ALN LOOKS TO FOREIGN DONORS, SMALL AND MEDIUM

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 000996 SIPDIS SIPDIS WHA/CEN, EAP E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2027 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM NU SUBJECT: ALN LOOKS TO FOREIGN DONORS, SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS, TO SHORE UP FINANCES REF: A. MANAGUA 0982 ¶B. MANAGUA 0953 ¶C. MANAGUA 0493 ¶D. MANAGUA 0328 Classified By: Ambassador Paul A. Trivelli. Reasons 1.4 (B,D). ¶1. (S) Summary: According to ALN National Assembly caucus leader Maria Eugenia Sequeira, Managua's Taiwanese business community is now cognizant of the threat Ortega poses to its future. Taiwanese businessmen recently promised to support the party without imposing a pre-condition of broad Liberal unity with Arnoldo Aleman. ALN national planning director Kitty Monterrey reports that party sympathizers residing in the United States are establishing a 501c3 non-profit foundation to expand support for the party, while on the local level, the ALN is reaching out to small and medium enterprises for financial backing. End Summary. ¶2. (S) Following up on the Ambassador's April 16 meeting with Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) president Eduardo Montealegre, ALN national planning director Kitty Monterrey, and Maria Eugenia Sequeira (Ref. A),PolCouns met separately with Monterrey and Sequeira on April 18 to discuss how the ALN's plans to implement its strategy to strengthen its party and consolidate its political alliance. Sequeira, who had called to request the meeting, reported that she had met earlier in the day with leaders of Managua's Taiwanese business community and was encouraged by the outcome, as they are now cognizant of the threat Ortega poses to its future and are now offering to support the party without imposing a pre-condition of broad Liberal unity with Arnoldo Aleman. ¶3. (S) According to Sequeira, the businessmen represent Nien Hsing Textiles, and they are alarmed over President Ortega's efforts to consolidate power and move the country towards an undemocratic, authoritarian regime beholden to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. While they acknowledged that thus far Ortega has treated the Taiwanese business interests with respect, they hold no doubt that ultimately they will be replaced by the Chinese. Sequeira explained that she had met the owners of major Taiwanese companies operating in Nicaragua in Taipei last summer when she took her son to study there on a scholarship offered by the Taiwanese government. She recounted that at the time, the businessmen had conditioned their assistance to the ALN on its unification with the rival Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) candidate. Now, however, the Taiwanese believe that Aleman has lost his appeal to the Nicaraguan public and an ALN-PLC alliance with Aleman in the picture is untenable, explained Sequeira. ¶4. (S) Sequeira asked the Taiwanese to support ALN efforts to build its party structure, improve is communications network and effectiveness, and increase departmental and municipal outreach in preparation for the 2008 municipal elections. The executives mentioned the possibility of supporting these efforts through an "exchange" with a Taiwanese political party. They suggested a follow up meeting to include Montealegre and a larger group of Taiwanese businessmen, a plan the ALN supports. ¶5. (C) In a separate meeting, ALN national planning director Kitty Monterrey updated PolCouns on her efforts. She reported that she had already contacted ALN sympathizers residing in the United States and they will establish a 501 c3 foundation, in response to our suggestion. In addition, a number of local NGOs sharing the ALN's political values and deep concern over the increasingly authoritarian bent of the Ortega administration are contributing indirectly to the party's objectives, she said. Monterrey added that the party is reaching out to owners of small and medium enterprises in Nicaragua because these sectors stand to lose more and lose sooner than the business elites, who for the most part are cozying up to Ortega in the hopes he will leave them alone. Comment - - - - ¶6. (C) The ALN's progress so soon after the Ambassador's meeting is encouraging. Certainly, our moral support and USAID-sponsored training programs have helped the ALN and MANAGUA 00000996 002 OF 002 other democratic-minded parties and NGOs develop some of the basic skills required to value democracy and muster the courage to defend it. In light of the current political context, however, we will be called on to do much more. TRIVELLI