MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua’s capital was again terrorized by political violence yesterday afternoon when hundreds of Sandinista loyalists – who were joined by leftist sympathizers from El Salvador – turned Managua into an urban battle zone by taking over the city, blocking traffic, shooting explosives and attacking the opposition – including members of the news media.

Downtown businesses were once again forced to close early, some of them boarding their windows in anticipation of violence, as Sandinista fanatics – many of them masked and armed with bats, rocks, machetes and guns – congregated in various sectors of the city to prepare for battle against opposition members who had announced a march to support Liberal Party candidate Eduardo Montealegre, who claims victory in the Nov. 9 municipal election in Managua.

http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2008_11/1119082.htm

Hundreds of Sandinista armed with homemade mortars, stones and sticks surrounded a group of liberals, among them was the candidate for mayor of Managua, Eduardo Montealegre, who had to be removed by riot to prevent being assaulted by the mob.

The siege of the marchers, which also involved politicians, intellectuals and civil society leaders, was maintained for about two hours in the western sector of the capital, until the opponents decided to withdraw.

Fighting broke out in various parts of the capital also, with the media once again a target of the FSLN.

One of the journalist covering the events, Ivan Olivares was stabbed with a bayonet and taken to the hospital for stitches.

Olivares later made a call to President Daniel Ortega not to incite further violence, stressing that journalists are becoming the targets of violence from the groups allied to his government.

In two other seperate events media crews from local channels 2 and 8 had their vehicles ransacked and destroyed.

This is the second time in three days the FSLN supporters have refused to let the opposition express their solidarity in the form of a protest march.

A caravan of about 40 buses filled with FSLN supporters, armed with home made mortars and various other weapons, made it’s way from the northern part of the country toward the capital this morning.

At the same time a similar amount of PLC supporters converged on the capital for their announced peaceful protest march over the recent municipal election results.

The Sandinistas will be trying to block the route of the march with buses and have many supporters at every roundabout in the Capital.

The same tactics were used Sunday in Leon where a protest march there, was unable to proceed and a pitch battle ensued with several casualties.

In Leon the police were either unable or refused to get involved in the situation and chaos prevailed.

Former US baseball star Cal Ripkin JR was forced to cancel his baseball clinic in Leon and the once in a lifetime opportunity for Nicaragua’s baseball youth was lost.

With no government intervention other than the police to allow the peaceful march, Nicaragua is faced with another sad day in its history of political unrest.

Tourist are advised to avoid the capital at all cost today.

Eric Volz, a Nashville native who was accused of killing his girlfriend in Nicaragua, will be retried in absentia this morning by that country’s Supreme Court.

After 15 months in a maximum-security Nicaraguan prison, an appeals judge overturned the conviction. Volz returned to Nashville, where he is still living. But his case was not closed. In a YouTube video, Volz says the retrial in his case comes on the heels of a hotly contested election.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081117/NEWS03/81117015/-1/RSS05

- Nicaragua will produce 21.4 percent less coffee for export in the 2008/09 growing season compared with the previous cycle, the head of the country’s exporters association said on Saturday.

Nicaragua sees the 2008/09 coffee harvest, which began this month, at about 1.3 million 60-kg (132-pound) bags, coffee exporter Jose Angel Buitrago told Reuters at an annual coffee conference in Costa Rica.

Nicaragua closed its 2007/08 coffee cycle in September with about 1.6 million 60-kg bags of exports, a 37.1 percent jump from the 2006/07 season.

http://www.flex-news-food.com/pages/20499/Central-America/Coffee/nicaragua-0809-coffee-harvest-down-214-percent.html

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire - Nov. 17, 2008) - Certified Environmental Group, (PINK SHEETS:CENV) subsidiary Global Life Water Inc., has entered into negotiations with the American Nicaraguan Foundation, ANF to provide solar and/or wind powered water purification units to its housing projects in rural communities where they do not have access to the electrical grid.

The American Nicaraguan Foundation ANF was established in 1992 to mitigate the effects of poverty in Nicaragua. ANF has donated millions of dollars in aid through its projects and programs in Nicaragua spending less than 1% of its operating costs on administration.

CEG/Global Life Water Inc. water purification units becomes part of a solution to the problem that less than 2/3rds of the world’s population has no access to clean drinking water, which president Lin Armstrong Sharwood states, is a “basic human right”.

The objective of the American Nicaraguan Foundation, ANF and the goals of CEG/Global Life Water Inc. provide a natural synergy to eliminate poverty and water borne disease.

CEG/Global Life Holdings Inc. solar and or wind powered water purification units provide additional electricity to power lights or other applications without ongoing fuel costs.

The company is diligently working on retiring the 190,000,000 shares with the transfer agent and would like to reassure the shareholders that Free Trading Shares remain at 46,357,881 and the shares Held in CEDE are 40,364,183.

Certified Environmental Group develops and commercializes alternative energy solutions focusing on clean drinking water, power and shelter through its fully owned operating subsidiary Global Life Water. Visit us at www.certifiedenvironmentalgroup.com.

Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Certified Environmental Group Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein.

One partisan from each side was shot and six police officers were injured by tossed rocks and fireworks, national police spokeswoman Vilma Reyes said.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/11/16/7432981-ap.html

CARACAS, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) - Countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Alba) rejected U.S. intervention in the Nicaraguan elections, according to a communique published Sunday in Venezuela.

“We strongly reject the U.S. intervention in the internal issues of Nicaragua and we reaffirm that past elections are of exclusive competence of the Nicaraguan People and their institutions,” Alba said in the communique published by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.

After an unprecedented victory by the Nicaraguan ruling party during the Nov. 9 elections, the Nicaraguan government confronted the U.S. interference policy, which tried to discredit the administration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his institutions.

Meanwhile, a political dispute also took place over electoral results between the ruling party Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) and opposition party Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC).

“President Daniel Ortega, as well as the FSLN, have given examples of democracy, when contending at elections during the 1980s and peacefully giving the government to there successors,” Alba said.

The Alba member countries — Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaraguan, Honduras, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic — congratulated Ortega and the FSLN for the results of the elections, which consolidated the development of the people’s movements and leftists in Latin America.

“The peoples and the governments of the Alba ratify our most strong solidarity with the Nicaraguan People and we recognize the professionalism of the FSLN institutions,” Alba said.

Textbooks for Nicaragua Campaign, by Carol Franks whose journeys throughout Central America were profiled in a series of features on The Examiner’s Travel Page this fall, has raised $3,500, surpassing its $2,000 goal.

Franks promised her Nicaraguan students this past spring to bring back ESL textbooks from Canada. Pearson Longman, publisher of the ESL series, Side by Side, kicked off the campaign by donating 20 textbooks, an assortment of dictionaries and some readers.

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1298648