"Hands Off Nicaraguan Elections" Campaign

U.S Interference in the Nicaraguan Elections

On November 5th, 2006, Nicaraguans went to the polls to elect a new president and National Assembly. From the outset of the presidential campaign, the current U.S. administration - represented by its ambassador to Nicaragua, Paul Trivelli - blatantly attempted to influence the outcome of the elections. Trivelli did everything he could to ensure that the U.S. government's preferred candidate, banker Eduardo Montealegre, won the presidency, and to make sure former president Daniel Ortega, of the Sandinista party, lost. Obviously, this is not the way fair, free, elections work.

Sadly, this is not a new development in U.S. policy. We've seen this pattern of interference for 25 years. The Bush administration knows that most Americans don't know much about Nicaragua, and that the media in this country is largely indifferent. So, as so often in the past, it falls to us, concerned citizens of the U.S., to stand up against our government's shameful policy. We decided to let Nicaraguans know that some Americans support their democratic rights, that we're willing to make some noise about it.

Over 1,000 Americans sign our Open Letter to Trivelli

On 13 October 2006 we published an open letter to Ambassador Trivelli, calling on him to stop his interference in the Nicaraguan electoral process. The letter, signed by 1,100 American citizens, was published, in Spanish, in the Nicaraguan newspapers El Nuevo Diaro and La Prensa.

Delegation to monitor election interference

From 8 October to 15 October, we sent an 8-person delegation of U.S. citizens to Nicaragua to investigate election interference. The delegation met with government agencies, inter-govenmental organizations (OAS), Nicaraguan political parties, and other civil society actors. The only organizations that refused to meet with our delegation were the American Embassy and the International Republican Institute.