The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo completed, with the collaboration of their deputies and political allies in the National Assembly, the reforms to try to circumvent the sanctions of the United States Department of the Treasury to government leadership of the electricity sector.
This Tuesday and Thursday were published in La Gaceta, Official Gazette, the reforms to the Organic Law of the Nicaraguan Institute (INE), regulator of the electricity sector and the Creative Law of the National Electricity Transmission Company (Enatrel), both approved in the Parliament, controlled by Ortega and the collaborationist political parties.
These reforms, which have already entered into force, are added to the presidential agreement 192-2021, in which the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Energy and Mines is appointed Estela María Martínez Cerrato, and at the same time the administrative control of this entity was granted, thus subtracting functions from the minister Salvador Mansell Castrillo, who was one of nine sanctioned regime operators.
This presidential agreement also conferred on this official the powers to sign all documents related to the governance of the electricity sector that fall within the competence of the MEM, the administration of this entity, as well as the disbursement of funds and the signing of loan and financing agreements. coming from abroad.
Also by means of a presidential decree, Martínez Cerrato was granted legal representation of the State’s actions in the electricity distribution company, a responsibility that he will share with Santiago Hernán Bermúdez Tapia. This movement in response to the sanction against Rodolfo Francisco López Gutiérrez, Manager of the Cargo Dispatch and who was in charge of the electricity distribution company after its nationalization.
Precisely to adapt these movements, it was that the National Assembly approved with urgency the reforms to the Creating Law of Enatrel and in this way give more powers and faculties both to those who occupy the position of vice minister of this entity, as well as to the Board itself. Directive that presides over it, which were published in the Gazette this Thursday.
Board of Directors of the INE in charge of its administration
In the case of the INE, the Ortega parliament approved reforms to its Organic Law, which practically transferred the powers of the executive director to a Board of Directors, which may “partially or totally delegate administrative powers to any of its members and / or to any official of the INE ”. These reforms came into effect on Tuesday, after their publication in the Gazette. The director of the INE, José Antonio Castañeda Méndez, was another of the regime’s officials who was hit by the sanctions of the United States Treasury Office.
The economist and political analyst Enrique Saénz in an interview on the program Tonight– which is transmitted by Facebook and YouTube due to the censorship of the Ortega regime – warned that the impact of sanctions At the top of the government electricity sector it goes beyond what these movements by the regime can do to circumvent them.
“The repercussion is of another type. They are no longer covered by the curtain or under a screen. Now this entire second line of Ortega’s accomplices or cover-ups have already been exposed and the same is true for their families, ”he said in the interview.
The electricity generation and distribution business in Nicaragua has left hundreds of millions of dollars to the Daniel Ortega regime, through the thermal plants of Alba Generación, the branch of the broad conglomerate Alba de Nicaragua SA (Albanisa), with which it controls around 50% of the energy generation market, as explained by an investigation by CONFIDENTIAL published in November 2019.
Other analysts have explained that another of the risks derived from the sanctions in the electricity sector is that these restrictions imply a “red light” for any investor who will venture into this field in Nicaragua.
An example of this is the case of the American company New Fortress Energy (NFE), with which a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed, by means of which it agreed to build a gas plant, to generate up to 300 megawatts of power, in an investment that could exceed 700 million dollars.
In its third quarter report, before the National Securities Market Commission (SEC), New Fortress Energy establishes that the start of operations of its gas plant is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2022. Without However, in the same report, the company acknowledges that its investment may be affected by the socio-political crisis and the international siege, mainly that of the United States sanctions.
“If any of our counterparties are subject to sanctions as a result of these laws and regulations, changes to them or otherwise, we may face a variety of problems, including, but not limited to: having to temporarily suspend our development or operations. or permanent basis, not being able to recoup previously invested time and capital or being subject to lawsuits, investigations or regulatory procedures that could be time consuming and costly to respond to and could result in penal or civil penalties or penalties. There is also the risk of civil disturbances, strikes or political disturbances in Nicaragua, and the outcome of such disturbances cannot be predicted, ”the New Fortress Energy report cites.
