OVERVIEW OF MINISTERS AND SENIOR OFFICIALS IN

S E C R E T MANAGUA 000585 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2017 TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL PINR SUBJECT: OVERVIEW OF MINISTERS AND SENIOR OFFICIALS IN ORTEGA ADMINISTRATION REF: A. 02 MANAGUA 1588 ¶B. 02 SECSTATE 123985 ¶C. MANAGUA 241 ¶D. MANAGUA 392 ¶E. MANAGUA 466 Classified By: Classified by Ambassador P. Trivelli for reason 1.4b ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Within two weeks of his January 10 inauguration, President Daniel Ortega had appointed all his ministers save one, the Minister of Defense. Political opposition leaders have characterized the new ministers as "nobodies" who exercise virtually no authority or influence. Instead, Ortega is concentrating power in the hands of "consejos" (councils) led by Ortega loyalists, including his wife, Rosario Murillo. Ortega's political maneuvers have drawn fire from legal experts, human rights organizations, and political opposition leaders, concerned that Ortega is circumventing laws advance his aspirations for the institutionalization of a "direct" democracy. END SUMMARY. Foreign Affairs - Samuel Santos - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (U) A long-time member of the FSLN, Santos most recently served as the party's Secretary for International Relations. He is a private businessman with real estate, hotel, and coffee interests and is a founding member of the Nicaraguan Stock Market. In the 1980s, he served in a variety of positions in the FSLN government, including Minister of National Reconstruction, vice president of national development, and mayor of Managua. Santos holds a BA from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua. ¶3. (C) The FSLN's primary interlocutor in recent years with the senior diplomatic community in Managua, Santos represents one of the new government's kinder, gentler public faces, but one who likely exerts little influence on Ortega,s inner circle. Reflecting his personal economic interests, however, Santos does seem to respond and take action in cases that could affect the Nicaraguan tourism or investment climate. Career civil service members within the ministry, as well as a former minister in the Bolanos government, have commented that Santos is "being used" to assuage the international community's concerns about the Ortega government during the transition period, but may not last in office more than 12 months. Santos is known to have been involved in facilitating arms trade during the Sandinista era of the 1980s. In 1999, Santos was found prudentially ineligible for a U.S. visa under 212(a)(3)(B) on grounds of terrorism. Santos continued traveling to the U.S. until he was detained in Miami in 2004 as a result of the 1999 P3B entry. His visa was canceled and Santos withdrew his application for admission to the U.S. Following his appointment as Foreign Minister, Santos was granted a visa waiver. Industry and Commerce - Horacio Brenes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (U) Horacio Brenes is a 57-year-old businessman from Matagalpa who became increasingly active in business associations and politics in Matagalpa beginning in 1995 when he founded the Pro-Matagalpa Trade Fair Committee. The committee soon transformed itself into the Foundation for the Development of Enterprise in Matagalpa (FUDEMAT). With the foundation as his base, Brenes ran for mayor of Matagalpa in 1996 on an independent ticket called Matagalpa 2000, but was defeated by the PLC candidate. In 2000 and 2004, he ran for mayor on the PLC ticket, but was defeated by the FSLN candidate. However, as a member of the City Council, he worked in a "unity pact" with his FSLN rivals. In town meetings held in Matagalpa and Boaco organized by Ortega's wife and campaign manager, Rosario Murillo, Brenes stepped forward as one of a small group of liberals supporting Ortega's campaign for unity. Brenes graduated from the Central American Institute for Business Administration (INCAE). Brenes also studied at Louisiana State University for three years in the late 1960s. He is married to Tamara Hawkins, whose grandfather was from the United States. He has two sons and two daughters, two of which attend university in Florida. Finance and Public Credit - Alberto Guevara - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (U) Guevara holds masters degrees from the National University of Nicaragua in Economics and Development and in Public Finance. He also studied macroeconomics in Chile on an Interamerican Development Bank scholarship. Until April 2006, Guevara worked as a junior researcher in the Central Bank's (BCN) unit calculating the GDP deflator. He also covered issues of debt sustainability, national income accounting, and statistical programs for the management of information systems. He is close to presidential economic advisor Bayardo Arce. ¶6. (C) Guevara's ability to administer the Ministry of Finance is questionable, as he appears to lack managerial and political experience. Guevara was actually dismissed from the Central Bank last year on charges of sexual abuse perpetrated while moonlighting as an economics professor. Following his dismissal, the FSLN reportedly found him a job in a party member's construction company. Central Bank - Antenor Rosales - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶7. (SBU) Rosales holds a masters degree in law and a BA in business. He is close to presidential economic advisor Bayardo Arce. Rosales served as the FSLN's representative on the board of the Superintendent of Banks and Other Financial Institutions. He also served on the Board of the Nicaraguan Renewable Energy and Environment Company. In the mid-1990s, Rosales was a partner, along with other notable Sandinistas, in Interbank (the Intercontinental Bank) which collapsed in 2000 as a result of mismanagement and non-performing loans, helping to trigger the collapse of the Nicaraguan financial system. There is no evidence that Rosales was involved in misconduct. From 1979 to 1994, Rosales served in the Sandinista Army, rising to the rank of colonel. ¶8. (C) Rosales is characterized as confident and charismatic by interlocutors and former employees state that "he only accepts one answer for things - his own." He was known to subject professors in graduate school to long lectures on the short-comings of their economic models. However, Rosales is seen as having a moderating influence on Ortega through Arce. He is one of the few Sandinista leaders that has not (so far) dismissed key personnel from his institution. Government - Ana Isabel Morales - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶9. (U) Morales holds a masters degree in international relations and three post graduate degrees in various facets of the law. She worked for 19 years in the Ministry of the Interior, today known as the Ministry of Government, where she served as both deputy and, later, director of immigration services for nearly 15 years. The niece of Vice President Jaime Morales, she is a former Sandinista guerrilla fighter recognized for being the only survivor of the Veracruz massacre. At the time she was recruited to fight against the Somoza regime, she was a student activist. ¶10. (S) Embassy sources reported that, in a meeting with her staff and senior members of the National Police (NNP), Morales declared her intentions to reconstitute the ministry as it was in the 1980s as the Ministry of Interior. She announced that she would personally take control of NNP operations and intelligence (Ref. B). Morales was apparently immigration director when Nicaraguan passports were obtained by subjects involved in the first attack on the World Trade Center. Further, post has information that in 1997 and 1998, Morales was linked to illegal alien trafficking on at least six occasions (Ref. D). Transportation and Infrastructure - Fernando Martinez - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶11. (U) Pablo Fernando Martinez Espinoza is well known in Nicaraguan construction and engineering circles. From 1984 to 1990, he was a member of President Daniel Ortega's first administration, serving as Vice Minister of Construction. In the early 1990s, Martinez founded CEICO SA, a construction company that has received a number of government contracts to build roads and bridges, as well as a dock at the Port of Corinto and an airport on Corn Island. CEICO has also won contracts to maintain and rehabilitate national roads from the government's Roadway Maintenance Fund (FOMAV). Martinez has been a member of the Executive Council of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Construction. He holds a degree from the Central American University in Civil Engineering, and has worked as the Dean of the College of Engineering at the same institution. He is one of the founders of the National Engineering University. ¶12. (SBU) Many of Martinez's interlocutors in the business sector like him and think he may be the man to shape up this troubled ministry. Currently, his company has contracts for many of MTI's largest infrastructure projects as well as all road maintenance in Nicaragua. He has not renounced his ownership of CEICO since his appointment, raising the specter of potential conflict of interest. Health - Martiza Cuan - - - - - - - - - - - ¶13. (C) Quan is a general health practitioner with a master's degree in public health. She is a former director of the Bertha Calderon hospital in Managua and has also served as director at a number of health centers in different parts of the country. Under the Sandinista regime, she worked at the Ministry of Health and has worked on health programs funded by foreign donors and most recently served as the director of the Women's Integral Health Project (PROSIM). Ministry personnel describe her as a soft-spoken well-meaning technocrat in over her head as Minister. Agriculture and Forestry - Ariel Bucardo - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶14. (U) Bucardo holds a degree in business management and social sciences, and a master's degree in sustainable development. Before his appointment as Minister, Bucardo served as president of the National Rural Fund (CURUNA),a savings and credit cooperative. He has spent most of his professional career working in the areas of basic food production and agricultural exports. Bucardo is a founder of the Sandinista-affiliated National Federation of Cooperatives (Fenacoop) -- which was known for leading land invasions on properties of foreigners and wealthy Nicaraguans -- and of the Association of Farm Workers (ATC). He was also president of the National Union of Agriculture and Cattle Farmers (UNAG) during the 1980s. He served as a member of the National Council for Economic and Social Planning (CONPES) as well. ¶15. (SBU) In his capacity as a UNAG official, Bucardo appears to have been a constant critic of CAFTA and may be Ortega's source of information in this regard. In public statements, he has stressed the value of recent trade and cooperation agreements with Venezuela and Iran. Education - Miguel de Castillo Urbina - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶16. (C) De Castillo Urbina is a professor of Education Science at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) and coordinates the Latin American Forum of Education Policy (FLAPE). He has written several books on education and educational policy and often authors long pieces on educational policy in the daily newspaper El Nuevo Diario. He was vice minister of education during the previous Sandinista government. He proudly characterizes himself as a Marxist and is strongly opposed to school autonomy and decentralization. De Castillo has already taken several missteps linked to raising public school coverage; he is viewed as hard-headed and dogmatic. Environment and Natural Resources - Amanda Lorio Arana - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶17. (C) Amanda Lorio Arana is a sociologist who worked for the Agricultural Development and Reform Ministry during the 1980s. She has since been certified by the Upledger Institute (United States) and the International Therapy Examination of Healthcare Practitioners. Before being named minister, she practiced reflexology at a medical office in Managua. She has reportedly treated First Lady Rosario Murillo, and it was through this connection that she was selected as minister. Lorio freely admits that she has no background on environmental issues. Family - Rosa Adilia Vizcaya - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶18. (C) Adilia Vizcaya was appointed as Minister of Family in mid-February following the sudden removal of Glenda Ramirez Noguera, who held the position for only 21 days. Ramirez, who is the sister-in-law of Presidential Economic Advisor Bayardo Arce, a close friend of the First Lady, Rosario Murillo, was seen as a moderate with independent ideas about how to run the Ministry. In addition, there are indications that Ramirez may have fallen out of favor with Ortega, leaving her vulnerable to attack. Adilia Vizcaya, originally appointed as Secretary General of the Ministry of Family, according to media reports, was favored by FSLN hard-liner Nestor Moncada Lau for the Minister position. Lau, a former member of Lenin Cerna's state security forces in the 1980s -- connected to a variety of crimes including assassinations, transporting explosives, and smuggling automatic weapons -- is believed to have orchestrated Noguera's ouster with Adilia Vizcaya and a leader of the Sandinista labor union. No further information is available on Adilia Vizcaya at this time. Ortega's Maneuvering may Leave Ministers with Little Real Power - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶19. (C) Through a series of rapid legislative reforms to Law 290 (Ref. C) and presidential decrees, it appears that Ortega is maneuvering to implement the first stages of direct democracy and undermine the ministries. First, Ortega successfully pushed through the National Assembly a reform to Law 290 (Law 612) that expands his power to "create (secretaries and) councils (Consejos) that he deems convenient for the better development of his government and to determine (their) organization and functioning." To date, Ortega has created or announced eight councils including the Council of Communication and Citizenry headed by his wife; the Council of Food Security; the Council of Peace and Reconciliation; the Council of the Atlantic Coast; the Council of the Family; the Council of Sustainable Development; the Council of the Fight Against Drugs; and the Council of Economic and Social Planning. ¶20. (SBU) Legally, neither Law 290 nor Law 612 reforms allow Ortega to cover the salaries of the heads of these councils, stating that "these councils will not cause budget expenditures and participation (in them) will not generate economic remuneration." To circumvent this restriction, Ortega is reverting back to original Law 290 language that allows remuneration for "secretariats." Two weeks ago, Ortega issued Presidential Decree 21-2007, dividing the Office of the Presidency into "advisors," "office of the presidency," "councils," and "secretariats," and has re-named the heads of the councils as secretaries, allowing them to receive salaries. In practice, however, Ortega continues to refer to these advisory organs as "councils" and publicly declared over the weekend that the ministries will be accountable to them. ¶21. (C) Ortega's moves to transfer power from the ministries to his councils have drawn strong criticism from local human rights organizations and the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) political party, both of which have filed formal denunciations with the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ). Privately, opposition leaders, including Sandinista dissidents belonging to the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS),have characterized the ministers as "nobodies", believing Ortega's new ministers are "place holders with no authority or influence" (Ref. E). ¶22. (SBU) Although Ortega's wrangling with Laws 290 and 612 may be legally dubious, legal experts insist that the appointment of Ortega's wife as the head of the Council of Communications and Citizenry -- which recently took control of the public relations and travel budgets for all government ministries -- is a clear violation of Law 438 on public probity. This law states that "the spouse or common-law partner...of the public servant who appoints or contracts or of the person from whom this authorization emanates" is not eligible to exercise public functions. In response, Ortega insisted that "She (Rosario) will occupy the office or offices that may be necessary for her to occupy," leaving no doubt of the influence his wife will wield in his administration. Who's Who in the Inner Circle - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶23. (C) Although they do not carry the formal "minister" title, there is little doubt that the heads of the Councils and others appointed under Presidential Decree 21-2007, form Ortega's inner circle. Biographies for the key players appointed thus far are provided below. Secretary of Communication and Citizenry - Rosario Murillo - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶24. (C) Together since the 1970s and officially married last year, Murillo is President Ortega's closest confidant. She currently serves as coordinator of the Council for Communication and Citizenry and functioned as Ortega's campaign manager during his successful bid for the presidency in the 2006 elections. Murillo is the mother of Zoilamerica, who, in 1998, publicly accused stepfather Ortega of having abused her for more than a decade. Murillo has consistently defended her husband in the case. Some believe that she has used her knowledge of the case to gain and maintain power and influence over Ortega. Murillo is a great believer in spiritualism, a hypochondriac, and, putting it mildly, sports an eclectic wardrobe. ¶25. (U) Born on June 22, 1951, Murillo was educated in the UK and France and is fluent in both English and French. Prior to becoming involved in the Sandinista movement, she was a language professor and worked for ten years as the assistant to the late Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, Director of La Prensa newspaper. In 1969 she joined the Sandinista underground movement and during the 1980s she was a member of the Nicaraguan National Assembly and Minister of the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture. She is also a published poet (of largely erotica),writer and journalist. Presidential Advisor for Economic Affairs - Bayardo Arce - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶26. (U) Before his appointment as Presidential Advisor for Economic Affairs, Arce served as a FSLN deputy in the National Assembly from 1997-2007, where he served as president of the Economic Commission. He is believed to bring a more pragmatic approach to the FSLN's economic policies. Arce joined the FSLN in 1969 and became a member of the urban resistance in 1970. He is a long standing member of the FSLN National Directorate and has held various other positions within the party. Arce is also a successful businessman, exporting agricultural products. He is close to First Lady Murillo. ¶27. (C) In 2002, Arce's U.S. non-immigrant visa was revoked under 212(A)(2)(I) of the INA for money laundering for his role in the collapse of Intercontinental Bank (Interbank) in 2000 (Refs. A and B). Private Secretary for National Policy - Paul Oquist - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶28. (U) Oquist holds a doctorate in political science from UC Berkeley and is a naturalized Nicaraguan citizen, who renounced his U.S. citizenship in the 1980s. Oquist was head of the transition team for the Sandinista government to the UNO government in 1990. During the 1980s, he worked in then-President Ortega's office, first as the coordinator of the state's management system and then as Ortega's Chief of Staff. Oquist was a long-time consultant for the United Nations Development Program where he worked as a governance expert on projects throughout the world. TRIVELLI