Saturday, November 29, 2008
The End is in sight, we hope!
After long weeks of silence, with no movement in the CDCA's land dispute case to mention, we have good news to report. Our attorney, with the help of the Nicaraguan Attorney General's Office, is hoping to be able to finalize details before the end of 2008 to put these cases to rest! Nothing is finished until it is truly finished, but we are hopeful!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
CDCA's thanks passed along
We had the rare opportunity today of accompanying a visiting delegation from the Baptist Peace Fellowship as they visited with President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo. In the process, we were able to personally thank her for her assistance in connecting us with the Attorney General's office. We have no further news on the lawsuits to report today, but thought you'd like to know that your emails, and the help they got for the CDCA were mentioned again.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Attorney General still in the picture
The CDCA received a piece of good news yesterday, in the first lawsuit that Sra. Carvajal is bringing against us. Her attorney attempted to get the Attorney General's office excluded as a third party in the case, and that attempt was denied by the judge.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Waiting on Survey
As far as we know, the next step in the first lawsuit is an on site visit by the judge, a representative from the Attorney General's office, and a representative from the Surveying office. Our understanding is that they will measure the land and compare it to the official documents that we have submitted, and then at some point a ruling will be made. We don't have any estimate as to when this site visit or final (we think) ruling will happen.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Lawsuit 1 moves into court
As you can see, Senora Carvajal's banner, advertising the free trade zone she hopes to build on her entire tract of land (including the CDCA's land which she's claiming to own) is now hanging on the roadside fence not 20' west of the CDCA's main entrance.
And today, the CDCA received court summons to appear 18 July 2008 in response to Sra. Carvajal's first lawsuit against the CDCA. This is the case in which she claims ownership of the CDCA's land where the sewing cooperative, the new spinning cooperative, the biodiesel production, etc. are located. The hopeful news, from the CDCA's perspective, is that the Attorney General's office has been granted third party presence in the case, weighing in against Sra. Carvajal's claim. She, on the other hand, has been denied her request for a third party presence in support of her claim. We'll know more after the court date on July 18.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Good News!
Sorry we haven’t updated this blog in awhile; we’ve been on hold while several developments in the case have been pending. We have several pieces of good news to report!
With regards to Yelba Carvajal’s free trade zone application which included the CDCA's property in its design (see previous post), the Free Trade Zone Commission has informed us that the matter had been turned over to their legal department. It is investigating the case and will call us in for a meeting when it has a written reply for us.
Meanwhile, Mike met once again with the US Embassy, and requested that they advise all potential businesses wanting to locate in Carvajal's proposed free trade zone to avoid doing so until the CDCA's property was eliminated from the plans. Both the US Embassy and the Attorney General’s office continue to work with us to help resolve these cases in a fair and equitable manner and the Attorney General has requested and been granted status in both civil cases in defense of our interests!
In another development, we’ve just received a legal document relating to earlier dissolution of the dairy co-op (Gabriel Cardenal No. 2) that originally sold the CDCA both pieces of property, detailing all the land sales made by the dairy co-op over the years and clearly listing both of the CDCA's purchases! It makes it clear that the purpose of the document was to decide what to do with the remaining property belonging to the dairy co-op upon its dissolution, and the decision was made to either sell or divide up all property still belonging to the co-op. This document specifically excluded the CDCA's two lots (our original Center side and the Industrial Park where the spinning cooperative, etc. is located), making it clear that our lots were no longer the dairy co-op's to sell to anyone. With this document, it’s clear that Yelba Carvajal’s case against us is on very shaky ground!
In the meantime, our lawyer has told us that Carvajal’s lawyer has made no attempt to try to move either case forward, and in the case involving our Center (where our offices and volunteer dorm are located), our lawyer has insisted that the court actually see the original title that she claims she has. As of last Friday she had not turned it over to the court.
In the penal case we have filed against the president of the dairy co-op who “sold” land illegally to Carvajal, we are in the process now of having the court submit his signature to a handwriting expert to validate that his signatures on our deeds are valid.
It seems that Yelba Carvajal’s plan is to fight a war of attrition, and to date we have been forced to spend more than $10,000 struggling to keep possession of land that is legally ours. These expenses are unjust and unexpected, and so we are very appreciative of the designated donations you’ve sent to help cover these ongoing costs.
With regards to Yelba Carvajal’s free trade zone application which included the CDCA's property in its design (see previous post), the Free Trade Zone Commission has informed us that the matter had been turned over to their legal department. It is investigating the case and will call us in for a meeting when it has a written reply for us.
Meanwhile, Mike met once again with the US Embassy, and requested that they advise all potential businesses wanting to locate in Carvajal's proposed free trade zone to avoid doing so until the CDCA's property was eliminated from the plans. Both the US Embassy and the Attorney General’s office continue to work with us to help resolve these cases in a fair and equitable manner and the Attorney General has requested and been granted status in both civil cases in defense of our interests!
In another development, we’ve just received a legal document relating to earlier dissolution of the dairy co-op (Gabriel Cardenal No. 2) that originally sold the CDCA both pieces of property, detailing all the land sales made by the dairy co-op over the years and clearly listing both of the CDCA's purchases! It makes it clear that the purpose of the document was to decide what to do with the remaining property belonging to the dairy co-op upon its dissolution, and the decision was made to either sell or divide up all property still belonging to the co-op. This document specifically excluded the CDCA's two lots (our original Center side and the Industrial Park where the spinning cooperative, etc. is located), making it clear that our lots were no longer the dairy co-op's to sell to anyone. With this document, it’s clear that Yelba Carvajal’s case against us is on very shaky ground!
In the meantime, our lawyer has told us that Carvajal’s lawyer has made no attempt to try to move either case forward, and in the case involving our Center (where our offices and volunteer dorm are located), our lawyer has insisted that the court actually see the original title that she claims she has. As of last Friday she had not turned it over to the court.
In the penal case we have filed against the president of the dairy co-op who “sold” land illegally to Carvajal, we are in the process now of having the court submit his signature to a handwriting expert to validate that his signatures on our deeds are valid.
It seems that Yelba Carvajal’s plan is to fight a war of attrition, and to date we have been forced to spend more than $10,000 struggling to keep possession of land that is legally ours. These expenses are unjust and unexpected, and so we are very appreciative of the designated donations you’ve sent to help cover these ongoing costs.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
8 May - Yelba to obliterate CDCA property
Yelba Carvajal is continuing her attempts to take the CDCA's land. We need you to stay tuned to this blog for further details.
Currently, Yelba has submitted, to the City Council of Ciudad Sandino, a multi-page proposal for a free trade zone which includes our original property in its diagrams. Her narrative and photos show nothing but neglected farmland as if that was the only terrain involved! The borders of her proposal do not include the women's sewing cooperative land or the new spinning plant project, but would wipe out the CDCA's office building, main house, generator (also used by the sewing cooperative), well and pump house (water for everyone and for spinning plant construction), and dorm... all of the administrative and volunteer support infrastructure for all the CDCA's projects. It would also clear-cut all of the huge trees (the CDCA is on the city's map as a nature reserve) as Yelba's plans call for the CDCA's property becoming her parking lot for buses delivering shift-workers!
We are currently requesting meetings with the Attorney General of Nicaragua, the city government of Ciudad Sandino, and the Free Trade Zone Commission of Nicaragua to address Yelba Carvajal's proposal. If any of these meetings are hard to obtain, we may be calling on you to send emails on our behalf in order to get the attention of those entities. So please watch for updates here at this blogsite.
Currently, Yelba has submitted, to the City Council of Ciudad Sandino, a multi-page proposal for a free trade zone which includes our original property in its diagrams. Her narrative and photos show nothing but neglected farmland as if that was the only terrain involved! The borders of her proposal do not include the women's sewing cooperative land or the new spinning plant project, but would wipe out the CDCA's office building, main house, generator (also used by the sewing cooperative), well and pump house (water for everyone and for spinning plant construction), and dorm... all of the administrative and volunteer support infrastructure for all the CDCA's projects. It would also clear-cut all of the huge trees (the CDCA is on the city's map as a nature reserve) as Yelba's plans call for the CDCA's property becoming her parking lot for buses delivering shift-workers!
We are currently requesting meetings with the Attorney General of Nicaragua, the city government of Ciudad Sandino, and the Free Trade Zone Commission of Nicaragua to address Yelba Carvajal's proposal. If any of these meetings are hard to obtain, we may be calling on you to send emails on our behalf in order to get the attention of those entities. So please watch for updates here at this blogsite.
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