VZCZCXRO2315
PP RUEHLMC
DE RUEHMU #0996/01 1101720
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 201720Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9885
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 1064
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI PRIORITY 0072
RUMIAAA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 000996 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA/CEN, EAP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2027 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM NU
SUBJECT: ALN LOOKS TO FOREIGN DONORS, SMALL AND MEDIUM 
BUSINESS, TO SHORE UP FINANCES 
 
REF: A. MANAGUA 0982 
 
     ¶B. MANAGUA 0953 
     ¶C. MANAGUA 0493 
     ¶D. MANAGUA 0328 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul A. Trivelli.  Reasons 1.4 (B,D). 
 
¶1.  (S) Summary: According to ALN National Assembly caucus 
leader Maria Eugenia Sequeira, Managua's Taiwanese business 
community is now cognizant of the threat Ortega poses to its 
future.  Taiwanese businessmen recently promised to support 
the party without imposing a pre-condition of broad Liberal 
unity with Arnoldo Aleman.  ALN national planning director 
Kitty Monterrey reports that party sympathizers residing in 
the United States are establishing a 501c3 non-profit 
foundation to expand support for the party, while on the 
local level, the ALN is reaching out to small and medium 
enterprises for financial backing.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (S) Following up on the Ambassador's April 16 meeting 
with Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) president Eduardo 
Montealegre, ALN national planning director Kitty Monterrey, 
and Maria Eugenia Sequeira (Ref. A), PolCouns met separately 
with Monterrey and Sequeira on April 18 to discuss how the 
ALN's plans to implement its strategy to strengthen its party 
and consolidate its political alliance.  Sequeira, who had 
called to request the meeting,   reported that she had met 
earlier in the day with leaders of Managua's Taiwanese 
business community and was encouraged by the outcome, as they 
are now cognizant of the threat Ortega poses to its future 
and are now offering to support the party without imposing a 
pre-condition of broad Liberal unity with Arnoldo Aleman. 
 
¶3.  (S) According to Sequeira, the businessmen represent Nien 
Hsing Textiles, and they are alarmed over President Ortega's 
efforts to consolidate power and move the country towards an 
undemocratic, authoritarian regime beholden to Venezuelan 
President Hugo Chavez.  While they acknowledged that thus far 
Ortega has treated the Taiwanese business interests with 
respect, they hold no doubt that ultimately they will be 
replaced by the Chinese.  Sequeira explained that she had met 
the owners of major Taiwanese companies operating in 
Nicaragua in Taipei last summer when she took her son to 
study there on a scholarship offered by the Taiwanese 
government.  She recounted that at the time, the businessmen 
had conditioned their assistance to the ALN on its 
unification with the rival Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) 
candidate.  Now, however, the Taiwanese believe that Aleman 
has lost his appeal to the Nicaraguan public and an ALN-PLC 
alliance with Aleman in the picture is untenable, explained 
Sequeira. 
 
¶4.  (S) Sequeira asked the Taiwanese to support ALN efforts 
to build its party structure, improve is communications 
network and effectiveness, and increase departmental and 
municipal outreach in preparation for the 2008 municipal 
elections.  The executives mentioned the possibility of 
supporting these efforts through an "exchange" with a 
Taiwanese political party.  They suggested a follow up 
meeting to include Montealegre and a larger group of 
Taiwanese businessmen, a plan the ALN supports. 
 
¶5.  (C) In a separate meeting, ALN national planning director 
Kitty Monterrey updated PolCouns on her efforts.  She 
reported that she had already contacted ALN sympathizers 
residing in the United States and they will establish a 501 
c3 foundation, in response to our suggestion.  In addition, a 
number of local NGOs sharing the ALN's political values and 
deep concern over the increasingly authoritarian bent of the 
Ortega administration are contributing indirectly to the 
party's objectives, she said.  Monterrey added that the party 
is reaching out to owners of small and medium enterprises in 
Nicaragua because these sectors stand to lose more and lose 
sooner than the business elites, who for the most part are 
cozying up to Ortega in the hopes he will leave them alone. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶6.  (C) The ALN's progress so soon after the Ambassador's 
meeting is encouraging.  Certainly, our moral support and 
USAID-sponsored training programs have helped the ALN and 
 
MANAGUA 00000996  002 OF 002 
 
 
other democratic-minded parties and NGOs develop some of the 
basic skills required to value democracy and muster the 
courage to defend it.  In light of the current political 
context, however, we will be called on to do much more. 
TRIVELLI