VZCZCXYZ0016
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1002/01 1251556
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051556Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6196
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0655
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UUNCLAS MANAGUA 001002 

SIPDIS 

SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN 
PASS TO USAID FOR AA/LAC 

E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KCRM SOCI ECON EAID NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA'S MOST WANTED PART I: THE CRIMES OF 
DANIEL ORTEGA AND HIS FAMILY 

¶1. (SBU) In preparation for the November 2006 national 
elections in Nicaragua, post has developed three "rap sheets" 
on the records of Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista party (FSLN) 
and Arnoldo Aleman, highlighting their systematic crimes and 
abuses. The rap sheets contain short summaries of the crimes 
and abuses committed, as well as details on the sources of 
the information. Post intends to use the information from 
these rap sheets in discussions with domestic and 
international interlocutors as a means of reminding 
Nicaraguan voters and others of the true character of Aleman, 
Ortega, and the Sandinistas. While the summaries themselves 
are unclassified, some of the sources of information are SBU. 
Post will distribute the summaries to appropriate contacts, 
but not the sources. Post is sending both the summaries and 

the sources to the Department and other Washington agencies 
for similar uses. This cable focuses on the crimes of Daniel 
Ortega and his family. Septels will cover the FSLN and 
Aleman. 

CRIMES OF DANIEL ORTEGA AND HIS FAMILY 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

The Murder of Jean-Paul Genie by the bodyguards of Humberto 
Ortega 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

¶2. (U) In October 1990, security guards working for Humberto 
Ortega, Daniel,s brother and the former FSLN Army Commander, 
used automatic weapons to kill Jean-Paul Genie (age 16) when 
Genie tried to pass Humberto,s convoy on what is now the 
Masaya Highway. The FSLN used its control of the judiciary 
and the police to cover up the crime, and no one was ever 
held accountable for Genie,s murder. 

¶3. (SBU) Sources: media accounts of the 1990 shooting of 
Jean Paul Genie, personal testimony by Raymond Genie (the 
father of Jean Paul), legal documents filed by the Genie 
family in Nicaragua and with the Inter-American Commission on 
Human Rights (IACHR). 

Ordering of Torture, Killings, and Mass Murder 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

¶4. (U) Daniel and Humberto Ortega participated in the FSLN 
leadership council that collectively ordered the arrest and 
torture of thousands of people at prisons and prison camps 
all over Nicaragua. The largest torture camp for political 
prisoners was in what is now the free trade zone near 
Managua,s airport. The Ortega brothers and their FSLN 
associates also ordered numerous murders and disappearances, 
including the killings of hundreds of Miskitos on the 
Atlantic coast and the internment of thousands more in 
concentration camps in 1981 and 1982. 

¶5. (SBU) Sources: thousands of complaints filed with the 
CPDH human rights organization throughout the 1980s, 
testimony of Miskito survivors and torture victims, annual 
State Department Human Rights reports, documents on 
investigations carried out by the IACHR during the 1980s. 

Rape and Sexual Abuse of Step-daughter 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

¶6. (U) In 1998 Zoilamerica Narvaez, the daughter of Rosario 
Murillo and the step-daughter of Daniel Ortega, made 
allegations that Ortega had raped and sexually abused her 
over a period of many years. However, Ortega used his 
immunity as a National Assembly deputy and his control of the 
courts to ensure that the case never went to trial. Having 
ensured he would never face trial, Ortega then actively 
sabotaged all efforts by the Nicaraguan government to provide 
justice to Narvaez and used his mother and Rosario Murillo in 
a public relations campaign intended to bury the allegations. 

¶7. (U) Such misogynistic attitudes are common in the FSLN, 
as is the tolerance of domestic and sexual violence. When 
FSLN National Assembly deputies voted to lower the criminal 
penalties for statutory rape in March 2006, FSLN deputy 
Nathan Sevilla justified the vote by stating that sex with 
minors was "normal" in rural Nicaragua and thus should not be 
considered a serious crime. 

¶8. (SBU) Sources: personal testimony of Zoilamerica, legal 
documents filed by Zoilamerica in Nicaraguan institutions 

(including the courts, the police and the office of the Human 
Rights Ombudsman) and the IACHR, media records of Ortega's 
"public relations" campaign using Rosario Murillo and his own 
mother. 

Protection and Blackmail of Fellow Alleged Rapist Ricardo 
Mayorga 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

¶9. (U) In September 2004, boxer Ricardo Mayorga allegedly 
raped a young woman in a Managua hotel. Sensing an 
opportunity to blackmail Mayorga, Ortega and the FSLN agreed 
to protect the boxer in the courts if he would give the party 
a large portion of his international boxing winnings and 
"advertise" for Daniel in public. Mayorga agreed, and an 
FSLN judge found him not guilty in December. Much of 
Mayorga,s winnings now reportedly go to Ortega, and when 
Mayorga fought in Chicago in August 2005, he dedicated the 
fight to Daniel, wore the FSLN colors, and flashed the number 
of the FSLN slot on the Nicaraguan electoral ballot 
("casilla") to the international media. 

¶10. (SBU) Sources: media accounts of Mayorga,s arrest, 
trial, his public "pro-Daniel" comments and his August 2005 
fight, private testimony offered by lawyers involved in the 
case, testimony of the rape victim. 

Daniel Ortega a Thief like Aleman 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

¶11. (U) Property Confiscations: After the victory of the 
revolution in 1979, Daniel immediately confiscated the 
Managua residence of current National Assembly deputy Jaime 
Morales. Ortega subsequently stole other houses and property 
surrounding the Morales residence and created his own private 
compound on an entire block in downtown Managua. 

¶12. (U) The Pinata Phenomenon: After the FSLN lost the 
election in 1990 but before it handed over power to Dona 
Violeta, Ortega supervised the theft of billions of dollars 
worth of land and state-owned companies that went to his 
immediate family, Humberto Ortega and other prominent 
Sandinistas. Other companies involved in transportation, 
lumber, sugar mills, and slaughterhouses nominally went to 
the FSLN, but effectively ended up in the hands of Ortega, 
his family, and their closest associates. 

¶13. (SBU) Sources: Nicaraguan government property records 
document the Pinata and the 1980s confiscations in great 
detail. Ortega still lives in the Morales house and occupies 
the entire block to this day. Testimony of those whose 
property was seized is also widely available and hundreds are 
registered with the U.S. Embassy. Other sources include 
State Department annual Human Rights Reports and complaints 
filed with the CPDH human rights organization. 

Cover-up of Daniel,s Son,s Involvement in Fatal Car Accident 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

¶14. (U) On December 11, 2005, a vehicle owned by the FSLN 
struck another vehicle and killed two young men in the early 
morning hours. Eyewitnesses reported that the person driving 
the FSLN vehicle was Rafael Ortega, Daniel,s son and the 
director of FSLN-owned Channel 4, but, in order to protect 
the Ortega family, the FSLN pulled a switch and claimed that 
another driver was behind the wheel. Police and Prosecutors, 
fearing Ortega,s power, refused to investigate the switch, 
denying justice to the families of the two victims using 
familiar Sandinista cover-up methods. 

¶15. (SBU) Sources: media accounts of the accident and 
subsequent Sandinista cover-up efforts; the trial in which 
the FSLN and its judges covered up the issue of the real 
driver is also a matter of public record. 

Ortega and Associates Suspected of Ordering Murder of Carlos 
Guadamuz 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

¶16. (U) In February 2004, William Hurtado, an FSLN militant 
and former member of the Sandinista state security apparatus, 
shot and killed journalist and radio personality Carlos 
Guadamuz in Managua. A former Sandinista himself, Guadamuz 
had broken with Daniel Ortega and used his radio program to 

criticize Ortega, &Nicho8 Marenco, and other FSLN leaders 
on a wide range of issues, including Zoilamerica,s rape 
allegations against Ortega. Although the involvement of 
Daniel Ortega and Nicho Marenco in the Guadamuz murder was 
never proven in court, the killing was carried out in classic 
FSLN assassination-style and removed a thorn in the side of 
both men at a time when Marenco was running for Mayor of 
Managua. 

¶17. (SBU) Sources: The falling out between Guadamuz and the 
FSLN and his media attacks on Ortega and Marenco are a matter 
of public record, as is Guadamuz,s complaint to the police 
that he believed the FSLN planned to murder him. It is also a 
known fact that Hurtado was a former member of the Sandinista 
State Security Directorate. 

Contacts with Terrorists 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

¶18. (U) Daniel Ortega has had close relations with numerous 
international terrorist groups for decades. During the 
1980s, he invited international terrorists from Italy, 
Lebanon, Libya, the Palestinian territories, and Spain to 
come to Nicaragua to find safe haven and plan future 
terrorist operations. Many of these persons became 
Nicaraguan citizens. Since losing power in 1990, Ortega has 
continued to maintain his terrorist ties, and has publicly 
admitted receiving money from the government of Libya and 
other dubious sources for his subsequent presidential 
campaigns. 

¶19. (U) In 1984 Daniel Ortega negotiated a deal with 
Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar whereby Escobar received 
refuge for several months in Nicaragua after he had ordered 
the killing of the Colombian Minister of Justice. At the 
same time, Escobar,s drug trafficking operation received 
Ortega,s approval to land and load airplanes in Nicaragua as 
they sought to ship cocaine to the United States. In return, 
Ortega and the FSLN received large cash payments from 
Escobar. Interior Minister Tomas Borge and his subordinates 
went so far as to assist Escobar with the loading and 
unloading of drugs onto his airplanes in Nicaragua. The Drug 
Enforcement Agency (DEA) managed to place a hidden camera on 
one of Escobar,s airplanes and obtained film of Escobar and 
Ministry of the Interior officials loading cocaine onto one 
of Escobar,s planes at Managua,s international airport. CBS 
news later broadcast the film and the entire story of 
Escobar-Ortega-FSLN collaboration is related in detail in a 
2005 book by Astrid Legarda Martinez: El Verdadero Pablo: 
Sangre, Traicion y Muerte (Colombia, Ediciones Dipon). 

¶20. (U) FSLN leaders, including Humberto Ortega, have 
admitted publicly that leaders of the Argentine leftist 
terrorist group "Los Montoneros" resided in Nicaragua and 
engaged in military activities with the FSLN for an extended 
period in 1979-1981. Humberto Ortega admitted that Fernando 
Vaca Narvaja, the leader of the group, resided in his house 
in Managua. 

¶21. (SBU) Sources: Ortega has publicly admitted many of his 
terrorist connections, including the fact that he has 
received elections money from the government of Libya. Many 
1980s terrorists still live in Nicaragua and have acquired 
Nicaraguan citizenship (including at least one prominent 
member of the Italian Red Brigades), Ortega publicly 
associated with many of these individuals in Nicaragua 
throughout the 1980s. The Pablo Escobar footage was filmed 
June 24, 1984. 
TRIVELLI

DANIEL ORTEGA AN...