Traffic Stike Article

Rising Fuel Costs Provoke Transportation Strike in Nicaragua

Within minutes of rescuing us from the blazing sun of downtown, Jose Briceño Perez, a driver in a Nicaraguan taxi cooperative in the capital of Managua, made it clear that he was less than content with current government policies concerning fuel prices. "The money we pay for gas, it just goes to corruption."

May 5th marked the beginning of an intended thirty day strike, with more than 1.5 million public transport workers and truckers in Nicaragua protesting rising fuel costs and the lack of government impetus to do anything about it. With road blockades in several places in Managua and almost no public intercity transport allowed whatsoever, Nicaragua is at an effective standstill. Containers full of goods sit stalled on the sides of highways, and even sports teams have cancelled weekend matches. When baseball is put on hold in Nicaragua, you know it is serious.

The focus of the strike centers on three unions’ demands for government subsidization at the fuel pump. The Federation of Taxi Drivers, National Transportation Coordinator and the Interurban Transportation Directorate demand that gas prices, currently at about US$4.70 per gallon, be reduced by more than US$2.00 per gallon and frozen. However, the government remains firm that such a policy would bankrupt them, and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has offered to reduce the price of gasoline by only US$0.30 cents a gallon.

In Managua, some urban buses continue to run – those that already receive heavy fuel subsidies from the government. However, travel in the city is both risky and tense, and taxis refuse to drive in neighborhoods where there are known blockades. This week informal reports told of several strike-breaking taxis which were stopped by strikers at blockades. Strikers dragged passengers out and then stoned the vehicle. On Wednesday, more than 100 people were arrested in the city of León over the strike, and at least 15 police officers have been injured in interactions with the strikers. Reports trickle in of violent scuffles in most major cities throughout the country.

While many hope an agreement will be reached between the government and the transport workers prior to the planned month-long strike, several Nicaraguans we spoke to say that the situation has to get worse before it gets better. A 1999 transportation strike left two people dead and 48 wounded before a resolution was reached.

Wednesday Candelaria

We worked around Leon at the office in the morning and then Larry drove Oscar, Scarleth, and I out for baseball practice.

Leo had a good number of kids there especially the age 5-10 team. They had a good practice for about 2 hours. Scarleth shared a couple Bible stories with them before they started practice and then she met with goat ladies near the end of practice.

Larry visited with some of the kids, sharing balloons and hugs. Alfredo, Ariel, and I rearraged things in the bodega. After adding a lot of beans and 5 gallon buckets of oil, it had become too crowded to walk through again. We sorted some of the black trunks with dental supplies, clothes, and toys/games and stacked them better. I also spent some time biking around to visit some of the young kids at home after morning school.

10 days now of traffic strike and 2 men have been reported dead. Leon seems to be safe, but we are taking precautions and only traveling in the day where we know there are not any road blocks. Reports say things will get worse before better and there is more violence to come, mostly in the capital, Managua.

A Tuesday Off, Mostly

This morning Scarleth went with me to buy time, it was $35 to stay here another 90 days, so I am thankful that is taken care of. After that Scarleth and I handled some calls and emails from the Gables house. Larry and I grabbed lunch and shared some more family stories. After lunch, he and I went to pickup the truck that he had left to have a custom tarp made for the bed for traveling in the upcoming rain season. They did a great job at a low price and then we took the truck to have an antenna put on it.

We then had the full afternoon off. I took a long nap and have spent the night organizing my room and catching up some of my personal emails and contacts back home.

We will be out in Candelaria in the afternoon tomorrow for baseball and some small project reports.

Hope all is well in with you and yours...and to everyone in Boone I hope some spring weather comes soon!

LOVE...Jim Bob Norman "DIEGO" John 15:13

Monday in Leon

We all worked from the Gables house/NewSong office today getting more things setup to complete in Larry's last week with us. We picked what things on our to-do list are possible with the current traffic and transportation strike. Today marks a full week and nothing seems to be changing soon.

Larry and I also drove out to look at cars in Chichigalpa and Chinadega just to get an idea of something I might try and get in the future. Both cars I saw today were too old, and I will be looking more around Leon and Managua in weeks to come.

I also went to buy time today, so that I can stay another 90 days here without leaving the country since I am not a resident. I actually have to come back tomorrow to finish the process, but they todl me what things to bring with me in the morning.

Global Day of Prayer Service

We recognized the Global Day of prayer with a service involving Candelaria, La Isla, and Santa Matilde. Larry preached on the importance of prayer with supporitng scripture in Pslams and James. We then spent about 45 mintues with pastors and church leaders praying for specific things.

Pastors Jose, Walter, Pablo, and a pastor from the corner church in Candelaria all prayed for world peace. Then there was prayer for healing the sick by all of the pastors. Then each pastor prayed for different needs including: safe travel for the Gables in the states, NewSong Mission Nicaragua, traffic problems, small business and other funding, medical dental clinic, all the people of the surrounding communities, the future teams that are coming to help, and then a paryer over all the church pastors, sunday shcool leaders, elders, deacons, and leaders.

The rest of the day we worked from Leon to catchup emails and other office duties. I hope every mother had a great mothers day! I got to call my mom and each grandmother this afternoon. I will celebrate mothers day with my mom when she comes here for the last week of May because "La dia de la madre" is May 30, 2008 in Nicaragua!

Saturday from Leon

We had thought we were going out to Santa Matilde and bringing the lawyer from Leon to discuss more about the land being purchased there by IHBC. There was a conflicting schedule so we are hoping to get to that later in the week. Instead, Scarleth and I did some things from the Gables house/office until the power went out for the whole city around 5 today. The sky turned very black. It never rained but the wind picked up and it looked like a flood was coming. Power was only off about an hour.

I grabbed some dinner and then I took my N64 up to play Mario Kart with Alejandra and Eveling. We enjoyed that until the power went back off, but it only stayed out 30 seconds or so, then it rained, REALLY HARD! Their roof is tin so it was the loudest thing ever and within maybe 10 mintues the roads outside had water even with the sidewalks. Everything looked like rivers flowing together. The girls went outside to play, and Alejandra lost her flip flop in the rapids. I waited about 45 minutes for the rain to stop and biked home, anytime my foot was down in the cycle of pedaling I had water above my ankle. It was good to get some rain here though finally.

With the current strike, we are still not doing anything outside Leon after dark. Tomorrow is the global day of prayer so we have flipped the morning Sunday school to be at night and hoping to have a big service with people from La Isla, Santa Matilde, and Candelaria to observe the day of prayer. We will be out in Candelaria around 10 am and stay until 12:30 or so.

Short but Productive Friday

With the current strike and a possibility of getting stuck outside the city at night, we only made the trip during the day time. Before we went out Scarleth, Leo, and Larry went to buy beans and oil in Leon. We took a full truck bed of that out and locked in the bodega at Candelaria. Our agricultural engineer, Roger, came along as well to look at the garden and spend time training the gardeners about the new irrigation system. Before leaving Leon, Leo grabbed some baseball equipment for the younger guys that have been attending practice…catcher’s equipment and smaller gloves along with more baseballs. Upon arrival, we found out that Pastor Jose was stung by a scorpion in the morning, so Oscar and Larry went to the pharmacy and got him some aid. Alfredo and I fixed 2 big flood lights and, with Walter’s help, installed it onto the corner of the medical/dental clinic to watch over the garden at night. Scarleth got a list completed of all the library books both children’s and pastors so that we can start renting books out. I spent a little time before we came back riding my bike to visit with some of my Candelaria youth members at their houses and let them know we would not have service tonight. We called the pastors at all 3 villages, but not everyone would know without coming down to see the empty church at 6. When we got back last night the team went out for pizza to celebrate Larry’s 2 year anniversary of open heart surgery. We got to hear the story and the months of rehab following, while telling jokes and enjoying fellowship.

Regular Thursday

We heard that the police actually arrested some of the men who have parked buses and trucks across the road and that things for now are clear on the main highway to the villages. So we got the truck this morning and did what we could around Leon until 1 pm, then Larry took Scarleth, Leo, and I out.

Leo ran baseball and we went to La Isla to check up on Pastor Pablo. He had his prosthetics on and was sitting outside with his family. He said that he had sent someone in his family to get him some antibiotics and for past 3 days was getting shots. He is feeling much better, but has not been able to enjoy his new bike yet. His wife was getting the yard setup for evening service at their house since he cannot get under the trees where church usually meets.

As we headed out of La Isla, Daniel and his daughter were coming in to play music in Pablo's service.

We went back and got Leo and came back a little before 5 pm. We did have any trouble and there are over 20 policemen on the edges of the road where the blocks have been waiting to break-up anymore attempts of blocking access in and out of Leon. We think we will get to have a regular Friday now, when earlier in the week we had figured there would be no way to travel in and out at night.

Unable to go out Wednesday

The strike was more of a pain for us today because we do go out Wednesday afternoons for baseball practice and to check on small business things. The roads are still blocked and no busses, taxis, etc are running. Knowing that we wouldn't need the truck, we got them to take their time and fix a few other minor things.

We met down at the Gables and did what we could up until noon with emails and phone calls as a group. Scarleth and I are working on getting together more information for the adopt-a-family part of the NewSong website.

In the evening, I went to visit Eveling and Alejandra. Their uncle, Juan, age 25 is a taxi driver and works the 7pm - 7am shift so I have seen him, but never really talked with him. He was there and bored without work like me so we talked for a while about basketball, football, etc. He told me that he does not think the strike will go longer than a week, but does not know for sure.

We are hoping to get the truck in the morning and be able to go out to the village, we have plenty of work to catch-up in Leon, but after 3 days stuck here we are all ready to go out and be with the kids.

Strike Continues Tuesday

We met as a team this morning at the Gables house to discuss things Tommy and Linda had left for us to do. We were planning to setup which projects to do each day, but because of the strike it became more of which of these can we do without driving outside the city.

We took the truck in for some work including: pulling out the dented fender, fixing the front passenger door, and putting all the bars on the back for a tarp in rainy season.

Scarleth and I took the rest of the day off with it being a Tuesday so the strike did not really affect us much today.

Leon Monday

Today I spent time doing some errands around Leon. Marcela has been asking me a lot of computer questions lately, and she decided that she wants me to come down in the mornings for breakfast at her house and help her to get more familiar with email and other basic things on her computer. She also got me to bookmark some websites for her to use the bible and work on her English.

Oscar, Larry, and I grabbed lunch together after they did some errands of their own. After lunch, they headed to Chinadega to meet about some land purchases in Santa Matilde by IHBC. I looked at some possibilities of how to put internet in to Marcela's office. I also spent sometime just walking around Leon and relaxing.

There is a current strike going on against the high gas prices nationwide. There are no taxis, buses, or trucks running for public transportation. Last night it took Oscar and Larry hours to get back from Chinadega and Juan Diego the same from Manauga because of trucks and buses parked across all the roads into Leon. Some bicycles and motorcycles could get around, but they are hoping to make everyone that uses gas to stop driving as part of the strike.

My mom just got a ticket to spend the last week of May here...she will be staying with me Monday, May 26-Monday, June 2 when the Gables return..VERY EXCITED for her to be here in 3 weeks!

Pablo's New Bike and Pedro Speaks

This morning I went and got Pastor Pablo of La Isla a new bike. His has rusted to almost nothing, and the gears have been bad for about 3 months. He had mentioned the need to Oscar and I Friday night. He was very happy to get the new bike, that money was raised for by my mom and FBC of Boone, NC.

This afternoon, before going to setup for evening service in Candelaria I got to stop by his house and deliver the bike. Pablo was propped up inside the house with a towel and some ointment on his legs treating an infection. He won't use his prosthetic legs for a couple days while that heals, but then he can enjoy his new bike. I hope to get some pictures soon once he is using it.


Tonight Pastor Pedro spoke at his 1st of 5 Sundays while the Gables are in the states. His focus for the 5 Sundays is the teachings of what it takes to be a disciple. Tonight he shared from Luke chapter 14.

The Cost of Being a Disciple

25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

The service went very well. Pedro's wife, Maria, and older brother, Felix, came with us as well as Felix's 10 year old son, Ezikiel. Rigaberto shared bible stories with around 35 children ages 4-12.