VZCZCXYZ0021
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1192/01 3221448
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181447Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0147
INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
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UNCLAS MANAGUA 001192 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN 
DEPT FOR INR/IAA 
STATE FOR USOAS 
STATE PASS TO USAID/LAC 
STATE PASS TO MCC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINS SENV ETRD EIND EAGR NU
SUBJECT: (U) SANDINISTA SUSPICIOUS SALE OF TIMBER-RICH ANCESTRAL 
INDIGENOUS LANDS THWARTED 
 
REF: MANAGUA 1051; MANAGUA 79; 2008 MANAGUA 1149 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  In August, approximately 12,400 hectares of 
indigenous land in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) was 
sold to a foreign-owned timber company under suspicious 
circumstances.  The tract from the Awas Tingni community, home to a 
large Sumo Mayagna indigenous group, was only recently titled by 
the central government.  The tract was sold by the indigenous 
Miskito-controlled YATAMA political party, which is closely allied 
with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), instead of by 
the local residents.  Sumo Mayagna leaders denounced the illegal 
sale of their ancestral lands for commercial purposes by the YATAMA 
party, filed lawsuits with the Attorney General, and successfully 
lobbied the RAAN Regional Council to annul the sale.  While the 
Sumo Mayagna were successful in defending their ancestral land, the 
corruption and political overtones to the sale raise concerns that 
indigenous rights are easily trampled for political and profit 
motives.  END SUMMARY 
 
 
 
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MISKITO AND SUMO? 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) Nicaragua's largest indigenous group is the Miskito, with 
a population of approximately 130,000 that is concentrated in urban 
areas on the Caribbean coast of the RAAN and RAAS.  For historical 
and geographical reasons, the Miskito indigenous people are 
generally better educated and integrated than other indigenous 
groups in Nicaragua, yet remain homogenous culturally.  The Miskito 
people are politically organized into a regional political party 
called YATAMA, which has formed a political alliance with the FSLN 
to share power and central government resources in the region.  The 
YATAMA-FSLN political alliance is not popular with most Miskitos, 
but it benefits the self-appointed leaders within the community 
(see Reftels). 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Sumo Mayagna people represent Nicaragua's second 
largest indigenous group, with a population of approximately 
40,000, located principally in the western and central RAAN.   The 
remote geography of the region has limited Sumo Mayagna access to 
education as well as their integration into Nicaragua's culture. 
As a people, they are less politically active and organized, when 
compared with their Miskito neighbors.  This difference in 
geography and exposure to national and international influence may 
be at the heart of the historic animosity between the Miskito and 
Sumo Mayagna peoples.  It is said that the Miskito often refer 
pejoratively to their Sumo Mayagna neighbors as "country bumpkins" 
because of their lower level of education and integration. 
 
 
 
SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES IN INDIGENOUS LAND SALE 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) On August 12, La Prensa (national daily, right-of-center) 
reported that veterans allied closely with the FSLN-allied YATAMA 
indigenous party sold 12,400 hectares of rain forest to a timber 
company called the Indigenous Precious Woods and Industries of 
Nicaragua.  This timber company is neither indigenous nor 
Nicaraguan, but rather owned by a French businessman named Clement 
Marie Poncon who is rumored to have close ties to the FSLN 
government.  The land sale was suspicious because it involved a 
large tract of approximately 74,000 hectares recently titled to 
YATAMA supporters by the central government in December 2008 that 
is supposed to be collectively owned by Sumo Mayagna indigenous 
community of 11,000 people in Awas Tingni. 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Sumo Mayagna who occupy the 12,400 hectares of rain 
forest land sold to the French-owned timber company are not 
politically allied with the FSLN, nor have they been able to secure 
land titles from the central government, despite strong efforts to 
follow the demarcation process established in Law 445 (see Reftel). 
Instead, it appears that the FSLN-controlled central government 
gave the valuable Sumo Mayagna land as a reward to their Miskito 
regional allies in YATAMA with the intention to enter into a timber 
contract with Mr. Poncon. 
 
 
 
THE SUMO MAYAGNA STRIKE BACK 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) Modesto Frank, the leader of SUKAWALA, an indigenous Sumo 
Mayagna NGO, filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the land 
sale with Hernan Estrada, the country's Attorney General.  Estrada 
subsequently brought a complaint with the Supreme Court (CSJ) 
against the registrar of lands (David Rodriguez Gaitan) in Bilwi, 
RAAN for acts of corruption in handling the land sale.  The RAAN 
regional council eventually annulled the land sale by invoking Law 
445, which governs the disposition of native lands in the RAAN and 
RAAS (see Reftel C).  According to this law, land communally owned 
and occupied by native groups cannot be bought, sold, taxed or 
seized. 
 
 
 
¶6. (U) After the land sale was annulled, approximately 400 
disgruntled YATAMA members, who are former contras, blocked the two 
main roads to Bilwi for several days and promised to burn any 
government vehicles that passed their way.  Frank stated that 
almost all of the 74,000 hectares which are owned by the Sumo 
Mayagna people in the Awas Tingni region are at risk of being sold 
to wealthy timber interests by profit-minded individuals-mostly 
YATAMA-FSLN supporters. 
CALLAHAN