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.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
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.
5 May - Genesis sets first columns in ground
Regardless of the pending lawsuit, members of Genesis, the spinning plant cooperative, set their first building columns today! They have been leveling the land and digging postholes and making the preformed columns up until now.
Following up on our announcement (see below) of the second lawsuit filed against the CDCA, on the advice of our lawyer we did not attend the mediation hearing scheduled for April 17, 2008. This was because we are requesting that the two suits against the CDCA be consolidated into one. It appears that Yelba Carvajal's plan is to throw as many legal actions against the CDCA at one time as possible, in the hopes that eventually she'll wear the CDCA down and she'll be able to snake the property out from under CDCA ownership.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Yelba Sues Again!
Yelba Carvajal has filed another lawsuit against us, specifically directed towards the land where our Center itself is located, see satellite photo below -- the biggest shiny roof is the women's sewing co-op and the open area to the southeast is where the spinning co-op will go. This is the industrial park, threated by the first lawsuit that Yelba Carvajal brought against us. The treed area to the west of the industrial park is the Center, where the JHC-CDCA offices are located, along with the volunteer dorm and our house. This is the land threatened by the second lawsuit.
The fact that Yelba Carvajal has brought another lawsuit against us does NOT mean that the first suit has been dropped, so she now has two active lawsuits against us. We’ve been scheduled for another mediation this Thursday, April 17th, which we expect will prove as fruitless as the mediation for the first lawsuit back in February.
The fact that Yelba Carvajal has brought another lawsuit against us does NOT mean that the first suit has been dropped, so she now has two active lawsuits against us. We’ve been scheduled for another mediation this Thursday, April 17th, which we expect will prove as fruitless as the mediation for the first lawsuit back in February.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Request to throw out case
Upon revision our lawyer found several errors in the unofficial copy of the suit that we had received, and so based on that he asked the judge to review it and throw the case out for lack of specificity. The judge agreed and notified the attorney for Yelba Carvajal that the case was being rejected for that reason. Carvajal was given a period of time to comply, and her lawyer did so on time. So the case continues to be before the court, but nothing is happening with it. We have yet to be officially served with the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, the Genesis spinning plant cooperative is progressing with construction on its factory, which is located on the contested land. This week they brought in machinery to level and compact their land in preparation for foundation work. Despite the lawsuit threatening their building site, the co-op's 36 members plan to have their building finished and machinery installed before the end of 2008. Their co-op will give work to an initial 45 people spinning organic cotton into yarn.
Meanwhile, the Genesis spinning plant cooperative is progressing with construction on its factory, which is located on the contested land. This week they brought in machinery to level and compact their land in preparation for foundation work. Despite the lawsuit threatening their building site, the co-op's 36 members plan to have their building finished and machinery installed before the end of 2008. Their co-op will give work to an initial 45 people spinning organic cotton into yarn.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Nicaraguan Attorney General Requests Official Standing in the Case
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.
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.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Letter of Support from Attorney General of Nicaragua
We’re on standby still waiting to receive an official copy of the lawsuit, which we were assured would arrive ten days ago. We keep being told by the lawyer that for whatever reasons, the court is not proceeding with this in a timely fashion and we assume that’s because Yelba Carvajal’s lawyer is not pushing it. We don’t know what that means, so we’re just waiting.
Your efforts to help our case come to the attention of the Nicaraguan government have had concrete results – thank you again! Today we received a copy of a letter that the Attorney General of Nicaragua, Dr. Hernán Estrada, sent to the US Ambassador in Nicaragua, Paul Trivelli, in response to Trivelli’s letter to Estrada in relation to the case. In his letter, Dr. Estrada writes that the Attorney General’s office “will act in favor of Mr. Woodard [Mike, our legal representative], as we have knowledge of the recurring irregular activities of this Mrs. Carvajal Jirón in various transactions related to properties, in which she tends to speculate with Titles from the Agrarian Reform, divesting the beneficiaries of their rights by using various operative and legal influences.” Dr. Estrada went on to stress that our case is an “emblematic” case, as our organization “came to support our government in the most difficult years during the eighties, and I have confirmed to [Mike] that we will be part of the judicial litigation contributing in favor of the Foundation Jubilee House Community, because it deals with one of the methods used by unscrupulous subjects such as this woman.” This letter is important as it documents the Attorney General’s explicit intention to help our case.
Your efforts to help our case come to the attention of the Nicaraguan government have had concrete results – thank you again! Today we received a copy of a letter that the Attorney General of Nicaragua, Dr. Hernán Estrada, sent to the US Ambassador in Nicaragua, Paul Trivelli, in response to Trivelli’s letter to Estrada in relation to the case. In his letter, Dr. Estrada writes that the Attorney General’s office “will act in favor of Mr. Woodard [Mike, our legal representative], as we have knowledge of the recurring irregular activities of this Mrs. Carvajal Jirón in various transactions related to properties, in which she tends to speculate with Titles from the Agrarian Reform, divesting the beneficiaries of their rights by using various operative and legal influences.” Dr. Estrada went on to stress that our case is an “emblematic” case, as our organization “came to support our government in the most difficult years during the eighties, and I have confirmed to [Mike] that we will be part of the judicial litigation contributing in favor of the Foundation Jubilee House Community, because it deals with one of the methods used by unscrupulous subjects such as this woman.” This letter is important as it documents the Attorney General’s explicit intention to help our case.
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