VZCZCXYZ0022
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1523/01 1921510
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 111510Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6947
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0735
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 001523 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA A/S SHANNON, WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2016 
TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN KDEM NU PGOV PINR PREL
SUBJECT: A/S SHANNON -- LEWITES: LAST MEETING WITH U.S. 
OFFICIALS 
 
REF: MANAGUA 01482 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul A. Trivelli. Reasons 1.4 (B,D). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  On June 27, Assistant Secretary Shannon met 
with Herty Lewites, Sandinista dissident and presidential 
candidate for the Sandinista Renewal Movement (MRS).  Lewites 
voiced concern about the election process, the lack of MRS 
poll watchers and continuing problems with national/voter ID 
cards, especially among the youth.  Lewites said the National 
Assembly elections were more important than the presidential 
race and would be easier to manipulate.  The MRS was focusing 
attention on the deputy races, but Lewites admitted that a 
lack of funding was hampering the campaign.  Lewites 
reiterated his support for CAFTA as well as his desire to 
maintain cordial, constructive, and cooperative relations 
with the United States.  END SUMMARY. 
 
APPEALING TO YOUNGER VOTERS 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  MRS deputy candidate Manuel Ignacio Lacayo said a 
large percentage of the Nicaraguan population is under 18 
years of age and has no memory of the Sandinista era.  He 
claimed that the FSLN is actively pursuing the youth vote 
with success.  Lewites' advisor/deputy candidate Victor Hugo 
Tinoco said the MRS also maintains a large group of 
sympathizers among Nicaraguan youth and that most have no 
party affiliation.  He believed Lewites' charisma would 
attract their support, but said the MRS needed to make its 
message clear -- voting for the MRS was not just an 
anti-Ortega vote, but a pro-Nicaragua, pro-democracy vote. 
Lewites said his party was trying to gear their message to 
youth and show that the MRS was a viable alternative to the 
Frente.  Their core message is that the MRS is a viable 
alternative within Sandinismo to the Frente. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Lewites and his advisors also reviewed their 
concerns about the CSE -- they believe that most young people 
of voting age did not have cedulas.  According to Lewites' 
advisor/deputy candidate Luis Carrion, 80 percent of 
Nicaraguans without national identity cards are under 25.  He 
said the Consejo Supremo Electoral (CSE) was "just not 
interested in getting them cedulas." 
 
FOCUS ON THE DEPUTIES 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4.  (C) Lewites said the "real fight" in the upcoming 
election would be for control of the National Assembly.  A 
former Peace Corps volunteer was helping MRS with the 
campaign and had conducted initial polls that indicated that 
Lewites could expect to garner 27 to 29 percent of the vote. 
Given those results, Lewites said the party would focus on 
the deputy races and on keeping Daniel Ortega from gaining in 
the polls. 
 
¶5.  (C) Lewites told A/S Shannon that one of the challenges 
in the Assembly race was that Nicaraguans traditionally voted 
along party lines.  Still, there were indications that this 
trend could shift in this election.  He said reaffirmed that 
if either he or Montealegre won, they would work together to 
gain a majority of deputies in the National Assembly. 
 
¶6.  (C) Lewites said corruption was another challenge.  He 
expressed concern that the vote count for the deputy races 
would take much longer than the Presidential tally and that 
it would be easier to manipulate the results.  He speculated 
that a number of challenges ("impugnaciones") could change 
the results in the departments.  His advisors echoed his 
concerns and spoke about the need to instill an awareness in 
the deputies elected that they must serve Nicaragua and their 
community. 
 
BUT NOT WITHOUT FUNDS 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7.  (C) Lewites' advisors and deputy candidates voiced 
concern over their lack of campaign funding and the limits it 
imposed on their ability to reach potential voters.  Lacayo 
said Nicaraguan financiers were hedging their bets between 
the PLC and FSLN, leaving the MRS at a disadvantage. 
 
RELATIONS WITH THE U.S. 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
 
¶8.  (C)  A/S Shannon said the U.S. did not have an election 
favorite, and would support democratic candidates who desire 
responsible government and constructive relations with the 
United States.  He told Lewites that the U.S. had to act with 
caution and to clearly underline its support for the 
Nicaraguan people. 
 
¶9.  (C) Lewites asked Shannon what the U.S. planned in 
Nicaragua for the run-up to the election.  Shannon replied 
that the U.S. wanted to encourage people to vote, and 
stressed that the process and the commitment to democracy 
were key, rather than a party's political ideology. 
 
¶10.  (C) Lewites concluded by saying that any political 
visitor to Nicaragua from the United States would make news, 
but cautioned that such visits did not always resonate with 
the people.  He urged the U.S. to maintain contact with the 
MRS on strategy, reiterated his interest in maintaining good 
relations with the U.S., and stressed his commitment to 
continue his "all out war" against Daniel Ortega. 
 
NOTE 
- - - 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Lewites died suddenly of a heart attack on July 2 
(Reftel).  Two days following his unexpected death the MRS 
proposed on July 4 that vice presidential candidate Edmundo 
Jarquin ascend to the presidential slot and invited popular 
revolutionary singer/songwriter Carlos Mejia Godoy to accept 
the vice presidential candidacy. 
 
¶12. (U) Participants: 
 
Nicaragua: 
Herty Lewites 
Victor Hugo Tinoco 
Luis Carrion 
Manuel Ignacio Lacayo 
William Tesel 
Israel Lewites 
 
U.S.: 
Assistant Secretary Tom Shannon 
Senior Advisor for Public Diplomacy Maria Tamburri 
Ambassador Paul Trivelli 
DCM Peter Brennan 
Polcouns Victoria Alvarado 
Poloff Nicole Chulick (notetaker) 
 
This cable was cleared by A/S Shannon. 
TRIVELLI