of salary.

In this way, the economically dominant sectors would acquire full control over the
Social Security Fund. If they are prevented from applying such measures, they will follow the path of the so-called parametric measures: increase in the retirement age, the number of required payments and amount of the quota, in addition to the reduction of the percentage of the salary at the time of retirement.

To achieve these purposes they have had to limit as much as possible the participation of workers, public servants, doctors, nurses, health technicians and teachers’ unions, as well as retirees and patients of the CSS, who combined add up only 33.4% of the members of the negotiating table. People from the executive branch of government, representatives of the political parties, legislators and business groups account for 66.6% of the seats. That is the immense gap that they open between citizens and the political and business sectors, which control the government for their exclusive benefit, justifying this by taking radically neoliberal positions.

Even so, and fearful that their disgraceful intentions will not find the necessary support around the table, they have hand-picked as the facilitator of the dialogue Joaquín Villar García, a person identified with alleged very serious ethical and legal faults, such as the evasion of quotas of Social Security and infringement of legally required maternity benefits. As if that were not enough, Mr. Villar is a member of the National Council of Private Enterprise (CoNEP) and rector of a private university. In other words he’s a representative of the privatizing business associations. This unprecedented impudence can only be explained by the difficulty in finding someone to lend himself or herself to carry out the perverse intentions that will materialize in the slick dialogue that private companies, the government and political parties are orchestrating. They’re the cream of the crop among the neoliberal forces that control the country.

On the other hand, the workers have proposed that participation in the dialogue should be limited to representatives from the government, private companies, labor unions, educators, health workers, and retirees, since they are the main protagonists in the Social Security Fund. Also, that the facilitator be chosen by all the participants of the table. And that the discussion focus on the return to the solidarity system. These proposals have been Olympically ignored.

This dire panorama, which shows us the way to Hell for wage earners in need of a dignified and fair retirement, makes it clear that there is nothing to do at that table. That’s why we call on people not to participate in this farce and thus avoid legitimizing the intentions to do business with the suffering of the Panamanian people.

Since the most elementary democratic guarantees for participation do not exist, at least on an equal footing, and without considering the possibility of discussing the return to the solidarity pension system, the representatives of the true owners of the pensions should have nothing to do with that table. Especially since we will soon make known to all of society our counter-proposal to return to the solidarity regime, and provide scientific foundations to support this.

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A woman waves a Nicaraguan flag behind a barricade. It’s a VOA photo but the woman and the photographer are anonymous – it could be unpleasant for them if either were identified.

Nicaraguan government tactics to silence criticism
and social demands deepen human rights crisis

by Amnesty International

Since the current human rights crisis erupted in Nicaragua in 2018, the government has clamped down on all forms of dissent or criticism. The authorities have pursued a policy of eradicating, at any cost, activism and the defence of human rights, said Amnesty International in a new report published today.

In Silence at any cost: State tactics to deepen the repression in Nicaragua, Amnesty International exposes the strategies used by the Nicaraguan authorities responsible for one of the darkest chapters in the country’s recent history, where anyone who opposes government policies may lose their freedom and even their lives.

“For almost three years, Daniel Ortega’s government has shown time and again that it is willing to do anything to prevent human rights from becoming a reality in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan authorities must stop continuously trampling on the dignity of thousands of victims of repression,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

“When images of the violent crackdown on mass protests, which broke out in response to a series of reforms to the social security system, made the front pages of major newspapers around the world in 2018, it seemed that the human rights crisis in the country had reached its peak. Yet the nightmare continues.”

Local organizations continue to criticize the government’s use of the justice system to imprison activists following arbitrary proceedings. At the end of November 2020, when the report was finalized, more than 100 people remained behind bars solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

People detained for their activism continue to report ill-treatment and harassment in prisons, as additional punishment measures. The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated long-standing problems related to prison conditions in Nicaragua and has caused alarm among the families of those held and human rights organizations concerned about the conditions for detainees.

Local organizations interviewed by Amnesty International reported that dozens of people detained for political reasons suffer from medical conditions that put them at particular risk from COVID-19. According to statements gathered by Amnesty International, despite some detainees having shown symptoms that could be consistent with the virus, testing is practically non-existent, as are medical treatment and health care.

Even after leaving prison, their situation does not improve significantly. Released activists and their families report that the level of harassment experienced after they return home is such that it prevents them from carrying out their daily activities, such as working or studying, and that continuing their activism entails a high risk to their lives and freedom.

Types of harassment have included excessive checks by immigration and police officials at the borders with neighbouring countries, a heavy police presence at religious events, continuous surveillance of their homes by police officers, arrests, physical attacks, direct verbal threats from police officers, their homes being daubed with threats and attacked, and damage to their belongings and livelihoods.

In December 2020, local organizations estimated that 31 people who had been released were rearrested and detained for exercising their rights.

Journalists and human rights defenders are living in an environment of permanent harassment by the authorities. For many, this includes the cancellation of their legal registration, seizure of their property and, recently, the destruction of their premises. In addition, in October 2020 the state began a process to approve a package of laws that threaten the exercise of human rights, including the right to freedom of association and freedom of expression.

“What they are approving are instruments of repression to legalize all the attacks that, for a long time, have been committed against human rights,” Vilma Nuñez, a human rights defender at the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, told Amnesty International.

The constant threats and harassment have caused hundreds of thousands of people, including journalists and human rights defenders, to flee to other countries to safeguard their freedom and lives. “The options were: jail, the cemetery or exile,” Gonzalo Carrión, a human rights defender who now lives outside Nicaragua, told Amnesty International.

Human rights defenders fear the worst is yet to come. They maintain that, in the run-up to the November 2021 presidential elections, human rights violations, which have not stopped, will intensify as the government seeks to silence any form of opposition or criticism.

“Achieving justice in Nicaragua seems impossible. The international community must take decisive steps to put an end to the nightmare in which the population is living and take action to provide full support to all those who continue to fight for a Nicaragua free of repression. We will not stop our work exposing this until the Nicaraguan government is held accountable for its actions and puts an end to human rights violations,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

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