CPDH HUMAN RIGHTS NGO REVIEWS EFFORTS TO HOLD FSLN

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 000119 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2016 TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV KDEM KCRM NU SUBJECT: CPDH HUMAN RIGHTS NGO REVIEWS EFFORTS TO HOLD FSLN ACCOUNTABLE FOR PAST AND PRESENT ABUSES OF POWER REF: A. 05 MANAGUA 1117 ¶B. 05 MANAGUA 2426 ¶C. 05 MANAGUA 2646 ¶D. 05 MANAGUA 2998 Classified By: AMBASSADOR PAUL TRIVELLI. REASONS 1.4 (B,D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Leaders of the Nicaraguan Permanent Human Rights Commission (CPDH),a prominent human rights NGO, have informed the Ambassador that they are moving forward with two projects to hold Sandinista (FSLN) leaders accountable for abuses of power committed in the 1980s. They are also investigating the FSLN cover-up of a recent fatal car accident in which Daniel Ortega's son was reportedly driving when two pedestrians were killed. The CPDH is concerned by the possibility of a combined Daniel Ortega-Herty Lewites victory in the November national elections and is seeking international funding for training seminars it hopes to hold for official election observers from the "democratic" parties in an effort to block FSLN attempts to steal the vote. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) In a meeting with the Ambassador on January 19, leaders of the CPDH reaffirmed their commitment to holding the Sandinistas accountable for past and present abuses of the rights of Nicaraguan citizens. CPDH President Nicholas Bolanos (President Bolanos' elder brother),Secretary Raymond Genie, and Executive Director Marcos Carmona called on the Ambassador to discuss ongoing and new CPDH projects. They reported that two projects slated to receive USG funding are already underway. These projects involve the computerization and publication of the organization's archives of human rights abuses, most of which date from the 1980s era of Sandinista rule, and the investigation of large scale FSLN rights abuses on Nicaragua's Atlantic coast during the 1980s (reftels). (NOTE: Post understands that DRL has budgeted funds to support both projects, while USAID is funding the initial stages of the second effort. USAID Managua has already signed a contract with the CPDH and expects that the first disbursement of funding will be made during the week of January 23-27, enabling the CPDH to continue and expand field work documenting 1980s abuses on the Atlantic coast in February. END NOTE) ¶3. (SBU) Given the power and influence of the FSLN, the CPDH leaders said that they will need strong USG and international support if their efforts are to succeed. They asked for USG assistance in finding international NGO partners to help them promote the Atlantic coast case once they have done the domestic work of gathering the information for the international complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). They also anticipate threats and pressure from the FSLN once the Atlantic coast investigation gets underway in the field and gains publicity. ¶4. (C) The CPDH officials added that they have received a complaint from one of the two families that recently lost their sons in a Managua traffic accident. Rafael Ortega, son of FSLN caudillo Daniel Ortega, was reportedly in the driver's seat when the incident occurred. Witnesses of the accident reported that Rafael Ortega was driving the car that hit the two young men, but the FSLN pulled a switch at the scene of the accident, claiming that another driver was behind the wheel of the FSLN-owned vehicle that struck and killed the two pedestrians. So powerful is the fear of Daniel Ortega and the FSLN leadership that neither the police nor the media dare to state openly what really happened, even though the word on the street is that Ortega's son is the culprit. If either of the families of the victims press the issue and the CPDH champions their case, the wrath of the FSLN is likely to fall on the organization. ¶5. (SBU) The CPDH leaders also presented the Ambassador with a project proposal soliciting the aid of international donors for the organization's efforts to train official party electoral observers ("fiscales") for the November national elections. In the absence of committed and well-trained observers from other parties, the FSLN is skilled and experienced at manipulating the results in individual polling centers, as it demonstrated once again in the November 2004 municipal elections. The CPDH is already slated to receive 100,000 USD from the Government of Taiwan for this effort and will be seeking additional support from other members of the international donor community in Managua. The Ambassador suggested that the CPDH approach local office of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) as well. ¶6. (SBU) The CPDH leaders were alarmed that the November elections could produce a National Assembly in which Ortega's FSLN and the leftist alliance of Herty Lewites ("Alliance Herty 2006") would have a majority of seats. Although Lewites claims to be building a democratic center-left alternative to the FSLN, the CPDH leaders noted that much of his funding comes from Humberto Ortega, Daniel's brother and former commander of the Sandinista army. The CPDH fears that, whatever the reality or the fiction of the present Daniel-Herty split, the two will end up joining forces after the elections. TRIVELLI