VZCZCXYZ0006
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #2325/01 2881707
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 151707Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1497
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 002325 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN FEELEY AND LERSTEN 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USAID/W, USAID/DCHA AND USAID/OFDA 
USAID/OFDA FOR KLUU, AFERRERA, ACONVERY, RTHAYER AND SBISWAS 
NSC FOR ALVARADO AND TSHORTLEY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2017 
TAGS: EAID PGOV KPAO NU
SUBJECT: ATLANTIC COAST - GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO FUMBLE 
 
REF: MANAGUA 2211 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reasons 1.4(b,d) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: In the aftermath of Hurricane Felix the 
Nicaraguan government continues to mismanage the situation in 
the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN).  In his 
presentation before the United Nations General Assembly on 
September 25, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega failed to 
ask the international community for post-Felix assistance, 
despite public promises to do so.  Regional religious leaders 
have sharply criticized regional government officials who 
falsely claimed that the religious community is "pleased" 
with the government's response to Felix.  Indigenous leaders 
rejected Ortega-allied YATAMA deputy Brooklyn Rivera's 
proposal to postpone 2008 municipal elections in the RAAN. 
Ambiguous legislation to restrict harvesting of downed timber 
has triggered unrest in communities throughout the RAAN.  In 
response, indigenous leaders are organizing to better control 
reconstruction efforts.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Ortega Blows it at the U.N. 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In the wake of Hurricane Felix, the local and 
international community expected President Ortega to request 
international assistance when he addressed the U.N. General 
Assembly on September 25.  Instead, he described the evils of 
"global capitalism" and promoted Iran's right to develop 
nuclear technology in any way the Iranian government sees 
fit.  Back home, the people were stunned.  For the 
communities in the RAAN -- already angered by the 
government's response to Felix and deeply suspicious of 
Ortega for the atrocities committed during the 1980s -- 
Ortega's speech was seen as yet another insult to Nicaragua's 
indigenous peoples.  Three days after the speech, fifty 
National Assembly deputies signed a declaration condemning 
Ortega's address for having "ignored the urgent needs of our 
coastal peoples in the RAAN." 
 
Religious Leaders Critical of Government Response 
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¶3.  (C) Two days before Ortega's U.N. address, national, 
regional, and local officials from the indigenous YATAMA 
party declared that the RAAN's various religious leaders were 
"pleased" with the government's response to the Felix crisis. 
 The next day, leaders from the Catholic, Moravian, and 
Baptist churches notified us that church leaders did in fact 
not endorse the government's response.  Two days later, they 
held a press conference to clarify their position and to call 
for transparency and accountability in aid distribution. 
Religious leaders continue to criticize the regional 
government's actions, reflecting deep resentment among the 
population. 
 
Opposition Rejects Proposal to Suspend Elections in RAAN 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4.  (U) Two days after Ortega's speech, Rivera, in his 
position as a National Assembly deputy, proposed to his 
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) colleagues that 
the 2008 municipal elections be suspended in the RAAN due to 
Hurricane Felix.  The opposition bloc in the Assembly 
immediately rejected the idea, calling it a ploy by Rivera to 
buy time for his increasingly unpopular YATAMA party in the 
RAAN.  The reaction among RAAN leaders was similar.  There is 
no indication that the Assembly will take further legislative 
action on this proposal. 
 
Timber Processing Frozen 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5.  (U) On September 21, the National Assembly ratified 
presidential decree 92-2007, suspending all commercial 
extraction of timber in the RAAN.  The decree prioritizes 
timber use for housing reconstruction, encourages 
reforestation, and protects damaged forestland from the 
encroachment of agriculture and cattle raising.  While most 
agree these protection measure are essential to ensure the 
long-term recovery of the forests, the decree has angered the 
dozens of timber processing companies operating in the RAAN 
because it prohibits them from processing downed timber on 
their own lands.  Further, the decree does not specify who 
will process the timber for reconstruction or how it will be 
done, raising doubts among RAAN residents about the decree's 
effectiveness.  There is widespread concern that the 
government will use the decree as a smokescreen to grant 
preferential access to party loyalists; however, we have not 
seen any evidence to support this assertion. 
 
Food Aid - Currency of Influence 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6.  (C) Multiple sources have reported that the regional 
government is not equitably distributing relief supplies to 
the affected communities, instead diverting it to party 
loyalists.  There are also unverified claims that relief 
supplies are showing up in local markets.  On September 26, 
the RAAN Council of Elders denounced these irregularities, 
demanding that the National Assembly mount an investigation 
into the matter.  Separately, Catholic priest Rodolfo French 
accused the regional government of secretly stockpiling 
relief supplies and chain saws in the private warehouse of 
YATAMA president Brooklyn Rivera to influence voters in the 
2008 municipal elections.  According to former Vice Minister 
of Foreign Affairs Javier Williams-Slate, this partisan 
process has already begun.  He reported the regional 
government is using food aid to recruit 50-100 people in each 
community to build support for the regional government. 
 
Indigenous Community gets Organized 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7.  (C) Believing that the Nicaraguan government, 
international agencies, and donors are overlooking or 
ignoring the potential role that indigenous NGOs and 
community groups can play in the rehabilitation of the RAAN, 
indigenous leaders are getting better organized.  They have 
formed a seven-person committee called "Unity for the 
Development of the Children of the Caribbean Coast" to 
coordinate ideas, planning, and proposals using indigenous 
groups.  The committee includes leaders from the Catholic, 
Moravian, and Evangelical churches; indigenous NGOs; and 
other community leaders.  To date, we have received five 
proposals from the committee totaling USD 230,000 for 
agricultural development programs in some 55 communities in 
the RAAN. 
 
Comment - Funding the Locals to Help Themselves 
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¶8.  (C) The aftermath of Hurricane Felix provides a unique 
opportunity for us to enable the indigenous population to 
help themselves.  Although there are administrative 
challenges to working with non-traditional partners, the 
benefits of doing so are twofold.  Indigenous groups 
understand the needs of the population as well as the 
challenges and complexities of working in the RAAN's 
multi-ethnic environment.  Although sheer necessity overrides 
the indigenous communities' suspicion of outsiders, they 
would prefer assistance and support from their own people. 
Second, the national and regional governments' numerous 
blunders in the wake of the hurricane have further weakened 
the Ortega-allied YATAMA's stranglehold in the RAAN. 
Financing democratically-oriented indigenous NGOs to carry 
out rehabilitation efforts (reftel) would exploit this 
weakness and send a strong message to the peoples of the RAAN 
that YATAMA and the FSLN have failed them.  Although not an 
inherently political message, when voters go to the polls in 
November 2008, they will remember who helped them in the time 
of their greatest need. 
TRIVELLI