VZCZCXYZ0024
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #0725/01 0901808
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 311808Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5792
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 000725 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2036 
TAGS: PREL KPAL PTER KIRF NU
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS LOCAL ISLAMIC LEADERS, WHO 
PROCLAIM DESIRE FOR GOOD RELATIONS WITH USG 
 
REF: A. STATE 50417 
     ¶B. FEBRUARY 10-13 BAIRD-DAVIS-SMITH EMAILS 
     ¶C. MANAGUA 348 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR PAUL TRIVELLI. REASONS 1.4 (B,D). 
 
¶1. (C) NOTE: The meetings described below that included the 
Palestinian Ambassador to Nicaragua took place prior to the 
receipt of reftel A by Embassy Managua.  Prior to the 
Palestinian Ambassador's February courtesy call on the 
Ambassador and the subsequent March 28 breakfast with local 
Islamic leaders at which the Palestinian Ambassador was 
present, post received approval for such limited contacts 
from NEA/IPA via email (ref. B).  With the new policy 
described in reftel A now in effect, post will end all such 
contacts with the Palestinian Ambassador.  END NOTE. 
 
¶2.  (C) SUMMARY: On March 28, the Ambassador hosted a 
breakfast with Palestinian Ambassador Walid Ibrahim Mauqqat 
and a half-dozen representatives of the local Muslim 
community, which is primarily of Palestinian origins.  The 
local Islamic leaders are well connected to the Nicaraguan 
political elite but several are involved in various illicit 
activities, including money laundering, smuggling of goods 
and people, and perhaps fund raising for possibly violent 
Palestinian groups.  However, they also proclaim themselves 
to be "moderates" who seek good relations and cooperation 
with the Embassy and they promised the Ambassador to report 
any "suspicious individuals" transiting Nicaragua and seeking 
cover in their community.  END SUMMARY. 
 
ISLAMIC COMMUNITY SMALL BUT WELL CONNECTED...AND INVOLVED IN 
ALL SORTS OF ILLICIT ACTIVITIES 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶3.  (C) When Ambassador Mauqqat paid a courtesy call on the 
Ambassador shortly after taking up his post in Managua 
earlier this year, he welcomed the Ambassador's suggestion of 
organizing a meeting with representatives of the local 
Islamic community.  Mauqqat subsequently provided a list of 
men to invite, including Fahmi Mohamed Hassan, President of 
the Nicaraguan Islamic Cultural Center, and businessmen Adli 
Musa Farhood, Ismat Khatib, Mazen Sharif Othman, Khader 
Samara, and Yamal Shihab.  All of these individuals are well 
connected politically and are involved in both legitimate and 
illicit activities in Nicaragua, Central America, and Jordan. 
 Their illegal activities include money laundering, the 
smuggling of goods and people, and (reportedly) fund raising 
for Hamas and other possibly violent Palestinian 
organizations. 
 
¶4.  (C) When the breakfast meeting started, Ambassador 
Mauqqat stated that there are approximately 1500 people of 
Palestinian origin residing in Nicaragua.  Some of these are 
Christians whose ancestors arrived in the country in the 
early twentieth century and are fully integrated into 
Nicaraguan society.  Most Muslim Palestinians arrived more 
recently, although many of the community's leaders have lived 
here for thirty years or more.  Some of the younger ones were 
born in Nicaragua.  According to Ambassador Mauqqat, 
virtually all of these Palestinian Muslims are Sunni.  (NOTE: 
Previous estimates suggested approximately 300 Muslims 
resident in Nicaragua, but the real number is almost 
certainly larger.) 
 
COMMUNITY BUILDING A NEW MOSQUE AND ISLAMIC SCHOOL 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5.  (C) The Ambassador's guests reported that their Islamic 
cultural center possesses formal legal standing ("Personeria 
Juridica") approved by the National Assembly.  Such legal 
standing is required for any church or other non-governmental 
organization to operate in Nicaragua and is routinely granted 
by the Assembly.  The group has operated a mosque out of a 
converted private residence for many years, and its leaders 
reported that they are now constructing a new mosque and plan 
to establish an Islamic school to provide both religious 
instruction and teach Arabic to the children of community 
members.  When the Ambassador asked about the mosque's Imam, 
the local Islamic leaders stated that he is a 24-year old 
Jordanian recruited by the Nicaraguan Islamic cultural center 
and brought here with his wife. 
 
¶6.  (C) While Nicaraguan law allows religious organizations 
with official legal standing to seek tax exonerations for 
expenses associated with their religious activities, the 
local Islamic leaders stated that they had not yet taken the 
 
bureaucratic steps to obtain such exoneration.  The fact that 
the local Islamic business community, represented by these 
same men, is notorious for its ability to avoid taxes for all 
its activities suggests that the group has seen no need for 
dealing with the GON bureaucracy to obtain official tax 
exempt status for religious activities when it already enjoys 
de facto tax immunity for everything. 
 
ISLAMIC REPRESENTATIVES PROCLAIM SELVES "MODERATES" AND 
PROMISE TO REPORT SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUALS TRANSITING NICARAGUA 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7.  (C) Ambassador Mauqqat and the local Islamic community 
representatives proclaimed a desire for good relations and 
regular contact with the Embassy.  They portrayed themselves 
and their community as "moderates" who enjoy good relations 
with the GON, other religious denominations, and Nicaraguan 
society as a whole.  They claimed that Palestinian Christians 
and Palestinian Muslims resident in Nicaragua enjoy close 
relations and participate regularly in one another's social 
activities. 
 
¶8.  (C) The local Islamic representatives stated that their 
community is small enough that any outsider passing through 
Nicaragua and seeking cover or support in the local community 
would be detected immediately.  Although several of the 
individuals present at the breakfast are active migrant 
smugglers, the group promised the Ambassador that if 
suspicious or dangerous individuals pass through Nicaragua 
and come to their attention, they will alert both the 
Nicaraguan police and the Embassy. 
 
CLOSE CONNECTIONS TO BOTH PLC AND FSLN LEADERS 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶9.  (C) Many of the most prominent members of the Islamic 
business community have developed close personal and business 
ties to leaders of both of the traditional political parties, 
the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) and the Sandinistas 
(FSLN), and use these connections to avoid paying taxes, 
having to register their businesses, or having their imports 
and exports inspected.  Such connections also facilitate 
their migrant smuggling and other illicit activities.  As 
businessmen, most seemed to incline towards the PLC and many 
have been in Nicaragua long enough to have bad memories of 
1980s FSLN economic mismanagement, but the group emphasized 
to the Ambassador that, as businessmen, they have to develop 
good relations and do business with the entire political 
spectrum.  Some are known to have cultivated close ties with 
Lenin Cerna, the former Director of State Security and Daniel 
Ortega's chief political "fixer." 
 
COMMENT 
- - - - 
 
¶10.  (C) Ambassador Mauqqat has only been in Nicaragua for a 
few months, but he already appears to have developed a clear 
leadership role in the local Palestinian Muslim community, 
and he seems to be living up to his reputation (reftel C) as 
a much more refined, pragmatic diplomat than his dogmatic 
predecessor.  Although all of the local Islamic leaders are 
involved to varying degrees in a wide variety of illegal 
activities, if post is to have any access to and influence on 
the community, some interaction with its leaders could prove 
useful.  As the community grows, builds a real mosque and an 
Islamic school, such contacts will only become more important. 
TRIVELLI