Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MANAGUA388
2009-04-08 20:31:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Managua
Cable title:  

ORTEGA'S AGENDA FOR THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

Tags:  PREL PGOV NU 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 000388 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV NU
SUBJECT: ORTEGA'S AGENDA FOR THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

REF: A. STATE 20677

B. MANAGUA 245

Classified By: Ambassador Robert J. Callahan, Reasons 1.4 (b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 000388

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV NU
SUBJECT: ORTEGA'S AGENDA FOR THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

REF: A. STATE 20677

B. MANAGUA 245

Classified By: Ambassador Robert J. Callahan, Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is likely
to use his participation in the Summit of the Americas to
further his image as a world leader in opposition to the
United States, press for an end to sanctions against Cuba,
and seek increased financial aid without governance or
democracy conditions. Ortega remains skeptical of the OAS in
general and has recently taken positions orchestrated to
further alienate the international community, including
dismissing the March 31 meeting of Central American leaders
with VPOTUS and breaking off free trade negotiations with the
EU. Visits to Cuba and Venezuela prior to the Summit may
sharpen Ortega's public confrontational attitude, though he
is likely to be reserved and cordial in private and smaller
meetings. End Summary.


2. (C) Ortega is likely to use his participation in the
Summit as an opportunity to project further his image as a
world leader among those aligned against the United States.
Ortega will arrive in Port of Spain following a visit to Cuba
and participation in the April 14-15 ALBA Summit in Caracas,
both of which are likely to sharpen his confrontational
attitude. Ortega is not fully committed to the OAS or the
Summit process and continues to view the OAS with suspicion,
accusing it of interference in domestic political affairs and
of overlooking supposed electoral fraud committed by
"neo-liberals" in 1996 and 2001 while continuing to
criticize, unfairly in his mind, his conduct of the
fraudulent November 2008 municipal elections. Ortega
previously stated (ref b) that his top agenda items for the
Summit include: restoration of Cuba to the OAS and an end to
all sanctions against the island; the development of a new
organization of Latin American states that excludes the U.S.
and Canada to resist the political influence of "the Empire;"
and a commitment from member states to provide assistance on
a nonpolitical basis and without conditions.


3. (C) On March 21, Ortega told Trinidad and Tobago Prime
Minister Patrick Manning that he will also use the Summit to
"demand" the U.S. increase funding for Central America in its
fight against narco-traffickers. He complained that in 2008,
the GoN seized "370 million dollars worth of drugs and in
exchange the U.S. gives us scarcely 1.2 million dollars."
(Note: Ortega has long complained that U.S. anti-drug
assistance is insufficient and has advocated a 1 billion
dollar plan of U.S.-backed loan guarantees to be paid for
with seized assets. End note.) Additionally, he told Manning
that he would call on the U.S. to provide more assistance to
the region to confront the global economic crisis, "which was
caused by the U.S." Orlando Gomez, advisor to Ortega and
Director General for the Americas at the Foreign Ministry
(MINREX),has publicly said that the GoN would also seek to
raise renewable energy, social development and the
environment but GoN officials have not elaborated their
position on these issues. MINREX has declined our requests
for a meeting to discuss their formal agenda for the Summit.


4. (C) Ortega's Summit participation follows a series of
events in which GoN has taken positions apparently
orchestrated to further alienate the international community
while strengthening his image as a populist regional and
world leader. At the March 25 SICA Summit in Managua, Ortega
had sought agreement to lower the level of participation in
the March 30 meeting with VPOTUS and agreement on a statement
of principles eliminating democracy and governance conditions
on international assistance. Ortega was unsuccessful in both
objectives and sent Vice Foreign Minister Manuel Coronel
Kautz, an opponent of the Merida Initiative, to the meeting.
Ortega later complained that VPOTUS "came with empty hands"
and orchestrated the meeting with Costa Rica in order "to
divide rather than unite" the region. Defending his decision
to send Coronel Kautz, Ortega told a Sandinista crowd, "what
was the result of the meeting? It produced nothing." Most
recently, Nicaragua broke off negotiations with the EU on a
free trade agreement after EU representatives refused to
agree to create a 60 billion Euro fund for Central America
and declined to provide assistance without conditionality
(septel).


5. (C) Based on his past performances at UNGA, regional
summits, and senior-level meetings with USG officials, Ortega
is likely to reserve his most heated rhetoric for public and
plenary sessions, when his public posturing can be picked up
by the media. In private meetings, he tends to be more
reserved and cordial but will seek to dominate the discussion
with a recounting of the hardships suffered by Nicaragua in
the 1980s and 1990s if interlocutors raise controversial
issues such as democracy, governance and respect for human
rights.
CALLAHAN