| CRIME AND POLITICS, NICARAGUAN STYLE |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, December 15 2003 |
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| In a country like Nicaragua, where nearly half the population live on less than a dollar a day, it is inconceivable that anyone would spend $10,000 on a two-night stay in Paris, $22,000 on two Egyptian rugs or $49,000 on an engagement party in Miami. It's even worse when the big spender happens to be the president of one of the poorest countries in the world, and the money happens to belong to its people.
It is that type of lavish lifestyle that landed former President Arnoldo Aleman a 20-year jail sentence and a $10 million fine. A Nicaraguan judge cited the crimes of fraud, misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement, criminal association and electoral violations endangering the state in her sentencing of Aleman. In total, it is believed that between Aleman and his cronies, the state was cheated out of $100 million.
It would be a great triumph of justice if Aleman had been tried and sentenced on the merit of those charges alone. But there is a complicated web of political maneuvering that gives the sentence a bittersweet feeling.
Nicaraguans have had to endure decades of suffering, from the Somoza dictatorship to the Sandinista Revolution and war against the U.S.-sponsored Contras. And just when they thought that a succession of democratically elected governments was giving way to political stability and economic recovery, it brought along with it a good dose of new corruption.
The arrest of 57-year-old Aleman, along with some of his family members and former government representatives, is part of current President Enrique Bolaños's anti-corruption campaign. He promised to rid the country of dishonesty and said no one -- not even his former allies and party members -- would be above the law.
But Bolaños can only take partial credit for the arrests. That's because he is not in total control of the country. Nicaragua is controlled by two parties, the Liberal Party and the Sandinistas, and by two men, their respective leaders Arnoldo Aleman and Daniel Ortega.
The Liberal Party has a majority in Congress, but the Sandinistas control the judicial system. Many of the lower courts are headed by judges who are former members of the Sandinista secret police. Among them is judge Juana Mendez, who sentenced Aleman.
"Arnoldo Aleman is a hostage of Daniel Ortega," a spokesman for the former president told me in a telephone interview from Managua. "Aleman was sentenced because he refused to adhere to Ortega's demands" -- demands such as support for legislation that would benefit his party.
The former president, who was stripped of his immunity to stand trial, insists on his innocence. "They are all lies," his spokesman says, referring to the charges. He says it was Byron Jerez, an ex-income-tax collector and treasurer of the Liberal Party, who committed the crimes. Jerez is serving an eight-year sentence for fraud, but ironically, he was acquitted in the conspiracy case even though he has publicly admitted that he transferred funds from the government to accounts in foreign countries to benefit his party. He says he took orders from Aleman.
For now, both Jerez and Aleman are serving their sentences in the comfort of their homes -- one of the many reasons why 80 percent of Nicaraguans mistrust their judicial system. The U.S. government, through its embassy in Managua, has recommended reform in the Nicaraguan legal system, calling it "corrupt and politicized." The United States recently canceled a $50 million aid package destined for that system.
There is no doubt politics played a role in Aleman's conviction and sentencing. That's not surprising to observers of Nicaraguan politics. Aleman's crimes merit more than house arrest, but at least Nicaragua has sent a message that those who plunder from some of the poorest people in the hemisphere will not do so with impunity. |
