DOL CHILD LABOR ERADICATION PROGRAM LAUNCH HIJACKED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 001357 SIPDIS DEPT FOR KRAAIMORE STATE PASS TO USAID USAID FOR LACK-CARDENAS LABOR FOR KCHINNOCK, CHOLMES E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2018 TAGS: PGOV ELAB PHUM PREL PINR LAB NU SUBJECT: DOL CHILD LABOR ERADICATION PROGRAM LAUNCH HIJACKED Classified By: Ambassador Robert J. Callahan for reasons 1(b) & (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On November 4, 2008, Ambassador Callahan met with representatives from five ministries at Nicaragua,s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) to present award letters from the US Department of Labor,s (DOL) three-year, US $5 million project to eradicate child labor in Nicaragua entitled "Combating the worst forms of child labor through education in Nicaragua - ENTERATE." While Nicaragua,s Sandinista-led (FSLN) government welcomed the opportunity to work with the US Government to combat child labor, representatives from President Ortega,s office, who also attended and dominated the meeting, clearly wanted to exercise more direct control over this foreign assistance program and manipulated the subsequent press coverage of the event for this political purpose. END SUMMARY. Child Labor Round Table without the Labor Minister - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (C) On November 4, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of Foreign Cooperation Valdrack Jaentschke hosted U.S. Embassy officials for a minister-level meeting at MINREX where the Ambassador delivered award letters for a three-year, $5 million project to eradicate child labor funded by DOL. Attendees included: Minister of Education Miguel de Catilla; Minister of Health Guillermo Gonzalez; Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ariel Bucardo; Minister of Family Maria Isabel Munoz; Salvador Vanegas and Marcia Ramirez from the office of the President; and MINREX America Desk Officer Rene Morales. The Minister of Labor Jeannette Chavez was absent from the meeting; however, Labor Commission Secretary Jose Arguello represented the Ministry. (NOTE: We had tried four separate times during October to schedule a meeting with Chavez to discuss this project. Each time she cancelled the meeting. This most recent meeting came about only after we sent a formal diplomatic note seeking an audience. We note that despite multiple assurances that Chavez was confirmed for the meeting, she did not attend. END NOTE) Routing all programs through the Presidency - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (C) During brief welcoming remarks from Vice Minister 
Jaentschke, he apologized for the Ministry of Labor canceling four previous meetings with Embassy officials and underscored the importance of working together to eliminate child labor in Nicaragua. Presidential Secretariat representative Vanegas described First Lady Rosario Murillo,s "Programa Amor" (Program of Love) and the priority that President Ortega places on this new child welfare program. Vanegas stressed the need for better coordination between ministries to prevent child labor, explaining that Marcia Ramirez of the Presidential Secretariat would be the main point of contact for coordinating all high-level ministerial meetings between the GON officials and the Embassy or DOL contractors. The Ambassador explained that the DOL program would focus on establishing schools in coffee plantations in the departments of Madriz and Jinotega, and also on an aggressive public awareness campaign run from Managua. The Ambassador added that the issue of combating child labor was apolitical and this project demonstrated that the nature of U.S. humanitarian aid and the relationship between Nicaragua and the U.S. is much larger than politics. Jaentschke ended the meeting by emphasizing that the Presidency would coordinate this new DOL project. ¶4. (C) In a subsequent side meeting between Embassy Labor Attache, DOL contractors from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Ministry of Labor officials, Vanegas repeated the call for better coordination through the Presidential Secretariat to combat child labor. Vanegas stated that President Ortega wants to coordinate all social welfare programs through the secretariat to improve their efficiency and eliminate unnecessary, redundant administration costs and any competition or overlaps between ministries. Vanegas remarked that the GON shares the enthusiasm for the new DOL child labor eradication program, but said that any program that only focuses on one aspect of the problem will not be successful. As an example, Vanegas said that "if a child is hungry, he won't pay attention in school." Vanegas reminded the Labor Attache and AIR representatives to contact Marcia Ramirez, in the Presidential Secretariat, when scheduling any meetings with representatives from other ministries. The Labor Attache asked Vanegas whether this new requirement to coordinate all minister-level meetings through the Presidential Secretariat applied to other DOL-funded programs with the Ministry of Labor, and the response was "yes." (COMMENT: During his remarks in both meetings Vanegas never overtly said that the $5 million grant would be directly transferred to the Presidency, however, it was clearly implied by his comments about managing the money and the need for close coordination of the program by the Presidential Secretariat. END COMMENT) Media Message Hijacked by FSLN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (C) On November 5, the two major independent newspapers La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario carried stories entitled "Program Love receives support from the U.S." and "US$ 5 Million from U.S. for Program Love," regarding the Ambassador,s roundtable meeting and press conference. Both reports highlighted Murillo,s "Programa Amor" and that the U.S. continues to support the FSLN government by giving money directly to it. (NOTE: Finland,s Embassy announced on November 2, 2008 that it would withdraw two million Euros (US$2.5 million) of continuing budget support to Nicaragua. END NOTE) Vanegas was quoted in the La Prensa article saying, "this money (US$5 million) will be managed by the National Social Welfare System, where it will be distributed to all ministries that work in the social arena." The U.S. Embassy press release, given to reporters at the event, did not include any reference to "Programa Amor" nor did it state that funds would be transferred directly to the GON presidency to run this program. COMMENT - - - - ¶5. (C) The ministerial roundtable came about only after we sent a formal diplomatic note to the MINREX when four previous attempts to meet with the Labor Minister failed. The Ambassador,s MINREX roundtable was designed to formally announce the program and deliver award letters to the five GON ministries. However, it was overtly manipulated by the FSLN government. The primary objective of the formal announcement was to facilitate a meeting between the Embassy and the Minister of Labor as well as establish the ground rules for going forward on the new DOL child labor initiative. The press reporting of the event was clearly hijacked by the FSLN as our embassy-cleared press release language did not appear in either news story, nor did the Ambassador,s talking points. We suspect that the government,s focus on the false statement that this DOL program would support "Programa Amor" was designed in large part to deflect attention away from prior day,s announcement by Finland regarding aid cuts. We remain concerned by the government,s insistence that all aid be centrally controlled and distributed. The government has alluded to this plan in its recent attacks on NGOs, but this event was the first time we had seen the GON attempting to implement it. While we welcome GON,s request to centrally schedule all cabinet-level meetings, we fear the long-term negative ramifications for U.S. and other donor assistance if GON forces the issue of GON-controlled development funds. CALLAHAN