Murillo Fills Nicaragua with Metal Trees, Symbol of Her Rule
Between June and December 2024, 97 metal trees were installed, with electricity consumption costing approximately US $200,000 per month.
HAVANA TIMES – A total of 97 “trees of life” were installed across 25 municipalities in Nicaragua between June and December 2024 by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The installation of these metal structures, popularly nicknamed “chayopalos” or “arbolatas” by the public, has an estimated cost of $1.9 million, with monthly electricity costs around US $200,000, according to media data verified by Confidencial.
The regime has not disclosed the installation cost for each of these “trees of life,” as Murillo refers to them. However, the individual cost of these metal trees in 2017 was estimated at $20,000, excluding electricity, maintenance, and security expenses. Each group of structures was also “guarded” by a security guard.
If the cost of Murillos “trees”remains the same as in 2017, the installation of these 97 structures would amount to $1.9 million. However, this expenditure is not listed in the budget of the National Electric Transmission Company (Enatrel), which oversees the nationwide placement of the arbolatas.
The installation of these metal trees comes six years after dozens of these structures in Managua were torn down during the citizen protests of the April 2018 Rebellion, as they were seen as symbols of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.
Managua Remains the Municipality with the Most
The municipality with the largest number of arbolatas is Managua, where 72 were reinstalled over the past six months, according to announcements by Murillo and data compiled by Confidencial.
The remaining 25 were placed in municipalities and departmental capitals in Nicaragua’s Pacific, central, and Caribbean regions:
- Two in Tipitapa.
- One each in: Ciudad Sandino, Ticuantepe, León, La Paz Centro, Chinandega, Somotillo, Nandaime, Masaya, Catarina, Jinotepe, Rivas, Cárdenas, Jinotega, Ocotal, Somoto, San Lucas, Estelí, Matagalpa, Boaco, Juigalpa, Siuna, Bilwi, and Bluefields.
In each municipality where the arbolatas were installed, local authorities held inauguration ceremonies, featuring parades, fireworks displays, and the lighting of the LED structures.
Energy Consumption Equivalent to 5,000 Homes
During the installation of 16 new “trees” in Managua on June 23, 2024, Emerson Salgado, head of the Electrical Protections Department at Enatrel, told official media that each structure would be illuminated with “15,000 energy-saving LED lights” as part of a project to beautify the capital.
According to estimates from La Prensa newspaper, each arbolata consumes 9,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month if lit daily for five hours, using 4-watt LED bulbs. This amount of electricity equals the monthly consumption of 60 modest households, which typically use about 150 kilowatt-hours per month.
Multiplying the 9,000 kilowatt-hours of individual consumption by the 97 installed arbolatas, the total monthly consumption reaches 873,000 kilowatt-hours, enough to power approximately 5,820 modest homes with an average monthly consumption of 150 kilowatt-hours.
Over Seven Million Cordobas in Electric Bills
In Nicaragua, electricity costs vary, but using the residential rate of 8.26 cordobas per kilowatt-hour set by the Nicaraguan Energy Institute (INE), the monthly consumption of 9,000 kilowatt-hours per arbolata results in a monthly electric bill of 74,340 cordobas (roughly US $2,021).
On a national level, the 97 arbolatas, with a total monthly consumption of 873,000 kilowatt-hours, generate a monthly electric bill of 7,210,980 cordobas (around US $196,070).
This significant expense is not accounted for in Enatrel’s budget, raising questions about whether the cost is being absorbed by the Nicaraguan population through the General Budget of the Republic or through monthly public lighting fees.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.