Peter Tsokos, unfavorable publicity in Nicaragua

[nicoli86]

Copied and pasted from:
http://www.nicanet.org/alerts/tsokos_action_1.html
I strongly agree that this guy needs to be run out of Nicaragua. Write, talk to others about this and make a difference.
Glenn E. Seavers III

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Actions and Issues

Tsokos Claims Threats by Nicanet Environmental Committee
While demands continue to flow in for the murderers of indigenous rights lawyer Maria Luisa Acosta's husband Francisco Garcia to be brought to justice, Peter Tsokos, the land speculator whose name has come up several times in the context of the murder, claimed to be living in fear for his own life. In an extraordinary interpretation of events, he said specifically that he had received "three threatening messages via the internet," and that they emanated from the "Nicaragua Network's Environmental Committee," a group which he said "aids and supports non-governmental organizations directed by Maria Luisa Acosta and Francisco Campbell."

Tsokos has received unfavorable publicity in Nicaragua and abroad for his sale of indigenous lands on the internet in violation of a court injunction. A number of international solidarity organizations have joined a campaign to stop this sale. Buyers of one of the Pearl Cays, sold by Tsokos on his website, shot at the boat of the government's Advocate for the Environment Marianela Rocha when she attempted to visit the island to check on disruption of the work of the turtle protection team. Tsokos and his lawyer last week sequestered the President and Vice-President of the communal council of Rama Cay and held them for hours demanding that they sign a paper saying they would drop the case demanding that he stop the sale of land at Long Beach, part of their community.

Accompanied by his legal advisor, Tsokos came into the newspaper La Prensa's Managua office to charge that such groups as the Nicaragua Network, besides generating fear in his own case, were also guilty of driving investors away from Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast. He accused the Network specifically of supporting Dr. Acosta's Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous Peoples (CALPI) and the Center for Citizen's, Human and Autonomous Rights (CEDEHCA), which he claimed were organizations which "feed off the needs of ordinary people." "These groups are against any form of development for the Coast," he said. "They make their living from people's problems; they're driving investors away." He went on to allege that, in addition to "tricking local indigenous people," such organizations made it their business to seek financial support internationally "in order to obstruct capital investment in this region."

As supposed proof of what he was saying, Tsokos instanced the campaigns which they had mounted against such logging firms as Madensa, found guilty of illegal and excessive logging in the rain forests; against John Vogl, another US citizen who has "bought" indigenous land on Monkey Point precisely where the proposed "Dry Canal" will pass; against Italian investors on Corn Island who wanted to develop a tourist center there which would have severely affected the island's fresh water supply; and against himself, who, having "bought" islands off the Bluefields Coast for a song, had sold them over the internet at enormously inflated prices.

He denied absolutely having any involvement in Garcia's death, and insisted that he would have had "nothing to gain and everything to lose" from any connection with it.

In response, Francisco Campbell and Maria Luisa Acosta challenged his entire version of reality. They attested that his presence had "brought little but chaos and dismay to the indigenous communities;" that, besides exploiting their traditional lands by buying cheaply and selling exorbitantly, his armed men had prevented fishermen from landing on "his" properties for shelter and for fresh water; that they had fired on government boats; and that selling islands to private individuals, illegally and at exorbitant profits, hardly constituted genuine development for the region. Dr. Acosta maintained that their contention was borne out in that Tsokos had shown himself completely unwilling to face legal charges and complaints laid before Bluefield courts. "Instead," she concluded, "he is trying to terrorize me through the death of my husband."

The Nicaragua Network Environmental Committee, meeting in Washington, DC, expressed its alarm and outrage at the accusations made by Tsokos and stated that its work has always been non-violent and in support of groups working for indigenous rights and the preservation of Nicaragua's environment. Members of the group, a standing committee of the Nicaragua Network, stated that they intended to consult a lawyer about how to proceed in the face of Tsokos' attacks against their work.

The Nicaragua Network and other organizations are continuing to ask human rights activists to write to Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños. 1. Express your outrage at the senseless murder of Francisco José García Valle and concern for the security of Maria Luisa Acosta and her family, who have been at the forefront of the struggle for indigenous rights in the region. 2. Demand that the security of Acosta and her family be ensured by the government of Nicaragua and that a rigorous, stepped up investigation into the murder begin NOW. 3. Demand that the assassins be immediately apprehended and brought to justice. 4. Tell the President that more police protection is needed for the South Atlantic Autonomous Region, including Bluefields, Rama Cay, Monkey Point and other communities.

You can e-mail President Enrique Bolaños at presidente@presidencia.gob.ni . You can also send letters by mail or fax to President Bolaños in care of Lic. Harold Rivas, Charges d'Affaires, Embassy of the Republic of Nicaragua, 1627 New Hampshire Avenue, NW Washington DC 20009, Telephone: (202) 939-6570; Fax: (202) 939-6574


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