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### Viewing cable 08MANAGUA1151, NICARAGUA: ANOTHER SETBACK FOR PRESS FREEDOM,

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08MANAGUA1151 | 2008-09-10 20:41 | 2011-06-23 08:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Managua

`

    VZCZCXRO0062
    PP RUEHLMC
    DE RUEHMU #1151/01 2542041
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 102041Z SEP 08
    FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
    TO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
    RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3144
    INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
    RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
    RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHDC PRIORITY
    RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
    RUMIAAA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL//J2/J3/J5// PRIORITY

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MANAGUA 001151

    SIPDIS

    DEPT FOR WHA/CEN KRAAIMORE
    DEPT FOR WHA/PPD TPICKEREL
    DEPT FOR INR/AA AEMERSON
    DEPT FOR DRL GMAGGIO
    NSC FOR CGARCIA
    USDOC FOR4332/ITA/MAC/WH/MSIEGELMAN

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2018
    TAGS: PHUM PINR KDEM NU
    SUBJECT: NICARAGUA: ANOTHER SETBACK FOR PRESS FREEDOM,
    POPULAR PUNDIT TAKEN OFF AIR

    REF: A. 08 MANAGUA 989
         ¶B. 08 MANAGUA 955
         ¶C. 08 MANAGUA 866
         ¶D. 08 MANAGUA 823
         ¶E. 07 MANAGUA 669

    Classified By: Ambassador Robert Callahan for reasons 1.4 (b and d)

     SUMMARY
    - - - - -

    ¶1.  (C)  For the second time in five months, outspoken
    political commentator Jaime Arellano was removed from the
    television airwaves after the owners of the independent
    television station Channel 2 succumbed to government pressure
    to cancel his morning talk show, "El Dos en la Nacion" (Two
    in the Nation).  The move is widely seen as the Ortega
    Administration's latest attempt to silence and intimidate its
    critics, control the media, suppress freedom of expression,
    and consolidate its power.  The Sandinista official media,
    namely Channel 4, Radio Ya, and its new weekly tabloid "El
    19," have accused Arellano along with other media adversaries
    of "sowing hatred" and being part of a "neoliberal plot of
    corruption" against the Nicaraguan people.  The Citizen Power
    Councils (CPCs), meanwhile, have been dispatched throughout
    Managua, mounting a "prayer campaign" against the media and
    journalists under the slogan "love is more powerful than
    hate."  The cancellation of the Arellano show for the second
    time in less than a year also indicates that the Ortega
    government's communications strategy, developed by First Lady
    Rosario Murillo to use fear to scare media outlets into
    self-censorship, appears to be working.  END SUMMARY

    ADIOS, EL PINGUINO (GOODBYE MR. PENGUIN)
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    ¶2.  (SBU) Conservative-oriented political pundit Jaime
    Arellano, nicknamed "el pinguino" (the penguin), hosted a
    long-running popular morning talk show featuring prominent
    Nicaraguan intellectuals, politicians, economists, analysts,
    and others to debate, and analyze the Nicaraguan political
    situation.  After Channel 10 (a station with ties to the
    Sandinista-operated Channel 4) took his show "El 10 en La
    Nacion" (Ten in the Nation) off the air in April, he moved
    over to Channel 2, considered the most independent TV station
    in Nicaragua, where he continued the same program under the
    new name of "El 2 en la Nacion." On August 22, the owners of
    Channel 2, Octavio Sacasa and Martha Pasos de Sacasa,
    announced the cancellation of Arellano's show.  According to
    multiple contacts, the decision was take under explicit
    threats from the Ortega Administration that Channel 2 would
    lose its broadcasting license, which is due to expire January
    30, 2009, if they did not remove Arellano.  (NOTE: They had
    previously told InfoOff that it was one of their top-rated
    programs. END NOTE.)  In an official statement released
    August 27, Channel 2 excused the cancellation by claiming
    that Arellano's commentary was too inflammatory and asserting
    that the best defense for freedom of expression is to protect
    its "ethical practice" as a "social responsibility."
    Although Channel 2 recognized the need for constructive
    criticism and the freedom to question government policies
    that affect the people, it justified its decision to cancel
    Arellano's show on the grounds that "violence, whether verbal
    or physical, and insults, cannot be praised, from wherever
    they may come."  Furthermore, Channel 2 asserted that it was
    not a media of the opposition because it represented no
    political party, rather it was an impartial, objective outlet
    without partisan or ideological bias or affiliation.  The
    statement made no mention of government pressure or any
    influence it may have had on the station's programming
    decision.

    ¶3. (SBU) Arellano often generated controversy for his
    confrontational style and tendency to pontificate.  He has
    been equally critical of the Constitutional Liberal Party
    (PLC) as he has of the Sandinista National Liberation Front
    (FSLN).  Despite his aggressive style, his show served as a
    vigilant watchdog over Nicaragua's political and economic
    situation, highlighting government corruption and
    politicization of the judiciary, frequently railing against
    President Daniel Ortega's intentions to install a
    dictatorship and perpetuate himself in power.  Even those who
    disagree with Arellano's style are alarmed by the Channel 2
    decision, seeing it as an act of self-censorship and a
    dangerous precedent for Nicaraguan press freedom.  Several
    sources consulted predict that Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who
    hosts another popular program on Channel 8 and is highly
    respected for his investigative journalism, will be the next
    significant television program forced off the airwaves.  They
    also worry that Channel 2 is facing a similar fate as
    Venezuela's RCTV, an opposition media that was forced to shut
    down last year.

    ANOTHER ACT OF INSTITUTIONAL TERRORISM?
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    ¶4.  (SBU) In a passionately delivered press conference held
    the morning of August 25 at opposition-affiliated Radio
    Corporacion, Jaime Arellano asserted that he did not resent
    the owners of Channel 2 for their decision, stressing that
    while he had the right to put his own life on the line by
    criticizing the government, he did not have the right to
    expect others to share this risk.  Arellano explained that
    members of the Channel 2 team were being harassed for their
    association with his morning show.  He lamented that the
    Channel 2 decision had advanced the Ortega government's
    strategy of "institutional terrorism" to intimidate media
    owners.  Arellano has been the target of death threats in the
    past, and now feels particularly exposed to violence.
    Pro-government Citizen Power Council (CPC) groups had staged
    protests outside Channel 2 for several days prior to the
    cancellation of Arellano's show and also gathered outside
    Radio Corporacion during Arellano's August 25 press event.
    Nevertheless, he exhorted his audience not to succumb to fear
    and blackmail, and vowed to continue to fight for democracy.
    He also announced his intention to present his case to the
    Inter-American Commission for Human Rights and the National
    Press Club in Washington, DC.  Liberal National Assembly
    deputies Eduardo Montealegre and Enrique Quinonez, running
    together on the PLC-Vamos con Eduardo ticket for the Managua
    mayorship, accompanied Arellano at his press conference, and
    voiced their solidarity in defense of democracy.

    ¶5.  (C) Many critics of the Ortega government expect that
    these assaults on the independent media, including the threat
    of pulling broadcasting licenses from television and radio
    stations, will continue.  The fact that the Ortega
    Administration has demonstrated its intent to wield its power
    to renew or cancel a broadcasting license, or control the
    frequencies radio stations are allowed to access, is
    troubling to journalists and media owners, and hangs over the
    entire media sector like a "sword of Damocles."  A number of
    radio station owners are opting for self-censorship rather
    than risk losing their media space.  Radio 15 de Septiembre,
    a conservative radio outlet and defiant opponent of the
    Ortega government, is also facing the expiration of its
    license in January.  Dora Maria Tellez, an activist within
    the dissident Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) and former
    Sandinista militant, told poloff that by caving in to the
    Ortega government's pressure, Channel 2 was falling into a
    trap set by Ortega and Murillo.  This would also embolden
    similar attacks on other outlets and Nicaraguans who dare to
    criticize the government's actions,  The removal of one of
    the strongest voices of opposition--Arellano--from TV
    demonstrates the use of fear and intimidation is working and
    signals that "no one was off limits."  Furthermore, it
    represents one more in a series of incremental infringements
    on press freedom and freedom of expression accumulating since
    Ortega assumed office 20 months ago (Refs. A, B) and reflects
    that Murillo's communications strategy to exert full control
    over the media is in full operation (Ref. D.)

    COMING TO THE DEFENSE OF PRESS FREEDOM
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    ¶6.  (C) Concerned about the "chilling effect" that the
    Channel 2 precedent sets, and that it could pave the way for
    increased government control of the media environment, and in
    anticipation that licenses for other radio and television
    channels are soon due to expire, a number of Liberal National
    Assembly deputies are now attempting to push through a bill
    that would automatically renew media broadcasting licenses
    for ten years.  This proposed reform to the Law for the
    Defense of Freedom of Expression, introduced by Eduardo
    Montealegre, has been sitting at the Commission for
    Education, Culture, Sports, and Social Communications Media
    since July 2007.  At the same time, however, there is also a
    move underway to overhaul the telecommunications legislation,
    known as Law 200, which resides with the Committee on
    Infrastructure.

    ¶7. (C) According to media reports, FSLN deputies are
    maneuvering to block or delay the passage of law on freedom
    of expression by arguing that related media freedom issues
    will be covered under the more comprehensive
    telecommunications law.  This is clearly a ploy to use the
    cover of the legislative process to exert greater control
    over media, because by the time the larger more complex
    telecommunication law passes, it will already be too late for
    some outlets whose licenses will have by then already
    expired.  Furthermore, with Mario Valle -- a nominally
    independent deputy who consistently votes with the FSLN --
    heading the commission with jurisdiction over media issues,
    the deck appears to be stacked against those legislators
    striving to defend an independent media.  Civil society
    organizations, such as Movimiento por Nicaragua, are calling
    on the deputies to enact the law to extend media licenses.
    Although the private sector typically avoids commenting on
    political matters, the Superior Council of the Private Sector
    (COSEP) and the Nicaraguan American Chamber of Commerce
    (AMCHAM) issued a joint public statement and press release on
    September 3 in support of the law to extend licenses and
    strongly affirming the need to protect freedom of expression
    as a right guaranteed by the Nicaraguan constitution.
    Montealegre told the Ambassador on September 8 that the
    Liberals have reached agreement to bring the issue of media
    licenses to the full National Assembly in the coming weeks
    and to hold a quick vote on a law to provide extension of the
    licenses.  Terms of the legislation are still being worked
    out.

    IS LOVE STRONGER THAN HATE ?
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    ¶8.  (C) In addition to using legal mechanisms to curtail
    media freedom, the Ortega Administration is increasing the
    use of its quasi-official media outlets and the Citizen Power
    Councils (CPCs) to discredit the opposition and media as
    "peddlers of hate and confrontation."  Arellano was the first
    target of this campaign.  Just prior to the cancellation of
    the Arellano show, on August 20, CPC squads, initially women
    from Managua barrios and self-proclaimed "Christians of the
    base" began congregating in front of Channel 2, La Prensa,
    and El Nuevo Diario, to protest against hate and "pray" for
    peace.  They echoed the official government complaints
    against the opposition media and implored the "end of
    hatred." One protester accused Arellano of "spreading hate
    and poison" against the Nicaraguan people, saying that he
    never even talks about politics.  Sporting white T-shirts
    emblazoned with the slogan "Love is Stronger than Hate" and
    the CPC symbol, written in Murillo's trademark pink font,
    they carried simple white crosses and signs with biblical
    quotes, playing religious music and hymns.  These groups have
    now set up permanent camps at all the major traffic circles
    in Managua, contributing further to the government's
    intimidation campaign.  Commenting on the CPC prayer circles,
    prominent Catholic bishop Monsignor Bernardo Hombach
    expressed his regret that religion was being politicized in
    an attempt to discredit the opposition media but doubted that
    these protesters had much credibility with the general
    public.  This latest use of the CPCs is in keeping with
    Murillo's communications strategy to exert greater control
    over the opposition media (Ref. B).

    ¶9.  (SBU) CPC operatives also congregated outside the Radio
    Corporacion offices during the Arellano press conference.
    Some fear that the CPC campaign combined with the negative
    media treatment emanating from Sandinista-controlled outlets
    could spark violence.  They dismiss the CPC groups protesting
    for prayer and love at the traffic circles around Managua as
    a feeble attempt to sow fear, and discredit anyone critical
    of the government.  Though we note that, with all major
    traffic circles "occupied" by CPCs, it would be difficult for
    opposition groups to mount the large-scale protests seen in
    June and July, CPC elements have demonstrated a willingness
    to engage in violence when confronting opponents. Because the
    police does not grant multiple permits for demonstrations in
    the same space, the CPC prayer campaign has also served to
    preempt other forms of protests.

    ¶10. (C) While the CPCs were "praying" for peace, love, and
    reconciliation. official Sandinista outlets continued to
    berate and discredit Arellano as both corrupt and a "fat
    devil."  As if to justify the absence of Arellano from the
    airwaves, the FSLN's newly minted official tabloid style
    weekly, "El 19" (named in honor of the July 19 victory of the
    Sandinista Revolution), devoted a full page article accusing
    Arellano of being a political agitator and denouncing him for
    stealing money from the Nicaraguan Institute of
    Telecommunications (TELCOR) during his previous employment
    with the Bolanos Administration. (NOTE: The official media
    have also added Arellano to their long-running television
    attack ad against Eduardo Montealegre and Jaime Chamorro,
    director of the leading center-right daily La Prensa, whom
    they have incessantly accused of corruption and being part of
    a neoliberal plot to steal from the Nicaraguan people.  In
    another ominous sign of an increasingly weakened media, these
    partisan attack ads are no longer confined to Channel 4, and
    are now appearing on a variety of other "independent
    channels." END NOTE.)

    COMMENT
    - - - -

    ¶11.  (C)  The National Assembly appears to be taking the
    latest threat to press freedom seriously and there is some
    optimism that it will pass legislative reforms to better
    protect freedom of expression.  However, the FSLN's control
    over the Assembly's mechanics, continued infighting among the
    Liberals, and a focus on the municipal elections pose serious
    obstacles to the effort.  More ominously, the FSLN's effort
    to intimidate and pressure independent media and silence its
    critics, combined with its more aggressive use of official
    communication channels to discredit opponents, has placed a
    dark cloud over the media climate.  The Channel 2 decision
    indicates that the media can be pressured, and perhaps
    manipulated, into self-censorship.  By silencing one of the
    government's fiercest and most tenacious critics in Arellano,
    the government is sending a message to other media outlets
    that they could be the next target.
    CALLAHAN

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