Envoy Releases Data on Nicaraguan Storm Aid

Hoping to end a controversy over Hurricane Mitch relief efforts, the Nicaraguan consul general in Los Angeles has released a report that he says documents more than $50,000 in donations he managed.

But some members of the local Nicaraguan American community questioned this week whether the report accurately reflects all the cash collected by Consul General Silvio Mendez.

Mendez had previously declined requests to provide records identifying donors or detailing what he did with the financial contributions that poured into the consulate after the massive storm devastated Central America last fall. Mendez said he changed his mind because he wanted to assure the public that everything was managed properly.

His 45-page report includes copies of bank deposits and transfer statements, as well as a list of what the consul says are all the donors with the dates and amounts of their gifts.

More than 300 people from across California contributed nearly $54,000--about $1,900 of it in cash, according to the report. “It’s all accounted for,” Mendez said.

He could not specify how the money was spent, saying only that it was transferred to a government account in Nicaragua and sent to a committee overseeing relief efforts.

In March, several Nicaraguan Americans in Los Angeles sent a letter to Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman and other officials, demanding that Mendez publicly account for donations to assuage skeptics. In the wake of the disaster, as international aid poured into Nicaragua, there were accusations of theft and corruption--which government officials denied.

The letter writers and their supporters said this week they are still unsatisfied. It is hard to believe that Mendez collected only about $1,900 in cash during the six-month period covered by his report, they said.

“Less than $2,000 from the entire Nicaraguan community here?” asked Manuel Mena, publisher of Monimbo, a Los Angeles newspaper that covers Nicaragua and its expatriates. “That’s ridiculous.”

Mendez dismissed the criticism this week as unfounded.

While the thousands of dollars flowed into the consulate, tons of food, medicine and other essentials collected by Mendez piled up in Los Angeles warehouses because he said there were no funds to pay for shipping. He later said government regulations prevented him from using any of the $54,000 to transport the supplies.

The 675 tons were stranded for nearly three months, until a report in The Times in January helped raise thousands of dollars to cover shipping costs.

But after landing at the Port of Corinto on March 19, all but three of the 28 cargo containers sat on a dock for a month before they began to be moved. The last several containers were taken away in early May, the port’s director said.

Mendez had assured Los Angeles donors that the goods would be distributed immediately by the Catholic Church once they reached Nicaragua. Instead, the cargo went to a social services operation run by Maria Dolores Aleman, the daughter of Nicaragua’s president.

While she decided what to do with the shipment, several thousand malnourished people suffered in refugee camps in Posoltega municipality. Just an hour’s drive from the port, Posoltega was ravaged when a wave of mud and water from the Casitas volcano swallowed two villages and buried more than 1,500 people.

Lilia Alfaro, an administrator with the Posoltega mayor’s office, said this week that refugees are surviving mainly on international donations and that she was unaware of any government aid reaching the area recently. Hundreds of families are living in plastic tents in muddy camps, she said.

“People are coming every day for food, clothing,” Alfaro said.

Critics have accused the Nicaraguan government of largely ignoring Posoltega, which is run by the rival Sandinista party. Government officials deny the allegations.