Iran Making Push Into
Nicaragua
Todd Bensman,
Express-News
MONKEY POINT, Nicaragua
— The second military
helicopter in as many
days hovered over the
jungle and then landed
to a most unwelcome
reception from several
dozen angry Rama Indian
and Creole villagers.
Rupert Allen Clear
Duncan, a leader of some
400 Creole who live
along the shoreline,
confronted the
foreigners dressed in
suits and military
uniforms that day in
March and demanded to
know the purpose of
their aerial trespasses.
"This is our land; we
have always lived here,
and you don't have our
permission to be here,"
Duncan spat, when
refused the courtesy of
an explanation.
Not until Duncan
threatened to have his
machete-waving followers
damage the aircraft did
they learn that some of
the men were from the
Islamic Republic of Iran
and had come promising
to establish a Central
American foothold in the
middle of their
territory.
As part of a new
partnership with
Nicaragua's Sandinista
President Daniel Ortega,
Iran and its Venezuelan
allies plan to help
finance a $350 million
deep-water port at
Monkey Point on the wild
Caribbean shore, and
then plow a connecting
"dry canal" corridor of
pipelines, rails and
highways across the
country to the populous
Pacific Ocean. Iran
recently established an
embassy in Nicaragua's
capital.
In feeling threatened by
Iran's ambitions, the
people of Monkey Point
have powerful company.
The Iranians' arrival in
Nicaragua comes as the
Bush administration and
some European allies
hold the threat of war
over Iran to force an
end to its uranium
enrichment program and
alleged help to anti-U.S.
insurgents in Iraq.
What worries state
department officials,
former national security
officials and
counterterrorism
researchers is that, if
attacked, Iran could
stage strikes on
American or allied
interests from
Nicaragua, deploying the
Iranian terrorist group
Hezbollah and
Revolutionary Guard
operatives already in
Latin America. Bellicose
threats by Iran's
clerical leadership to
hit American interests
worldwide if attacked,
by design or not,
heighten the anxiety.
"The bottom line is if
there is a confrontation
with Iran, and Iran gets
bombed, I have
absolutely no doubt that
Iran is going to lash
out globally," said John
R. Schindler, a veteran
former
counterintelligence
officer and analyst for
the National Security
Agency.
"The Iranians have that
ability, particularly
from South America.
Hezbollah has fronts all
over Latin America. That
is not new. But it's
certainly something
we're starting to care
about now."
American policymakers
already had been
fretting in recent years
over Tehran's successful
forging of diplomatic
relations, direct air
routes and embassy swaps
with populist South
American governments
that abhor the U.S.,
such as President Hugo
Chávez's Venezuela,
Bolivia and Ecuador. But
Iran's latest move
places it just a few
porous borders from
Texas, where illegal
Nicaraguan laborers
routinely travel.
The disquiet with this
proximity is rooted in
Iran's track record and
Bush administration
saber rattling that has
gone unabated despite a
recent National
Intelligence Estimate
report that concluded
Iran could build nuclear
weapons if it wanted but
had ended a clandestine
weapons program.
Diplomats or
terrorists
Four consecutive
American administrations
have designated the
Islamic theocracy a
State Sponsor of
Terrorism since 1984 for
ordering Hezbollah and
Iranian intelligence
operatives, sometimes
posing as diplomats, to
conduct bombings,
assassinations and
kidnappings worldwide.
Among the more indelible
of these were the
suicide bombings of
Marines in Beirut, the
1996 Kobar Tower bombing
in Saudi Arabia and
assassinations from
Beirut to Washington.
Few Nicaragua observers
believe Iran seriously
plans to follow through
on any of its $500
million promises or has
any obvious need for
trade ties with one of
Latin America's poorest
countries.
Opposition politicians
say they understand why
Iran might want
relations with oil-rich
Venezuela and Bolivia
but wonder aloud if Iran
really is so interested
in Nicaraguan bananas as
their return on
investment.
Those who view Iranian
intentions with
suspicion point to the
new Iranian diplomatic
mission in Managua as
one reason for all the
promises.
"They use their
embassies to smuggle in
weapons. They used them
to develop and execute
plans," said Oliver
"Buck" Revell, who
served as associate
deputy director over FBI
intelligence and
international affairs.
"Diplomats have immunity
coming and going. It is
a protected center for
both espionage and, on
occasion, for specific
operations. So an
embassy in Managua is
definitely an area that
will be of concern to
our national security
apparatus."
Front and center on many
minds is Argentina's
contention that Iran,
using its embassy as
cover, orchestrated two
Hezbollah bombings of
Israeli and Jewish
community targets in
Buenos Aires in the
early 1990s.
This year, Argentina
secured Interpol arrest
warrants for five former
Iranian officials, most
of them who worked as
diplomats in the Buenos
Aires embassy. Iran
denies Argentina's
charges.
Also in recent months,
the U.S. military
repeatedly has accused
Iran's Revolutionary
Guard of using
diplomatic cover in Iraq
to help insurgents kill
American soldiers. Iran
denies that charge too.
In October, the Bush
administration and
Congress designated the
Revolutionary Guard and
its elite arm, the Quds
force, as global terror
organizations.
Israel is worried about
Nicaragua, too, noting
the Israeli business
community in next-door
Costa Rica, Jewish
populations throughout
Latin America and Iran's
repeated vows to
militarily destroy the
Jewish state. Israel has
promised to take action
alone if diplomacy fails
to halt Iran's nuclear
programs.
Said one Israeli envoy
in the region who
requested anonymity,
"It's just that they
could use their
diplomatic
infrastructure to repeat
Argentina. They'll
promise millions, they
won't send a penny. But
they will send a
delegation."
Publicly so far, U.S.
administration
officials, who opposed
Ortega's bid for the
presidency last year,
aren't saying much. But
privately, State
Department officials in
Washington hint that
Iran's move to Nicaragua
— and Ortega's warm
reception — isn't being
taken lightly.
Some intelligence
experts presume the
Iranian move to
Nicaragua already has
stepped up foreign
espionage operations to
an extent not seen since
in that country since
the Cold War.
To be sure, not everyone
views the Iranian move
to Managua as nefarious.
Some foreign policy
analysts depict Iran's
outreach to anyone
offering a welcome mat
as a logical response to
defeat two rounds of
U.N. Security Council
sanctions and gain
voting U.N. friends as
more rounds are
contemplated.
"Iran has its own
foreign policy. They're
just trying to extend
their influence," said
Peter Rodman, a senior
fellow in foreign policy
for the Brookings
Institute. "They'll
stick to economic
activity."
Other analysts see as
entirely logical that
Iran would project a
deterrent in America's
backyard to make
Washington think twice
about military action.
"When you've got
Washington calling you
evil, and there's a
steady stream of reports
from Washington about
bombing campaigns, what
would you do if you were
an Iranian strategic
planner?" said Dennis
Jett, dean of the
International Center at
the University of
Florida in Gainesville.
"These guys have a track
record of using
diplomats and diplomatic
missions as a mechanism
for terrorism, so why
wouldn't they be making
that calculation now?"
A mystery compound
Twelve-foot-high
concrete walls topped by
neat rolls of
razor-sharp concertina
wire protect the
manicured grounds of a
mansion inside. The
compound is not unlike
many others in the
affluent Managua suburb
of Las Colinas, except
for a telltale
identifier.
From the street outside,
through the wire at just
the right angle, can be
seen the top half of the
distinctive red, white
and green flag of Iran.
This is the temporary
embassy of Iran's new
envoy to Nicaragua,
Akbar Esmaeil-Pour.
The envoy, however,
hasn't been in a talking
mood lately, since local
media stirred just the
sort of questions that
fuel Yankee fears. Last
month, the country's
largest-circulation
newspaper, La Prensa,
published leaked
government documents
that showed Nicaragua's
chief immigration
minister personally
authorized 21 Iranian
men to enter the
country, without visas
that would have left a
record.
Officials denied the
report until confronted
with the document but
refused to explain why
the men were let in that
way or what became of
them.
Another report named as
Revolutionary Guard
operatives several men
who accompanied the
Iranian envoy to his new
digs. A Honduran
newspaper in June
reported that Iranians
had entered that country
without permission from
Nicaragua.
Knocks on embassy gates
over four days recently
drew Nicaragua national
police guards and two
polite aides but no
interview. A call to
Esmaeil-Pour's private
cell phone showed how
much curiosity his
presence has stoked
lately.
"I've had hundreds of
requests for interviews,
and yours is only one!
I'm very busy," the
ambassador snapped
before hanging up.
The Ortega government
also wouldn't talk as
internal criticism
mounts about the
country's new alliance.
But politicians from his
Sandinista Party were
quick to defend the
country's right to
relations with Iran or
any other country
willing to invest in
Nicaragua. Several
predicted Iran would
follow through and said
Nicaragua never would
knowingly allow
terrorist activity.
"Nicaragua's agenda in
its international
relations does not
depend on whether a
third country has good
or bad relations with x
or y country," said
Walmaro Gutierrez, a
Sandinista Party
congressmen. "To
identify a country as
terrorist just because
of nationality, race,
ethnicity or religion is
discriminatory. I want
to make clear we have
signed the (U.N.)
international convention
against terrorism. We
are very responsible."
Opening the door
No one disagrees that
old grudges and American
neglect helped open the
door for Iran. From 1980
to 1988, the CIA
clandestinely fielded
the Contra rebels for a
guerilla war on Ortega's
Soviet-backed regime, at
one point funding them
from secret arms sales
to a Sandinista ally at
the time, Iran.
Ortega boasts solid
anti-American
credentials, aligning in
the old days with Iraq's
Saddam Hussein and
Libya's Moammar Gadhafi,
and more recently
defending Iran's right
to develop nuclear
bombs.
U.S. relations with
Ortega's successors
improved during the
1990s, but did not
entail much in the way
of foreign aid that
could be leveraged now.
Nicaragua remains
neglected, with the
western hemisphere's
third-lowest per-capita
income, a vast foreign
debt and energy
shortages so profound
that electricity must be
rationed.
Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saw
opportunity in Ortega's
election. He was in
Managua talking about
hydroelectric and oil
projects the week of
Ortega's January
inauguration. By August,
Ahmadinejad had
committed to fantastic
promises that, along
with Monkey Point,
include fixing the
Pacific port of Corinto
and building 10,000
houses.
Ortega's alignment with
Iran and Venezuela is
causing some political
blowback that may erode
his thin public support.
Some opposition leaders
and reform-minded
Sandinistas don't like
that Nicaragua has taken
sides in a fight that
doesn't involve it.
Recent presidential
candidate Eduardo
Montelegre, who finished
as the runner-up to
Ortega, said Ortega is
"irresponsible" to risk
Nicaragua's rebounding
trade and good standing
with the West by
providing Iran a
possible staging ground
— even unwittingly.
"This is very simple.
You draw a line between
democracy and terrorist
countries, and we don't
want to be on the wrong
side of the line,"
Montelegre said. "If the
U.S. goes to war on
Iran, those who are on
the wrong side are not
going to fare well."
But most Nicaraguans
hardly can afford to
consider such intrigue.
They are living
hand-to-mouth existences
in slums or squatting on
bits of land. Sufficient
numbers of them voted to
elect Ortega and don't
seem to particularly
care who he brings to
the dinner table.
Neglected port
A pile of scrap
metal, rusted to a
brownish orange, is all
that remains of oil
tanks that CIA-led
Contras blew up in a
1983 speedboat raid on
Nicaragua's port town of
Corinto. The
shrapnel-riddled tanks
stood until just four
months ago, when new
Sandinista port
directors decided to
tear them down.
The pile symbolizes a
new dawn for Nicaragua,
insisted Absalón
Martínez Navas, the
neglected port's newly
installed Sandinista
vice manager.
"We have investors,"
Navas announced. "It's
nothing concrete yet.
But we're making
studies. We're making
plans, not only to
develop the port but
also the community."
One of the biggest
backers, he said, is
going to be the Iranian
government. Probably.
Two months earlier, the
Iranians signaled they
were serious when they
sent a top
transportation official
to tour the port's
crumbling surfaces,
decommissioned
warehouses and
out-of-date machinery.
The Sandinista
government's hope for
Corinto is a $100
million upgrade and two
new wharfs, to then be
connected by the dry
canal to Monkey Point.
This scheme, Navas
explained, would enrich
Nicaragua by drawing
Venezuelan oil and
shipping business from
the Panama Canal, Costa
Rica and El Salvador.
The dry canal has been
around on paper for
nearly 100 years. But it
found new life in a
drive by Venezuela's
Chávez to wean his
country's huge oil
industry from loathed
dependence on U.S.
refineries,
transportation and
markets.
This comes as good news
on the streets of
Corinto's many barrios
and at City Hall, where
Mayor Ernesto Mendez
adorns his office walls
with Chávez posters and
Sandinista propaganda.
Many of the town's
18,000 people live with
no electricity or
plumbing, and depend on
the port for meager
sustenance. Alphonso
Jose Estrada, who spent
30 years working at the
port, wishes the
Iranians the best of
luck.
"Even the U.S. is
accused sometimes of
being terrorists," he
said. "Just because the
Iranians are coming here
doesn't necessarily mean
they're going to cause
terrorism. We'll see
more ships. That's going
to mean more jobs."
That's a much-shared
sentiment in a town
where the port is so
decrepit that only a
ship or two a week
docks.
One recent evening, word
went out over an
invisible grapevine that
a ship was coming.
Hundreds of men wearing
yellow hard hats
converged in waves of
bicycles to vie for
shifts as stevedores or
forklift operators. The
pay: a precious $8 per
12-hour shift.
After an hour or two of
anxious waiting, only a
few dozen were picked,
the rest consigned to
pedaling home with bad
news. Many who land one
or two shifts a month
welcome any plan — by
anyone — to bring more.
Some of the bicyclists
stopped long enough to
talk about the Iranian
proposal but wouldn't
give names, for fear of
not getting selected to
work.
"It's a bad friend," one
young bicyclist said of
the Iranians. "But if
the bad friend builds
the port, then they're a
good friend!"
A land rights clash
Feelings about the
Iranian promises mostly
break a different way at
Monkey Point, on
Nicaragua's other coast.
The Rama and Creole here
mostly live on
Nicaragua's political
margins, subsisting on
fish and jungle animals
in isolation. Time is
still told by sun and
tides.
Because of their
separateness, a more
contrarian streak
prevails that may, in
the end, prove more than
just an irritant to the
Ortega government's
partnership with the
Iranians. Many Monkey
Point young men fought
with the Contras against
Ortega's Sandinistas.
They've been feeling
rebellious again since
the helicopters came.
The Monkey Point
community wants legal
rights to roughly a
half-million acres where
generations have lived.
Twice in the past 10
years, people there have
resisted development
proposals.
Pearl Watson, the
self-styled community
president who travels
the globe raising
awareness, said the
community made
substantial progress
under previous
governments, including a
new law under which it
can stake a formal
claim. That's why Watson
said people felt
especially pained when
the Iranians and
Venezuelans showed up
with another port
proposal that did not
seem to recognize all
that had gone before.
"They don't want to tell
the people nothing; they
just want to show up and
do what they want,"
Watson said in her
office in the bustling
coastal town of
Bluefields, a 30-mile
boat ride from Monkey
Point. "Our people don't
like the way the
government is imposing
development on us, with
no guarantees of how the
people will benefit."
Lately, she's been
reaching out to human
rights organizations to
help fight Ortega, and
considering filing a
case in international
courts if the port idea
progresses before their
land boundaries are
decided. A successful
campaign could throw
quite a wrench in the
Monkey Point plans.
But the fear of forcible
removal by their old
enemies, the Sandinista
Party, if all this fails
is palpable where jungle
and beach meet.
Frustration is on the
rise. Lately, some of
the young men have begun
talking about reminding
the Sandinistas that
this same community once
fought with the Contras,
that they might not have
turned in all the
weapons.
"It gonna be total
destruction for us if
them build it down
here," said Rupert Allen
Clear Duncan, the
community leader who
confronted the
helicopter delegation.
"Here we have a
beautiful life, man. We
never find us living
anywhere else." |
