Iranians Plant Their
Flag in Wilds of
Nicaragua
By Todd Bensman, Special
to the New York SUn
MONKEY POINT, Nicaragua
— If the ruling mullahs
of the Islamic Republic
of Iran were chafing
enough about U.S. Navy
vessels in the Strait of
Hormuz to send
speedboats after them
last month, they must
take some comfort in
having projected an
equivalent threat in
America's own backyard,
in this unlikeliest of
locales.
The Iranians have
planted their flag here
in the tree-festooned
wilderness of hills that
jut out to shelter a
vast, unspoiled
Caribbean bay on
Nicaragua's eastern
shore. The point's
namesake monkeys swing
through the heavy canopy
above the smattering of
Rama Indians and black
Creole people who hunt
them and other wildlife
for daily sustenance,
just as they have for
generations. No
television or
communication informs
the Rama and Creole of
the internecine goings
on in distant Managua,
let alone some American
beef with Iran half a
globe away.
The English-speaking
Creole parents of rising
heavyweight boxer Evans
Quinn, who grew up in a
hand-hewn lumber shack,
can't even get word of
their son's latest
fights in Las Vegas or
Los Angeles until days
after the final bell,
when a panga boat pilot
might motor in from the
sea.
"The life we live here
is a poor life," said
Sullivan Quinn, whose
doorstep is a beach
landing where each
morning his other sons
use machetes to hack
Tarpon fish to cooking
pot size. "But my son,
every time he comes
home, he brings everyone
shoes. If he keeps
winning, he'll do
something big and
permanent for the whole
community, like maybe a
gymnasium."
Until recently, one
local boxer's fortune
was about the only story
preoccupying the 300-odd
Creole of Monkey Point.
But perspectives
broadened suddenly in
March when Iranians and
Venezuelans showed up
aboard Nicaraguan
military helicopters.
They had come to scope
out Monkey Point's bay
for transformation to a
$350 million deep-water
shipping port. The port
idea is part a new
diplomatic relationship
between Iran and the
Sandinista revolutionary
president, Daniel
Ortega, that has flown
largely under American
press and broadcast
radar since its August
announcement. Iran has
since issued fantastic
promises that would
include financing a
rail, road, and pipeline
"dry canal" from Monkey
Point to an upgraded
Port of Corinto on the
Pacific, hydroelectric
projects, and 10,000
houses in between.
With its latest
diplomatic partnership
with a time-tested
American nemesis, Iran
is now just a few porous
borders away from
President Bush's home
state of Texas. All this
matters because of fears
the Islamic Republic can
now project a threat
close to America's
borders and Mexico's
petroleum infrastructure
in the event of severe
enough sanctions or even
war.
I went to Nicaragua
recently to see how all
this is was playing out,
and to take advantage of
the fact that no
American reporter had
yet bothered. A visit
made sense because so
much has been written
about a state sponsor of
global terrorism like
Iran deepening relations
with Venezuela's
America-hating
president, Hugo Chavez.
The only question is
whether, in the event of
war, Iran could deploy
its Hezbollah and
Revolutionary Guard
agents to hit American
interests or allies in
South America. It's been
done before, under the
cover of Iran's
embassies, to Jewish
targets in Argentina,
Americans in Iraq, and
perceived enemies
elsewhere around the
world.
Given the ink expended
about Iran in South
America, the mullahs'
furthest reach north has
gone oddly,
conspicuously
unexamined.
Here's what I came away
with after 10 days in
Managua, Monkey Point,
and Corinto:
While Iranian money has
yet to materialize, the
embassy that national
security experts most
fear as cover for
terrorist plots is up
and running.
Revolutionary Guard
operatives reportedly
have been moving in and
out of the country. In
one instance, a senior
government minister
allowed 21 Iranian men
to enter secretly
without passport
processing.
The longevity of any
Iranian presence in
Nicaragua may depend on
whether it helps Mr.
Ortega maintain his
razor-thin margin of
public support.
Influential domestic
opponents of the
administration are
ramping up strong
criticism of the
alliance, while
Nicaragua's poor will
support it unless
promises go unfulfilled.
Unlike in Venezuela, the
Americans have kept a
tight lid on any
official response to the
Iranian move into
Nicaragua, suggesting,
as several intelligence
officials speculate,
heightened
counter-espionage
activity.
Upon arriving in
Managua, I linked up
with a local interpreter
to track down the
Iranians and get them
talking. In Managua's
exclusive suburb of Las
Colinas, I finally
noticed the distinctive
red, white, and green
flag of Iran hanging
limply from a pole
poking up beyond rolls
of concertina wire that
lined the 12-foot-high
walls of a compound.
Iran's new envoy to
Nicaragua, Akbar Esmaeil-Pour,
now calls the mansion
inside home.
Over several days, Mr.
Esmaeil-Pour appeared to
be in no talking mood.
In response to doorbell
rings, the face of the
envoy's personal driver,
a local Nicaraguan,
appeared in a head-size
slot in the metal gate.
Two national policemen
opened a door and
stepped out with AK-47s,
leery.
"He very much
appreciates that you
came all the way from
America just to see
him," the face said.
"The ambassador will
call you when he has
time. Maybe in a few
days."
And so it politely went
for several more days,
until the personal
driver, feeling sorry
for me, finally gave up
the envoy's personal
cell phone number. A
call to it drew an angry
response from Mr.
Esmaeil-Pour, telling me
to get in line behind
100 other reporters.
One reason for the
reluctance might be the
recent local press
reports accusing the
Iranians of sneaking in
Revolutionary Guards
under diplomatic cover.
Current and former
American
counterterrorism
officials say this is
just the sort of
activity that gives them
cold sweats. Foremost on
the minds of many who
run in these circles are
the 1992 and 1994
bombings of Jewish
targets in Buenos Aires,
now widely attributed to
the Iranian Embassy
there.
The country's largest
daily newspaper, the
right-of-center La
Prensa, published leaked
documents that showed a
top Nicaragua
immigration minister
personally authorized 21
Iranian men to enter the
country, without visas
that would have left a
record of passage. Mr.
Ortega's government
denied the report until
confronted with the
document, but still
refuse to explain
anything. In an office
overlooking his small
but energized newsroom,
the editor of La Prensa,
Eduardo Enriquez, handed
over a copy of the
damning document, with
the names of all 21
Iranians quite legible,
and explained how he
reads the Iranian move
to Managua.
"Only the most naïve
believe there'll be any
economic development.
The Iranians see this as
a nice point to come and
bother the Americans,"
he said. "The only thing
we can offer them is a
safe place where they
can move Revolutionary
Guard around. There is
nothing else here for
the Iranians."
The American authorities
weren't helpful, which
struck me as more than
odd, since Americans
have quite often heaped
public disdain on the
Iran-Venezuela alliance.
The American Embassy
openly supported Mr.
Ortega's opponents
during the 2006 election
campaign. A year later,
though, embassy
officials turned down
all of my interview
requests. State
Department officials in
Washington, speaking on
condition of anonymity,
said there's an official
position: Nicaragua and
Iran are two sovereign
nations whose
partnership is not
American business. But
one national security
official suggested there
was a lot more going on:
"We're obviously not
ignoring the situation."
Ultimately, the
longevity of Iran's
presence in Nicaragua
may depend on whether
Mr. Ortega can maintain
a razor-thin margin of
domestic support. There
are signs that has
become more tenuous with
each new press report
about Revolutionary
Guards roving around.
Increasingly alarmed
domestic opponents of
the Ortega regime fret
about earning American
enmity by taking the
wrong side once again.
"That the Sandinistas
helped at least 21
Iranians come and go
under cover "is very
worrisome," a former
presidential candidate,
Eduardo Montelegre, who
was the runner-up to Mr.
Ortega. "We don't know
where those Iranians are
going, hopefully not to
the U.S. But wherever
they're going, it's
certainly not to do any
good."
Mr. Bensman is a
reporter for the San
Antonio Express News.
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