Cuba's Ambassador to Nicaragua PNGed?

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 001131 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CEN AND WHA/CCA AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PASS TO AMCONSUL RECIFE E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/12/09 TAGS: PREL PGOV NU SUBJECT: Cuba's Ambassador to Nicaragua PNGed? CLASSIFIED BY: RobertJCallahan, Ambassador, State, US Embassy Managua; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (SBU) Over the weekend, one of Nicaragua's leading dailies (El Nuevo Diario) reported that Cuba's ambassador to Nicaragua (Luis Hernandez Ojeda) concluded his assignment and left the country December 4 under suspicious circumstances. Hernandez presented his credentials to President Daniel Ortega in March 2007. The newspaper reported that on either December 2 or 3, 2009, First Lady Rosario Murillo had a strong disagreement with Hernandez, in which Murillo scornfully treated the Cuban ambassador. As a result the Cuban government removed its ambassador from Managua. The paper notes that Hernandez concluded his mission in Nicaragua without receiving the Order of Jose de Marcoleta, the highest honor bestowed on foreigners for their promotion of diplomatic relations. The daily commented on the irony of the ambassador not receiving the award since Hernandez led his government's assistance programs in Nicaragua, particularly those most praised by the Ortega government - i.e., a campaign to eliminate illiteracy and ophthalmological assistance. In the past few months the award has been presented to the UNDP resident director, the Palestinian ambassador, and the Norwegian ambassador. (Note: The Order of Marcoleta is routinely awarded to departing ambassadors. Since 2007 the Ortega government has failed to award the honor to only two ambassadors: US Ambassador Paul Trivelli and Swedish Ambassador Eva Zetterberg. Upon closing the Swedish mission to Nicaragua, Zetterberg openly criticized the deterioration of democracy in the country. The government officially announced it would award Ambassador Trivelli the honor, but Ortega later rescinded the award in a public speech.) ¶2. (C) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would not confirm this account to us. The Cuban Embassy confirmed to El Nuevo Diario that its ambassador departed Nicaragua December 4, but stated it was due to health reasons. Orlando Parades, Consul General of the Ecuadorian Embassy in Nicaragua, confirmed media reports that Hernandez had been in Cuba five or six months for health reasons and returned to Nicaragua in November. The Consul General of the fellow ALBA country also told us that his Embassy tried to confirm the media reports surrounding Hernandez' recent departure from Nicaragua, but neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Cuban Embassy would respond to their calls. He commented that the silence from these two institutions leads one to believe that there is probably some truth to the account. He also noted that Cuban ambassadors usually serve for an indefinite period of time, discounting the argument that Hernandez had fully completed his term as ambassador. ¶3. (C) Comment: If media reports are true that Hernandez was forced to leave due to disagreements with First Lady Rosario Murillo, this would be the third case under the Ortega administration that an ambassador was removed over differences with Murillo. The other two were Venezuelan ambassadors Miguel Gomez and Sergio Rodriguez. Former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Norman Caldera was unclear if the media reports were true. However, he noted that foreign governments might accept the responsibility once or twice for the failure of their ambassadors, but sooner or later they have to wonder if it's not the host government that's the problem. CALLAHAN