NO MOB RULE
The U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua says he is determined to remain at his post and will not be chased out of the country by anti-American demonstrators, like those who stormed the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Managua, last week and demanded he be expelled.
“I am staying to work as U.S. ambassador because we have a strong and constant commitment to the Nicaraguan people,” Ambassador Robert Callahan told reporters Sunday.
“My main job is maintaining good relations with Nicaragua, and I will do everything in my power to do so.”
Anti-American protests erupted Thursday, a day after Mr. Callahan criticized the Nicaraguan Supreme Court for its Oct. 19 ruling that President Daniel Ortega, leader of the formerly Marxist revolutionary Sandinista Party, can run for re-election in 2011, despite a constitutional ban on presidents seeking a second term.
The Nica Times newspaper described the demonstrators as “masked Sandinista youth, party fanatics and state workers,” many of whom were “bussed in for the protest.” The paper reported that many protesters hurled objects at the embassy and sprayed Sandinista slogans on the exterior walls of the diplomatic compound, while police stood by and watched.
Mr. Callahan on Oct. 28 told the American Chamber of Commerce in Managua that the United States believes the court acted improperly because the decision was made only by judges loyal to the Sandinista Party, not the full court.
“In our view, the Nicaraguan Supreme Court acted in undue and uncharacteristic haste, in secret, with the participation of judges from a single political movement, and without public debate or discussion,” he said.
“We think that an issue this momentous, that concerns the future of Nicaragua’s democracy, deserves due deliberation and diligence.”
On Oct. 22, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the court’s decision “threatens to undermine the foundation of Nicaraguan democracy.”
Mr. Ortega rose to power after the 1979 Sandinista revolutionary and allied the country with Cuba and the Soviet Union. The U.S.-backed anti-communist resistance, called the Contras, along with civilian political opposition forced Mr. Ortega to hold an election in 1990, which he lost.
He was elected president in 2006 with about 38 percent of the vote, while the conservative opposition split 55 percent of the vote between two rival candidates.
U.S. BANS KENYAN
Using an unusual tool for a diplomat, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya sent a Twitter message to answer one of the most pressing political questions in the East African nation.
“Still wondering which senior Kenyan official has been banned from the U.S. for obstructing reforms? The answer is …” Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said, referring readers to the Standard.
The Kenyan newspaper carried a front-page story Sunday with the headline: “U.S. ban: It’s Wako.”
Attorney General Amos Wako was the unidentified senior Kenya official Washington targeted last month when Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson announced the travel ban.
Since the announcement, Kenyan officials and political writers have been guessing about the identity of the official.
Mr. Carson, without publicly naming Mr. Wako, said the United States selected him because he was “obstructive in the fight against corruption.”
Mr. Wako has promised to call a news conference if he can confirm he was targeted. The Standard said it was unsuccessful in several attempts to reach Mr. Wako for comment.
Mr. Wako has been criticized in Kenya for corruption and for failing to bring charges against political thugs responsible for postelection violence last year that killed at least 1,300 people.
• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail jmorrison@ washingtontimes.com.
• James Morrison can be reached at jmorrison@washingtontimes.com.
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