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
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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
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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
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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