[CIMC-work] Fw: U.S. Interferes Again in Nicaragua

[nscchicago]

Tom Baker here.  FYI  and  action.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nicaragua Network" <nicanet at afgj.org>
To: "Nicaragua Network Hotline" <nicanet-hotline at afgj.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 1:24 PM
Subject: U.S. Interferes Again in Nicaragua


> Nicaragua Network Hotline
> Special Action Alert
> January 8, 2004
>
> United States Again Interferes in Nicaraguan Internal
> Affairs!
> Call the U.S. State Department to Protest!
> Protect Nicaragua's Sovereignty and Right to
> Self-Determination!
>
> Managua newspaper "El Nuevo Diario" reported today "open
> interference" in Nicaragua's affairs, as U.S. Ambassador
> to Nicaragua Barbara Moore hosted meetings of right-wing
> political parties, what the Embassy calls the country's
> "democratic forces" in the ambassador's residency during
> the last few days and evenings.  The meetings were an
> attempt to influence the selection of the leadership of
> the country's National Assembly, expected to be voted on
> today, Thursday, January 8.
>
> The Embassy classifies the FSLN as not belonging to the
> "democratic forces."  This is an extraordinary assessment
> because the current democratic system in which successive
> political parties have succeeded each other peacefully was
> set up by the Sandinista government with the Constitution
> of 1987.  Before in Nicaragua's history, opposition
> parties only were able to achieve power by putting
> together an army and taking the government by force.
>
> On Tuesday political party members favored by the U.S. met
> two times with Ambassador Moore who put strong pressure on
> them to make sure that the "democratic forces take control
> of the legislature," according to Maria Eugenia Sequeira
> of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC).  El Nuevo
> Diario reports that the "open interference" of the U.S.
> has included pressure on President Enrique Bolaños to
> accept a candidate from the PLC for the presidency of the
> National Assembly.
>
> This would mean that Bolaños would abandon an accord with
> the FSLN in which Jaime Cuadra of the Blue and White Bench
> would be re-elected president of the Assembly.  Last
> week's Hotline reported that Cuadra had suffered a stroke
> but was expected to recover.  The Hotline also explained
> that PLC presence in the leadership body had been rejected
> by the Bolaños Blue and White Bench and the FSLN because
> the PLC members were seen as determined to obtain the
> release of former President Arnoldo Aleman from house
> arrest and it was thought they would therefore use their
> position to distort the legislative process.
>
> The principal issue for U.S. solidarity activists,
> however, is not which political parties have more or less
> representation in the leadership of the Assembly but is
> rather uncalled-for U.S. involvement in Nicaragua's
> internal affairs and, secondarily, Ambassador Barbara
> Moore's distortion of the role played in recent Nicaraguan
> history by the Sandinistas.
>
> This intervention follows close on the heels of blatant
> U.S. interference in the 2001 presidential elections in
> Nicaragua when high-level U.S. State Department officials
> threatened Nicaraguan voters with economic sanctions and
> worse if they elected the Sandinista candidate.  There
> have also been more recent statements by members of the
> U.S. Congress who visited Nicaragua last August; Cass
> Ballenger and Jerry Seller urged the Liberal factions,
> which they referred to as "democratic forces," to unite
> against the Sandinistas for the 2004 (municipal) and 2006
> (presidential) elections.
>
> Call the Maeve Dwyer at the Nicaragua Desk at the State
> Department at (202) 647-3518 and express your disapproval
> of U.S. interference in Nicaragua's internal political
> affairs.  Ms. Dwyer's message machine says that she will
> be away at a training on Jan. 8-9.  You can leave a
> message on her voice mail or call the general comment line
> for the State Department at (202) 647-6575 and press 1 to
> leave a message.
>
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