VZCZCXYZ0016
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #0710/01 0881442
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 291442Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5771
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 000710 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR D, DRL AND WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV KDEM KCRM NU
SUBJECT: CPDH FINDS MORE EVIDENCE OF SANDINISTA 1980S 
ATROCITIES IN SECOND TRIP TO ATLANTIC COAST 
 
REF: A. 05 MANAGUA 1117 
     ¶B. 05 MANAGUA 2426 
     ¶C. 05 MANAGUA 2646 
     ¶D. 05 MANAGUA 2998 
     ¶E. MANAGUA 119 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR PAUL TRIVELLI. REASONS 1.4 (B,D). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Between March 14-23, representatives of the 
Nicaraguan Permanent Human Rights Commission (CPDH) NGO 
carried out the second of three planned trips to Nicaragua's 
Atlantic Coast to document charges of crimes against humanity 
and genocide brought against Sandinista leaders for acts 
committed against the Miskito ethnic group in the early 
1980s.  On March 24, the CPDH brought Vidal Poveda Muller, a 
survivor of the infamous 1981 Leimus massacre, to the Embassy 
to meet visiting DRL PDAS Jonathan Farrar.  The CPDH will 
make its final trip to the Atlantic Coast on April 18 and 
plans to file the accumulated charges with domestic 
institutions by the end of May.  Assuming the case goes 
nowhere in Nicaragua (the likely outcome), the CPDH will file 
the case with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 
(IACHR) at the end of August.  The Miskito community strongly 
supports the CPDH investigation, but wants to be certain that 
the USG will see the case through to conclusion.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C) CPDH leaders Nicholas Bolanos, Raymond Genie, and 
Marcos Carmona came to the Embassy on March 24 to provide a 
readout on the second CPDH trip and to meet visiting PDAS 
Jonathan Farrar.  Accompanying the CPDH leaders was Vidal 
Poveda Muller, a survivor of the December 23, 1981 Leimus 
massacre where Sandinista forces executed 36 Miskito males. 
While the first CPDH trip to the coast focused on documenting 
complaints of murder, torture, and disappearance in the area 
around Puerto Cabezas, this time the CPDH team traveled along 
the Rio Coco (Nicaragua's border with Honduras) to the remote 
Miskito communities along the river where the Sandinistas 
committed many of their worst abuses and where many of the 
survivors still reside. 
 
LEIMUS MASSACRE SURVIVOR RECOUNTS HIS STORY, SEEKS JUSTICE 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶3.  (C) Vidal Poveda began the meeting by relating the 
details of how he survived the Leimus massacre.  Poveda, who 
lost an arm in the episode, recounted how the 37 men, 
including his brother, were apprehended in Leimus (near the 
Honduran border) on December 20, 1981 and moved to a small 
shop where they were subsequently divided into groups.  They 
were then removed from the premises one group at a time.  The 
Sandinistas took his group of four men, including his 
brother, to a site where they were ordered to dig a common 
grave and bury those who had been executed in the previous 
group.  Next, they were ordered to leave and were shot as 
they tried to flee. 
 
¶4.  (C) Poveda was struck by three bullets but managed to 
escape to Honduras.  He explained that all of the men were 
Miskitos and civilians, mostly small farmers, ranchers, and 
carpenters.  A Moravian pastor and his son were among the 
victims.  According to Poveda, one of the executioners, 
Eliseo Ingram, resides in the United States.  POL arranged a 
meeting for Poveda with OAS demining program director Carlos 
Orozco to discuss the provision of a prosthesis and therapy 
for Poveda and to seek OAS help to demine the area 
surrounding the common Leimus grave.  CPDH leaders have told 
emboffs that such assistance for survivors of Sandinista 
abuses on the Atlantic Coast is crucial because the FSLN is 
actively seeking to buy off destitute survivors by offering 
them money and houses in return for dropping their 
complaints. (NOTE: On March 27, the CPDH called to inform us 
that the OAS Demining Assistance Program will provide Poveda 
a prosthesis and therapy.) 
 
CPDH PLANS FINAL TRIP TO COAST AND WILL THEN FILE LEGAL 
COMPLAINTS IN DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5. (C) The CPDH will make its third trip to the Atlantic Coast on April 18, focusing on the area around the municipality of Prinzapolka to the south of Puerto Cabezas. They are aware of at least fifteen different abuse cases in that region, and will also investigate allegations of a mass grave containing over forty people killed by the Sandinista army. Thus far, they have gathered written, notarized, and video-taped testimony for 89 cases of Sandinista abuses against the Miskito, including execution, torture, forced relocation, and destruction of property. They expect to finish their work and submit it to the national prosecutor by late May and then to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by late August. In the meantime, they will hold a series of media events highlighting their findings. They held their first event right before the March 5 Atlantic Coast elections and it may have deterred some voters from voting FSLN. As noted in reftel E, the CPDH will soon submit a proposal to the Embassy for Department funding for the second (international) phase of the effort to bring the FSLN leadership to justice. The International Republican Institute (IRI) has also submitted a proposal for DRL funding to work with a local NGO such as CPDH on these issues. Post strongly supports this IRI proposal.
 
MISKITO LEADER WANTS ASSURANCES OF USG COMMITMENT TO CASE 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6.  (C) In a separate meeting on March 27, ex-Contra Osorno 
("Blas") Coleman, who is the main force behind the Miskito 
complaint against the FSLN leadership, told poloffs that he 
had accompanied the CPDH representatives on their second trip 
to the coast and will be with them for the third trip as 
well.  Coleman stated that the CPDH investigation has been 
well received by the local population.  Coleman emphasized 
that the Miskito community wants to be sure that the USG will 
see their case through to the end and not lose interest 
midway.  Coleman opined that failure to pursue the case to an 
IACHR verdict would be devastating to victims and their 
families, as well as to those local leaders (including 
Coleman) who are putting their lives and credibility on the 
line by taking on the formidable FSLN political machine. 
 
¶7.  (C) Coleman shared that other prominent leaders of the 
Yatama political party of which Coleman is a part have been 
bought by the FSLN, including Steadman Fagoth and party 
leader Brooklyn Rivera, and are doing all they can to 
undermine the CPDH investigation and persuade Miskitos to 
change their stories in return for FSLN largesse.  According 
to Coleman, Fagoth is openly challenging the investigation 
and blaming the USG for all 1980s rights abuses on the coast, 
while Rivera is more subtly arguing against the investigation 
behind the scenes. 
TRIVELLI