PHANTOM PROTEST: GON PLANTS FAKE NEWS STORY ABOUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 000322 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CEN AND WHA/FO DEPT ALSO FOR INR - A EMERSON SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR FPA NSC FOR ALVARADO AND FISK DEPT FOR USOAS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM NU SUBJECT: PHANTOM PROTEST: GON PLANTS FAKE NEWS STORY ABOUT PRO-GOV'T PROTEST IN RAAN REF: A. MANAGUA 297 ¶B. MANAGUA 212 AND PREVIOUS ¶C. MANAGUA 209 ¶D. MANAGUA 153 ¶E. MANAGUA 105 Classified By: Ambassador Paul A. Trivelli for reasons 1.4 (b & d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. On March 12, right-of-center "La Prensa" newspaper reported that hundreds of people gathered in Puerto Cabezas, capital of Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN),on March 11 to demonstrate in favor of postponing November's scheduled municipal elections, a position supported by the ruling Sandinista Party (FSLN). We happened to be in the town on the 12th and confirmed with multiple sources that there had been no protest the prior day. Further one of our contacts phoned the reporter who authored the article and was told that the story had been "phoned-in" to him by the Mayor, an FSLN ally. END SUMMARY. The Phantom Protest -------------- ¶2. (C) On March 12, the nationwide, center-right daily newspaper "La Prensa," (circ. 40,000) ran an article reporting that on March 11, hundreds of people had gathered in the municipal park in Puerto Cabezas to put pressure on the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) to postpone local municipal elections scheduled for November. (Note: we have reported via reftels on the CSE's plans to postpone or cancel municipal elections in the RAAN. END NOTE). ¶3. (C) By coincidence, we were in Puerto Cabezas on March 12 on other business and asked multiple contacts about the reported protest. We were surprised to find that they were stunned by the information and the article. Each of them denied that there had been any protest, either pro- or anti-government on the prior day. During our other activities throughout the day, we queried employees at the departmental hospital and our GON-supplied drivers, all of whom denied there had been any protest the prior day. Protest Phoned-in by Government -------------- ¶4. (C) One of our contacts who knew Jose Garth Medina, the "La Prensa" journalist with the by-line phoned him directly after reading the article. Medina answered the call and confirmed that he had written the piece, but that he had not left Managua to do so. He told our contact that the news item had been phoned in by the Mayor of Puerto Cabezas and FSLN ally, Elizabeth Enriquez. He also added that the Mayor had told him that protest had continued into Wednesday. Our contact chided the reporter, noting that he himself was in the town and had no knowledge of any protest. NOTE: We, ourselves, also saw no evidence of a protest in the town, either small or large, either pro- or anti-government. END NOTE. Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) We have previously reported on demonstrations, both pro- and anti-government that have occurred in the RAAN, all of which we have been able to confirm through multiple sources. There have been prior unconfirmed reports that the government and its proxies had begun to employ disinformation tactics; however, this is the first instance where we have first-hand confirmation that the practice is taking place. It is perhaps telling that the government feels its electoral position in the RAAN so threatened that it has resorted to blatant disinformation. What we find particularly disturbing is that the piece appeared in "La Prensa," which has normally exhibited reasonably respectable levels of professionalism and integrity. With the CSE yet to announce its final decision regarding postponement, tensions remain very high ahead of the election. We will continue to visit, monitor MANAGUA 00000322 002 OF 002 and report on the situation in the RAAN. TRIVELLI