ALN DEPUTY SUBJECT OF FSLN/PLC WITCH HUNT

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 001663 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR VALVARADO E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2017 TAGS: KDEM PGOV NU SUBJECT: ALN DEPUTY SUBJECT OF FSLN/PLC WITCH HUNT REF: MANAGUA 1083 Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reasons 1.4(B,D) ¶1. SUMMARY: Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) deputy Alejandro Bolanos Davis' seat in the National Assembly hangs by a thread. Led by Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) magistrates, the Nicaragua Supreme Electoral Counsel (CSE) voted to strip Bolanos of his seat over supposed citizenship irregularities despite CSE president Roberto Rivas' 2006 public declaration that Bolanos "was fine." Until the decision is formally "passed" to the National Assembly, Bolanos retains his seat. Bolanos claims this is a Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) witch hunt in retaliation for Bolanos' open criticism of the FSLN on labor issues and for publicly accusing senior FSLN official Lenin Cerna of being the key player in an on-going property extortion case (septel). The case has also opened a new rift in the PLC between the CSE magistrates and anti-FSLN Assembly deputies. END SUMMARY. Background - - - - - - ¶2. (U) In early June 2006, the ALN announced that Conservative Alejandro Bolanos Davis, a nephew of then-President Enrique Bolanos Geyer, would run for a deputy position in the National Assembly on the ALN ticket. During the registration process, Bolanos presented both a birth certificate and a national ID card (cedula) that showed Masaya, Nicaragua as his registered place of birth. On June 6, the PLC protested to the CSE on grounds that Bolanos was an American citizen and therefore ineligible to run for public office. The next day, CSE president Roberto Rivas, in a public statement, declared "everything is in order" with Bolanos' case, signaling that there were no grounds for removing him from the ALN ticket. On June 8, PLC presidential candidate Jose Rizo stated that the PLC would not pursue the case further. Thus, Bolanos' name appeared on the July 31 final list of ALN deputy candidates and on the November 22, 2006 list of deputies elected to the National Assembly. Bolanos assumed his seat in the National Assembly on January 9, 2007. ¶3. (U) On June 13, 2007 the issue re-emerged when Edwin Castro, head of the FSLN's National Assembly caucus, publicly accused Bolanos of having U.S. citizenship. The issue was immediately sent to the CSE (by the PLC) for review. The three PLC magistrates on the CSE pushed for his removal on grounds that Bolanos had violated Article 134 of the Constitution, which states that any elected public official must renounce any acquired citizenship four years before running for office. On June 27, only two weeks later, the CSE ruled against Bolanos, stripping him of his seat in the National Assembly. However, as of July 3, the CSE had not delivered their official decision to the National Assembly and Bolanos still retained his seat. In turn, Bolanos is questioning the CSE's legal ability to remove him from office after being sworn-in. (Note: Post is independently checking the legal basis of Bolanos' counter-claim. End Note). CSE's First Argument - Violated Article 134 of Constitution - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (U) Article 134 of the Nicaraguan Constitution requires that anyone who has acquired foreign citizenship must surrender that citizenship four years before seeking public office. Bolanos, who applied for his first U.S. passport in 1985, began procedures to surrender his U.S. citizenship on May 31, 2006 with a letter sent to the U.S. Consulate. He signed the necessary renunciation documents on July 27 at the Embassy and the State Department approved his renunciation on September 22. Regardless of the "official" date of renunciation, Bolanos still renounced his citizenship well inside the four-year period required by law. ¶5. (U) Bolanos' counter-argued that he did not "acquire" his U.S. citizenship because he was born in the U.S., giving him automatic citizenship. Thus, Bolanos claimed that Article 134 could not be used by the CSE. Further, he argued that his citizenship had already been considered by the CSE the previous June and that CSE president Roberto Rivas had found no problem. Asked why he felt it necessary to surrender his U.S. citizenship -- when he himself argued that it wasn't required by Article 134 -- Bolanos responded that he "didn't want there to be any doubt that I'm Nicaraguan." CSE's Second Argument - Used Fraudulent Documents - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (C) Because Bolanos supposedly presented both a Nicaraguan birth certificate and cedula showing Masaya as his place of birth when he registered as an ALN deputy candidate in June 2006, the CSE is accusing him of presenting fraudulent documents. The CSE claims that it would never have registered Bolanos in 2006 had it known that Bolanos was an American citizen. (Comment: Between the time Bolanos registered in June and the publication of the final list of deputies in July 2006, the CSE could have raised the same argument, but did not. The Bolanos issue was dropped following Rivas' June 7 declaration. It is possible that the FSLN or PLC, by raising the issue and then dropping it, hoped to show Bolanos that they had something on him, thus pressuring him into legislative compliance. The FSLN resurrected the citizenship complaint only after Bolanos refused to end his public criticisms of illegal firings, property extortions, and other irregularities perpetrated by the Ortega Administration. End Comment.) ¶7. (U) When the story first re-surfaced last month, Bolanos initially appeared on television with his Nicaraguan cedula, claiming he was born in Nicaragua despite the fact it was widely known that he was born in the U.S. It is not clear why Bolanos initially made this claim, but his reaction hurt his credibility and made the CSE's fraud argument sound more credible. Only a full two weeks after the story broke, did Bolanos publicly address the issue of the Nicaraguan birth certificate, claiming the Nicaraguan registry mistakenly wrote Masaya on his cedula application in 1993. Bolanos stated that he petitioned to have the error corrected in 1993, but three years later, in 1996, his cedula still indicated he was born in Masaya. Predicting further election-related delays due to the 1996 elections, Bolanos claimed he did not pursue the matter further, quipping that it never would have become an issue because he never thought he would run for public office. (Note: In e-mail correspondence with the Embassy, Bolanos indicated that his grandfather registered his birth in Masaya in 1949, but he did not indicate how the birth was registered - i.e., as a birth abroad or a domestic birth. It is very likely that no proof of birth was required at the time of registry at that time. End note.) Bolanos Claims Embassy-Provided Information Started Witch Hunt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶8. (C) On June 15, two days after Castro's announcement, the daily newspaper El Nuevo Diario contacted an Embassy public affairs officer regarding the status of Bolanos' citizenship. After consulting with consular staff, reviewing the 7 FAM, and clearing with the Front Office, public affairs confirmed that Bolanos had relinquished his citizenship just prior to the November 5 national elections. ALN not to the Rescue - - - - - - - - - - - ¶9. (C) Although Emboffs privately encouraged ALN leadership to publicly support Bolanos in his fight to retain his seat, the party provided little support. ALN deputy Eliseo Nunez commented to the media that Bolanos had "made an error" renouncing his citizenship so late, while Maria Eugenia Sequeira, head of the ALN caucus on the National Assembly, stated on June 19 that Bolanos was "very likely" to lose his seat. ALN president Eduardo Montealegre -- when asked directly if the ALN was supporting Bolanos -- responded that "no one is above the law." He did, however, reference CSE president Roberto Rivas' June 2006 comment that there was "no problem" with Bolanos' case. Comment - Independence is a Dangerous Thing - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶10. (C) Bolanos has sharply criticized the FSLN administration several times since taking office. As president of the National Assembly's labor commission he decried its handling of the minimum wage issue and the education crisis that brought the secondary education system to a near standstill (reftel). In addition, Bolanos directly named Lenin Cerna, the former head of state security in the 1980s and a key FSLN insider, as the man behind a recent high profile property extortion case in Tola (septel) in which $4 million was demanded from investors to resolve a property rights issue. ¶11. (C) On multiple occasions, Bolanos had commented to emboffs with pride that he was "beholden to no one and could say and do what I think. I am independent." However, by going after Cerna, who wields tremendous influence in the FSLN, Bolanos appears to have bit off more than he can chew. Within days of mentioning Cerna's name, his own name was back in the press with Castro accusing him of violating the Constitution. Within weeks the CSE had striped him of his seat in the National Assembly despite clear contradictory statements one year earlier by the CSE's president. There can be no doubt that the FSLN targeted Bolanos -- with an assist from the PLC -- for retribution and to serve as an example for those contemplating attacks on the FSLN's leadership. TRIVELLI