ATMOSPHERICS OF ORTEGA INAUGURATION: CHAOS AND POPULISM TRUMPS SECURITY AND PROTOCOL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MANAGUA 000225

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

HHS FOR SECRETARY LEAVITT
MCC FOR AMB. DANILOVICH
DEPT FOR WHA A/S SHANNON, WHA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017
TAGS: PINR PGOV PREL KDEM NU
SUBJECT: ATMOSPHERICS OF ORTEGA INAUGURATION: CHAOS AND POPULISM TRUMPS SECURITY AND PROTOCOL

REF: A. A. MANAGUA 0106


B. B.MANAGUA 0202

C. C.MANAGUA 0140

D. DMANAGUA 0175

Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reason 1.4 (b and d)


1. (C) Summary: The inauguration of President Daniel Ortega
on January 10 projected an odd image of disorder, amateurism,
and unceremonious conduct, where populism trumped protocol,
and security was virtually non-existent. Heads of state,
royalty, ministers, and other dignitaries from over 64
countries waited nearly two hours in the baking sun, until
the arrival of President Hugo Chavez from Venezuela just
before sundown signaled it was time for the show to begin.
Instead of giving his formal remarks as programmed, President
Ortega closed the proceedings with the departing words, "my
people await me," and then rushed off to Plaza de La Fe for a
popular rally accompanied by Presidents Chavez and Morales
(reftel A),(and the President of Taiwan, looking as lost as
an Eskimo in Africa.) The program commenced with a lengthy
sermon by Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo and included an
extended medal ceremony conferred by attractive young
Nicaraguan female dancers. The following report offers a
sampling of the atmospherics surrounding the inauguration,
and a glimpse of the incoming government's management style
and handling of its official ceremonies. End Summary

Last-Minute Changes and the Murillo Effect
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2. (C) Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)
involved in the inauguration planning and logistics expressed
exasperation with the overall management of the event by
First Lady Rosario Murillo, Ortega's closest confidant,
campaign manager, and the government's newly minted Director
of Communications and Citizenry. They were particularly
perturbed by Murillo's last-minute decision to change the
inauguration venue without consulting the MFA team in charge
of coordination. Several veterans complained to poloff that
"this would be their last inauguration." Embassy officers
assigned to the U.S. delegation visit also witness first hand
Murillo's erratic management style and her tendency to
control events, meetings, and festivities during the course
of the inauguration.


3. (C) On January 9, the evening before the inauguration, the
U.S. delegation met with Ortega and some of his key advisors
at FSLN party headquarters. As a harbinger of the confusion
that was to come, the timing of the meeting shifted back and
forth throughout the day, up until minutes before the actual
encounter took place close to 10:00 PM. (Samuel Santos,
MFA-designate and longstanding FSLN militant, had instructed
the U.S. delegation to wait at their hotel since Ortega was
"running behind" with his other visitors.) In sharp contrast
to the formal diplomatic reception for special missions
hosted by outgoing Foreign Minister Norman Caldera at the MFA
the same evening, the session with Ortega was bereft of
protocol and no one from the FSLN ranks was present to
receive the visiting delegations, creating an atmosphere of
confusion and disorganization.


4. (C) Prior to meeting with the U.S. delegation, Ortega held an audience with the Russian delegation of two, who arrived in a pair of 7 series BMWs, and an extended conference with President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan and his entourage of several busloads of Taiwanese delegates (total size of Taiwanese delegation sent to Managua was at least 200). Rather than informing the U.S. Embassy of who would be attending the USDEL meeting with Ortega in advance, site officers had to track down the information minutes before the meeting to learn that Ortega would be joined by his wife, Santos, Ambassador-designate to the U.S. Arturo Cruz, and long-time FSLN member Bayardo Arce. Mohammed Lashtar, reportedly the nephew of Libyan President Mohammar Qadaffi, whom Ortega recently appointed as his private secretary, also sat at the table and took copious notes (reftel B). During the cordial meeting, Rosario Murillo was clearly in charge, speaking for Ortega when he faltered or had trouble answering questions. Murillo invoked the FSLN slogans of reconciliation, peace, love, and solidarity for the benefit of the delegates.

A Free For All
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5. (U) The inauguration ceremony was scheduled to commence at
3:00 PM on January 10 at the Plaza de los No-Alineados (Plaza
of the Non-Aligned) with the entry of national and
international invitees, government and military officials,
religious leaders, heads of government, and guests of honor
-- but nothing went according to plan, and disorder
prevailed. Although the U.S. delegation and other VIP
invitees had been accorded a special seating area near the
front of the dais and were in their seats promptly at 3:30 PM
per MFA instructions, there was no enforcement of the seating
arrangements, or any effort at crowd control by any of the
uniformed officers. Shortly before the U.S. delegation
arrived to take their seats, a group of Palestinian delegates
attempted to claim seats in the same section, but they were
subsequently displaced by Central American invitees.


6. (U) By the time Chavez made his grand entrance nearly two
hours later, the seating arrangements had turned into a
"free-for-all," with people taking matters into their own
hands, grabbing chairs and moving them at will, blocking
aisles and walkways. Some people walked randomly on stage to
take pictures. Others decided to stake out their own
"standing room only" territory in front of the stage,
consequently obstructing the view of people trying to remain
seated in the back of the plaza -- bringing any semblance of
order and formality appropriate for the occasion to an end.


7. (SBU) Meanwhile, former President Arnoldo Aleman,
convicted of fraud and money laundering and ostensibly under
house arrest, was announced on stage and enjoyed a front-row
seat along with his wife in the section reserved for invited
guests of honor (he subsequently proclaimed his "solidarity"
with Hugo Chavez). In contrast, Presidential candidate of
the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) party and National
Assembly deputy Eduardo Montealegre, who placed second to
Ortega in the presidential race, fended for himself along
with the crowd of people straining for a glimpse in the
general seating/standing section. Embassy officers along with
ambassadors and assorted European colleagues who were
displaced from their seats, stood on the sidelines, alongside
a ragtag crowd of Salvadoran guests waving red and black
Faribundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) flags and
cheering for Ortega. Interspersed among the FMLN and the
diplomats were a number of Venezuelans sporting radios and
orchestrating the cheering for their leader.

Who Needs Security?
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8. (C) The lack of security and professionalism at the
inauguration contributed to a circus-like and chaotic
atmosphere. While an Embassy advance team took the time to
review the inauguration site and logistics, and met with
Nicaraguan police to determine access points for U.S.
delegation the day before the event, everything had changed
by the time guests were allowed to enter the plaza. The
area set aside for VIP parking was declared "off limits" at
the last minute, leading to confusion and anger on the part
of many attendees, and created a serious bottleneck upon
departure. There was only one point of entry to the plaza
for the guests, but no security or identification checks were
conducted. The darkly-clad snipers from the Nicaraguan SWAT
unit positioned on the roofs of the tall buildings
surrounding the plaza added a touch of surrealism to the
occasion.

Waiting for Chavez
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9. (C) The entire inaugural ceremony was put on hold for approximately two hours, without any public announcement or explanation, until the later-than-expected arrival of President Hugo Chavez who flew in from Caracas after his own inauguration the same day. The delay left most of the invited guests enduring nearly two hours in the intense heat and wind. By the time Chavez arrived, however, it was nearly sundown and dark for most of the festivities. After sitting in the hot sun for 90 minutes, MFA designate Santos invited the members of the U.S. delegation to wait under cover in the Olaf Palme convention center (a facility that had been abandoned and in disrepair for several years that was serving as a holding area for VIP guests) along with the attending heads of state, leaders from the hemisphere, and Crown Prince Felipe of Spain. Many of the leaders, notably President Uribe of Colombia and President Calderon of Mexico, were noticeably not amused by the delay.


10. (C) As the sun was setting, Chavez finally made his grand
entrance bedecked in the colors of the Sandinista flag,
flanked by a phalanx of Venezuelan body guards who pushed
people aside, shouting "make way for the President." Ortega
and Murillo immediately made their way across the room to
greet their Venezuelan comrade. Ortega then proceeded to
escort Chavez around the room for introductions, further
delaying the commencement of the inauguration.


11. (C) Chavez took the opportunity to chat with Secretary
Leavitt and quiz him about the current U.S. infant mortality
rate, while boasting that Cuba had lowered its infant
mortality rate to 5.5 deaths per 1,000 births. After
explaining that Venezuela had lowered its rate from 24 to 15,
Chavez quipped: "You know Mr. Secretary, you are in the
health field. Maybe there is something you could help us
with on that. Just because we fight publicly about politics,
doesn't mean we can't cooperate privately on such things as
health, science and technology." The Venezuelan President
also joked that the "only reason" he could talk to the U.S.
Ambassador and Secretary in such a "friendly way" was that
they were "outside Venezuela," and asked Ambassador Trivelli
to send his "warmest regards" to his homologue in Caracas.
(At the signing of the ALBA trade agreement the following
day, Chavez reportedly said that having seen the U.S.
delegation the day before he was reminded of his first
inauguration and how the U.S. subsequently "boycotted" his
government, warning Daniel and Evo to beware the "knife in
the back.")

Sermons, Miscues, and Gaffes in Protocol
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12. (U) Following the introductory procession, Cardinal
Obando y Bravo delivered a lengthy sermon, ironically
preaching on morality, ethics, and the evils of corruption,
while convicted embezzler Aleman beamed in his seat of honor
to the outrage and dismay of national and international
observers. As the cardinal exhorted the new Sandinista
government to "eradicate all possible forms of corruption in
their public work," all eyes were on Aleman, who remained
unfazed. Underscoring the harm that corruption posed to the
country's development and its impact on the poor, the
cardinal inveighed against corruption as an "insidious
phenomenon" infecting many sectors of society and making a
"mockery of the law."


13. (U) The festivities also featured musical miscues, lapses
in formal procedures--including outgoing President Bolanos'
failure to carry out the customary transfer of the
presidential sash to the president of the National
Assembly--a gun salute that was ill timed and interrupted one
of the speakers, followed by the lighting of a larger than
life neon image of FSLN icon Augusto C. Sandino which
illuminated the facade of the Old Bank of America building
overlooking the plaza.


14. (C) There was no plan for President Bolanos to make a
graceful or escorted exit. According to the program, Ortega
and Murillo were to accompany Bolanos and former First Lady
Lila T. Abaunza in their departure from the event. Instead,
the elder statesman Bolanos and his wheel-chair bound wife
were ignored and left to fend for themselves, as Ortega and
Chavez were essentially joined at the hip.


15. (C) Another unceremonious affront took place just before the National University of Engineering (UNI) ceremony to grant Chavez an honorary degree, (which ended up starting four hours late due to the Chavez factor.) The Brazilian ambassador (reftel. C),who was feeling ill, was stopped and challenged by a female FSLN employee when she tried to leave the auditorium. The ambassador explained she was not feeling well and needed to leave early, but the woman continued to block her exit, warning her she wanted to take a "good look at her face to remember her." The Brazilian ambassador retorted that she should remember her face well and also remember she is the ambassador of Brazil and deserved respect.


16. (U) One inauguration observer recounted that once Ortega
donned the presidential sash, a weeping woman stood up and
screamed: "Thank God the man is back!" Others gauged that
Crown Prince Felipe of Spain drew noticeably louder applause
than Ortega during the opening procession.


17. (C) Although he managed to pay a special tribute to his
"twin" Chavez, Ortega did not deliver formal remarks as
billed in the program. Instead, the newly inaugurated
president dismissed the audience of waiting guests and
dignitaries from around the world with the words "my people
await me," and rushed off to the separate "popular ceremony"
at Plaza de la Fe joined by Chavez and Evo Morales.

Dancing Through Another Delay
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18. (SBU) Perhaps one of the more entertaining components of
the inauguration for those who could manage an unobstructed
view, was the commemorative medal ceremony to honor the
attending heads of state and government set to the tune of a
classic Nicaraguan folk song. Although the program announced
"Comandante Daniel" as granting the "Medal of Latin American
Unity Free Nicaragua," instead attractive young female
dancers from the Nicaraguan Dance Troupe Ballet Macehualt
actually performed the honors, draping the medals over the
necks of the visiting statesmen as part of the dance
choreography. Marking another awkward moment, however, they
ran out of medals part way through the production, leaving
Presidents Calderon and Chavez without their prize. To cover
up the oversight, the dancers and music continued to play
repeatedly, while First Lady Murillo improvised and came up
with the additional medals to complete the ceremony.

Post-Inauguration Reaction: Outrage
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19. (C) The day after the inauguration, representatives from the women's NGO Network of Women Against Violence admitted feeling "depressed" and expressed their disgust over the use of dancers to perform the commemorative medal ceremony, which they considered a form of "erotic political seduction," redolent of caudillismo harkening back to the 1980s. They remarked that the dance number was typical "Murillo style," and feared the way the inauguration had been conducted, including the presence of Aleman and the undignified treatment of Bolanos, was a "sign of things to come." Letters to the editor and on-line blog entries in the January 11 editions of leading dailies El Nuevo Diario and La Prensa railed against the presence of the "fat crook" Aleman, which one writer said sent "a clear message to the honest people of Nicaragua: the mafia will be protected by this government." Others termed his participation a "mockery" and "insult" to the Nicaraguan people, which questioned the "credibility of the new government." Another observer derided both Aleman and his wife as "Bonnie and Clyde," while a number faulted Ortega and Murillo for inviting the "sinverguenza" (one without shame),which meant that nothing was going to change, corruption would continue, and Ortega and Aleman would continue with their political pact, "sharing the wealth of the country."

TRIVELLI