VZCZCXRO3945
OO RUEHLMC
DE RUEHMU #0085/01 0180017
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 180017Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4912
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAGUA 000085 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2016 
TAGS: KDEM NU PGOV PINR PREL KCOR
SUBJECT: CIRCUS ENDS AS ASSEMBLY ELECTS CONSENSUS BOARD ON 
SEVENTH ATTEMPT 
 
REF: MANAGUA 00050 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul A. Trivelli. Reasons 1.4 (B,D). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: On its seventh attempt, the National Assembly 
unanimously elected a consensus board of directors (Junta). 
The Junta selected lawmaker Eduardo Gomez (APRE) as 
president.  Two Sandinista (FSLN) deputies; two Liberal 
Constitutional Party (PLC) lawmakers; and one deputy each 
from the Camino Cristiano and Alternativa Cristiana complete 
the new Junta.  Noticeably absent from the board is 
representation from Eduardo Montealegre's ALN-PC caucus. 
Eduardo Gomez Lopez appears to have little political backbone 
and he may allow the PLC and FSLN to maintain their dominance 
over the Assembly Junta.  Deputies from the minor caucuses 
are also weak or prone to influence, while the FSLN and PLC 
have kept their first-stringers from last year's cutthroat 
Assembly.  Montealegre's decision to remove his caucus from 
the  ruckus over the Junta election may have been his best 
option.  If his caucus had associated with the FSLN in 
selecting the Junta it may have prompted some potential 
voters to question his allegi 
ance to Liberalism, while Montealegre's associating with the 
PLC would cause him to lose credibility with independent 
voters who seek leadership independent from Nicaragua's PLC 
and FSLN caudillos.  Remaining outside of the Assembly's 
inner circle in an election year will also enable 
Montealegre's caucus to focus on the electoral process.  End 
Summary. 
 
A Consensus Vote at Last 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (U) After postponing the vote on the Assembly's new board 
of directors (Junta) six times, on January 17, Assembly 
deputies voted 91 to 0 for consensus candidate Eduardo Gomez 
(former member of the Liberal Constitutional Party -PLC -- 
and currently associated with President Bolanos-affiliated 
party Alianza por La Republica - APRE -- to lead the Junta. 
The Junta also voted unanimously for Sandinista (FSLN) deputy 
Rene Nunez; Camino Cristiano lawmaker Reverend Guillermo 
Osorno as second VP; and Alternativa Cristiana deputy Orlando 
Tardencilla - who supports FSLN dissident Herty Lewites - as 
third VP.  PLC deputy Maria Auxiliadora Aleman (PLC) was 
reelected Junta first secretary, while PLC deputy Eduardo 
Mena and FSLN lawmaker Jose Figueroa were elected second and 
third secretary, respectively. 
 
A Saga of False Starts and Setbacks 
- - -   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶3. (SBU) An update (Reftel) chronology of the twisted and 
prolonged saga continues: 
 
--On January 11, the National Assembly failed for the second 
time to vote for its new board of directors (Junta), at first 
postponing the vote until Friday, January 13.  The morning of 
January 11, Eduardo Montealegre's ALN-PC caucus claimed it 
had 46 votes (7 ALN-PC votes, 38 FSLN votes, plus independent 
Jaime Morales). 
 
--Meanwhile, Miguel Lopez Baldizon's APRE asserted it had 45 
votes (2 APRE, 40 PLC, 2 Camino Cristiano, and 1 of Alianza 
Herty (Lewites) 2006.  Then, according to Embassy contacts, 
President Bolanos met with Cardinal Obando, Daniel Ortega, 
and representatives of the ALN-PC to break the impasse.  PLC 
deputy Maximino Rodriguez told us that APRE deputy Eduardo 
Gomez (Chinandega department) and Camino Cristiano deputy 
Delia Arellano will provide the 46th and 47th votes required 
to elect the new ALN-PC/FSLN brokered Junta, possibly with 
ALN-PC deputy Augusto Valle, or former PLC/now ANL-PC deputy 
Alfonso Ortega Urbina as president. 
 
--Veiled and not so subtle references to Eduardo 
Montealegre's willingness to reach consensus with the FSLN 
over the composition of the Assembly Junta were abundant, 
especially from APRE leader Miguel Lopez Baldizon, who saw 
his hopes to chair the Assembly dashed by President Bolanos' 
and Montealegre's refusal to support his candidacy. 
 
--News reports later on 11 January asserted that the PLC 
might compromise and join the ALN-PC/FSLN initiative if the 
PLC (possibly Eduardo Mena and Maria Auxiliadora Aleman) were 
to be accorded two key Junta positions.  Unable again to get 
the required quorum to open the Assembly session, Jose 
Castillo Osorio, president of the National Assembly's 
 
MANAGUA 00000085  002 OF 003 
 
 
temporary board of directors (Junta de Edad) announced that 
the Assembly would reconvene on January 12 to vote on the new 
Junta. 
 
--Nonetheless, the impasse continued though January 12, as 
Assembly deputies and presidential candidates and their 
supporters traded accusations that their competitors were 
obstructive and politicizing the process to the detriment of 
the Assembly and the nation.  Osejo postponed the session to 
Friday, January 13. 
 
--On the evening of the January 12, President Bolanos, Daniel 
Ortega, and Eduardo Montealegre informed the media that they 
had found a "consensus candidate in APRE deputy Eduardo Gomez 
(formerly PLC). 
 
--By the afternoon of Friday 13, the National Assembly's 
diverse caucuses appeared to have reached consensus on a 
compromise candidate for the Junta presidency.  However, 
deliberations over the remaining Junta positions continued. 
The PLC, APRE, and the Camino Cristiano boycotted Rene 
Nunez's candidacy, this time for the vice presidency.  APRE 
leader Miquel Lopez was adamant to the press on January 16, 
reasoning that because the FSLN boycotted their candidate 
(Enrique Quinonez), he would veto Nunez. 
 
--On January 16 the vote was once more postponed and 
rescheduled for January 17. PLC deputy Maximino Rodriguez 
called polcouns to advise that perhaps the PLC would accept a 
Sandinista for the first vice president -- Edwin Castro or 
Wallmaro Gutierrez would be preferable to Rene Nunez -- 
although he preferred Camino Cristiano deputy Delia Arellano 
for the position. 
 
Of "Pigsties and Troglodytes" 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4. (U) Verbal insults and jabs on the Assembly floor were 
sharper than usual during the prolonged debate over the 
selection of the National Assembly's new Junta.  Among the 
gems: 
 
--PLC Deputy Roberto Sanchez lambasted the ALN-PC deputies 
for abandoning the PLC and "for having no feelings for 
Arnoldo (Aleman)" and physically shoved ALN-PC deputy Maria 
Eugenia Sequeira. 
 
--Independent Jaime Morales Carazo: Referring to PLC deputy 
Roberto Sanchez's verbal assault on former PLC deputy Alfonso 
Ortega Urbina's desertion to Montealegre's ALN-PC caucus, 
Morales called Sanchez a "cavemen, troglodyte."  He lamented 
that "sometimes (in the Assembly) we see pigs performing 
tricks."  At a later date, Morales warned that the "rodents 
would not get any cheese," referring to Eduardo Montealegre 
who is often depicted as Mickey Mouse. 
 
--PLC deputy Enrique Quinonez (referring to Gerardo Miranda's 
short-lived, reportedly feigned desertion of the Sandinista 
party): "The truth is, only God, Ortega, la Chayo (Ortega's 
wife Rosario Murillo), and Lenin Cerna know what happened." 
 
--On January 15, Father Bismarck Conde of the Managua 
Cathedral termed the Assembly a "Tower of Babel," criticizing 
Assembly deputies for their selfishness at the expense of 
peace in Nicaragua. 
 
The Meddling Game, Nicas Surprised U.S. not Brokering Junta 
- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - 
 
¶5. (SBU) On January 11, Arnoldo Aleman's daughter Maria 
Dolores Aleman accused the U.S. Embassy of threatening to 
revoke the visas of at least five PLC deputies if they did 
not desert the PLC.  According to the January 12 edition of 
El Nuevo Diario (END), Miriam Fonseca, Jorge Torres, 
Guillermo Montenegro, Roberto Sanchez and Leonel Panting were 
among the allegedly threatened lawmakers.  To the contrary, 
in El Nuevo Diario's January 16 edition, former Assembly 
president Luis Humberto Guzman (Christian Democratic Union) 
praised the U.S. Embassy's maintaining a discrete distance 
from the Junta selection process. 
 
¶6. (C) Comment: Some PLC deputies, although not the ones that 
END mentions, have called embassy officials over the past 
week to seek our intervention in the Junta selection process. 
 We have declined, reiterating that this is a Nicaraguan 
affair and that we have no candidates.  Rather, we are 
 
MANAGUA 00000085  003 OF 003 
 
 
encouraging deputies to elect a board that represents the 
Assembly's political diversity and one that will get down to 
the task of legislating for the good of the country.  Maria 
Dolores Aleman's accusations suggest that the PLC is getting 
increasingly desperate over the possibility of desertion of 
some of its deputies to the ALN-PC caucus.  End Comment. 
 
Montealegre's Caucus the "Odd Man Out" 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - 
 
¶7. (SBU) Noticeably absent from the board is representation 
from Eduardo Montealegre's ALN-PC caucus.  Alianza Liberal 
Nicaraguense-Partido Conservador (ALN-PC) deputy Jose 
Matamoros asserted that his caucus had decided to end the 
Junta selection impasse by withdrawing its candidate and 
supporting a consensus option.  In fact, Montealegre's camp 
probably calculated that the political risks and costs of 
being embroiled in the National Assembly Junta with the FSLN 
and/or the PLC in an election year were not worth the 
potential gains in legislative control.  However, the initial 
assessment in the media was that Montealegre's was the losing 
caucus in the process. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶8. (C) According to some Embassy sources, Eduardo Gomez Lopez 
has little political backbone and he may allow the PLC and 
FSLN to maintain their dominance over the Assembly Junta. 
Deputies from the minor caucuses are also weak or prone to 
influence, including Reverend Guillermo Osorno, nicknamed 
Reverendo Soborno ("bribe"), whose voting record suggests he 
swings in the direction of the highest bidder.  Montealegre's 
ultimate decision to remove his caucus from the ruckus over 
the Junta election may have been his best option; if his 
caucus had associated with the FSLN in selecting the Junta it 
may have prompted some potential voters to question his 
allegiance to Liberalism.  Many Liberal voters -- who are 
first and foremost anti-Sandinista -- may take their votes 
elsewhere on election day.  On the other hand, Montealegre's 
associating with the PLC could cause him to lose credibility 
with independent voters who seek leadership independent from 
Nicaragua's PLC and FSLN caudillos.  Remaining outside of the 
Assembly's inner circle in an election year will also enable 
Montealegre's caucus to focus on the electoral process. 
TRIVELLI