NICARAGUA'S MOST WANTED PART I: THE CRIMES OF

UUNCLAS MANAGUA 001002

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN
PASS TO USAID FOR AA/LAC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KCRM SOCI ECON EAID NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA'S MOST WANTED PART I: THE CRIMES OF
DANIEL ORTEGA AND HIS FAMILY


1. (SBU) In preparation for the November 2006 national
elections in Nicaragua, post has developed three "rap sheets"
on the records of Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista party (FSLN)
and Arnoldo Aleman, highlighting their systematic crimes and
abuses. The rap sheets contain short summaries of the crimes
and abuses committed, as well as details on the sources of
the information. Post intends to use the information from
these rap sheets in discussions with domestic and
international interlocutors as a means of reminding
Nicaraguan voters and others of the true character of Aleman,
Ortega, and the Sandinistas. While the summaries themselves
are unclassified, some of the sources of information are SBU.
Post will distribute the summaries to appropriate contacts,
but not the sources. Post is sending both the summaries and

the sources to the Department and other Washington agencies
for similar uses. This cable focuses on the crimes of Daniel
Ortega and his family. Septels will cover the FSLN and
Aleman.

CRIMES OF DANIEL ORTEGA AND HIS FAMILY
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The Murder of Jean-Paul Genie by the bodyguards of Humberto
Ortega
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2. (U) In October 1990, security guards working for Humberto
Ortega, Daniel,s brother and the former FSLN Army Commander,
used automatic weapons to kill Jean-Paul Genie (age 16) when
Genie tried to pass Humberto,s convoy on what is now the
Masaya Highway. The FSLN used its control of the judiciary
and the police to cover up the crime, and no one was ever
held accountable for Genie,s murder.


3. (SBU) Sources: media accounts of the 1990 shooting of
Jean Paul Genie, personal testimony by Raymond Genie (the
father of Jean Paul),legal documents filed by the Genie
family in Nicaragua and with the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights (IACHR).

Ordering of Torture, Killings, and Mass Murder
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4. (U) Daniel and Humberto Ortega participated in the FSLN
leadership council that collectively ordered the arrest and
torture of thousands of people at prisons and prison camps
all over Nicaragua. The largest torture camp for political
prisoners was in what is now the free trade zone near
Managua,s airport. The Ortega brothers and their FSLN
associates also ordered numerous murders and disappearances,
including the killings of hundreds of Miskitos on the
Atlantic coast and the internment of thousands more in
concentration camps in 1981 and 1982.


5. (SBU) Sources: thousands of complaints filed with the
CPDH human rights organization throughout the 1980s,
testimony of Miskito survivors and torture victims, annual
State Department Human Rights reports, documents on
investigations carried out by the IACHR during the 1980s.

Rape and Sexual Abuse of Step-daughter
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6. (U) In 1998 Zoilamerica Narvaez, the daughter of Rosario
Murillo and the step-daughter of Daniel Ortega, made
allegations that Ortega had raped and sexually abused her
over a period of many years. However, Ortega used his
immunity as a National Assembly deputy and his control of the
courts to ensure that the case never went to trial. Having
ensured he would never face trial, Ortega then actively
sabotaged all efforts by the Nicaraguan government to provide
justice to Narvaez and used his mother and Rosario Murillo in
a public relations campaign intended to bury the allegations.


7. (U) Such misogynistic attitudes are common in the FSLN,
as is the tolerance of domestic and sexual violence. When
FSLN National Assembly deputies voted to lower the criminal
penalties for statutory rape in March 2006, FSLN deputy
Nathan Sevilla justified the vote by stating that sex with
minors was "normal" in rural Nicaragua and thus should not be
considered a serious crime.


8. (SBU) Sources: personal testimony of Zoilamerica, legal
documents filed by Zoilamerica in Nicaraguan institutions

(including the courts, the police and the office of the Human
Rights Ombudsman) and the IACHR, media records of Ortega's
"public relations" campaign using Rosario Murillo and his own
mother.

Protection and Blackmail of Fellow Alleged Rapist Ricardo
Mayorga
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9. (U) In September 2004, boxer Ricardo Mayorga allegedly
raped a young woman in a Managua hotel. Sensing an
opportunity to blackmail Mayorga, Ortega and the FSLN agreed
to protect the boxer in the courts if he would give the party
a large portion of his international boxing winnings and
"advertise" for Daniel in public. Mayorga agreed, and an
FSLN judge found him not guilty in December. Much of
Mayorga,s winnings now reportedly go to Ortega, and when
Mayorga fought in Chicago in August 2005, he dedicated the
fight to Daniel, wore the FSLN colors, and flashed the number
of the FSLN slot on the Nicaraguan electoral ballot
("casilla") to the international media.


10. (SBU) Sources: media accounts of Mayorga,s arrest,
trial, his public "pro-Daniel" comments and his August 2005
fight, private testimony offered by lawyers involved in the
case, testimony of the rape victim.

Daniel Ortega a Thief like Aleman
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11. (U) Property Confiscations: After the victory of the
revolution in 1979, Daniel immediately confiscated the
Managua residence of current National Assembly deputy Jaime
Morales. Ortega subsequently stole other houses and property
surrounding the Morales residence and created his own private
compound on an entire block in downtown Managua.


12. (U) The Pinata Phenomenon: After the FSLN lost the
election in 1990 but before it handed over power to Dona
Violeta, Ortega supervised the theft of billions of dollars
worth of land and state-owned companies that went to his
immediate family, Humberto Ortega and other prominent
Sandinistas. Other companies involved in transportation,
lumber, sugar mills, and slaughterhouses nominally went to
the FSLN, but effectively ended up in the hands of Ortega,
his family, and their closest associates.


13. (SBU) Sources: Nicaraguan government property records
document the Pinata and the 1980s confiscations in great
detail. Ortega still lives in the Morales house and occupies
the entire block to this day. Testimony of those whose
property was seized is also widely available and hundreds are
registered with the U.S. Embassy. Other sources include
State Department annual Human Rights Reports and complaints
filed with the CPDH human rights organization.

Cover-up of Daniel,s Son,s Involvement in Fatal Car Accident
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14. (U) On December 11, 2005, a vehicle owned by the FSLN
struck another vehicle and killed two young men in the early
morning hours. Eyewitnesses reported that the person driving
the FSLN vehicle was Rafael Ortega, Daniel,s son and the
director of FSLN-owned Channel 4, but, in order to protect
the Ortega family, the FSLN pulled a switch and claimed that
another driver was behind the wheel. Police and Prosecutors,
fearing Ortega,s power, refused to investigate the switch,
denying justice to the families of the two victims using
familiar Sandinista cover-up methods.


15. (SBU) Sources: media accounts of the accident and
subsequent Sandinista cover-up efforts; the trial in which
the FSLN and its judges covered up the issue of the real
driver is also a matter of public record.

Ortega and Associates Suspected of Ordering Murder of Carlos
Guadamuz
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16. (U) In February 2004, William Hurtado, an FSLN militant
and former member of the Sandinista state security apparatus,
shot and killed journalist and radio personality Carlos
Guadamuz in Managua. A former Sandinista himself, Guadamuz
had broken with Daniel Ortega and used his radio program to

criticize Ortega, &Nicho8 Marenco, and other FSLN leaders
on a wide range of issues, including Zoilamerica,s rape
allegations against Ortega. Although the involvement of
Daniel Ortega and Nicho Marenco in the Guadamuz murder was
never proven in court, the killing was carried out in classic
FSLN assassination-style and removed a thorn in the side of
both men at a time when Marenco was running for Mayor of
Managua.


17. (SBU) Sources: The falling out between Guadamuz and the
FSLN and his media attacks on Ortega and Marenco are a matter
of public record, as is Guadamuz,s complaint to the police
that he believed the FSLN planned to murder him. It is also a
known fact that Hurtado was a former member of the Sandinista
State Security Directorate.

Contacts with Terrorists
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18. (U) Daniel Ortega has had close relations with numerous
international terrorist groups for decades. During the
1980s, he invited international terrorists from Italy,
Lebanon, Libya, the Palestinian territories, and Spain to
come to Nicaragua to find safe haven and plan future
terrorist operations. Many of these persons became
Nicaraguan citizens. Since losing power in 1990, Ortega has
continued to maintain his terrorist ties, and has publicly
admitted receiving money from the government of Libya and
other dubious sources for his subsequent presidential
campaigns.


19. (U) In 1984 Daniel Ortega negotiated a deal with
Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar whereby Escobar received
refuge for several months in Nicaragua after he had ordered
the killing of the Colombian Minister of Justice. At the
same time, Escobar,s drug trafficking operation received
Ortega,s approval to land and load airplanes in Nicaragua as
they sought to ship cocaine to the United States. In return,
Ortega and the FSLN received large cash payments from
Escobar. Interior Minister Tomas Borge and his subordinates
went so far as to assist Escobar with the loading and
unloading of drugs onto his airplanes in Nicaragua. The Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) managed to place a hidden camera on
one of Escobar,s airplanes and obtained film of Escobar and
Ministry of the Interior officials loading cocaine onto one
of Escobar,s planes at Managua,s international airport. CBS
news later broadcast the film and the entire story of
Escobar-Ortega-FSLN collaboration is related in detail in a
2005 book by Astrid Legarda Martinez: El Verdadero Pablo:
Sangre, Traicion y Muerte (Colombia, Ediciones Dipon).


20. (U) FSLN leaders, including Humberto Ortega, have
admitted publicly that leaders of the Argentine leftist
terrorist group "Los Montoneros" resided in Nicaragua and
engaged in military activities with the FSLN for an extended
period in 1979-1981. Humberto Ortega admitted that Fernando
Vaca Narvaja, the leader of the group, resided in his house
in Managua.


21. (SBU) Sources: Ortega has publicly admitted many of his
terrorist connections, including the fact that he has
received elections money from the government of Libya. Many
1980s terrorists still live in Nicaragua and have acquired
Nicaraguan citizenship (including at least one prominent
member of the Italian Red Brigades),Ortega publicly
associated with many of these individuals in Nicaragua
throughout the 1980s. The Pablo Escobar footage was filmed
June 24, 1984.
TRIVELLI

DANIEL ORTEGA AN...