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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MANAGUA 000013 
 
SIPDIS 
AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA 
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC 
AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PASS TO AMCONSUL RECIFE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/07 
TAGS: SNAR SOCI ASEC PGOV PHUM PREL KCOR NU
SUBJECT: Lords of the Narco-Coast: Part II - Community Reaction 
Divided, FSLN Blames U.S. for Crisis 
 
REF: A) 2009 MANAGUA 1149 (LORDS OF NARCO-COAST PART I) 
B) 2009 MANAGUA 1051 (PRIMER ON MISKITO INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT) 
C) 2009 MANAGUA 1047 (MISKITO INDEPENDENCE RALLY TURNS DEADLY) 
D) 2008 MANAGUA 1517 AND PREVIOUS (FRAUD IN RAAN ELECTIONS) 
E) 2008 MANAGUA 419 AND PREVIOUS (GON SUSPENDS RAAN MUNICIPAL 
ELECTIONS) 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Robert J. Callahan, Ambassador; REASON: 1.4(A), (B), 
(D) 
 
SUMMARY 
 
¶1. (C): On December 8, after a plane laden with cocaine and cash 
crash-landed in the remote, small village of Walpa Siksa in the 
North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN), a deadly confrontation 
took place between Nicaraguan anti-drug units and drug smugglers 
allied with some number of local residents.  This message is the 
second in a series that reports on the Walpa Siksa incident and its 
immediate aftermath, and explores what these events have revealed 
about the actual state of organized trafficking operations in 
Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast. 
 
¶2.  (C) In the aftermath of the incident, public reactions have 
been divided.  Some regional politicians and leaders of the 
indigenous Yatama political party have called the incident and 
subsequent government operations in the region a new "Red Christmas 
Massacre" - a reference to the Sandinistas' deadly attacks on 
indigenous Miskitos in the 1980s, assertions the military contests 
are false.  Religious leaders have denounced these same political 
leaders for turning a blind eye to the increased drug activity. 
Former Vice President (and ex-Sandinista), Sergio Ramirez, has 
decried the presence of trafficking organizations as a national 
security threat, while a senior current FSLN official accused the 
United States, specifically the CIA, of "promoting" the drug trade 
to destabilize the country.  Underneath all lies a subtext of the 
perennial rivalry and racial conflict between Nicaragua's Pacific 
(Hispanic) and Atlantic (Afro-Caribbean and Amerindian) cultures. 
Yet, also through the dissonance, the Walpa Siksa incident and its 
aftermath seem to indicate stronger linkages between drug smugglers 
and local communities in Nicaragua's Atlantic region than 
previously believed.  END SUMMARY 
 
REGIONAL POLITICIANS BLAME THE MILITARY - SEEK A NEW CRISIS  
 
¶3. (C) The Walpa Siksa village, where the December 8 incident 
occurred, is in a region historically controlled by Yatama; the 
regional, indigenous Miskito political party.  Much of Yatama's 
leadership itself has been co-opted by the ruling Sandinista Party 
(REF D) over the last few years.  Even so, regional politicians and 
several Yatama leaders have taken to the airwaves, primarily on 
their new Yatama radio station (reportedly funded by the 
government), to condemn the Nicaraguan military for its continuing 
operations in the vicinity of Walpa Siksa and Prinzapolka.  These 
leaders, including Brooklyn Rivera, a Yatama National Assembly 
Deputy; Reynoldo Francis, Governor of the North Atlantic Autonomous 
Region (RAAN); Roberto Wilson, the RAAN Vice Governor; and 
Elizabeth Enriquez Francis, former mayor of RAAN capital Bilwi (and 
ex-wife of Governor Francis), have used Miskito-language radio 
broadcasts from the new station to claim that the Nicaraguan 
anti-drug unit had violated human rights in pursuing its 
investigation and by detaining suspects from Walpa Siksa.  These 
leaders vehemently denied that these coastal communities support, 
house and abet drug smugglers, as had been charged by some critics. 
Rivera told national media that "the soldiers are all from the 
Pacific coast.  There has been racism, robberies and looting of 
indigenous people's homes."  Other Miskito leaders claim that the 
soldiers have killed livestock and stolen food donated to the 
community by the World Food Program. 
 
¶4. (C) Rivera, Francis, Wilson, and Enriquez have all called for 
and even led several protests against police and navy forces 
stationed in Bilwi, creating a new crisis in the region.  They have 
denounced the "human rights violations" by the anti-drug unit 
against the "innocent" indigenous people and claim that the 
military "occupation" of Walpa Siksa is rife with abuses.  This 
racially-charged agitation led some in the Miskito community to set 
up illegal road blocks at the town of Sinsin, preventing traffic on 
the only road between Bilwi and Managua.  There were also attempts 
to take over the Bilwi International Airport and the capital's main 
wharf.  These Yatama leaders and radicalized supporters have 
demanded that the Navy cease all operations on the Atlantic Coast, 
withdraw from the region, and immediately release the roughly two 
dozen suspects detained in Walpa Siksa and Prinzapolka.  (see 
SEPTEL).  Rivera also told reporters that the Walpa Siksa community 
elders had decided to abandon their community if the military did 
not depart or carried out its plan to establish a permanent 
presence in the area. 
 
MORAVIAN CHURCH LEADER CONDEMNS GOVERNMENT COLLUSION 
 
¶5. (U) The Moravian Church is the largest denomination on the 
Atlantic Coast and a large majority of indigenous Miskitos belong 
to it, making the church the moral authority in the region; even 
more so than the Catholic Church.  On Friday, December 13, Moravian 
Church Superintendant Cora Antonio issued a grave statement against 
the local Walpa Siksa community leaders, police officials and 
military officials in the Atlantic, whom she claimed knew about the 
narco-trafficking base in Walpa Siksa, but took no action until the 
recent plane crash.  Antonio, who will finish her two-year term in 
January 2010, complained that drug smugglers had established their 
networks unchallenged by the GON and exploited the extreme poverty 
on the Coast.  She also claimed that elected officials, including 
Francis, Wilson, and Lidia Coleman, the mayor of nearby 
Prinzapolka, as well as police and military authorities, "knew from 
the beginning of the installation of this narco-traffickers' base, 
but never did anything about it."   She also stated that in certain 
Caribbean communities the narco-traffickers exercised the highest 
authority, above that of the community judge, the village elders, 
even the pastor or "sindico," and that they frequently commanded 
the "last word" on community decisions.  Antonio also said the 
Moravian Church had recently removed a reverend from the Walpa 
Siksa village out of fear that he would be physically attacked for 
preaching against drugs from the pulpit. 
 
WIHTA TARA ALSO SAYS MILITARY SHOULD LEAVE 
 
¶6. (U) Other non-FSLN-aligned indigenous leaders took aim at the 
President Ortega and at the military's recent actions.  The Wihta 
Tara of the Miskito Nation, aka the Rev. Hector Williams, who 
denounced the Managua government and called for Miskito 
independence, told the media that Columbian drug traffickers had 
already left, so the military should leave as well.  NOTE: The 
Wihta Tara (Miskito for "great judge"), was elected by the Council 
of Elders of the Miskito Nation and leads Miskito separatist 
movement that mounted protests which were violently suppressed this 
past October (REF E)  END NOTE.   Williams stated that "the army is 
after the money that they think is hidden in the community." 
Building on the racial inequality theme, another separatist leader, 
Steady Alvarado, publicly questioned why the military felt it could 
take actions in the indigenous communities that it would never 
attempt on the Pacific Coast.  The Miskito Council of Elders itself 
issued a statement on December 12 blaming President Ortega directly  
for the "tortures, persecutions and death of our community members 
in Walpa Siksa."  It also accused Ortega of being "incapable of 
neutralizing" drug trafficking activity on the Atlantic Coast, and 
for again "bearing a grudge" against the Coastal peoples, "like he 
did during the Navidad Roja (Red Christmas Massacre)."  NOTE: The 
Red Christmas Massacre occurred in 1981, when Sandinista military 
operations in the Atlantic Coast killed dozens and forcibly 
relocated hundreds of Miskitos thought to be collaborating with the 
Contras. END NOTE. 
 
ARMY CHIEF DENIES RIGHTS VIOLATIONS - YIELD "NOT ONE INCH TO 
NARCOS" 
 
¶7. (U) General Omar Halleslevens, Commander of the Nicaraguan 
military, told reporters that the Army would not leave Walpa Siksa, 
nor would it stop searching neighboring communities for drug 
traffickers.  He insisted that the Army would remain and would take 
appropriate measures to protect the area from again becoming a 
haven for drug trafficking.  Halleslevens denied accusations that 
the military had violated human rights, saying "our line has been 
from the very beginning to respect life, human rights, private 
property and the law ... as we are completing our duty to support 
the police in applying the law."  He further declared that the 
military would "not give a rock, nor even an inch of the national 
territory, to narco-traffickers" and called on government 
institutions and the population to support law enforcement in its 
fight.  NOTE: Thus far, Post has no/no credible evidence of human 
rights violations by law enforcement related to this operation.  We 
continue to monitor the situation closely and will report relevant 
developments if they occur.  END NOTE. 
 
FORMER FSLN VICE PRESIDENT CONDEMNS NARCOS, BLAMES GOVERNMENT 
 
¶8. (U) Adding to the chorus of concern about the absentee national 
government was author and former Nicaraguan/FSLN vice president, 
Sergio Ramirez, who said in an op-ed that the strong 
narco-traffickers presence on the Caribbean Coast threatened 
Nicaragua's sovereignty and territorial integrity.  He believed 
that the "narco-traffickers will promote the separation of the 
Caribbean Coast (REF E) and already have the social base to do it" 
because of the significant resources drug smugglers enjoy and the 
rampant political corruption in the region.  Ramirez also said the 
confrontation between the anti-drug units and the Walpa Siksa 
community demonstrated that criminal organizations had achieved 
enormous influence on the Atlantic Coast while the "government does 
not do anything to stop the problem." 
 
FSLN LEADER BLAMES THE U.S., CIA FOR THE CRISIS, MAY CANCEL 
ELECTIONS 
 
¶9. (U) In contrast, during December 16 interviews, Steadman Fagoth, 
a Miskito indigenous leader, former Contra commander, and now 
ardent Ortega supporter, told FSLN-controlled media that United 
States had created the Walpa Siksa crisis.  Fagoth, who is also 
president of the Government's Fishing Authority (INPESCA), spoke to 
Multinoticias Channel 4, owned and operated by the Ortega-Murillo 
family, and to "El 19," the official on-line newspaper of the 
Sandinista Government.  He claimed that the United States, through 
the CIA, was trying to provoke an uprising in the Atlantic Coast 
against the government by supporting narco-criminals.  He added 
that Alberto Luis Cano, the fugitive Colombian drug leader and 
passenger of the crashed drug airplane (see SEPTEL-Part I) had been 
hired by the CIA to promote an uprising among the native 
population, by playing on the racial animosity between Nicaragua's 
Pacific and Atlantic populations.  Perhaps Fagoth's most troubling 
comment was that because of the current unrest, the government 
might delay regional elections scheduled for March 2010.  
 
COMMENT 
 
¶10. (C) In the cacophony following the Walpa Siksa incident, 
statements of FSLN official Steadman Fagoth are perhaps the most 
politically ominous.  Fagoth is a regular proxy for Ortega's 
Atlantic policy.  His remarks frequently represent test balloons 
for how Ortega perceives the situation and how the President seeks 
to position himself against any fallout.  Fagoth's anti-U.S. 
accusations are outrageous, but not unexpected -- that the United 
States and CIA employed a drug trafficker to created this crisis, 
destabilize the region and overthrow the government.  He made 
similar accusations about the United States and CIA when the Wihta 
Tara announced the separatist movement several months ago.  In 
2008, the GON delayed RAAN municipal elections (REF E) on dubious 
grounds.  Thus Fagoth's comment about delaying the March 2010 
regional elections may indicate Ortega's true intent: freeze 
everyone in place. 
 
¶11. (C) The Walpa Siksa incident and its aftermath aggravated 
underlying tensions and divisions that persist in the Atlantic, and 
may have exposed new evidence about the nature and extend of 
narco-trafficking activity.  Serious concerns about threats to 
national security and sovereignty have been raised by critics of 
the government.  Some community leaders, such as Moravian 
Superintendent Cora Antonio, have spoken out about what they see as 
rampant drug corruption and political collusion by RAAN political 
leaders.  We find it odd that these same political leaders, such as 
Rivera, Francis, Wilson and Enriquez agitated against military 
counter-drug operations, and virtually denied the existence of any 
narco-trafficking activity.  At a minimum, their efforts to fan 
latent racial resentments seem self-serving re-election efforts in 
the run-up to regional elections.  For its part, the military 
denies any human rights abuses in this, its largest anti-drug land 
operation in the Caribbean in years.  In a subsequent message we 
will provide more detail about the figures caught up in the Walpa 
Siksa incident and outline some of the networks and relationships 
that we believe traffickers may have been able to establish. 
CALLAHAN