The ninth National Population Census and fifth Housing Census 2024 (CEPOV), carried out by the National Institute of Development Information (Inide), is progressing slowly, amid difficulties generated by the population’s distrust in answering the questions contained in an “instrument » 38 pages, which includes questions about migration of family members and remittances.
During a interview conducted on TV Channel 4, this Monday, May 13, and reproduced by El 19 Digital, two of the media at the service of the dictatorship’s propaganda, Carlos Martínez, head of the Office of Access to Public Information of the Inide, had no choice but to acknowledge that , they have indeed faced difficulties during the development of the Census due to people’s distrust in responding, which has even forced them to visit a home on more than one occasion to have the questions answered.
“We have encountered certain difficulties in approaching the population, however, upon returning again, they have given the information that has been requested of them,” said the official.
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CEPOV 2024 was officially launched on April 30, and will run during the months of May and June, during which time some 8,000 enumerators will travel throughout the national territory to collect information,” according to an official note from Inide.
That institution, through a press release on April 10, announced that the data they collect has to do with “the people who live in the homes and the conditions of the homes, which will allow us to update and know how many of us live in Nicaragua, the structure of its population and how it is distributed.
They want to know about migrants and remittances
The officials who appeared in the Channel 4 interview assure that “in the collection of information, the population realizes that the questions we ask are not compromising,” which contradicts the first version that shows that they have had They have to visit homes more than once so they can answer them.
One of the questions that has aroused the most suspicion is regarding relatives who reside abroad, that is, who have migrated and whether they cooperate with remittances for families in the country.
Open Polls confirms distrust of the population
Olga Valle, director of the independent monitoring and observation body, Urnas Abiertas, consulted by Article 66highlighted that they have been monitoring the development of the Census and points out that, like the literacy census they did last year, the population has very little information about the work that enumerators are going to be doing, despite the fact that INIDE made an effort to explain some of the data that will be collected.
Valle explained that, in part, the population’s distrust when answering Census questions is due to the fact that they do not know much about this activity, and another factor is “the distrust that exists due to the six years of political violence and the police state.” de facto”.
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He recalled that in the first days, political secretaries and police personnel accompanied the groups of enumerators, but citizens have distrust in these actors. The regime was aware of this difficulty and ordered the presence of its repressive agents to be reduced or eliminated.
Another aspect that generates some suspicion, as Valle explained, is the origin of the funds with which CEPOV 2024 is being financed.
«We are concerned about the absolute opacity with which they have handled the financing of the Census. As has already been reported, the Inide budget does not include Census spending in any of its budget lines, nor does the government,” he observed.
During this week the enumerators have been moving through the neighborhoods at the eastern end of Managua, close to or belonging to Sabana Grande.
