[fsf60k] Fw: Aid for the Poor, Not for Politics

From: "Michael Cipoletti" <ikecip@xxxxxxx>
To: <fsf60k@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 21:19:03 -0500
Witness for Peace Updates
----- Original Message ----- 
From: WFP Nicaragua 
To: ikecip@xxxxxxx 
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 4:13 PM
Subject: Aid for the Poor, Not for Politics


                   
           


                        Send a message today to reinstate critical development 
aid to Nicaragua.
                       
                  Stand in Solidarity with the Poor in Nicaragua: Aid Shouldn't 
be a Political Tool
                  Dear Supporter,

                  On November 26th the United States announced the suspension 
of development aid entering Nicaragua through the Millennium Challenge Account. 
 The decision comes in the wake of Nicaragua's contested municipal elections of 
November 9th.

                  The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is a U.S. development 
fund set up to "reduce poverty through economic growth."  In 2005, Washington 
and Managua signed a five-year, $175 million agreement designating MCA funds 
for projects focused on improving Nicaragua's infrastructure, formalizing land 
titles, and facilitating market access for Nicaragua's rural producers.  Though 
Witness for Peace is critical of US development aid that arrives in Nicaragua 
on the condition of internal economic and structural adjustment requirements, 
the MCA has a mission to fund sustainable projects that are crucial to 
enhancing Nicaragua's infrastructure and supporting small-scale rural producers 
that have struggled under neoliberal policies.  Over 3,000 rural Nicaraguans 
have benefited from MCA funded projects, especially in the agricultural and 
dairy sectors.  Freezing MCA funds will put these people's livelihoods at risk.

                  The United States has frozen MCA funds in response to 
wide-spread claims of fraud in the recent municipal elections.  John 
Danilovich, executive director of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which 
oversees MCA funding, has called on the Nicaraguan government to "return to 
democratic norms and respect for the democratic process."  However, Nicaraguan 
economists and public policy experts have argued that it is the small-scale 
rural producers that will be harmed by the freezing of aid, not the political 
elite being targeted.  Oscar Aleman, vice-president of the Association of Milk 
Producers, has expressed concern that the loss of funding will greatly injure 
small-scale dairy producers, especially in the cities of Leon and Chinandega.  
President of the Nicaragua-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), Cesar Zamora, 
has urged that the US "unfreeze (the funds) as quickly as possible because it 
affects the poorest people, and the entire world is in agreement that, in the 
end, it is the people of fewest resources that are affected by the cutting of 
aid." 

                  Poverty reduction projects and politics should not go 
hand-in-hand.  Our foreign policy tactics must not target and injure 
Nicaragua's small-scale rural producers.  In a country in which nearly 80% of 
the rural population lives on $2 or less per day, this type of policy is simply 
inhumane. 


                  The Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation is meeting on December 11th in Washington D.C. to make a final 
decision about MCA funding to Nicaragua.  

                  Send a message today urging the MCC board to reactive the 
account!

                  Thank you for taking action on this important matter.

                  In solidarity,

                  WFP Nicaragua Team


                 
           

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                  Witness for Peace 
                  3628 12th Street NE. 1st Fl.,
                  Washington, DC 20017 
                  202.547.6112 - 202.536.4708
                  witness@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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[fsf60k] Fw: Aid for the Poor, Not for Politics

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