Panama Jack
26th Mar 2005, 13:26
OK, here is a rumour for the PPRuNe.
Was chatting earlier today with a Managua-based pilot friend. Over the last few years, the folks at DGAC in Nicaragua have been swimming against the current in trying to update the very dated regulations and pull Nicaragua out of it's FAA Categorization problems (achieve Categorization I) and reconstruct civil aviation. Much has been accomplished.
Of course, then a hick-up happens (as I've learned to count on it). Political posturing and sabre-ratting seem to be a fact of life in Latin America's life. In this case, it comes from our friends in the United States, who now are threatening to withold Category 1 rating and decertify Managua's International Airport and declaring it unsafe. This, according to a recent article in El Nuevo Diario (http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/archivo/2005/marzo/22-marzo-2005/nacional/nacional-20050322-05.html) that quotes Donald Rumsfeld threatening Nicaragua, will stop US carriers from flying to this Central American country. Why?
Post September 11th, 2001, the United States is rightfully concerned about all sorts of powerful weaponry, generously dispersed amongst all sorts of groups by both the US and the then-USSR, falling into the hands of "bad guys." The fear is that somebody with a beard might take aim with a Stinger or a SAM-7 at American Airlines on short final into somewhere like JFK. As a professional pilot and former airline pilot, I also share this as a very legitimate concern.
Some estimates put the figure at around 1,000,000 shoulder launched surface-to-air missles circulating in the world. That's ONE MILLION . . . a mind boggling figure (at least for me)! The Nicaraguan military has had some 2000 Soviet-made SAM-7 surface-to-air missles in their stockpiles-- since the conflict of the 1980's. For those of you who remember, it was a SAM-7 missle that downed a CIA-sponsored C-123 aircraft from which the sole survivor was Eugene Hasenfus. The fallout was the exposure of the Iran-Contra scandal, during which "Col. Oliver North" became a household name.
http://www.terra.com.ni/addon/img/noticias/15f70c5misilp.jpg
Despite excellent relations built up over the recent years by General Javier Carrion between the Nicaraguan Army and the United States Military, the US Goverment recently shifted tactics on an anti-Nicaragua publicity campaign and in attempting to discredit the Nicaraguan military as a whole. The US has been pressing Nicaragua to destroy all 2000 units of it's SAM-7 inventory, claiming that high-ranking officers have hidden a number of SAM-7's that could be sold to terrorists. As an example they cited a recent sting in which twarted an underground sale of a contraband missle in Nicaragua-- interestingly, a missle that had NEVER been a part of the Nicaraguan military's inventory (keep in mind that the US also handed out weaponry to insurgents during the 1980's).
President Enrique Bolaņos and the Nicaraguan military have partially accomidated the US's demands. They have assessed their defense needs. Nicaragua's military has no fighter aircraft (only helicopter gunships and Antonov transport aircraft) but the country also has territorial disputes with neighboring Honduras and Colombia, both of them countries that have relatively powerful Air Forces. The US has promised the carrot of increased aid and equipment for anti-narcotics missions, in exchange for the total destruction of the SAM's. The Nicaraguan military agreed to reduce it's stockpile by 50% to 1000 missles, and more recently to maintaining 400 missles without hindering the defense capability of the country. Every country has the right to be able to defend itself, a concept that I imagine is very dear to the US's heart and a topic that has been on the front-burner of the news and debate in Nicaragua during the last few months.
However the US wants everything gone, and Nicaragua has been unwilling, so now they offer the stick. :hmm: The stick comes in the form of a suspension of military aid (with the exception of anti-narcotics) and, as I learned today, suspending the civil aviation Categorization project.
Unfortunately, even if the Nicaraguan military did not have any more SAM-7 missles, there would still be some 998,000 MANPADs throughout the world. Hardly a scratch on the surface of the problem. In the meantime, while MANPADs in the wrong hands are a threat to civil aviation, the United States has refused to become a signatory in the banning of anti-personnel land-mines (citing national defense reasons). Anti-personnel land mines continue to litter the landscapes of many parts of the world and continue to kill civilians years after the conflict has ended, as is the case in parts of Nicaragua.
In any case, Nicaraguan civil aviation is not ready to step forward . . . yet. :sad:
Pobrecita Nicaragua, tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los gringos
For those who are interested in reading more, a few recent articles on the subject:
US Accuses Nicaraguan Army of Hiding SAM-7 Missiles
The US is using the pretext of the arrest of two men trying to sell a SAM-7 surface-to-air missile in Managua three weeks ago to accuse high ranking officers of the Army of hiding SAM-7s and to build opposition to a new armed services law that gives the National Assembly authority to buy and eliminate weapons systems. The new law was passed in reaction to President Bolaņos' cave-in to US pressure in which he ordered the destruction of almost half the Army's stock of Soviet-era SAM-7s and promised to destroy the rest by the end of 2005.
An article published on the front page of the Washington Times on Jan. 27 states that US government officials believe that high ranking members of the Nicaragua Army have 80 SAM-7 missiles hidden which they could sell on the black market and, they warn, could end up "in the hands of terrorists." The particular contraband missile that was seized on Jan. 10 had never been part of the Army's inventory. Despite this, the message coming from Washington has been one of mistrust of the Nicaragua Army, which the US claims is attempting to hide weapons from international weapons inspectors. Nicaragua is not under an international weapons inspection regime, and the US, which has the greatest stockpile of weapons in the world, is famous for refusing weapons inspections on its soil, so it is difficult to know what to make of the US charges. An anonymous US government official was quoted in the Washington Times saying, "This is a very, very serious threat. This is what keeps me awake all night. Civil aviation is in danger."
Commanding General of the Nicaragua Army Javier Carrion reacted to the article by saying that if the US government wants to make an accusation against the Nicaragua Army then they should do so officially and not by an anonymous US official's quotes in a US newspaper. Carrion went on to say that the US official's accusations are "unfounded," "offensive" and made with the intention of creating a bad image of Nicaragua and its army in the eyes of the international community and especially within the US. Since he became commander of the Nicaraguan Army, Carrion has, to the astonishment of many, built army to army ties with the US. He began sending Nicaraguan officers to the infamous Army School of the Americas (now Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) despite the SOA's role in training Somoza's brutal National Guard which Carrion fought against as a young Sandinista guerrilla and later as an officer during the contra war. He has accepted US military aid and training as part of Washington's drug war as well. Now on the eve of his retirement he is discovering that the US continues to carry a stick as well as to hand out carrots. Perhaps his successor will chart a wiser course, free of US hegemony.
Jose Figueroa, Executive Secretary of the Sandinista bench in the National Assembly, believes that the true motive behind the US government stirring up fear over this issue is to create opposition to the new arms law before it is ratified by the Assembly. Another motive, according to Figueroa, is to create a disguised threat aimed at the Nicaragua Army and Police so that they get behind Bolaņos. "There is now a publicity campaign attacking the institutions responsible for the national defense, a campaign that aims to give Nicaragua a bad name," Figueroa said. When questioned further about this point Figueroa admitted that he thinks that the Bush Administration could be behind this "publicity campaign." Bolaņos justified his order to destroy the SAM-7s in terms of creating a balanced Central American force agreement. However, Honduras pretty well eliminated that justification when it announced it has no plans to reduce its fleet of F-5 fighter jets. Nicaragua and Honduras are in a protracted disagreement about control of coastal waters that may contain oil reserves.
Bolaņos announced the creation of a special investigative team to "get to the bottom of the matter" on Jan. 27. Two officials from the US State Department, Benjamin Ziff and Margaret Bond, arrived in Managua on Jan. 28 on an official visit to help with the investigation.
An interesting interview (in Spanish) with outgoing General Javier Carrion (http://www-ni.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2005/enero/30/dom_entrevista/dom_entrevista-20050130-01.html)
Was chatting earlier today with a Managua-based pilot friend. Over the last few years, the folks at DGAC in Nicaragua have been swimming against the current in trying to update the very dated regulations and pull Nicaragua out of it's FAA Categorization problems (achieve Categorization I) and reconstruct civil aviation. Much has been accomplished.
Of course, then a hick-up happens (as I've learned to count on it). Political posturing and sabre-ratting seem to be a fact of life in Latin America's life. In this case, it comes from our friends in the United States, who now are threatening to withold Category 1 rating and decertify Managua's International Airport and declaring it unsafe. This, according to a recent article in El Nuevo Diario (http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/archivo/2005/marzo/22-marzo-2005/nacional/nacional-20050322-05.html) that quotes Donald Rumsfeld threatening Nicaragua, will stop US carriers from flying to this Central American country. Why?
Post September 11th, 2001, the United States is rightfully concerned about all sorts of powerful weaponry, generously dispersed amongst all sorts of groups by both the US and the then-USSR, falling into the hands of "bad guys." The fear is that somebody with a beard might take aim with a Stinger or a SAM-7 at American Airlines on short final into somewhere like JFK. As a professional pilot and former airline pilot, I also share this as a very legitimate concern.
Some estimates put the figure at around 1,000,000 shoulder launched surface-to-air missles circulating in the world. That's ONE MILLION . . . a mind boggling figure (at least for me)! The Nicaraguan military has had some 2000 Soviet-made SAM-7 surface-to-air missles in their stockpiles-- since the conflict of the 1980's. For those of you who remember, it was a SAM-7 missle that downed a CIA-sponsored C-123 aircraft from which the sole survivor was Eugene Hasenfus. The fallout was the exposure of the Iran-Contra scandal, during which "Col. Oliver North" became a household name.
http://www.terra.com.ni/addon/img/noticias/15f70c5misilp.jpg
Despite excellent relations built up over the recent years by General Javier Carrion between the Nicaraguan Army and the United States Military, the US Goverment recently shifted tactics on an anti-Nicaragua publicity campaign and in attempting to discredit the Nicaraguan military as a whole. The US has been pressing Nicaragua to destroy all 2000 units of it's SAM-7 inventory, claiming that high-ranking officers have hidden a number of SAM-7's that could be sold to terrorists. As an example they cited a recent sting in which twarted an underground sale of a contraband missle in Nicaragua-- interestingly, a missle that had NEVER been a part of the Nicaraguan military's inventory (keep in mind that the US also handed out weaponry to insurgents during the 1980's).
President Enrique Bolaņos and the Nicaraguan military have partially accomidated the US's demands. They have assessed their defense needs. Nicaragua's military has no fighter aircraft (only helicopter gunships and Antonov transport aircraft) but the country also has territorial disputes with neighboring Honduras and Colombia, both of them countries that have relatively powerful Air Forces. The US has promised the carrot of increased aid and equipment for anti-narcotics missions, in exchange for the total destruction of the SAM's. The Nicaraguan military agreed to reduce it's stockpile by 50% to 1000 missles, and more recently to maintaining 400 missles without hindering the defense capability of the country. Every country has the right to be able to defend itself, a concept that I imagine is very dear to the US's heart and a topic that has been on the front-burner of the news and debate in Nicaragua during the last few months.
However the US wants everything gone, and Nicaragua has been unwilling, so now they offer the stick. :hmm: The stick comes in the form of a suspension of military aid (with the exception of anti-narcotics) and, as I learned today, suspending the civil aviation Categorization project.
Unfortunately, even if the Nicaraguan military did not have any more SAM-7 missles, there would still be some 998,000 MANPADs throughout the world. Hardly a scratch on the surface of the problem. In the meantime, while MANPADs in the wrong hands are a threat to civil aviation, the United States has refused to become a signatory in the banning of anti-personnel land-mines (citing national defense reasons). Anti-personnel land mines continue to litter the landscapes of many parts of the world and continue to kill civilians years after the conflict has ended, as is the case in parts of Nicaragua.
In any case, Nicaraguan civil aviation is not ready to step forward . . . yet. :sad:
Pobrecita Nicaragua, tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los gringos
For those who are interested in reading more, a few recent articles on the subject:
US Accuses Nicaraguan Army of Hiding SAM-7 Missiles
The US is using the pretext of the arrest of two men trying to sell a SAM-7 surface-to-air missile in Managua three weeks ago to accuse high ranking officers of the Army of hiding SAM-7s and to build opposition to a new armed services law that gives the National Assembly authority to buy and eliminate weapons systems. The new law was passed in reaction to President Bolaņos' cave-in to US pressure in which he ordered the destruction of almost half the Army's stock of Soviet-era SAM-7s and promised to destroy the rest by the end of 2005.
An article published on the front page of the Washington Times on Jan. 27 states that US government officials believe that high ranking members of the Nicaragua Army have 80 SAM-7 missiles hidden which they could sell on the black market and, they warn, could end up "in the hands of terrorists." The particular contraband missile that was seized on Jan. 10 had never been part of the Army's inventory. Despite this, the message coming from Washington has been one of mistrust of the Nicaragua Army, which the US claims is attempting to hide weapons from international weapons inspectors. Nicaragua is not under an international weapons inspection regime, and the US, which has the greatest stockpile of weapons in the world, is famous for refusing weapons inspections on its soil, so it is difficult to know what to make of the US charges. An anonymous US government official was quoted in the Washington Times saying, "This is a very, very serious threat. This is what keeps me awake all night. Civil aviation is in danger."
Commanding General of the Nicaragua Army Javier Carrion reacted to the article by saying that if the US government wants to make an accusation against the Nicaragua Army then they should do so officially and not by an anonymous US official's quotes in a US newspaper. Carrion went on to say that the US official's accusations are "unfounded," "offensive" and made with the intention of creating a bad image of Nicaragua and its army in the eyes of the international community and especially within the US. Since he became commander of the Nicaraguan Army, Carrion has, to the astonishment of many, built army to army ties with the US. He began sending Nicaraguan officers to the infamous Army School of the Americas (now Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) despite the SOA's role in training Somoza's brutal National Guard which Carrion fought against as a young Sandinista guerrilla and later as an officer during the contra war. He has accepted US military aid and training as part of Washington's drug war as well. Now on the eve of his retirement he is discovering that the US continues to carry a stick as well as to hand out carrots. Perhaps his successor will chart a wiser course, free of US hegemony.
Jose Figueroa, Executive Secretary of the Sandinista bench in the National Assembly, believes that the true motive behind the US government stirring up fear over this issue is to create opposition to the new arms law before it is ratified by the Assembly. Another motive, according to Figueroa, is to create a disguised threat aimed at the Nicaragua Army and Police so that they get behind Bolaņos. "There is now a publicity campaign attacking the institutions responsible for the national defense, a campaign that aims to give Nicaragua a bad name," Figueroa said. When questioned further about this point Figueroa admitted that he thinks that the Bush Administration could be behind this "publicity campaign." Bolaņos justified his order to destroy the SAM-7s in terms of creating a balanced Central American force agreement. However, Honduras pretty well eliminated that justification when it announced it has no plans to reduce its fleet of F-5 fighter jets. Nicaragua and Honduras are in a protracted disagreement about control of coastal waters that may contain oil reserves.
Bolaņos announced the creation of a special investigative team to "get to the bottom of the matter" on Jan. 27. Two officials from the US State Department, Benjamin Ziff and Margaret Bond, arrived in Managua on Jan. 28 on an official visit to help with the investigation.
An interesting interview (in Spanish) with outgoing General Javier Carrion (http://www-ni.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2005/enero/30/dom_entrevista/dom_entrevista-20050130-01.html)