PRESIDENT ORTEGA: OBAMA IS A LIAR, THREATENS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 000425 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CEN AND INR/IAA STATE FOR USOAS DEPT FOR USAID NSC FOR RESTREPO E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2019 TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL ASEC EAID PROP NU CU SUBJECT: PRESIDENT ORTEGA: OBAMA IS A LIAR, THREATENS TO EXPEL U.S. DIPLOMATS Classified By: Ambassador Robert J. Callahan for reasons 1.4 (b & d). ¶1. (U) Summary: During an April 22 appearance on a Cuban talk show, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega discredited the Summit of the Americas (SOA) and stated that President Obama lied because he talked about change, but had maintained the Bush policies of freezing the Millennium Challenge Account for Nicaragua and leaving US troops in Iraq. Moreover, Ortega claimed that the US government was conspiring against him, that he was collecting information of this conspiracy, and threatened to expel US Embassy diplomats in the future. Ortega's comments were not limited to foreign affairs, stating his preference for a single party system. A multiparty system, he argued, served to divide the populace. End Summary. -------------- Obama a Liar, Summit a Failure -------------- ¶2. (SBU) During his appearance on the Cuban talk show "Mesa Redonda" on April 22, President Ortega spoke for approximately two hours. He spoke at length on the Summit of the Americas and countered the generally positive news coverage of President Obama. Ortega described the President as a carrier of the same "imperialistic" policies and believed the President "went to the Summit to strengthen the empire." Ortega argued that despite the President's comments, the President was trapped in the past and said the President demonstrated that he lies. While the President spoke of change, Ortega commented, the Obama Administration had continued Bush Administration decisions to keep Nicaragua's Millennium Challenge Account compact frozen and US troops in Iraq. ¶3. (U) Ortega also argued that the Summit was organized around the U.S. President, who was treated as an "emperor." Ortega noted his annoyance at having to wait three hours on the tarmac at Port of Spain airport while President Obama and his delegation arrived and debarked from their three planes. Ortega said this "showed a lack of respect" for the other regional leaders. Ortega then characterized the other regional leaders' interaction with the President as the rats that had followed Obama's "Pied Piper of Hamlin." In a reference to local criticism of Ortega's domestic limits on freedom of speech, Ortega criticized the Summit of the Americas and said that the Summit had practiced censorship in allowing only a handful of leaders to speak publicly during the opening ceremony. As in past remarks, Ortega questioned the utility of the OAS and suggested the creation of a new organization for Latin America and the Caribbean. -------------- The U.S. Conspiracy Against Ortega -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Following his criticisms of the President and the Summit of the Americas, Ortega turned his sights on the U.S. Embassy in Managua and his view of the USG policy toward Nicaragua. "In my country," Ortega stated "officials from the (U.S.) embassy are conspiring (against the Nicaraguan government). We have not wanted to expel them, we have sought to collect more information, and at the appropriate moment we will make it public." Embassy officials, he continued, were continually conspiring against his government by meeting with the opposition, financing the opposition's activities, and calling on the opposition to unite against Ortega. "We have not yet asked any one to leave," he said, alluding to the possibility of future action on the part of his government. ¶5. (SBU) Ortega also spoke directly of the Ambassador. He said that despite appearing to be diplomatic and respectful, the American Ambassador had been an advisor to former Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte when Negroponte had been U.S. Ambassador in Honduras in the 1980s. Ortega said he hoped that Ambassador Callahan was no longer "an agent of war and destabilization." -------------- A Single Party Works Best -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Ortega did not limit himself to foreign affairs. Allegedly recalling the statements of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, Ortega asserted that "elections weren't necessarily a sign of democracy." Then, perhaps signaling his own goal for Nicaragua, Ortega attacked multiparty systems. He lauded Cuba's "democracy" because the people were not divided by a multiparty system. "From the moment you bring about political parties, you bring about division. A multiparty system is just a way of disintegrating a nation, of dividing our people." Ortega continued, "Cuba has a system that does not cause division among the people. (In Cuba) the focus is on the citizen without the party banners or campaigns run by big business, nor opulent elections." -------------- Ortega's Possible Motivation -------------- ¶7. (C) Ortega's speeches are always a treat, as he is likely to say anything and everything. What is unclear, however, is his motivation as he is not driven by a strict political ideology. Rather, according to Victor Hugo Tinoco, a former FSLN member who served as Nicaraguan permanent representative to the UN and as Vice Foreign Minister during the first Ortega Administration in the 1980s, Ortega always has had a special interest in foreign affairs and a desire for a role on the international stage. As to the widely held belief that Ortega plays bad cop to Hugo Chavez' good cop on the international stage, Tinoco commented that Ortega was not stupid and likely accepted this role in exchange for promises of Venezuelan assistance. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) It is never clear why Ortega says what he says. As former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Norman Caldera noted regarding Ortega's policies, "when you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there." Nonetheless, Ortega's remarks were a glimpse at his current thinking. His rants against the US are not new and are likely to continue. This has been especially true since his government has received constant international and national criticism for Nicaragua's fraudulent November 2008 municipal elections. His pointed comments on a US plot against him and his threat to expel US diplomats were the clearest to date. Since the expulsion of the US ambassadors to Caracas and La Paz, Nicaraguans often have wondered if Ortega would follow Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez' lead and expel a US diplomat. Ortega's remarks likely were motivated in part by his desire (and need) to defend his government's increasingly authoritarian tendencies. As Tinoco stated, Ortega's interest in grandstanding on the international stage also likely contributed to Ortega's comments. Ortega's bark is usually followed at some point by some form of a bite. But just where Ortega's rhetoric meets his actions is remains to be seen. CALLAHAN