Although we still haven’t been served with the lawsuit papers, this week there have been two concrete advances in the land case:
First, we have now filed a countersuit against Yelba Carvajal demanding 600,000 córdobas (roughly $31,500) in damages resulting from her filing a frivolous lawsuit.
Second, the Nicaraguan Attorney General’s office has requested official standing in the case before the trial judge, based on two the factors that give the government vested interest in the case: 1) The land involved in the case was awarded to the Cooperative Gabriel Cardenal No. 2 through an Agrarian Reform title, and 2) We are an international NGO, entities that the government is in charge of regulating.
The reason that the Attorney General’s office wants official standing in the case is to assure that our rights aren’t abused or that Yelba Carvajal (who – as the attorney general himself said in his letter to the US Ambassador – is well known for “unscrupulous” land deals) isn’t able to bribe a judge.
This request from the Attorney General’s office comes as very good news to us, because with someone from the attorney general’s office actively involved in the case, it’s hard for the judge to accept a bribe and rule against us.
