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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1663/01 1862255
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 052255Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0729
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 001663 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR VALVARADO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2017 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV NU
SUBJECT: ALN DEPUTY SUBJECT OF FSLN/PLC WITCH HUNT 
 
REF: MANAGUA 1083 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reasons 1.4(B,D) 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) deputy 
Alejandro Bolanos Davis' seat in the National Assembly hangs 
by a thread.  Led by Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) 
magistrates, the Nicaragua Supreme Electoral Counsel (CSE) 
voted to strip Bolanos of his seat over supposed citizenship 
irregularities despite CSE president Roberto Rivas' 2006 
public declaration that Bolanos "was fine."  Until the 
decision is formally "passed" to the National Assembly, 
Bolanos retains his seat.  Bolanos claims this is a 
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) witch hunt in 
retaliation for Bolanos' open criticism of the FSLN on labor 
issues and for publicly accusing senior FSLN official Lenin 
Cerna of being the key player in an on-going property 
extortion case (septel).  The case has also opened a new rift 
in the PLC between the CSE magistrates and anti-FSLN Assembly 
deputies.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Background 
- - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (U) In early June 2006, the ALN announced that 
Conservative Alejandro Bolanos Davis, a nephew of 
then-President Enrique Bolanos Geyer, would run for a deputy 
position in the National Assembly on the ALN ticket.  During 
the registration process, Bolanos presented both a birth 
certificate and a national ID card (cedula) that showed 
Masaya, Nicaragua as his registered place of birth.  On June 
6, the PLC protested to the CSE on grounds that Bolanos was 
an American citizen and therefore ineligible to run for 
public office.  The next day, CSE president Roberto Rivas, in 
a public statement, declared "everything is in order" with 
Bolanos' case, signaling that there were no grounds for 
removing him from the ALN ticket.  On June 8, PLC 
presidential candidate Jose Rizo stated that the PLC would 
not pursue the case further.  Thus, Bolanos' name appeared on 
the July 31 final list of ALN deputy candidates and on the 
November 22, 2006 list of deputies elected to the National 
Assembly.  Bolanos assumed his seat in the National Assembly 
on January 9, 2007. 
 
¶3.  (U) On June 13, 2007 the issue re-emerged when Edwin 
Castro, head of the FSLN's National Assembly caucus, publicly 
accused Bolanos of having U.S. citizenship.  The issue was 
immediately sent to the CSE (by the PLC) for review.  The 
three PLC magistrates on the CSE pushed for his removal on 
grounds that Bolanos had violated Article 134 of the 
Constitution, which states that any elected public official 
must renounce any acquired citizenship four years before 
running for office.  On June 27, only two weeks later, the 
CSE ruled against Bolanos, stripping him of his seat in the 
National Assembly.  However, as of July 3, the CSE had not 
delivered their official decision to the National Assembly 
and Bolanos still retained his seat.  In turn, Bolanos is 
questioning the CSE's legal ability to remove him from office 
after being sworn-in.  (Note: Post is independently checking 
the legal basis of Bolanos' counter-claim.  End Note). 
 
CSE's First Argument - Violated Article 134 of Constitution 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4.  (U) Article 134 of the Nicaraguan Constitution requires 
that anyone who has acquired foreign citizenship must 
surrender that citizenship four years before seeking public 
office.  Bolanos, who applied for his first U.S. passport in 
1985, began procedures to surrender his U.S. citizenship on 
May 31, 2006 with a letter sent to the U.S. Consulate.  He 
signed the necessary renunciation documents on July 27 at the 
Embassy and the State Department approved his renunciation on 
September 22.  Regardless of the "official" date of 
renunciation, Bolanos still renounced his citizenship well 
inside the four-year period required by law. 
 
¶5.  (U) Bolanos' counter-argued that he did not "acquire" his 
U.S. citizenship because he was born in the U.S., giving him 
automatic citizenship.  Thus, Bolanos claimed that Article 
134 could not be used by the CSE.  Further, he argued that 
his citizenship had already been considered by the CSE the 
previous June and that CSE president Roberto Rivas had found 
no problem.  Asked why he felt it necessary to surrender his 
U.S. citizenship -- when he himself argued that it wasn't 
required by Article 134 -- Bolanos responded that he "didn't 
want there to be any doubt that I'm Nicaraguan." 
 
CSE's Second Argument - Used Fraudulent Documents 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6.  (C) Because Bolanos supposedly presented both a 
Nicaraguan birth certificate and cedula showing Masaya as his 
place of birth when he registered as an ALN deputy candidate 
in June 2006, the CSE is accusing him of presenting 
fraudulent documents.  The CSE claims that it would never 
have registered Bolanos in 2006 had it known that Bolanos was 
an American citizen.  (Comment:  Between the time Bolanos 
registered in June and the publication of the final list of 
deputies in July 2006, the CSE could have raised the same 
argument, but did not.  The Bolanos issue was dropped 
following Rivas' June 7 declaration.  It is possible that the 
FSLN or PLC, by raising the issue and then dropping it, hoped 
to show Bolanos that they had something on him, thus 
pressuring him into legislative compliance.  The FSLN 
resurrected the citizenship complaint only after Bolanos 
refused to end his public criticisms of illegal firings, 
property extortions, and other irregularities perpetrated by 
the Ortega Administration.  End Comment.) 
 
¶7.  (U) When the story first re-surfaced last month, Bolanos 
initially appeared on television with his Nicaraguan cedula, 
claiming he was born in Nicaragua despite the fact it was 
widely known that he was born in the U.S.  It is not clear 
why Bolanos initially made this claim, but his reaction hurt 
his credibility and made the CSE's fraud argument sound more 
credible.  Only a full two weeks after the story broke, did 
Bolanos publicly address the issue of the Nicaraguan birth 
certificate, claiming the Nicaraguan registry mistakenly 
wrote Masaya on his cedula application in 1993.  Bolanos 
stated that he petitioned to have the error corrected in 
1993, but three years later, in 1996, his cedula still 
indicated he was born in Masaya.  Predicting further 
election-related delays due to the 1996 elections, Bolanos 
claimed he did not pursue the matter further, quipping that 
it never would have become an issue because he never thought 
he would run for public office.  (Note:  In e-mail 
correspondence with the Embassy, Bolanos indicated that his 
grandfather registered his birth in Masaya in 1949, but he 
did not indicate how the birth was registered - i.e., as a 
birth abroad or a domestic birth.  It is very likely that no 
proof of birth was required at the time of registry at that 
time.  End note.) 
 
Bolanos Claims Embassy-Provided Information Started Witch Hunt 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- 
 
¶8.  (C) On June 15, two days after Castro's announcement, the 
daily newspaper El Nuevo Diario contacted an Embassy public 
affairs officer regarding the status of Bolanos' citizenship. 
 After consulting with consular staff, reviewing the 7 FAM, 
and clearing with the Front Office, public affairs confirmed 
that Bolanos had relinquished his citizenship just prior to 
the November 5 national elections. 
 
ALN not to the Rescue 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶9.  (C) Although Emboffs privately encouraged ALN leadership 
to publicly support Bolanos in his fight to retain his seat, 
the party provided little support.  ALN deputy Eliseo Nunez 
commented to the media that Bolanos had "made an error" 
renouncing his citizenship so late, while Maria Eugenia 
Sequeira, head of the ALN caucus on the National Assembly, 
stated on June 19 that Bolanos was "very likely" to lose his 
seat.  ALN president Eduardo Montealegre -- when asked 
directly if the ALN was supporting Bolanos -- responded that 
"no one is above the law." He did, however, reference CSE 
president Roberto Rivas' June 2006 comment that there was "no 
problem" with Bolanos' case. 
 
Comment - Independence is a Dangerous Thing 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶10.  (C) Bolanos has sharply criticized the FSLN 
administration several times since taking office.  As 
president of the National Assembly's labor commission he 
decried its handling of the minimum wage issue and the 
education crisis that brought the secondary education system 
to a near standstill (reftel).  In addition, Bolanos directly 
named Lenin Cerna, the former head of state security in the 
1980s and a key FSLN insider, as the man behind a recent high 
profile property extortion case in Tola (septel) in which $4 
million was demanded from investors to resolve a property 
rights issue. 

¶11.  (C) On multiple occasions, Bolanos had commented to 
emboffs with pride that he was "beholden to no one and could 
say and do what I think.  I am independent."  However, by 
going after Cerna, who wields tremendous influence in the 
FSLN, Bolanos appears to have bit off more than he can chew. 
Within days of mentioning Cerna's name, his own name was back 
in the press with Castro accusing him of violating the 
Constitution.  Within weeks the CSE had striped him of his 
seat in the National Assembly despite clear contradictory 
statements one year earlier by the CSE's president.  There 
can be no doubt that the FSLN targeted Bolanos -- with an 
assist from the PLC -- for retribution and to serve as an 
example for those contemplating attacks on the FSLN's 
leadership. 
TRIVELLI