VZCZCXYZ0581
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1495/01 1642318
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 132318Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0511
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 001495 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN SCHIFFER, DRL FOR MAGGIO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2017 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM PREL ELAB
SUBJECT: LABOR - POTENTIAL KEY TO OPPOSITION UNITY 
 
REF: A. MANAGUA 893 
 
     ¶B. MANAGUA 1083 
     ¶C. MANAGUA 1482 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reasons 1.4(b,d) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  There is growing unrest and resentment 
towards President Daniel Ortega among organized labor, 
sparked by turmoil in the education sector earlier this 
year.  Human rights NGO Nicaraguan Permanent Commission for 
Human Rights (CPDH) hopes to capitalize on the situation by 
working with the pro-democracy teachers union to push a 
pro-human rights agenda with the Ortega government. 
Simultaneously, several unions, including Nicaragua's 
largest Liberal labor federation, have approached the 
Embassy with stories of firings and growing Sandinista 
pressure.  We believe there is an excellent opportunity to 
harness this unrest by using CPDH as a vehicle to 
coordinate and focus labor sector opposition and link it to 
other pro-democracy elements in civil society, thereby 
expanding and energizing the popular base of democratic 
opposition.  We will work to facilitate, coordinate, and 
guide CPDH, labor leaders, and civil society 
organizations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Teachers' Strike - The Spark 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (C) There is growing unrest and resentment towards 
President Daniel Ortega in the organized labor sector, 
sparked by turmoil in the education sector created earlier 
this year over wage increase disagreements and fueled by 
unmerited firings and hostile school take-overs (ref. B). 
Although the crisis has passed, the education sector 
continues to simmer.  Members of the non-Sandinista United 
Teachers Union (USM) harbor resentment towards the 
treatment of their members during the crisis and are 
fearful that troubles will continue for USM members since 
Minister of Education Miguel De Castilla only recognizes 
the Sandinista teachers union (ANDEN). 
 
¶3.  (C) In addition to sustaining talks with poloff, USM 
leadership have reached out to CPDH -- whose executive 
director, Marcos Carmona, has himself been the target of 
repeated threats since President Ortega was elected (ref. 
A).  On the heels of his involvement in a cross-sector 
effort to stage a May 1 march, Carmona now sees the 
possibility of using the 16,000-member USM as the 
centerpiece and catalyst for a democratic counter-movement 
against President Ortega. 
 
Others Join In 
- - - - - - - - 
 
¶4.  (C) Although USM's -- a federation of some 21 separate 
small unions -- recent high profile status makes it a 
logical rallying point, a number of other unions, both 
large and small, have recently approached the Embassy 
asking for assistance.  All have complained of unwarranted 
firings, pressure from superiors, and the growing presence 
of Sandinista-affiliated unions.  Leaders from the Liberal 
labor federation Permanent Workers' Congress (CPT) reported 
that hundreds of members, primarily in government 
institutions have been fired.  Pedro Calderon, the 
president of the ENACAL (Public Water Utility) union -- 
representing about 2,000 members -- reported that 70 
percent of the 280 workers fired over the past five months 
were union members and that half the union's board has been 
fired.  He also mentioned that the union's contract with a 
private health clinic had been cut, he assumed, by ENACAL, 
and that since January four new Sandinista-affiliated 
unions have been registered in the company.  Jose Berrios, 
president of the tiny private security guard union SINTRESV 
reported that he had been fired and blacklisted for 
refusing to affiliate his 200-person union with the 
Sandinista union federation FNT.  Berrios claimed that 
nearly all the owners of the private security companies -- 
which represent a work force of some 50,000 security guards 
-- are current or former high-ranking police or military 
officials who were members of Ortega's security apparatus 
during the 1980s. 
 
¶5.  (C) Poloff referred CPT, Calderon, and Berrios to 
Carmona at CPDH to denounce potential labor violations, but 
also to begin loosely linking disparate unions under one 
"roof", giving them a single point of contact in Carmona. 
At this point, CPDH has been focused on USM because of its 
high profile status, but we will engage with them to 
continue building on their cross-sectoral experience from 
the May 1 march, by embracing these and other 
disenfranchised union groups to add to the USM base.  In 
the case of CPT, the largest democratic union federation in 
Nicaragua, which is planning its own initiative to achieve 
Liberal unity (ref. C), coordinating with CPDH's efforts 
with USM would be essential to establish common objectives. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶6.  (C) Although labor sector unrest represents a strategic 
opportunity, it will require careful coordination and 
guidance to harness and focus the disparate groups under 
the rubric of a democratic movement.  At the broadest 
level, a unified platform must be developed, linking the 
various pro-democracy unions to a common vision and set of 
objectives.  Labor-centric in nature, this group must also 
be coupled with other key civil society actors to make the 
movement as broad as possible.  While this worked on a 
small scale for the May 1 march -- which brought together 
CPT, CPDH, the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) party, 
pro-democracy NGO Movimiento por Nicaragua (MpN) and a 
small number of other NGOs) -- scaling it into a larger 
pro-democracy social movement will be a daunting task. 
 
¶7.  (C) Nevertheless, our contacts consistently state that 
Ortega and his inner circle "understand the street" -- 
meaning that a large popular demonstration may be able to 
convey discontent with Sandinista actions in a way that 
media and official opposition have failed to do.  We will 
continue to identify and work with key labor and civil 
society actors, facilitate dialog, and provide strategic 
guidance, as possible, to encourage coordination and unity 
amongst these democratic civil society groups. 
TRIVELLI