NICARAGUA: AMBASSADOR TRIP TO RAAN OVERSHADOWED BY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAGUA 000501

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CEN KRAAIMOORE
DEPT FOR DRL MAGGIO
DEPT FOR INR/IAA EMERSSON
STATE FOR USOAS
STATE FOR USAID

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM OTRA NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA: AMBASSADOR TRIP TO RAAN OVERSHADOWED BY
INDIGENOUS INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION

REF: A. MANAGUA 415

B. MANAGUA 84

C. 2008 MANAGUA 1329

D. 2008 MANAGUA 1195

Classified By: Ambassador Robert J. Callahan for reasons 1.4 (b & d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On April 21 and 22 Ambassador Callahan
traveled for the first time to Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua's
North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN). During his two-day
trip, he met with opposition, religious and indigenous
leaders, held a press conference, and inaugurated a
USAID-funded school in Santa Marta to replace one destroyed
by hurricane Felix in September 2007. While the visit came
shortly after a declaration of independence by the Miskito
Council of Elders (see reftel A),the Ambassador made clear
our support for Nicaragua,s territorial integrity. END
SUMMARY

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OPPOSITION LEADERS LEARY ABOUT INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION
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2. (C) During a lunch meeting with RAAN opposition and
regional leaders, including former Puerto Cabezas mayoral
candidates Osorno "Blas" Coleman, Ambassador Callahan
discussed the recent election of the "Wihta Tara" (Miskito
for Grand Judge) by the Miskito Council of Elders and his
subsequent declaration of independence for the Miskito Coast
(see reftel A). Coleman told the Ambassador that while there
are many in the Miskito community that support the concept of
independence because of decades of broken promises by the
successive Nicaraguan national and regional leaders, he
thought that the Council of Elders were going about it the
wrong way. Instead of unilaterally declaring independence,
Coleman said that the Council of Elders needed to consult
with other ethnic and indigenous groups in both autonomous
regions and hold a referendum. Without strong internal &
international support and financial resources, the experiment
was likely to fail.

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AMBASSADOR PRESS CONFERENCE & RADIO ADDRESS
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3. (C) Immediately following the lunch meeting, the
Ambassador visited Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University
(BICU) and held meetings with its Rector and administration,
followed afterwards by a press conference also held on the
campus. During the press conference, which consisted
primarily of local media/radio outlets and a "La Prensa"
regional newspaper correspondent, the Ambassador fielded
general questions about USG programs in the region. One
reporter asked about the USG position on the recent
independence declaration by the Wihta Tara, and the
Ambassador responded that the US supports the territorial
integrity of Nicaragua and that this was an internal matter
for the people of Nicaragua to resolve peacefully. At the
conclusion of the press conference, the Ambassador gave a
15-minute radio address in Spanish, which was simultaneously
translated into Miskito by Javier Williams, former Vice
Foreign Minister, at radio station VECA. During this
impromptu radio address, the Ambassador emphasized the
friendship and cooperation that the USG shares with
Nicaraguans in the RAAN, as demonstrated by our 2007
Hurricane Felix relief assistance (see reftel C) and the
two-week-long humanitarian visit of the USS Kearsarge in
August 2008.

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MEETINGS WITH FSLN LANDGRAB VICTIM & MISKITO SURVIVOR
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4. (C) Later that day the Ambassador met with James "Jimmy"
Webster, a former Nicaraguan professional baseball player
from the Atlantic Coast during the 1970's and presidential
candidate in 1996. Webster, a Creole-Miskito originally from
Bluefields, is the grandson of Samuel Pitts, a famous
indigenous leader who raised an army of over 6,000 Miskito
Indians to attack Managua in the early 1900's over the
illegal incorporation of the Caribbean coast into Nicaragua.
Webster was educated in the United States and received his
bachelor,s degree in forestry. He served as an official in
the Ministry of Forestry under a previous administration and
was working as a contractor with the Academy of Educational
Development (AED) Spiny Lobster Project. In the 1980's, Mr.
Webster's cattle ranch in the RAAN was expropriated by the
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and converted
into a military base to fight the Contras. He lost hundreds
of heads of cattle, trucks, and his home in the illegal
action, but has never received any compensation from the GON.
Webster explained that the current independence movement was
nothing new and that he was a co-author with former coastal
Sandinista leader Ray Hooker of the Law 28 which established
the two autonomous regions in 1987.


5. (C) The Ambassador held a dinner meeting with Catholic
Church leader Father Rudolfo French. Father French is a
Miskito, who at age thirteen was violently removed from his
family's traditional village on the Rio Coco by FSLN troops
led by Manuel Calderon, the current mayor of Leon (see reftel
D). He and his family wandered for weeks through the
war-torn area until entering refugee camps outside of Puerto
Cabezas. The experience changed him forever -- Father French
dedicated the rest of his life to God and currently leads the
Catholic Church's missionary efforts in the RAAN.

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USG FULFILLS PROMISES
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6. (U) In September 2007 Hurricane Felix destroyed hundreds
of homes, schools, churches and public buildings in the RAAN
(see reftel B and C). One of the main purposes for the
Ambassador,s trip was to inaugurate a new school,
constructed through USAID's Excelencia program in the Miskito
community of Santa Marta, which was devastated by Hurricane
Felix. When EmbOff visited Santa Marta four months earlier
(reftel B),the children were still holding classes in an old
barn under USAID tarps. Now they have a brand new school
building with modern features, electrical outlets, and
reinforced construction to serve as a community shelter in
the event of severe weather. In addition to the new school
facilities, USAID through a grant to local NGO FADCANIC
supplied the school with new bi-lingual textbooks (Spanish
and Miskito) and materials. The inauguration ceremony took
place on April 22 and included dignitaries from the Ministry
of Education, the Santa Marta community, and Ray Hooker,
president of FADCANIC. Martha Downs, the FSLN Vice-Mayor of
Puerto Cabezas, also attended the ceremony in the audience,
although she had not been invited.

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COMMENT
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7. (C) The issue of RAAN independence clearly inevitably
required prominence in Ambassador meetings with political and
religious leaders as well as the press. The "La Prensa"
national newspaper carried a story about the Ambassador's
visit on April 23, reporting on the school inauguration event
in Santa Marta. However, all subsequent reports about the
trip (see septel) have focused on the issue of independence
and the "coincidence" of the U.S. Ambassador,s first
official trip to the RAAN occurring immediately following the
declaration of independence by the Wihta Tara and the Miskito
Council of Elders (reftel A). During the two-day trip we
were contacted several times by Oscar Hodgson, the legal
advisor to the Miskito Council of Elders, to schedule an
"emergency meeting" between the Ambassador and the new Wihta
Tara; however, we refused to meet.
CALLAHAN