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C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 000823 
 
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2018 
TAGS: ECPS PHUM PGOV NU
SUBJECT: VANDALISM AT NICARAGUAN BROADCASTERS:  GOVERNMENT 
HARASSMENT OR SIMPLY RANDOM ACTS OF CRIME? 
 
REF: A. 08MANAGUA573 
     ¶B. 07MANAGUA669 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli, Resaons 1.4 (b and d) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: Over the past four months at least seven 
Nicaraguan radio stations have reported incidents of 
vandalism and sabotage.  In making arrests, police suggested 
that delinquents seeking copper wiring to sell for scrap were 
to blame.  However, the majority of affected broadcasters 
feature programming critical of the Ortega Administration and 
station owners have repeatedly asserted that the government 
(or its agents) is behind the attacks.  They note that in 
most cases equipment essential to signal transmission was 
targeted, indicating sophisticated attacks beyond what would 
be expected by simple wire thieves.  The destruction or loss 
of certain targeted high value equipment has caused the 
various radio stations to go off the air for a time, some as 
long as 20 days.  This recent rash of attacks comes as the 
President's rhetoric against media has increased, referring 
to non-government friendly outlets as "traitors" and 
"murderers."  Even if the actions were not 
government-instigated, they have served to heat up an already 
charged environment with recent closings of democratic space 
and have allowed the government to limit freedom of the media 
and expression.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Attacks on Broadcasters: Owners Blame CPCs 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (C) Over past four months a least seven radio broadcasters 
have suffered acts of vandalism to critical elements of their 
broadcast capacity.  This vandalism has severely damaged some 
of the main opposition stations, and caused all of them to be 
off the air for periods ranging from a few hours to a couple 
of weeks.  Most of the affected outlets are right-of-center 
broadcasters that feature, to some degree or another, 
programming critical of the Ortega Administration.  We met 
with the owners of several of these stations. Some of whom 
told us they believed the government and its "Citizens' Power 
Councils" (CPCs) were behind the attacks. 
 
The case of Radio 15 de Septiembre 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶3.  (C) Radio 15 de Septiembre, the station most critical of 
the Ortega Administration, has been attacked four times since 
August of last year.  The most recent attack took place in 
late May and caused the radio station to be off the air for 
20 days.  (NOTE:  The August and December 2007 attacks took 
the station off the air for ten and seven days, respectively. 
 After an attack in March of this year, the station was up 
and rebroadcasting on a limited basis after 24 hours.  END 
NOTE)  According to the station's owner, the nature of the 
vandalism indicates that the instigators had sophisticated 
technical knowledge of radio broadcasting equipment and that 
the items that were damaged or stolen were designed to keep 
the station off the air indefinitely as many of the 
replacement parts are not locally available.  This sharply 
contrasts with the official police position of vandalism or 
robbery by local delinquents. 
 
¶4.  (C) The intruders stole eight kilometers of buried copper 
cabling, the contents of the tuning box, the coaxial cable 
that connects the transmitter to the antenna, and the ring of 
copper wiring that connects all of the buried cabling. 
Vandals also removed the wiring that ran up the antenna 
providing electricity to the aircraft warning lights.  The 
security cables that keep the antenna upright were also 
loosened.  In addition, after the robbery had taken place, 
the guard turned the transmitter back on causing two modules 
to burn out.  (NOTE:  The owner suspects that the guard was 
either involved in the sabotage or was threatened as no locks 
were broken and the guard never attempted to call for help 
even though he had a cell phone for just such emergencies. 
The owner further noted that several neighbors reported that 
members of the local CPCs were asking questions about the 
security set-up ) how many guards, what hours they worked, 
etc. END NOTE) 
 
¶5.  (C) As a result of the last attack, Radio 15 de 
Septiembre was off the air until June 15 while the owners 
bought new cables and equipment.  Through donations from two 
prominent Managuans and out of his own pocket, the owner was 
able to replace 36 of the 240 underground copper cables, the 
coaxial cable, and the contents of the tuning box.  The two 
burnt modules are still out of service. 
 
Back on the Air, but for How Long? 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6.  (C) As a result of the damage done to the transmitter 
during the May attack, the station's present operating 
capacity is only 20 kilowatts.  Although the station's 
current license only permits it to run at ten kilowatts, 
eight months ago the station applied to increase its 
broadcast signal to its full pre-attack capacity of 30 
kilowatts, giving the station national coverage. Their 
petition to run at 30 kilowatts has not been granted at this 
time.  Radio 15 de Septiembre's current license, granted 
under the Bolanos administration, is set to expire on January 
30, 2009.  The owner is unsure if they will be granted 
another license when they reapply. 
 
¶7.  (C) Two days after Radio 15 de Septiembre went back on 
the air, inspectors from Nicaragua's telecommunications 
regulating entity (TELCOR) unexpectedly arrived at the 
transmitter site to make an inspection.  No one at Radio 15 
de Septiembre had been notified of the inspection.  Per 
orders from the owner, the new guard did not allow TELCOR 
access.  The owner of Radio 15 de Septiembre then went to the 
TELCOR offices to for an explanation of the spot inspection, 
but TELCOR employees would not see him. 
 
Radio Pensamiento 
- - - - - - - - - 
 
¶8.  (C) In March, Radio Pensamiento, which also airs 
programming criticizing the performance of the Ortega 
Administration, suffered a similar attack when intruders tore 
up the cement blocks supporting the broadcast tower, cut the 
stabilizing cables, and dug up underground copper cabling. 
The owner estimated that damages exceeded USD 10,000. 
Echoing the assertion made by Radio 15 de Septiembre, the 
owner of Radio Pensamiento insisted that the vandals had to 
possess sophisticated knowledge of radio broadcasting 
equipment and processes and that the attack was intended to 
disable the station's broadcasting capability.  However, he 
stopped short of accusing CPCs of involvement. 
 
Radio Corporacion 
- - - - - - - - - 
 
¶9. (C) We also met with the owners of Radio Corporacion who 
claimed that similar sophisticated technical knowledge was 
needed in the thefts that occurred at their transmitter site 
in May.  Radio Corporacion was also forced off of the air for 
over 10 hours, lost several kilometers of cable and had a 
 
specific transmission antenna ring broken.  The ring, a key 
component, was not composed of high value copper for the most 
part.  Owners claim the government is probably encouraging 
the vandalism but also stopped short of blaming te CPCs. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶10.  (C) Since most of the recent attacks on radio 
transmitters have targeted broadcasters that air programming 
critical of the performance of the Ortega government, the 
owners we have spoken with all suspect that the government is 
 attempting to restrict freedom of press and expression. 
(NOTE: There appears to be a correlation between the number 
and severity of acts of vandalism and the station's level of 
anti-Ortega programming.  Radio 15 lost the most, followed by 
Radio Corporacion.  El Pensamiento is less critical and less 
cable was stolen END NOTE).  These targeted attacks are a 
cause for concern.  Not only do such attacks directly 
undermine freedom of expression, they create an atmosphere of 
insecurity and raise the specter of self-censorship to 
protect economic investments.  In light of the government's 
recent de-registering of two opposition political parties and 
its mounting criticism of pro-democracy NGOs, a healthy 
vibrant press is more important than ever to draw attention 
to the government's actions. 
 
TRIVELLI