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DE RUEHMU #1318/01 3452215
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112213Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0265
INFO RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
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RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAGUA 001318 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN 
DEPT FOR INR/IAA 
DEPT FOR PRM RMACKLER 
STATE FOR USOAS 
STATE PASS TO USAID/LAC 
STATE PASS TO MCC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SOCI PHUM EAID ELAB IADB VE NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA - FSLN SOCIAL PROGRAMS POLITICIZED AND FAILING 
 
REF: 2009 MANAGUA 1128 - NICARAGUA'S ECONOMIC DECLINE 
2009 MANAGUA 859 - REGIONAL ELECTIONS 
2009 MANAGUA 853 - FIRINGS AT THE FAMILY MINISTRY 
2009 MANAGUA 84 - ON THE EVE OF RAAN ELECTIONS 
2008 MANAGUA 1357 - DOL CHILD LABOR PROGRAM HIJACKED 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  As the third year of President Ortega's 
five-year terms ends, many of his party's much-heralded social 
welfare programs to fight child labor, hunger and improve education 
are failing to live up to GON rhetoric.  First Lady Rosario 
Murillo's auspicious Programa Amor ("Program of Love") to end child 
labor in the streets of Managua [after more than two years] offers 
no concrete evidence that its objectives have been reached (see 
Reftel C and E).  The GON flagship program to reduce hunger in the 
country, Hambre Cero ("Zero Hunger"), is reportedly unable to "lift 
its head out of water" and only offers assistance to loyal party 
members and during elections (see Reftel D).  Even education 
curriculum reforms have been politicized.  These programs' failures 
to improve conditions in the country are emblematic of the partisan 
management of the country's social welfare system.   END SUMMARY 
 
 
 
PROGRAMA AMOR IN THE NEWS FOR THE WRONG REASONS 
 
 
 
¶2. (U)  First Lady Rosario Murillo's Programa Amor ("Program of 
Love"), inaugurated in 2007, was designed to reintegrate abandoned 
children back into society through educational and social projects 
focused on extended family networks.  Recently, the La Prensa 
newspaper (national daily, right-of-center) featured two articles 
critical of Murillo's social program which was heralded by the GON 
as the best solution to removing abandoned, mistreated children 
from the streets and tending to their needs more effectively.  To 
date, there is no concrete evidence that the general objectives set 
forth for Programa Amor have been achieved; moreover, the NGOs and 
human rights organizations interviewed by La Prensa declared that 
Programa Amor was ill-conceived and not allotted the necessary 
resources for success, despite Murillo's direct involvement. 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Reports from sources inside the Ministry of Family 
(MiFamilia), which is the institution responsible for carrying out 
Programa Amor, state that the GON's plan was to remove children 
from government-run shelters and send them back to their families 
through the "family recourse" initiative.  Embassy sources that 
work in the sector confirmed that the GON currently takes in kids 
during the day for "education" at their shelters, but sends them 
"home" in the evening, which frequently results in children seeking 
shelter at night.  The government-run shelters suffered budgetary 
cutbacks and the elimination of funds as the program progressed. 
The GON's argument for eliminating these government-run shelters 
was that the "right" of a child to grow up within a family 
structure had to be reinstated.  However, NGOs argue that if 
conditions in the home caused a child to be placed in shelters in 
the first place, eliminating shelters and forcing children to 
return to abusive conditions would actually be counterproductive. 
 
 
 
A COMBINATION OF BUDGET CUTS & MISMANAGEMENT HURTS PROGRAMA AMOR 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) According to the GON's own figures, the percentage of the 
MiFamilia budget destined for assistance services and social 
protection was 15% in 2009 compared to 44.3% in 2005, during the 
previous administration.   When Programa Amor was announced, it 
envisioned a national network of social workers who would work with 
at-risk children to encourage school participation and discourage 
drop-outs, as well as assist parents to find better employment. 
Critics point out that the interagency coordination required for 
 
MANAGUA 00001318  002 OF 003 
 
 
such an effort does not exist and resources are not allocated 
despite the GON rhetoric to the contrary.   Adelaida Sanchez from 
the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) said that "no 
resources were assigned, [neither] economic nor human... [and] that 
there would be an inter-institutional committee (to oversee the 
program), but when we asked the Social Security Institute (INSS) 
for an example, they knew nothing..."  In August 2009 the GON 
purged most experienced MiFamilia officials, particularly those in 
the adoption and child protective services division, replacing them 
with FSLN militants (see Reftel C).  New MiFamilia officials have 
been generally evasive when discussing Programa Amor with Embassy 
Consular officials.  They defended the Ministry, claiming that it 
was working hard to make Programa Amor run well, and that La Prensa 
was spreading false rumors about closed shelters.  However, they 
did confirm that budget cuts (see Reftel A) in social spending had 
affected the amount of funding that they were able to provide to 
government-run children shelters. 
 
 
 
MAYBE Hambre Cero ONLY WORKS DURING ELECTION YEARS... 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Hambre Cero ("Zero Hunger") program, one of the key 
populist/social programs launched by President Ortega in 2007 to 
alleviate hunger in the country, will spend a mere 9% of its budget 
this year, according to the latest Ministry of Finance report.  In 
principle, the program strives to help 14,000 rural families each 
year by providing seeds, farm animals (pigs, chickens, cows) and 
farming instruments to encourage food security in the country's 
poorest regions.  In practice, critics say the Hambre Cero aid has 
been given to reward loyalty of FSLN supporters, or worse, to buy 
votes in the run-up to elections (see Reftel D).  Indeed, critics 
say that the program is partisan to its core - Citizen Power 
Councils (CPCs), which are FSLN community councils controlled by 
Murillo, select program participants.  Once selected, participants 
receive a one-time transfer of agricultural inputs (valued between 
$US 1,500 and $US 2,500), but no technical assistance to improve 
productivity.  In short, the Hambre Cero assistance serves to 
perpetuate rather than break the cycle of rural poverty because it 
does not train the beneficiaries, but rather gives them a free 
hand-out. 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) By the end of September 2009, a non-election year, Hambre 
Cero had spent approximately 13.6 million c????rdobas ($US 680,000) 
or 
9.7% of its 2009 budget of  140 million c????rdobas ($US 7 million). 
Included in Hambre Cero's budget are $US 5 million in funding from 
the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) as well as funds from 
Taiwan and ALBA/Venezuela.  Despite the current year's 
under-spending, the GON proposed increasing the 2010 Hambre Cero 
budget by more than 50% or 88.7 million cordobas ($US 4.4 million) 
for a total budget of 228 million cordobas ($US 11.4 million). 
Meanwhile the Ministry of Agriculture (MAGFOR), which carries out 
the Hambre Cero program, would suffer a general reduction of its 
2010 budget (see reftel A).   The increase in Hambre Cero funding 
happens to coincide with the 2010 regional elections on the 
Atlantic Coast (see reftel B) and the run-up to the 2011 national 
presidential elections. 
 
 
 
POLITICIZED EDUCATION REFORMS 
 
 
 
¶7. (U) In 2007 the GON sought to reform the country's education 
sector and eliminated ad hoc fees to attend public schools.  This 
had a positive impact on increasing school enrollment during the 
first two years of the Ortega Administration - changes that were 
praised both by national and international NGOs.  However, proposed 
 
MANAGUA 00001318  003 OF 003 
 
 
reforms to the curriculum now have drawn criticism by these same 
groups, who complain that the new changes would be political in 
nature because the Ministry of Education (MinEd) would not involve 
civil society in the process.  MinEd is collaborating only with the 
Sandinista Youth Movement in its development of the new 10-year 
education plan.  Minister of Education Miguel de Castillo recently 
told the press that "we do not need to ask for [outside] support, 
we already have the participation of the citizens [Sandinista Youth 
Movement] with whom we will construct the 10-year plan." 
Criticisms of the GON's highly touted illiteracy eradication 
campaign will be reported SEPTEL. 
 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Given Nicaragua's position as the second poorest country 
in the Western Hemisphere, minimal investment in GON populist 
programs such as Programa Amor, Hambre Cero and education reform 
should make an enormous difference in the lives of all Nicaraguans 
to eliminate child labor, improve food security in rural areas, and 
foster greater access to education.  Instead, the 2008 municipal 
election fraud deliberately perpetrated by the FSLN has caused the 
domino effect of significantly reducing foreign assistance and 
budgetary support, which in turn has led to major budget cuts to 
the GON's key social welfare programs.  In an environment of scarce 
resources and political consolidation, these programs have turned 
into mechanisms for party proselytizing and rewarding political 
loyalty.  In short, the ambitious FSLN social programs are 
politicized and failing to help all Nicaraguans equally, despite 
the vociferous rhetoric of the GON public relations campaign run by 
First Lady Murillo. 
CALLAHAN