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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1904/01 2252249
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 132249Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1002
INFO RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 001904 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA FOR ANN BORST G/IRF; GREG MAGGIO G/DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2017 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KCRM KDEM PGOV NU
SUBJECT: CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER IN NICARAGUA ON HUMAN 
RIGHTS, JUSTICE, AND POLITICS 
 
REF: MANAGUA 001730 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul A. Trivelli for reasons 1.4 (b and d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Monsignor Bernardo Hombach, Catholic 
archbishop of the diocese of Granada offered his assessment 
of the human rights situation in Nicaragua, citing a corrupt 
judicial system, a government run on political patronage, and 
illegal narcotics trafficking as the gravest challenges 
facing the country.  He also shared his views on former 
president and convicted felon Arnoldo Aleman, who was one of 
his parishioners when Aleman was mayor of Managua. 
Acknowledging that some members of the Catholic Church had 
succumbed to Aleman's temptations, Hombach is opposed to any 
members of the church accepting government largesse and 
professed his adherence to a strict separation of church and 
state, no matter who is in power.  Monsignor Hombach also 
asserted that the United States had missed an opportunity to 
demonstrate its commitment to human rights and the rule of 
law by not bringing closure in the Nemagon case, in which 
Nicaraguan banana workers employed by U.S. companies were 
allegedly exposed to a dangerous pesticide that had been 
banned in the United States. END SUMMARY 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Corruption, Cronyism, and Drugs 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (C) In a recent meeting with poloff to discuss human 
rights, democracy, and religious freedom in Nicaragua, 
Monsignor Hombach (a German citizen who has spent over 40 
years in Latin America and 20 years in Nicaragua) shared his 
primary concerns facing the country.  Starting off on a 
positive note, Hombach asserted that Nicaragua has made 
greater strides than many of its neighbors in terms of 
security, is a much safer place to live than other countries 
in the region, and boasts a professionalized national police 
force superior to many other developing countries he knew. 
He lamented, however, that even with this progress, the 
ineffective administration of justice--with the prevalence of 
corrupt judges--is the weakest link in supporting human 
rights in Nicaragua and an obstacle to progress in general. 
Even when the Nicaraguan National Police (NNP) is doing its 
job, as soon as the "hands of justice" become involved, the 
system breaks down.  He made a point of noting that this is 
not a problem that could be attributed to any government in 
particular, but rather has been a chronic syndrome festering 
for years. One reason, he offered, is that many of the judges 
who entered the system during the 1990s were young when they 
took the bench, and because they were products of or exposed 
to a communist system during the 1980s, they had "no concept 
of justice." 
 
¶3.  (C) He recalled that when he was bishop in the town of 
Juigalpa (1987 to 1991), the human rights commissions 
sponsored by USAID and the NGO Catholic Relief Services had a 
very positive impact and were an effective means of 
eradicating corruption by encouraging citizen participation. 
Although normally people were too afraid to denounce public 
officials out of fear of recrimination, the commissions 
provided a space that allowed people to speak openly against 
crooked judges in the same room as chiefs of police, army 
leaders, mayors, and fellow members of the community.  He 
witnessed seeing one judge fleeing the scene in tears after 
being accused before a commission of trying to solicit a 
bribe.  The archbishop held that these public commissions 
were an important check on maintaining honesty and 
transparency in the Courts, and provided an antidote to 
corruption.  Although the commissions were initially backed 
by the Organization of American States (OAS), Monsignor 
Hombach surmised that the Inter-American body had 
subsequently "lost interest" in them, which he found 
disappointing. 
 
¶4.  (C) Poloff solicited Hombach's views regarding the 
administration of justice in the case of American citizen 
Eric Volz who was found guilty of the brutal murder of his 
Nicaraguan ex-girlfriend, sentenced to the maximum penalty of 
30 years in prison, and currently awaiting an appeal in the 
Granada Court (reftel).  Monsignor Hombach voiced his 
concerns about due process in the case, but did not appear to 
have a thorough grasp of the details about the trial and was 
unaware that the appeal trial would be held in Granada.  He 
confessed that his knowledge of the Volz case was limited to 
what he read in the papers. Before the trial, Volz's mother 
had visited Hombach to ask for his intervention and to meet 
with Eric.  Since Hombach was out of the country for medical 
reasons during the trial and sentencing, he never did visit 
him, which he now regretted.  He reassured poloff that he was 
going to try to visit Eric to hear "his side of the story." 
(Note: As reported in reftel, Volz has been denied access to 
one of his attorneys, private physician, the media, and 
friends.  Human rights organizations have also complained of 
having restricted access to other prisoners during the last 
three months. End Note.) 
 
¶5. (C) Monsignor Hombach cited government firings as another 
grave problem with human rights implications.  Noting that it 
is still to soon to tell in which direction the "ship of 
state" was headed, Hombach disapproved of the Ortega 
administration's tactic of replacing workers in various 
government institutions with Sandinista loyalists, which he 
regretted was sacrificing professionalism in favor of party 
politics.  He reported receiving complaints from parishioners 
who felt intimidated and worried about losing their jobs, 
saying that the government is "already going after them." 
This was fueling a climate of instability, uncertainty, and 
fear.  He did not want to suggest that any previous parties 
in power were "any different," but rather that partisan 
cronyism is an unfortunate Nicaraguan tradition. 
 
¶6.  (C) The third major concern Hombach raised was the 
scourge of narcotics trafficking which he regarded as a grave 
threat to Nicaraguan society. (Note: The topic of illegal 
drug trafficking as a societal threat was the central theme 
of his homily during the Sunday mass following the meeting 
with poloff. End Note.) The archbishop lamented that in 
remote places like San Juan del Norte, communities of 
fisherman and shrimpers were being corrupted by the more 
lucrative trade in "white gold."  Some mayors essentially 
have been "bought" by the drug cartels, while others are 
afraid to take any action, and have adopted a "see, hear, and 
say no evil" stance.  He observed that people are living in 
fear of traffickers and that the lack of employment 
opportunities is a contributing factor to the spread of the 
drug trade.  The high-level of corruption associated with 
narcotics is further poisoning the judicial system.  He also 
found it difficult to believe that the corruption stopped at 
the U.S. border, speculating that there must be officials 
inside the U.S. who are complicit or "looking the other way;" 
how else to explain the tons of drugs entering the U.S. 
market with all the anti-narcotics controls and heightened 
security in place. Hombach admitted to poloff that he is in 
favor of legalizing drugs, reasoning that Prohibition in the 
United States had done more to help the mafia and organized 
crime than to end consumption of alcohol. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Raising the Specter of Nemagon 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7.  (C) Monsignor Hombach expressed his regret that the 
United States had missed an opportunity to demonstrate 
leadership on human rights by not acting on behalf of the 
victims in the controversial ongoing Nemagon case, in which 
Nicaraguan banana workers employed by U.S. companies were 
exposed to a carcinogenic pesticide that had been banned by 
the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979.  Invoking the 
German philosopher Immanual Kant, the archbishop asserted 
that United States ought to show "justice is justice" and 
bring resolution to this case. 
 
¶8.  (C) (Note:  To date, Nicaraguan courts have ruled that, 
under Special Law 364 passed in 2001, Dow, Shell, and Dole 
must pay $886 million in claims to affected workers in 
Chinandega.  Another $32.5 billion in claims are pending. 
A local court also ruled to revoke Dole's trademark in 
Nicaragua, an issue that subsequently has been resolved. 
Although the Embassy has been able to remain an effective 
neutral party to this ongoing case, some human rights 
activists 
and NGOs still have this issue on their agenda, and President 
Ortega has cited the case as part of his anti-imperialist 
harangues.  In his speech early August announcing his 
willingness to negotiate the destruction of SAM-7s in 
exchange for 
medical supplies, Ortega worked in a populist reference to 
the Nemagon case.  He admonished that the United States must 
not send expired or obsolete medicines, but rather "the 
latest generation of medicine to treat cancer...and send us a 
good supply of medicine to treat those brothers (sick from 
Nemagon), protesting before the National Assembly and victims 
of pesticides produced in the U.S. that have come to poison 
our people." End Note.)  By raising this example in the 
context of a discussion on human rights, Hombach 
reminded us that the languishing Nemagon case is still a 
politically charged issue. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
Reflections on Arnoldo 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶9. (C) Given the archbishop's concerns about corruption and 
his conviction about the separation of church and state, 
poloff broached the subject of former Arnoldo Aleman and his 
relations with the Catholic Church. Monsignor Hombach 
recalled that when Aleman was mayor of Managua, he used to 
attend mass at his parish in El Crucero and continued to 
receive Hombach "with respect" when he became president. 
Although he had felt a sense of pride when one of his own 
parishioners was elected president, he believed that Aleman 
subsequently had damaged the image and spiritual credibility 
of the Catholic Church.  He acknowledged that the Aleman 
administration had attempted to "buy people" including from 
within the Church, but made it clear that he disapproved of 
what he termed "getting in bed with the government." Although 
he himself was offered gifts, he always refused them. 
Advocating a strict separation of Church and state, he 
emphasized that the Church has no business accepting gifts 
from politicians--whether on the right or the left.  He 
recalled that the Ministry of Transportation under Aleman 
offered sweet deals on cement that had been requisitioned to 
use for public road construction.  Liberal Party members 
loyal to Aleman purchased the cement at a fraction of the 
market price and built enormous luxury houses at a deep 
discount. Although he was offered the same deal on the 
cement, he declined. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
Cardinal Obando y Bravo 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶10. (C) Monsignor Hombach personally disapproves of former 
Cardinal Obando y Bravo's acceptance of the position to head 
the Ortega administration's Peace and Reconciliation Council, 
which he regards as a violation of the separation of church 
and state.  Ultimately, however, he does not think the 
Council will amount to anything and is more a symbolic 
creation than a functioning entity.  He finds it odd to see 
this alliance between President Ortega and the Cardinal, and 
is skeptical of the arrangement, but does not think it was 
his place to question the sincerity of Ortega's religious 
conversion, nor criticize Obando y Bravo. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Relations with Evangelicals 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶11. (C) Turning to the theme of freedom of religion and the 
Catholic Church's relations with evangelicals, Hombach 
confided that for the most part, the Catholic Church enjoys a 
good relationship with evangelical leaders, but that some of 
the more "militant" leaders openly attack the Catholic 
Church.  Although some evangelical leaders have complained to 
the Embassy that the government gives the Catholic Church 
preferential treatment, Hombach argued that it is difficult 
for the government to know who the evangelicals are since 
they represent so many different denominations.  He also 
argued that the evangelicals are more political than 
Catholics as they have their own political party and are 
represented in the National Assembly by elected deputies. 
While there are Catholics in the National Assembly, they were 
not elected to represent the Catholic Church.  He mused 
whether speaking out against the Catholic Church is the 
evangelicals' "best way to serve God."  He also disputed the 
numbers of evangelicals, insisting they represented between 
15 and 20 percent of the population, not the upwards of 30 
percent that some evangelical leaders claim.  This does not 
suggest, however, that the remaining 75 to 80 percent are 
Catholics. Wryly noting that, historically, the periods of 
persecution are the "best times" for the Catholic Church, he 
joked that when Aleman was his parishioner, all he asked for 
was a little persecution against the Catholics "once in a 
while."  Hombach expressed concern that some evangelical 
groups in Nicaragua and elsewhere throughout Latin America 
are receiving encouragement from the United States 
Government, which in his opinion, was regrettably helping to 
"divide the Latin American people." 
 
- - - - 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶12. (C) As an influential and respected leader of the 
Catholic Church community in Granada, but also a foreigner, 
Hombach offers an alternate perspective on life in Nicaragua 
and its political intrigue. Contrary to some of our other 
contacts in the Nicaraguan religious community who often tell 
us what they think we want to hear, Hombach feels no such 
obligation nor any compunction about speaking his mind, even 
if critical of U.S. policies.  While Hombach is skeptical of 
some of the Ortega government's first moves, he seems to be 
carefully staying above the fray by not casting judgment on 
or favoring one political party over another. 
 
TRIVELLI