NICARAGUA: ATTORNEY GENERAL ISSUES NEW REGULATION TO

UNCLAS MANAGUA 000975 STATE FOR WHA/CEN, EB/IFD/OIA, AND L/CID STATE ALSO FOR WHA/EPSC STATE PASS TO USTR TREASURY FOR INL AND OWH SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EINV ECON USTR KIDE NU SUBJECT: NICARAGUA: ATTORNEY GENERAL ISSUES NEW REGULATION TO PRESSURE CLAIMANTS SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The Government of Nicaragua (GON) has issued a regulation stating that property claimants have 45 days to provide their mailing addresses to the Attorney General's Office. The GON claims that this regulation was necessary because the Attorney General's Office had been unable to notify claimants regarding the status of their claims. If a claimant does not provide the Attorney General's Office with the correct address within that period, any future administrative resolution will be posted at the Attorney General's Office. Absent an appeal during the allotted timeframe, the GON will consider the claim settled in the administrative process. We are concerned that the Attorney General's Office will abuse the regulation to unilaterally "resolve" claims. NEW REGULATION ON PROPERTY CLAIMS -------------- ¶2. (U) Regulation 03/2009, published in the Official Gazette on September 9, states that individuals (or their legal representatives) with property claims filed with the GON have 45 days, beginning September 9, to provide or update their addresses on file with the Attorney General's Office. The regulation notes that in some cases, claimants failed to provide addresses or have not updated addresses since filing their claims. As a result, it has been impossible to contact them. ¶3. (U) Once the 45-day period concludes, the Attorney General's Office will use the addresses provided to notify claimants of administrative actions taken to resolve their claims. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send diplomatic notes to all foreign missions notifying them of the regulation so that they may inform their citizens. Should claimants -- whether national or foreign -- fail to provide an address, notice of any administrative actions taken on their claims will be posted at the Attorney General's Office. ¶4. (U) Claimants may appeal government decisions in accordance with the Civil Procedure Code, as long as they file an appeal within the allotted timeframe. If claimants do not appeal government decisions regarding their claims in the administrative process, the Attorney General's Office may publish any uncontested notification in the Official Gazette and the claim will be considered settled in the administrative process. Claimants still have the right to go to court to contest administrative notifications, but it is likely that the GON will argue that claimants failed to challenge administrative decisions based on the law. COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (SBU) We are concerned that the Attorney General's Office will abuse this regulation to finalize claims and move forward with the GON's longstanding plan to "resolve" all administrative claims -- on its own terms -- by 2011. We are contacting all U.S. citizen claimants to make them aware of the new regulation so that they can provide their addresses to Attorney General's Office. We want to ensure that our claimants' right to due process is protected and not undermined based on a legal technicality. CALLAHAN