VZCZCXYZ0012
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #0840/01 1842151
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 022151Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2826
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA IMMEDIATE 1933
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA IMMEDIATE 0098
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES IMMEDIATE 0071
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS IMMEDIATE 1290
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ JUL 0205
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO IMMEDIATE 5347
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO IMMEDIATE 0468
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO IMMEDIATE 0221
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUMIAAA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL//J2/J3/J5// IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHBVNKP/USS KEARSARGE  IMMEDIATE
RULYEGA/COMPHIBRON EIGHT IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 000840 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN NYMAN AND GREENE 
DEPT FOR INR/IAA EMERSON 
DEPT FOR USOAS 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO AID/LAC 
NSC FOR ALVARADO 
KEARSARGE FOR COMMODORE PONDS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2018 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA: INCREASING POLITICAL TENSION 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli, Resaons 1.4 (b and d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  Several physical attacks on opposition 
groups over the past two weeks are raising concerns about the 
potential for political violence in Nicaragua and the further 
narrowing of democratic space in the run-up to municipal 
elections in November.  A Leon student group took control of 
the site of a planned NGO-organized forum and pelted 
participants with mud and rocks.  Similarly,  the FSLN and 
the Citizen Power Councils (CPCs) orchestrated two attacks in 
the last week against the Liberal candidate for mayor of 
Managua, Eduardo Montealegre, as he tried to campaign in 
Sandinista controlled Managua neighborhoods.  Given 
escalating political tensions and civil society,s growing 
willingness to challenge the Ortega government, these may be 
just the first of many clashes. End Summary. 
 
Attack on MRS and PC in Leon 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (C) A leading Nicaraguan NGO, Hagamos Democracia, 
organized a June 26 forum on constitutional and electoral 
issues and invited Dora Maria Tellez, a leader of the 
Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) who recently held a 
13-day hunger strike to protest the banning of the party by 
the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), Alejandro Bolanos, a 
former Conservative Party (PC) deputy, and Gabriel Alvarez, 
an expert on constitutional law to serve as panelists.  The 
NGO was granted permission to use a conference room on the 
UNAN-Leon grounds.  According to the personal secretary of 
the MRS leader, university authorities were "pressured" by 
FSLN activists that morning and hence decided to cancel 
classes in that building for the day and remove 
administrative personnel from the area. 
 
¶3. (C) As one of the NGO members was setting up for the 
event, she was assaulted by unknown individuals, whom she 
assumed to be students, and pushed out of the building.  At 
two in the afternoon, a group of students identified as 
members of the University Center of the National University 
(CUUN) evicted all remaining personnel and took control of 
the building.  The students reportedly acted under the 
pretext that they were demanding that the school 
administrators release past due scholarship funds.  When the 
MRS and PC officials arrived for the forum, they were not 
allowed on to the campus; 15 of the CUUN members pelted them 
with mud and rocks and set off small, homemade explosive 
devices.  One of the students reportedly aimed an explosive 
launcher directly at the MRS leader.  The MRS and PC 
officials were not seriously injured during this attack and 
evidently went on to deliver their presentations outside the 
building. 
 
¶4. (C) It was later reported that the Sandinista National 
Liberation Front (FSLN) mayoral candidate in Leon, Manuel 
Calderon, backed the actions of the students arguing and that 
Dora Maria should not have &arrived at the mouth of the 
wolf.8 
 
FSLN Blocks Managua Mayoral Candidate Montealegre from 
neighborhood 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5. (U) Also on June 26, a crowd of FSLN activists, waving 
FSLN black and red banners, stopped Eduardo Montealegre, the 
Vamos con Eduardo-Constitutional Liberal Party Alliance 
(VCE-PLC) candidate for mayor of Managua, from campaigning in 
a Managua neighborhood.  The activists, waving banners and 
sticks, blocked several streets and prevented Montealegre and 
his campaign team from entering the area.  On June 19, FSLN 
and Citizens, Power Council (CPC) activists, similarly 
prevented Montealegre from campaigning in two 
Sandinista-controlled Managua neighborhoods, Grenada and 
Pantasma.  When the candidates arrived, the CPC activists and 
other sympathizers started by yelling and shoving Montealegre 
and his running mate, Quinonez; the confrontation escalated 
to rock throwing and a hasty Montealegre retreat. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶6. (C) These attacks on opposition leaders and their 
pro-democracy message suggest an increased potential for 
political violence.  Ortega,s growing unpopularity and the 
new found ability of the democratic opposition to tap public 
resentment through recent large, well-attended marches and 
neighborhood door-to-door campaigns may be driving the FSLN 
towards physical counter-measures. 
 
TRIVELLI