VZCZCXYZ0011
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #0463/01 0522049
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 212049Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9166
INFO RUEHMU/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS MANAGUA 000463 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS TO G/IWI ORNA BLUM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KWMN PHUM KPAO NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA NOMINATION FOR THE SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR 
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE 
 
REF: 12871 
 
¶1. (U)  After careful consideration of several potential 
candidates for Secretary Rice's Women of Courage Award, Post 
nominates Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo for this distinction. 
Despite the repeated denial of due process in the national 
courts, Zoilamerica has persevered in her quest for justice 
in her long-standing case of sexual abuse and rape against 
her stepfather, President Daniel Ortega.  Through her work 
with the think tank Center for International Studies and her 
foundation Sobrevivientes (Survivors), and her willingness to 
share her story with the press, human rights groups, and 
women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Zoilamerica 
has demonstrated outstanding leadership and courage.  Her 
ability to turn a painful personal struggle into a cause on 
behalf of other women and girls, and the unprecedented nature 
of her case puts her in the ranks of women deserving 
international recognition for courage. 
 
¶2. (U)  Nominee: Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo 
 
¶3. (U)  Title, Institution:  Executive Director of the think 
tank Center for International Studies, and founder 
Sobrevivientes (Survivors), a foundation dedicated to helping 
women survivors of sexual abuse and violence that provides 
training and counseling at the community level aimed at 
prevention of the crime, freedom from violence, and treatment 
for victims of abuse.  She graduated from the University of 
Central America with a degree in sociology and completed a 
special studies program in the construction of peace and 
violence. 
 
¶4. (U) Date of Birth:  November 13, 1967 
 
¶5. (U) Contact information:  Centro de Estudios 
Internacionales, Managua, Nicaragua, 505 278 5413 
 
¶6. (SBU) Justification:  Zoilamerica Narvaez is still living 
with the emotional, physical, and psychological wounds she 
endured after nearly twenty years of domestic sexual abuse 
and the subsequent denial of due process.  Her pain continued 
with attacks on her personal character, family rupture, and 
estrangement from her own mother after she went public with 
the accusations against her step-father Daniel Ortega.  When 
she first brought her case against her step-father and leader 
of the Sandinista Party to the Nicaraguan courts in 1998, the 
judge agreed with her petition for a trial, but Daniel Ortega 
subsequently invoked parliamentary immunity to avoid going to 
trial. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Despite the repeated denial of due process in the 
national courts, threats against her life, and attacks on her 
character, Zoilamerica has persevered in her quest for 
justice.  Her unprecedented action of publicly denouncing the 
leader of the Sandinista party in 1998 at great personal 
risk, and her continued efforts to bring the case before the 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) 
demonstrates her tremendous personal courage and her 
conviction that the lack of justice applied in her case will 
only encourage political and social impunity for sexual 
offenders, and deny the rights of other women who suffer from 
similar abuse.  Her struggle is no longer against Daniel 
Ortega, but rather against the precedent her case has set for 
the action of the executive, legislative, and judicial 
branches of government, and the denial of due process. 
Rather than withdrawing in silence and living the 
life of a victim, she is standing up for justice, human 
rights, dignity, and legal reform to protect the rights of 
victims of abuse.  She believes in working with other 
survivors and created a foundation Sobrevivientes (Survivors) 
dedicated to helping others who have suffered sexual 
violence--women, girls, and men--heal and rebuild their 
lives.  She has also worked with ex-combatants from the war 
of the 1980s--because they too are survivors.  She believes 
that this healing is an "urgent task in Nicaragua," to which 
she wants to dedicate her professional life. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  We recognize that this nomination could be 
controversial and politically-sensitive, given the prominence 
and status of the individuals involved.  Nonetheless, Post's 
ad hoc selection committee felt that Zoilamerica Narvaez was 
the best example of a woman of courage according to the 
selection criteria provided. 
 
¶9. (U)  Embassy Managua's officer responsible for women's 
issues is Ms. Irene Marr: phone: 505 266-6010, email: 
marrif@state.gov 
 
 
 
 
BRENNAN