TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2006
List of interventions by the United States government in Nicaragua’s democratic process
July 26, 2006Watch this space for further additions! Scroll to end for latest interference!
Introduction
The repeated interventionist statements by successive US ambassadors since 2004 have crossed the line between diplomacy and intervention in Nicaragua's internal affairs. When a US ambassador threatens non-cooperation with a freely elected government that does not have what the US government considers sensible economic policies or does not wish to surrender control of its military to the US's interpretation of “security,” Nicaraguans think not of aid cut offs, but of US-sponsored armed conflict because that was their recent experience during the 1980s when the United States government organized, funded, armed and trained a counter-revolutionary army to attempt to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. That revolutionary government put in place a democratic constitution and, when voted out of office in the 1990 elections, turned power over to the winning coalition, thus marking the first peaceful turn-over of power to an opposing political party in Nicaragua's history.
Nicaraguans remember not only the 1980s, but a much longer history of US government intervention in their country which goes back to the mid-19th century. The United States Marines occupied Nicaragua for much of the first half of the 20th century and, before they left, formed and trained a National Guard that maintained in power for 45 years the Somoza family dictatorship which was not overthrown until 1979 by the Sandinista revolution.
The Nicaraguan political system should be allowed to work without interference from the United States. At the present moment, it appears that both the left and the right are divided and four presidential candidates have arisen from those divisions, two candidates on the left and two on the right. No government has the right to engage, either openly or covertly, in activities that make political and/or economic events happen in another country that would not happen there naturally. What the United States government is trying to do in Nicaragua should be called not "democracy promotion" but rather subversion.
The Nicaragua Network does not have a favorite between the candidates of the left in this election. Our role as we see it is to work to expose and denounce US government intervention and mobilize a grassroots citizenry to write their members of Congress, to write letters to the editors of their local newspapers and demand that this intervention in Nicaragua's internal political affairs be ended immediately. We see all the actions of the US government as directed toward preventing a victory by a candidate of the left. In order to achieve this, the Bush administration has, for two years now, pressured the parties on the right to come together around one single candidate and, along with this, the administration has threatened the Nicaraguan people with US disfavor (and possible military intervention) if the left returns to power.
Join us in this effort to stop the interference in Nicaragua's electoral process by the US government.
Items from the Nicaragua Network Hotline noting occasions of interference:
January 8, 2004
United States Again Interferes in Nicaraguan Internal Affairs
Managua newspaper "El Nuevo Diario" reported "open interference" in Nicaragua's affairs, as U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Barbara Moore hosted meetings of right-wing political parties, what the Embassy calls the country's "democratic forces" in the ambassador's residence during the last few days and evenings. The meetings were an attempt to influence the selection of the leadership of the country's National Assembly, expected to be voted on today, Thursday, January 8.
The Embassy classifies the FSLN as not belonging to the "democratic forces." This is an extraordinary assessment because the current democratic system in which successive political parties have succeeded each other peacefully was set up by the Sandinista government with the Constitution of 1987. Before in Nicaragua's history, opposition parties only were able to achieve power by putting together an army and taking the government by force.
On Tuesday political party members favored by the U.S. met two times with Ambassador Moore who put strong pressure on them to make sure that the "democratic forces take control of the legislature," according to Maria Eugenia Sequeira of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC). El Nuevo Diario reports that the "open interference" of the U.S. has included pressure on President Enrique Bolaños to accept a candidate from the PLC for the presidency of the National Assembly.
The principal issue for U.S. solidarity activists, however, is not which political parties have more or less representation in the leadership of the Assembly but is rather uncalled for U.S. involvement in Nicaragua's internal affairs and, secondarily, Ambassador Barbara Moore's distortion of the role played in recent Nicaraguan history by the Sandinistas.
This intervention follows close on the heels of blatant U.S. interference in the 2001 presidential elections in Nicaragua when high-level U.S. State Department officials threatened Nicaraguan voters with economic sanctions and worse if they elected the Sandinista candidate. There have also been more recent statements by members of the U.S. Congress who visited Nicaragua last August; Cass Ballenger and Jerry Seller urged the Liberal factions, which they referred to as "democratic forces," to unite against the Sandinistas for the 2004 (municipal) and 2006 (presidential) elections.
February 23, 2004
Comptroller Demands Expulsion of US Ambassador
Both Sandinistas and Liberals continue angry demands for the expulsion of US Ambassador Barbara Moore whose heavy-handed interventions have riled both the Right and the Left. Last week the Comptroller-General's Office (CGR), claimed that the US government, through its ambassador in Nicaragua, Barbara Moore, was meddling to an inordinate degree in Nicaragua's internal affairs. CGR Vice-President Jose Pasos demanded that Moore be expelled from the country as persona non grata. The outburst followed an article in the national press issued under her name which explained that, in the United States, the crime of money-laundering was not uniquely tied to money obtained through illegal drug activity. The issue, seemingly innocuous in itself, is currently a hot item of debate within Nicaragua and its National Assembly since followers of former-president Arnoldo Alemán, jailed precisely for money-laundering, are attempting to get him released on a narrow interpretation of Nicaraguan law which would link it exclusively to crimes involving drugs.
Several of his CGR colleagues added their voices to that of Pasos; fellow member Guillermo Arguello Poessey declared, "We must never forget that Nicaragua has no foreign owner, that we are nobody's servant," while Luis Angel Montenegro lamented that fact that, "Even to elect a secretary to the National Assembly Directorate we had to consult with the US Ambassador. I believe that this is not the time that these sorts of situations should be arising. When someone gets out of line, beyond her limits, it's up to the Foreign Ministry to call attention to the fact and to take corresponding measures."
From an Action Alert of June 20, 2005
US denies visa to Dora Maria Tellez
On January 20, 2005, the US State Department rejected the visa application of Professor Dora Maria Tellez, a Nicaraguan academic who was invited to teach this spring at Harvard University. Section 212(a)3B of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which refers to persons who allegedly have participated in and/or endorse or espouse terrorist activities, was given as the reason for rejection.
As a young woman Ms. Tellez left medical school to fight as a Sandinista in the popular national struggle that ultimately overthrew the brutal 45-year dictatorship of the Somoza family in Nicaragua. Her leadership in the 1978 take-over of the National Palace -- one of the turning points in the struggle -- and her excellent service as Minister of Health in the Sandinista government are two reasons she is a prominent figure, beloved by many in Nicaragua. A public policy analyst and historian, she is a promoter of the democratic process in Nicaragua today.
The academic community, the ACLU and others have spoken out against the State Department's decision to label Ms. Tellez a terrorist and to infringe on academic freedom. She sought and received support and legal protection from the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) since she feels that being labeled a terrorist could put her life in danger. She is considering bringing a lawsuit against the US State Department.
November 16, 2004
US Interference Increases After Sandinista Electoral Victory
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld met with President Bolaños on November 12 in order to pressure the Nicaraguan president to destroy the country's remaining 1,367 Sam-7 surface-to-air missiles. The Nicaraguan Army destroyed 666 SAM-7s in exchange for some US military aid, but Bolaños has promised his US benefactors that he would destroy all the missiles. The motive for Rumsfeld's visit, apart from sorting out the Sam-7 missiles problem, was also to show US support for the Nicaraguan president in the context of his internal political instability, due to the recent scandal about the funding of his presidential campaign in 2001 and last week's municipal elections in which the Sandinistas triumphed in more than 60% of the municipalities, winning a large number of traditionally liberal or right wing seats.
"The US government and the US people have great admiration for Bolaños, who has shown great strength in his fight against corruption," according to Rumsfeld, who went on to say that "Nicaragua is an important ally in the American continent's war against narco-terrorism and organized crime." Alarm bells have been going off in Washington and in the US embassy in Managua since the virtual Sandinista sweep of the November 7 municipal elections where the FSLN took nearly every departmental capital and major city and town in the country.
The Bush Administration is dispatching Dan Fisk, Deputy to Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, and the administration's main hit man on Cuba policy, to visit Nicaragua this week in order to bang heads together in the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) and other non-Sandinista forces. The US State Department is "concerned" at the news of the Sandinista Party's victories in local elections last week and at the growing number of left wing party electoral victories in many Latin American countries over the last few years.
Wilfredo Navarro, first vice president of both the National Assembly and the PLC, said the motive of Fisk's visit is "to see first-hand the political and economic situations in Nicaragua at present" and went on to imply that it is part of an effort to guarantee the National Assembly's leadership stays out of Sandinista hands in the 2006 general elections.
November 23, 2004
State Deptartment wants Nicaraguan "democratic forces" to reunite to avoid Sandinista victory
Dan Fisk, a U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, arrived in Nicaragua on Nov. 14 on a "private official visit." Over the last week he has met with various leaders of the main rightwing parties, the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) and the Alliance for the Republic (APRE). Individuals included PLC first vice-president Wilfredo Navarro (second in party command after the imprisoned ex-president Arnoldo Aleman), Nicaraguan President Bolaños (of APRE), and influential religious leaders.
After Fisk's meeting with PLC leaders, Navarro denied that Fisk had pressured them or suggested an action plan for the PLC over the next two years leading up to the general elections. Navarro did admit, however, that there are "shared concerns" following the huge Sandinista victory in the November 7 municipal elections. He said the "Nicaraguan economy, the government's present situation, the (SAM-7) missiles, the need for Nicaraguan democratic forces to reunite, and the willingness of the U.S. government to support democracy in Nicaragua" were discussed in the meeting.
March 28, 2005
Donald Rumsfeld Visits Latin America
On an official trip to Latin America that included visits to Argentina, Brazil and Guatemala, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described the Nicaraguan Army's 1,051 SAM-7 missiles as "a threat, a danger. For terrorists who are anxious to kill people, a SAM-7 missile is a very attractive weapon." Rumsfeld's agenda was clear: to criticize the weapons possessed by certain Latin American nations where left-wing political parties have power, like Venezuela, or are likely to take power in future elections, like Nicaragua.
Political sources connected to Rumsfeld's trip said, "For the U.S. the fact that Daniel Ortega could win the Presidential elections in Nicaragua in 2006 and become the head of the army with the power to make decisions about the use of the army's SAM-7 missiles represents a great risk." Ortega, if elected, would not be head of the army any more than current President Bolaños is. In fact, recent changes in the law have transferred authority over weapons purchases and destruction to the National Assembly, so the next president will have less influence over the army than ever before. Since 1990, the Nicaraguan Army has transformed itself into the first Nicaraguan army loyal to the nation rather than a political party. As a result of the recently articulated U.S. concerns about these weapons, the new head of the Army, Gen. Omar Halleslevens, said that relations between the army and the U.S. government "are cold."
May 10, 2005
US State Department: Radical Populism is as Dangerous as Terrorism
On May 8 El Nuevo Diario published a special report, written by Roberto Collado in Washington, about the US government's position on what are referred to as "radical populist" governments and political organizations in Latin America. It quoted a US military official of the Southern Command of the US army who classified "movements that undermine democracy in Latin America" as one more link in the chain of evil that the Bush administration is willing to destroy in the hemisphere.
According to Collado the possibility of a Sandinista victory in 2006 does not officially worry the US government but it does "awake its interest." Linda Jewell, Director of the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination of the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, said, "Nicaragua is of great interest for two reasons; firstly, the continuity of its democracy; secondly, the destruction of its SAM-7 missiles. It is essential to understand that after September 11 things have changed, the world has changed. Our internal security depends on the security of our neighbors." What she meant, of course, is "securing our neighbors" under US military hegemony.
The report said that Washington is warning of new threats for the American continent. Apart from regional terrorism and drug trafficking, it has warned that "radical populists" are destabilizing democratic structures. Condoleezza Rice has indicated that in some cases democratic governments are the ones that are threatening the stability of the hemisphere with their use of populist mechanisms. Rice said that one of the most difficult situations is when a person who has been democratically elected converts himself into an undemocratic public official. "Undemocratic" in the Rice definition is one who opposes the savage capitalism of neo-liberalism and rejects militarism. A growing number of Latin America's democratically elected leaders are becoming "undemocratic" as Rice defines the word.
July 12, 2005
Oliver Garza to Nicaragua on "special mission"
U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Barbara Moore announced that she will be leaving Nicaragua on July 15 to take up a post as policy advisor with the United States Southern Command. Her replacement, Paul Trivelli, will arrive in Nicaragua at the beginning of September. In the interim, Oliver Garza, who served as a "hard line" ambassador to Nicaragua during the term of President Arnoldo Aleman and threatened the Nicaraguan people with a withdrawal of U.S. aid if they elected the Sandinistas in the elections of 2001, is scheduled to come to Nicaragua on a "special" mission. Rumors have it that he will meet with PLC leaders and talk with them about their strategy in order to find out, as a headline in La Prensa put it, whether they are "friends of the Sandinistas or of the United States." PLC legislative leader Enrique Quiñonez said party doors were open to Mr. Garza, while he and other leaders said that the PLC will not break its alliance with the Sandinistas, even as it tries to achieve better relations with the United States. Sandinista Edwin Castro, head of the Sandinista bench in the Assembly, said that his party would meet with Garza, assuming that he is not coming in an interventionist mode.
August 9, 2005
Garza "has decided" 2006 presidential campaign ticket
According to Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, former US Ambassador to Nicaragua Oliver Garza has decided on his own preferred ticket for the 2006 general elections with the aim of avoiding a Sandinista victory. Ortega believes that Garza plans to persuade leaders of the right wing to start supporting and promoting Jose Rizo as the next Nicaraguan President and Eduardo Montealgre as the next Vice President. Jose Rizo is the current vice president of the country and is implicated in the corruption scandal of Arnoldo Aleman's administration when Rizo was part of that government. Montealegre is implicated in Bolaños' presidential campaign funds scandal as he was the treasurer of the campaign.
Since the arrival of Oliver Garza in the country on his three-month mission to guarantee a victory for the "democratic forces" in the 2006 elections, the US Embassy has refrained from making public statements about his activities, although it is known that he has held several lengthy meetings with influential members of the different factions of the Nicaraguan right.
Political analysts have expressed their doubt as to how much influence the US authorities really have over the PLC anymore. "The US has little capacity to influence the PLC," said Luis Humberto Guzman, political analyst and member of the Convergence, the group of political parties that have formed a coalition with the FSLN. Guzman believes that the leaders of the PLC, and in particular Aleman, "no longer trust the gringos who did nothing to help Aleman during his court case in 2003."
August 23, 2005
Garza meets with PLC representatives with no success
Last week, Oliver Garza, interim US Ambassador in Nicaragua, seemed to be weakening in his grip on the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC). A meeting was held several days ago by Garza at his residence in Managua, attended by the Liberal party representatives Jorge Castillo Quant, Oscar Moncado and Maria Dolores Aleman. Details of the meeting were leaked on August 18 by Quant and Maria Dolores Aleman (Arnoldo Aleman's daughter), something which, most likely, did not please Garza.
Both Quant and Maria Dolores Aleman confirmed that Garza had recommended they “forget about Aleman,” something they assured him was not going to happen. “In Nicaragua we like strong leadership, it has to do with Latin American culture,” said Quant in a lapse into ethnic auto-stereotyping. He also revealed that Garza had insisted the PLC hold primary elections to choose its presidential candidates, something which all three PLC representatives had assured him was “impossible.” Maria Dolores Aleman said there had been “many differences in opinion between the US Ambassador and the Liberals.”
November 1, 2005
U.S. Ambassador Paul Trivelli attacks PLC and Electoral Council
On October 24, US Ambassador to Nicaragua Paul Trivelli said the US government "would never" ask the Constitutional Liberal Party's (PLC) for forgiveness for recent verbal attacks against former President Arnoldo Aleman and members of his family made by the US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick. On a recent trip to Nicaragua Zoellick described Aleman as a "criminal" and a "thief." These comments sparked anger within the PLC, and party leaders sent a letter to the chair of the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee, Henry Hyde, in which they described such comments as inappropriate.
Trivelli said he "agrees with Zoellick's comments," and that "the US would never ask to be forgiven for defending democracy." According to Trivelli, "It is clear that the PLC led by Aleman has no political future. The party must start to reform itself."
Later in the week Ambassador Trivelli reiterated the concern of the U.S. about the ability of the Supreme Electoral Council to guarantee "transparency" in the electoral process for next year's general elections, saying, "Nicaragua's electoral institution still does not respect the primordial importance of the role played by the voters within a true democracy." "For that reason," he went on, "it is essential that internal and international monitoring and observation of the elections be allowed to take place during the entire electoral process."
In a barely disguised slap at the FSLN, Trivelli described the difference between the main political forces as "a choice between anti-democratic forces and those which seek true democracy..., a choice between a model of a broken failed state and a modern democratic state." U.S. officials are determined that Nicaragua's next president should be someone who will follow the dictates of the State Department and they are unashamed to intervene openly.
November 16, 2005
Trivelli and Ortega in verbal battle
US Ambassador Paul Trivelli and Sandinista Party leader Daniel Ortega entered into verbal battle last week by repeatedly contradicting each other's statements in the press. Ortega accused Trivelli of "planning to prevent me [Ortega] from running as a presidential candidate" several times during the week while Trivelli repeatedly denied the accusation and, in turn, accused Ortega of "manipulating the Nicaraguan population."
On November 8, while taking part in an event to promote a campaign for free and obligatory education in one of Managua's poorest neighborhoods, Ortega said, "I question and condemn the interventionist US government which wants to prevent me from running for president in 2006. The US and Trivelli do not just want to prevent my participation in the elections but the participation of an entire political force, the FSLN." He went on to "advise" Trivelli to be "careful in his actions" and "respectful" of the Nicaraguan people.
On the same day at a political event in Granada Trivelli denied the US has any interest at all in preventing Ortega or any other candidate from taking part in next year's general elections and asked Ortega to "measure his words and to base them on fact." What is true is that a steady stream of US officials has traveled to Nicaragua in a so-far unsuccessful campaign to unite the right-wing, which is split over the issue of Aleman. Without a unified right, a candidate from the FSLN or from the broader Sandinismo movement might be able to win the presidency in Nov. 2006.
November 22, 2005
The US wants Aleman off the political scene
US Ambassador in Nicaragua Paul Trivelli spoke in detail about “the need for change” within the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) in an interview published in La Prensa on November 21. Trivelli's La Prensa interview was published after a week of what PLC leaders interpreted as “attempts to pressure our party into towing the US government's line,” as stated by party leader Enrique Quiñonez.
Trivelli was quoted in La Prensa saying, “I cannot understand how someone convicted of money laundering and corruption has the nerve to consider running for President.” He said the US “wants Aleman off the political scene” and that his country believes “there are several members of the Liberal party who would make much better leaders and much better presidential candidates.” Quiñonez responded, “The US has always tried to pressure the Liberal party into doing exactly what they want. First they wanted us to support Bolaños, now they want us to support [Eduardo] Montealegre. But,” he emphasized, “the Liberals remain faithful to their leader [Aleman].”
December 22, 2005
US House of Representatives passes resolution asking Bush to intervene in Nicaragua's elections
On December 14, the US House of Representatives passed by voice vote House Concurrent Resolution 252 asking the Bush administration to take measures to ensure transparency in next year's general elections in Nicaragua. An aide in the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist consulted on Thursday Dec. 22 believed that it has not yet been passed by the Senate. It may come up in 2006.
The newspaper El Nuevo Diario stated that the resolution read "The Congress' explicit feeling is that the US government should actively support the aspirations of the democratic, political and social forces in Nicaragua in order to guarantee the immediate restoration of democracy in the country." This sentence, referring polemically as it does to "the democratic …forces" and to the "restoration of democracy," appears not in the Resolution itself, but in an official summary of it on a U.S. government web page.
El Nuevo Diario described the legislation as evidence of blatant US interventionism.
In an example of careful wording, the resolution asks the Bush administration to develop a policy of support for democracy, the rule of law and human rights in Nicaragua that will go towards developing the necessary conditions of transparency in the country for the November 2006 elections. "It should be the policy of the United States to work through the Organization of American States (OAS) and other interregional and international organizations to encourage political elements within Nicaragua to preserve, protect and defend the letter and spirit of that country's constitution," failing to note, of course, that this constitution, in spite of amendments, is still largely the revolutionary constitution of 1986-7.
The Resolution goes on to ask the U.S. government to "provide funding to train electoral observers and guarantee the integrity of the electoral process." It suggests this funding be given to NGOs or organizations with no political affiliation. One wonders if this would mean no support for the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, which have received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy to involve themselves in Nicaragua's electoral processes in the past. Probably not! Finally, the Bush administration is encouraged to support a process of revision of the electoral role.
March 20, 2006
Negroponte watching Nicaraguan elections "closely"
U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told the U.S. Senate Armed Forces Committee on February 28 that U.S. intelligence services were "closely observing the presidential election processes in Peru and Nicaragua." He also condemned what he called the interference by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the affairs of other countries in the region. The former U.S. ambassador to Honduras (and U.S. point-person for the contra war in the 1980s) said that Chavez spends a considerable amount of money intervening in the political and economic lives of other countries in Latin America and other regions. When Negroponte spoke of a perceived threat during the upcoming presidential elections in Peru (April 9) and in Nicaragua (November 5), the Nicaraguan media assumed that he was speaking of Peruvian nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala and former Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista candidate.
Nicaraguan political figures debated whether this meant that the United States had covert intelligence officers operating in Nicaragua. Former Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre said, "As far as I know they don't have operatives here; or maybe they have them and I just don't know about it!" Aguirre added, "We want them to respect us as a country and not to intervene. They must realize that the 'democratic' solution has to revolve around the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) because it is the only force with the muscle and structure to mobilize the electorate and get out the vote. Those who think that a contest with three or four parties favors the center and the right are very much mistaken."
March 28, 2006
US Ambassador Trivelli defends intervention in Nicaraguan politics
US Ambassador to Nicaragua Paul Trivelli caused several uproars in the space of just one week as he continued to interfere in Nicaragua's internal affairs. Trivelli was severely criticized by the Nicaraguan press on March 22 after he quoted what were considered false statistics about the Nicaraguan economy and unemployment rate during a speech at the Foreign Relations Ministry while handing over US$48.2 million in U.S. economic aid. According to Trivelli the current unemployment rate in Nicaragua is 6.4%, a figure that even Foreign Minister Norman Caldera admitted he had "never heard before." Most Nicaraguan economists believe at least 15% of Nicaraguans are currently out of work with another 35% underemployed. The US Ambassador went on to state that Nicaragua exported over US$1.5 billion in goods during 2005, while the official figure published by the Nicaraguan Central Bank was US$857.9 million. "It has obviously been very difficult for Mr. Trivelli to come to grips with the reality of Nicaragua," said El Nuevo Diario journalist Vladimir Lopez.
Then, in an interview with journalist Carlos Chamorro, Trivelli was presented with some of the toughest questions to be put to a US diplomat in Nicaragua in recent years. According to Chamorro, no foreign diplomat has acted with such "belligerence in Nicaragua's internal affairs" since the US occupation of the country in the 1930s. "Why do you mention the names of the presidential candidates the US thinks well or badly of making it appear that the US vetoes certain candidates?" asked Chamorro. "Since Deputy Secretary [Robert] Zoellick's visit in October we have been trying to speak in a more direct way so that people understand what our decision is," replied Trivelli, "I think it is important that people have no doubts about what we think."
When Chamorro asked for his reaction to the fact that the Nicaraguan population, as shown in public opinion polls, considers him to have stepped over a line between normal diplomacy and intervention and to have even weakened the position of President Enrique Bolaños and of the democratic institutions in the country, Trivelli responded, "I am not going to stop defending democracy; that is part of our policy and it will continue to be part of our policy." Later in the interview he added, "I believe that speaking is not intervening."
When asked how the U.S. would react if Daniel Ortega won the presidency in a clean election, Trivelli said that the United States cooperated with all governments elected democratically, that governed democratically, with a sensible economic policy, and were willing to cooperate with the U.S. on security matters. The understood threat behind these conditions was that if any of them were not met, the United States would oppose the elected government and, not only cut off aid which could be a beneficial thing considering the strings attached, but mount an attempt to overthrow that government as the U.S. did in the 1980s when it organized and funded the contras to try to remove the Sandinista government.
Nicaragua was blessed by the visit of another US diplomat, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who was US Ambassador to the United Nations under President Ronald Reagan and was a supporter of overturning the revolutionary government. The Nicaraguan press interpreted her trip as an attempt to promote unity within Nicaragua's right wing in the lead up to the primary elections of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC). As soon as she arrived in the country she began a series of meetings with leaders from the Nicaraguan right including President Bolaños, presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre, leaders of the Nicaraguan Resistance Party and leaders of the PLC. Towards the end of her trip Kirkpatrick said she believed democracy in Nicaragua "is in danger" but said she has no doubt that the "Sandinista dictatorship" will not return to power.
April 12, 2006
Trivelli offers to finance right-wing unity primary elections
On April 5, US Ambassador to Nicaragua Paul Trivelli sent a letter to the leaders and presidential candidates of right-wing parties offering financial and technical help to unite the Nicaraguan right wing for the general election in November. US Embassy spokesperson Preeti Shah said she could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the letter, saying "We do not discuss the Ambassador's private correspondence." However, Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) president Jorge Castillo confirmed that he had received a letter from Trivelli offering a donation to finance primary elections for a united alliance of the right.
Trivelli said in his letter that he was responding to requests by Nicaraguan "democratic parties" for US support in their mission to keep Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega from a presidential victory. "As part of my government's efforts to respond to these requests to promote democratic practices and free elections in Nicaragua, the US is willing to collaborate in this process," reads the letter. Trivelli went on to insist that all parties must reply to this proposal with a list of their candidates by April 18th.
The PLC, however, rejected the offer. Former President Arnoldo Aleman's daughter, Maria Dolores Aleman said Trivelli made this proposal to the parties of the right because "he knows his preferred candidate [Eduardo Montealegre] has no chance of winning."
The general secretary of Montealegre's National Liberal Alliance (ALN), Eliseo Nuñez, did accept the invitation although Montealegre himself reiterated his stance again this week that he will not ally with the PLC while Aleman still controls the party. The other right-wing parties which received the letter, including President Enrique Bolaños' party Alliance for the Republic (APRE), the Conservative Party (PC), the Christian Path Party (CC), and the National Resistance Party (PRN), have not yet replied to the invitation.
There was uproar within the Nicaraguan media at Trivelli's actions which were compared in several news outlets to the US Marines administration and supervision of the general elections of 1928. During that year, a US General named McCoy was named president of the Supreme Electoral Council. This week "the US intervention was so blatant that even some right-wing sectors felt awkward and had to reject the offer," said the El Nuevo Diario editorial on April 6.
Sandinista party leader Daniel Ortega reminded Trivelli that the Vienna Convention "expressly prohibits diplomats from interfering in internal matters of the country where they are assigned. At the International Socialist Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (IS) meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay, last week, Tomas Borge, who serves as Vice General Secretary of the Sandinista Party, denounced Trivelli's actions in Nicaragua. This prompted the organization to issue a press statement condemning diplomatic representatives' interference in the electoral process. "We are particularly concerned about the consistent intervention of US Ambassadors in Central America," read the statement.
April 18, 2006
Montealegre loses support while PLC moves closer to Trivelli
On April 10 Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) spokesman Leonel Teller confirmed that senior members of the party would meet with US Ambassador Trivelli to discuss the proposal the US diplomat put to Nicaraguan right wing parties last week. On April 5 Trivelli sent a letter to the leaders of all right wing parties offering technical and financial support so that they can hold a multi party coalition primary to select candidates for the upcoming general elections. The US government proposal would annul the nominations of Jose Rizo by the PLC and Eduardo Montealegre by the National Liberal Alliance-Conservative Party (ALN-PC).
The US, which has backed Montealegre up until now, has decided that the PLC will not reject as its leader convicted former president Arnoldo Aleman and unify behind Montealegre. So, in order to prevent a possible election by FSLN leader Daniel Ortega, Trivelli has offered the US financing of the election if the PLC agrees not to nominate any candidates from among Aleman's family.
Initially the PLC rejected this offer (as did several of the other smaller right wing parties) because they believed that Trivelli wanted to replace their elected presidential candidate, Jose Rizo, with Eduardo Montealegre, a dissident liberal whose presidential candidacy is supported by the US. Now it seems the PLC has reconsidered that decision and has agreed to meet with the US Ambassador.
According to Teller “our strategic ally (the US) is beginning ... to recognize our candidate,” and would support a right wing coalition led by Jose Rizo.
Rene Nuñez, FSLN representative and member of the National Assembly Directorate Board, said his party is not worried about running against a “Great Liberal Alliance” in the upcoming elections. “We are not concerned,” he said, adding that “the Nicaraguan people have given the right long enough to do something positive in the country. What have they got out of “17 years of right wing rule? ... There is less employment; no access to healthcare, education is far too expensive; there is more hunger, poverty and misery.”
On April 10 an anonymous PLC source said that the US would “punish” the PLC should the party reject Trivelli's attempts to unify the right by discouraging traditional PLC donors from supporting the party's electoral campaign. “Only the donors faithful to Aleman would remain,” said the source. According to the source, without US support the PLC would only be able to raise US$2 - 3 million of the US$16 million they usually spend on a presidential election campaign. Noel Ramirez said these claims were false and that the PLC would have no trouble funding the campaign with or without US support.
May 3, 2006
US cancels PLC deputy's visa
On April 25 the US Embassy spokesperson Preeti Shah confirmed to the press that Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) Deputy Donald Lacayo's US visa had been revoked under section 212 f of the US immigration law which refers to corrupt acts. Lacayo is a close friend of former president Arnoldo Alemán, who stands convicted of corruption and the laundering of state funds. The news of Lacayo's visa cancellation came just a week after US Ambassador Paul Trivelli repeated his call to the PLC to abandon Alemán's leadership and unite with the other right wing parties. Roughly twenty PLC representatives and other friends and family of Alemán have had their US visas revoked over the last four years in what is interpreted as an attempt by the US government to pressure the PLC into toeing the US line.
Meanwhile the US Nicaragua Network was reported in El Nuevo Diario to have condemned its government's intervention in Nicaragua's election process. Arnold Matlin, MD, a member of Nicaragua Network's Board, said, “What the US government is doing in Nicaragua would be illegal if a foreign government tried to do it in the US. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the pseudo-independent National Endowment for Democracy are funding right-wing groups and political parties as part of an effort to determine the outcome of the election.”
June 13, 2006
Zoellick demands OAS observation in Nicaragua ASAP
The US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said it is necessary for the Organization of American States (OAS) to send a mission of Electoral Observation to Nicaragua “as soon as possible” so as to “prevent the old leaders of corruption and communism from attempting to remain in power.” He went on to say that Nicaragua needs “justice, transparency and direct and clear reports” about the electoral process in the run up to the general election on November 5. These comments were made at the 36th General Assembly of the OAS on June 5. Zoellick did not say whether the US would make "direct and clear reports" on how much money it is spending through the National Endowment for Democracy and US Agency for International Development (AID) to influence the outcome of the election.
An OAS electoral observation mission has been in Nicaragua since May 7. This mission, which consists of 33 people from different countries on the continent, is being coordinated by Patricio Fajardo, who admitted it is the most prolonged electoral observation mission in the history of the OAS.
On June 6 both the Sandinista Party (FSLN) and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) rejected Zoellick's comments. José Figueroa, Executive Secretary of the FSLN in the National Assembly, said these comments don't refer to his party and that the US should “concentrate on its internal affairs and on doing less damage to humanity.” Wilfredo Navarro, Vice President of the PLC said Zoellick wasn't referring to his party because the “PLC opposes corruption.”
On June 8 the head of the OAS mission in Nicaragua Gustavo Fernández arrived in Nicaragua for a week long visit accompanied by a number of specialist advisers including former Chilean foreign minister Ignacio Walker and Director of the Center of Human Rights and Peace Affairs at Venezuela's Central University Ana María San Juan. Other specialist advisers will join the mission in the coming days.
On June 9 the mission led by Fernández met with a delegation of the FSLN. Ortega complained to mission members about the US government's lack of respect for the OAS principle of non-intervention with its repeated attempts to affect and alter the outcome of the forthcoming general election. Ortega gave the example of the constant attempts by the US Ambassador and other US government officials to discredit the FSLN as a legitimate political force. In response Fernández assured the FSLN delegation that the OAS electoral observation mission will work with “independence and impartiality.”
June 21, 2006
US steps up pressure
The US government is stepping up its pressure against the PLC and its representatives. On June 13 the PLC Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) magistrate, René Herrera, was detained at the Miami airport, had his visa revoked and was sent back to Nicaragua. Several representatives of the PLC have had their US visas revoked in recent months in what is seen as an attempt to pressure the party to comply with US demands to abandon their leader, former President Arnoldo Alemán, and unify with the ALN-PC led by Eduardo Montealegre.
July 5, 2006
Thomas Shannon: “Montealegre and Lewites represent the future” of Nicaragua
Thomas Shannon, the US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, visited Nicaragua on June 26 and 27 and met with the National Liberal Alliance (ALN) presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre and the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) presidential candidate Herty Lewites (who died on July 2 and was replaced by Edmundo Jarquin).
At a press conference on June 26 Shannon described Montealegre and Lewites as representing the “future” of the country. This was the first time a US government official had referred to a candidate of the left, in this case Lewites, in favorable terms in a public statement. He said that the US government has no preferred candidate in the forthcoming general election but just a “commitment” to democracy and free and transparent elections. He said he regretted not being able to meet with the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) candidate José Rizo, although commentators believed the decision to leave Rizo out of the picture was part of a deliberate attempt to undermine the PLC and its candidate.
After their meeting with Shannon on June 27 Eduardo Montealegre said “we must leave behind the options that represent the past,” while Herty Lewites said Shannon had told him that “for the first time the US sees an alternative within the Sandinista movement.” The leaders of the PLC minimized the importance of the Shannon visit. Orlando Tardencilla of the Alternative for Change (AC) coalition said that even if the coalition's presidential candidate Edén Pastora had been invited to meet with the US diplomat he wouldn't have wasted his time in going to the meeting. Tardencilla believes the real reason behind Shannon's trip was to “tell [Lewites and Montealegre] how to join forces, when to do it and how much money they will have to train their poll watchers.”
Sandinista deputy Bayardo Arce meanwhile said the Sandinista party (FSLN) “thinks it is not constructive ... for the US to get so involved” during this pre-electoral time. Vice presidential candidate for the FSLN alliance Jaime Morales Carazo said Shannon's visit represents the US's “ambivalent” ideas about democracy.
The US government's ambivalent attitude toward PLC candidate Rizo was made clearer on June 29 when it came to light that, three months following his request for a renewal on his ten year US visa, Rizo was granted the extension. Journalists commented that this move coincided with Montealegre's claim made recently in Miami that Rizo would renounce his candidacy in September.
July 13, 2006
Carter visits Nicaragua while poll shows Ortega in the lead
Former US President Jimmy Carter visited Nicaragua last week, meeting with President Enrique Bolaños, the Supreme Electoral Council, most of the presidential candidates and with civil society groups such as Ethics and Transparency, the national election monitoring group. He stated on July 6 that “The Carter Center vigorously opposes any foreign interference in the Nicaraguan electoral process. Almost all Nicaraguans with whom we spoke expressed their concern about foreign governments endorsing, vetoing or financing specific candidates.”
July 26, 2006
PLC mayors desert party in favor of Montealegre
On July 19 four Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) mayors from the department of Nueva Segovia, Arnulfo Quiñónez of Ciudad Antigua, Efraín Landero of Mozonte, Ariel Flores of Macuelizo and Hugo Gómez of Jícaro, announced their decision to abandon the party and join the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) led by presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre. The four mayors explained their decision saying they were tired of PLC pressures and oppression.
Vice President of the PLC Wilfredo Navarro said “we cannot deny that there is US pressure on our mayors and on all structures of our party to change to the ALN” as part of an “interventionist” attempt to “weaken the PLC.” Despite this, however, Navarro believes the outcome of the forthcoming general election “will not be affected.” The “intervention” Navarro referred to is that of the United States and its efforts to unite the Nicaraguan right under one candidate in order to defeat the FSLN. Eduardo Montealegre denied Navarro's claims saying “this is about much more than pressure from some [foreign] government.”
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