MERIDA INITIATIVE: NICARAGUA FORMALLY JOINS, BUT POLICE CHIEF GRANERA IN DIRE STRAITS

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 000433



NOFORN

SIPDIS



DEPT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, INL/LP

DEPT FOR INR/IAA

STATE PASS TO USAID

STATE FOR USOAS

MEXICO CITY FOR NAS MERIDA COORDINATOR

SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD

SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR J2/J3/J5



E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/26/2019

TAGS: SNAR, PGOV, PREL, PHUM, NU

SUBJECT: MERIDA INITIATIVE: NICARAGUA FORMALLY JOINS, BUT

POLICE CHIEF GRANERA IN DIRE STRAITS



REF: MANAGUA 425



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



1. (S/NF) SUMMARY: In a private meeting immediately prior to

an April 24 ceremony celebrating the signing of a new Letter

of Agreement (LOA) between the USG and the Government of

Nicaragua (GON) for the Merida Initiative, Nicaraguan

National Police (NNP) Chief Aminta Granera told Ambassador

Callahan that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was

"completely crazy" and "a threat to the country" who believed

that "nuns are praying for his assassination" and that

Granera meets regularly with the Ambassador to conspire

against him. Granera added that the only thing keeping her

safe from Ortega's hostility was her continuing popularity

and status as a high-profile public figure. Despite this,

Granera expects that Ortega will keep her on as NNP Chief

until her term ends in 2011. During the signing ceremony

itself, Granera publicly expressed gratitude for continued

USG assistance in the fight against narco-traffickers and

international organized crime syndicates, but appeared

visibly uncomfortable when Vice Foreign Minister (and

co-signer of the LOA) Valdrack Jaentschke took the

opportunity to publicly criticize the amount of USG aid

covered in the Merida LOA as "clearly insufficient." END

SUMMARY.



A Private One-on-one: Chief Granera In Distress

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2. (S/NF) Immediately prior to a public ceremony held on

Friday, April 24 to celebrate the signing of the LOA that

implemented Merida Initiative funding, NNP Chief Aminta

Granera (strictly protect) pulled Ambassador Callahan into a

back entrance to her office for a rare, private meeting. She

characterized President Ortega's performance at the Summit of

the Americas (SOA) as a "personal and national disgrace."

Granera explained that Ortega was "completely crazy and a

threat to the country." According to Granera, Ortega

believed that she held frequent meetings with Ambassador

Callahan to plot against Ortega. (NOTE: This meeting was

actually the Ambassador's first opportunity for a one-on-one

meeting with Granera since his arrival last August. When the

Ambassador suggested that they meet at his residence for

breakfast or lunch, Granera replied that she dare not, as it

would only feed Ortega's suspicions. END NOTE.) Ortega also

apparently believed that there was a group of "old nuns"

praying for his assassination and viewed this as a

threatening action (NOTE: Granera herself was a novice prior

to joining the Sandinista cause in the 1970s. END NOTE.) The

only person who has any influence over Ortega now, she

concluded, was Ortega's wife Rosario Murillo.



3. (S/NF) During the private meeting, Granera appeared

visibly distressed and agitated. She sat inches away from

the Ambassador, held his arm and spoke in a whisper. She

informed the Ambassador that she expected that Ortega would

keep her on as police chief for the balance of her term of

office, which officially ends in 2011. (Granera was

appointed chief in 2006 by former President Enrique Bolanos.)

She expressed helplessness at her situation - "I don't know

what to do" - and explained that Ortega feared her potential

as his rival as "the next Violeta" -- a reference to Ortega's

previous electoral defeat at the hands of Violeta Chamorro.

She said that the only thing that kept her safe from Ortega's



MANAGUA 00000433 002 OF 002





clear malicious intent was her continued and strong

popularity and status as a high-profile public figure. (NOTE:

a recent reliable opinion poll showed Granera held a

commanding position as the most popular public figure in

Nicaragua, this despite falling confidence in the NNP as an

institution. END NOTE.)



Vice Foreign Minister: Merida is "Insufficient"

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4. (C) At the signing ceremony itself, Granera expressed

public gratitude for continued USG assistance in the fight

against narco-traffickers and against international organized

crime syndicates. However, she looked clearly uncomfortable

when Vice Foreign Minister (and LOA co-signer) Valdrack

Jaentschke took an opportunity to publicly criticize the

amount of USG aid provided under the Merida LOA as "clearly

insufficient."



5. (C) The ceremony's timing proved propitious. Sensing the

Vice Foreign Minister's dismissive attitude, the Nicaraguan

media took the opportunity to press this senior GON official

about President Ortega's recent verbal attacks against the

USG and the Embassy (REFTEL). One journalist pointed out to

Jaentschke that just the prior day, Ortega had described the

U.S. Embassy as an "enemy organization" during a speech in

Cuba. Why then, pressed the reporter, would the Embassy

provide such aid to the Government of Nicaragua (GON) if it

were truly a hostile organization - "is the Embassy an enemy

or not?" Jaentschke replied that the GON remained available

for a "normal" relationship with the USG, - "as long as they

refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of

Nicaragua."



Comment

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5. (S) Granera's continued popularity is a double-edged

sword. Granera's assessment that her popularity was the only

thing keeping her safe from Ortega's hostility is undoubtedly

accurate, but her popularity is also undoubtedly what likely

led Ortega to view her as a threat in the first place.

During the Ambassador's one-on-one meeting with Granera,

Poloff observed personnel in Granera's secretariat outside

her office scrambling to determine what had happened. They

were asking "why is the Ambassador in there with her alone?

Who let this happen?" Clearly, Granera is under close

observation and daily monitoring by her own office staff. If

Ortega is intent in keeping Granera in her position as NNP

Chief for her full term, it may be as much to minimize the

chances of her emerging as a potent political rival. Perhaps

this is Ortega's way to keep his friends close, and his

enemies closed away.

CALLAHAN