VZCZCXYZ0021
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #0585/01 0651550
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 061550Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9339
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

S E C R E T MANAGUA 000585 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2017 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL PINR
SUBJECT: OVERVIEW OF MINISTERS AND SENIOR OFFICIALS IN 
ORTEGA ADMINISTRATION 
 
REF: A. 02 MANAGUA 1588 
     ¶B. 02 SECSTATE 123985 
     ¶C. MANAGUA 241 
     ¶D. MANAGUA 392 
     ¶E. MANAGUA 466 
 
Classified By: Classified by Ambassador P. Trivelli for reason 1.4b 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Within two weeks of his January 10 
inauguration, President Daniel Ortega had appointed all his 
ministers save one, the Minister of Defense.  Political 
opposition leaders have characterized the new ministers as 
"nobodies" who exercise virtually no authority or influence. 
Instead, Ortega is concentrating power in the hands of 
"consejos" (councils) led by Ortega loyalists, including his 
wife, Rosario Murillo.  Ortega's political maneuvers have 
drawn fire from legal experts, human rights organizations, 
and political opposition leaders, concerned that Ortega is 
circumventing laws advance his aspirations for the 
institutionalization of a "direct" democracy.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Foreign Affairs - Samuel Santos 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (U) A long-time member of the FSLN, Santos most recently 
served as the party's Secretary for International Relations. 
He is a private businessman with real estate, hotel, and 
coffee interests and is a founding member of the Nicaraguan 
Stock Market.  In the 1980s, he served in a variety of 
positions in the FSLN government, including Minister of 
National Reconstruction, vice president of national 
development, and mayor of Managua. Santos holds a BA from the 
National Autonomous University of Nicaragua. 
 
¶3.  (C) The FSLN's primary interlocutor in recent years with 
the senior diplomatic community in Managua, Santos represents 
one of the new government's kinder, gentler public faces, but 
one who likely exerts little influence on Ortega,s inner 
circle.  Reflecting his personal economic interests, however, 
Santos does seem to respond and take action in cases that 
could affect the Nicaraguan tourism or investment climate. 
Career civil service members within the ministry, as well as 
a former minister in the Bolanos government, have commented 
that Santos is "being used" to assuage the international 
community's concerns about the Ortega government during the 
transition period, but may not last in office more than 12 
months.  Santos is known to have been involved in 
facilitating arms trade during the Sandinista era of the 
1980s.  In 1999, Santos was found prudentially ineligible for 
a U.S. visa under 212(a)(3)(B) on grounds of terrorism. 
Santos continued traveling to the U.S. until he was detained 
in Miami in 2004 as a result of the 1999 P3B entry.  His visa 
was canceled and Santos withdrew his application for 
admission to the U.S.  Following his appointment as Foreign 
Minister, Santos was granted a visa waiver. 
 
Industry and Commerce - Horacio Brenes 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4.  (U) Horacio Brenes is a 57-year-old businessman from 
Matagalpa who became increasingly active in business 
associations and politics in Matagalpa beginning in 1995 when 
he founded the Pro-Matagalpa Trade Fair Committee. The 
committee soon transformed itself into the Foundation for the 
Development of Enterprise in Matagalpa (FUDEMAT).  With the 
foundation as his base, Brenes ran for mayor of Matagalpa in 
1996 on an independent ticket called Matagalpa 2000, but was 
defeated by the PLC candidate.  In 2000 and 2004, he ran for 
mayor on the PLC ticket, but was defeated by the FSLN 
candidate.  However, as a member of the City Council, he 
worked in a "unity pact" with his FSLN rivals.  In town 
meetings held in Matagalpa and Boaco organized by Ortega's 
wife and campaign manager, Rosario Murillo, Brenes stepped 
forward as one of a small group of liberals supporting 
Ortega's campaign for unity.  Brenes graduated from the 
Central American Institute for Business Administration 
(INCAE).  Brenes also studied at Louisiana State University 
for three years in the late 1960s.  He is married to Tamara 
Hawkins, whose grandfather was from the United States.  He 
has two sons and two daughters, two of which attend 
university in Florida. 
 
Finance and Public Credit - Alberto Guevara 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5.  (U) Guevara holds masters degrees from the National 
University of Nicaragua in Economics and Development and in 
Public Finance.  He also studied macroeconomics in Chile on 
an Interamerican Development Bank scholarship.  Until April 
2006, Guevara worked as a junior researcher in the Central 
Bank's (BCN) unit calculating the GDP deflator.  He also 
covered issues of debt sustainability, national income 
accounting, and statistical programs for the management of 
information systems.  He is close to presidential economic 
advisor Bayardo Arce. 
 
¶6.  (C) Guevara's ability to administer the Ministry of 
Finance is questionable, as he appears to lack managerial and 
political experience.  Guevara was actually dismissed from 
the Central Bank last year on charges of sexual abuse 
perpetrated while moonlighting as an economics professor. 
Following his dismissal, the FSLN reportedly found him a job 
in a party member's construction company. 
 
Central Bank - Antenor Rosales 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Rosales holds a masters degree in law and a BA in 
business.  He is close to presidential economic advisor 
Bayardo Arce.  Rosales served as the FSLN's representative on 
the board of the Superintendent of Banks and Other Financial 
Institutions.  He also served on the Board of the Nicaraguan 
Renewable Energy and Environment Company.  In the mid-1990s, 
Rosales was a partner, along with other notable Sandinistas, 
in Interbank (the Intercontinental Bank) which collapsed in 
2000 as a result of mismanagement and non-performing loans, 
helping to trigger the collapse of the Nicaraguan financial 
system.  There is no evidence that Rosales was involved in 
misconduct.  From 1979 to 1994, Rosales served in the 
Sandinista Army, rising to the rank of colonel. 
 
¶8.  (C) Rosales is characterized as confident and charismatic 
by interlocutors and former employees state that "he only 
accepts one answer for things - his own."  He was known to 
subject professors in graduate school to long lectures on the 
short-comings of their economic models.  However, Rosales is 
seen as having a moderating influence on Ortega through Arce. 
 He is one of the few Sandinista leaders that has not (so 
far) dismissed key personnel from his institution. 
 
Government - Ana Isabel Morales 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶9.  (U) Morales holds a masters degree in international 
relations and three post graduate degrees in various facets 
of the law.  She worked for 19 years in the Ministry of the 
Interior, today known as the Ministry of Government, where 
she served as both deputy and, later, director of immigration 
services for nearly 15 years.  The niece of Vice President 
Jaime Morales, she is a former Sandinista guerrilla fighter 
recognized for being the only survivor of the Veracruz 
massacre.  At the time she was recruited to fight against the 
Somoza regime, she was a student activist. 
 
¶10.  (S) Embassy sources reported that, in a meeting with her 
staff and senior members of the National Police (NNP), 
Morales declared her intentions to reconstitute the ministry 
as it was in the 1980s as the Ministry of Interior.  She 
announced that she would personally take control of NNP 
operations and intelligence (Ref. B).  Morales was apparently 
immigration director when Nicaraguan passports were obtained 
by subjects involved in the first attack on the World Trade 
Center.  Further, post has information that in 1997 and 1998, 
Morales was linked to illegal alien trafficking on at least 
six occasions (Ref. D). 
 
Transportation and Infrastructure - Fernando Martinez 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶11.  (U) Pablo Fernando Martinez Espinoza is well known in 
Nicaraguan construction and engineering circles.  From 1984 
to 1990, he was a member of President Daniel Ortega's first 
administration, serving as Vice Minister of Construction.  In 
the early 1990s, Martinez founded CEICO SA, a construction 
company that has received a number of government contracts to 
build roads and bridges, as well as a dock at the Port of 
Corinto and an airport on Corn Island.  CEICO has also won 
contracts to maintain and rehabilitate national roads from 
the government's Roadway Maintenance Fund (FOMAV).  Martinez 
has been a member of the Executive Council of the Nicaraguan 
Chamber of Construction.  He holds a degree from the Central 
American University in Civil Engineering, and has worked as 
the Dean of the College of Engineering at the same 
institution.  He is one of the founders of the National 
Engineering University. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Many of Martinez's interlocutors in the business 
sector like him and think he may be the man to shape up this 
troubled ministry.  Currently, his company has contracts for 
many of MTI's largest infrastructure projects as well as all 
road maintenance in Nicaragua.  He has not renounced his 
ownership of CEICO since his appointment, raising the specter 
of potential conflict of interest. 
 
Health - Martiza Cuan 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶13.  (C) Quan is a general health practitioner with a 
master's degree in public health.  She is a former director 
of the Bertha Calderon hospital in Managua and has also 
served as director at a number of health centers in different 
parts of the country.  Under the Sandinista regime, she 
worked at the Ministry of Health and has worked on health 
programs funded by foreign donors and most recently served as 
the director of the Women's Integral Health Project (PROSIM). 
 Ministry personnel describe her as a soft-spoken 
well-meaning technocrat in over her head as Minister. 
 
Agriculture and Forestry - Ariel Bucardo 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶14.  (U) Bucardo holds a degree in business management and 
social sciences, and a master's degree in sustainable 
development.  Before his appointment as Minister, Bucardo 
served as president of the National Rural Fund (CURUNA), a 
savings and credit cooperative.  He has spent most of his 
professional career working in the areas of basic food 
production and agricultural exports.  Bucardo is a founder of 
the Sandinista-affiliated National Federation of Cooperatives 
(Fenacoop) -- which was known for leading land invasions on 
properties of foreigners and wealthy Nicaraguans -- and of 
the Association of Farm Workers (ATC).  He was also president 
of the National Union of Agriculture and Cattle Farmers 
(UNAG) during the 1980s.  He served as a member of the 
National Council for Economic and Social Planning (CONPES) as 
well. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) In his capacity as a UNAG official, Bucardo 
appears to have been a constant critic of CAFTA and may be 
Ortega's source of information in this regard.  In public 
statements, he has stressed the value of recent trade and 
cooperation agreements with Venezuela and Iran. 
 
Education - Miguel de Castillo Urbina 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶16. (C) De Castillo Urbina is a professor of Education 
Science at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua 
(UNAN) and coordinates the Latin American Forum of Education 
Policy (FLAPE).  He has written several books on education 
and educational policy and often authors long pieces on 
educational policy in the daily newspaper El Nuevo Diario. 
He was vice minister of education during the previous 
Sandinista government.  He proudly characterizes himself as a 
Marxist and is strongly opposed to school autonomy and 
decentralization.  De Castillo has already taken several 
missteps linked to raising public school coverage; he is 
viewed as hard-headed and dogmatic. 
 
Environment and Natural Resources - Amanda Lorio Arana 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶17.  (C) Amanda Lorio Arana is a sociologist who worked for 
the Agricultural Development and Reform Ministry during the 
1980s.  She has since been certified by the Upledger 
Institute (United States) and the International Therapy 
Examination of Healthcare Practitioners.  Before being named 
minister, she  practiced reflexology at a medical office in 
Managua.  She has reportedly treated First Lady Rosario 
Murillo, and it was through this connection that she was 
selected as minister.  Lorio freely admits that she has no 
background on environmental issues. 
 
Family - Rosa Adilia Vizcaya 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶18.  (C) Adilia Vizcaya was appointed as Minister of Family 
in mid-February following the sudden removal of Glenda 
Ramirez Noguera, who held the position for only 21 days. 
Ramirez, who is the sister-in-law of Presidential Economic 
Advisor Bayardo Arce, a close friend of the First Lady, 
Rosario Murillo, was seen as a moderate with independent 
ideas about how to run the Ministry.  In addition, there are 
indications that Ramirez may have fallen out of favor with 
Ortega, leaving her vulnerable to attack.  Adilia Vizcaya, 
originally appointed as Secretary General of the Ministry of 
Family, according to media reports, was favored by FSLN 
hard-liner Nestor Moncada Lau for the Minister position. 
Lau, a former member of Lenin Cerna's state security forces 
in the 1980s -- connected to a variety of crimes including 
assassinations, transporting explosives, and smuggling 
automatic weapons -- is believed to have orchestrated 
Noguera's ouster with Adilia Vizcaya and a leader of the 
Sandinista labor union.  No further information is available 
on Adilia Vizcaya at this time. 
 
Ortega's Maneuvering may Leave Ministers with Little Real 
Power 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- 
 
¶19.  (C) Through a series of rapid legislative reforms to Law 
290 (Ref. C) and presidential decrees, it appears that Ortega 
is maneuvering to implement the first stages of direct 
democracy and undermine the ministries.  First, Ortega 
successfully pushed through the National Assembly a reform to 
Law 290 (Law 612) that expands his power to "create 
(secretaries and) councils (Consejos) that he deems 
convenient for the better development of his government and 
to determine (their) organization and functioning."  To date, 
Ortega has created or announced eight councils including the 
Council of Communication and Citizenry headed by his wife; 
the Council of Food Security; the Council of Peace and 
Reconciliation; the Council of the Atlantic Coast; the 
Council of the Family; the Council of Sustainable 
Development; the Council of the Fight Against Drugs; and the 
Council of Economic and Social Planning. 
 
¶20.  (SBU) Legally, neither Law 290 nor Law 612 reforms allow 
Ortega to cover the salaries of the heads of these councils, 
stating that "these councils will not cause budget 
expenditures and participation (in them) will not generate 
economic remuneration."  To circumvent this restriction, 
Ortega is reverting back to original Law 290 language that 
allows remuneration for "secretariats."  Two weeks ago, 
Ortega issued Presidential Decree 21-2007, dividing the 
Office of the Presidency into "advisors," "office of the 
presidency," "councils," and "secretariats," and has re-named 
the heads of the councils as secretaries, allowing them to 
receive salaries.  In practice, however, Ortega continues to 
refer to these advisory organs as "councils" and publicly 
declared over the weekend that the ministries will be 
accountable to them. 
 
¶21.  (C) Ortega's moves to transfer power from the ministries 
to his councils have drawn strong criticism from local human 
rights organizations and the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance 
(ALN) political party, both of which have filed formal 
denunciations with the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ). 
Privately, opposition leaders, including Sandinista 
dissidents belonging to the Sandinista Renovation Movement 
(MRS), have characterized the ministers as "nobodies", 
believing Ortega's new ministers are "place holders with no 
authority or influence" (Ref. E). 
 
¶22.  (SBU) Although Ortega's wrangling with Laws 290 and 612 
may be legally dubious, legal experts insist that the 
appointment of Ortega's wife as the head of the Council of 
Communications and Citizenry -- which recently took control 
of the public relations and travel budgets for all government 
ministries -- is a clear violation of Law 438 on public 
probity.  This law states that "the spouse or common-law 
partner...of the public servant who appoints or contracts or 
of the person from whom this authorization emanates" is not 
eligible to exercise public functions.  In response, Ortega 
insisted that "She (Rosario) will occupy the office or 
offices that may be necessary for her to occupy," leaving no 
doubt of the influence his wife will wield in his 
administration. 
 
Who's Who in the Inner Circle 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶23.  (C) Although they do not carry the formal "minister" 
title, there is little doubt that the heads of the Councils 
and others appointed under Presidential Decree 21-2007, form 
Ortega's inner circle.  Biographies for the key players 
appointed thus far are provided below. 
 
Secretary of Communication and Citizenry - Rosario Murillo 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶24.  (C) Together since the 1970s and officially married last 
year, Murillo is President Ortega's closest confidant.  She 
currently serves as coordinator of the Council for 
Communication and Citizenry and functioned as Ortega's 
campaign manager during his successful bid for the presidency 
in the 2006 elections.  Murillo is the mother of Zoilamerica, 
who, in 1998, publicly accused stepfather Ortega of having 
abused her for more than a decade.  Murillo has consistently 
defended her husband in the case.  Some believe that she has 
used her knowledge of the case to gain and maintain power and 
influence over Ortega.  Murillo is a great believer in 
spiritualism, a hypochondriac, and, putting it mildly, sports 
an eclectic wardrobe. 
 
¶25.  (U) Born on June 22, 1951, Murillo was educated in the 
UK and France and is fluent in both English and French. 
Prior to becoming involved in the Sandinista movement, she 
was a language professor and worked for ten years as the 
assistant to the late Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, Director of La 
Prensa newspaper.  In 1969 she joined the Sandinista 
underground movement and during the 1980s she was a member of 
the Nicaraguan National Assembly and Minister of the 
Nicaraguan Institute of Culture.  She is also a published 
poet (of largely erotica), writer and journalist. 
 
Presidential Advisor for Economic Affairs - Bayardo Arce 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶26.  (U) Before his appointment as Presidential Advisor for 
Economic Affairs, Arce served as a FSLN deputy in the 
National Assembly from 1997-2007, where he served as 
president of the Economic Commission.  He is believed to 
bring a more pragmatic approach to the FSLN's economic 
policies.  Arce joined the FSLN in 1969 and became a member 
of the urban resistance in 1970.  He is a long standing 
member of the FSLN National Directorate and has held various 
other positions within the party.  Arce is also a successful 
businessman, exporting agricultural products.  He is close to 
First Lady Murillo. 
 
¶27.  (C) In 2002, Arce's U.S. non-immigrant visa was revoked 
under 212(A)(2)(I) of the INA for money laundering for his 
role in the collapse of Intercontinental Bank (Interbank) in 
2000 (Refs. A and B). 
 
Private Secretary for National Policy - Paul Oquist 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶28.  (U) Oquist holds a doctorate in political science from 
UC Berkeley and is a naturalized Nicaraguan citizen, who 
renounced his U.S. citizenship in the 1980s.  Oquist was head 
of the transition team for the Sandinista government to the 
UNO government in 1990.  During the 1980s, he worked in 
then-President Ortega's office, first as the coordinator of 
the state's management system and then as Ortega's Chief of 
Staff.  Oquist was a long-time consultant for the United 
Nations Development Program where he worked as a governance 
expert on projects throughout the world. 
TRIVELLI