Document #1086510
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
The following information was provided to
the DIRB during a 22 October 1996 telephone interview with an
investigative reporter at Nicaragua's main daily La Prensa. The
source is a specialist on Nicaraguan military affairs, intelligence
and counter-intelligence issues, which he has studied for 18
years.
The source stated that Henry Ruiz was a
guerillero who participated in the 1979 revolution against Somoza.
Ruiz was head of the facción tercerista of the Frente
Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) headed by Daniel
Ortega. After Somoza's overthrow Henry Ruiz became one of the 9
members of the FSLN National Directorate (Dirección
Nacional), the party's highest decision-making body. According to
the source, the National Directorate was the body that had maximum
authority over political, economic and military affairs.
The source added that Henri Ruiz was a
member of the National Directorate from 1979 to 1984. According to
the source, Henry Ruiz became became planning minister (ministro de
planificación) in charge of economic policy in 1984, a
position he held until 1990, while remaining a member of the
National Directorate. The source stated that Henry Ruiz was never
chief of state security and that his responsibilities did not
involve security or military affairs. The source added that Henry
Ruiz retired from public life in 1990 to dedicate himself to
private matters.
The source stated that to his knowledge,
Mario Ruiz was never more than an FSLN militant. The source
reported that both Henry and Mario Ruiz are still living in
Nicaragua, but he could not provide current addresses.
In her 1986 book Nicaragua: Revolution in
the Family, New York Times journalist Shirley Christian describes
Henry Ruiz as the planning minister who became
the economic czar, the man who held veto
power over virtually all economic decisions. Contributing to his
importance was the fact that he was the only one of the nine
[members of the National Directorate] to have studied in the Soviet
Union—though he had left Patrice Lumumba before
graduating—and was seen, whether accurately or not, as the
one with the most direct channel to the Kremlin (218-219).
Christian describes Ruiz as a member of the
"Prolonged War Faction" of the National Directorate, along with
Tomás Borge (Minister of the Interior) and Bayardo Arce
(Ideology and Foreign Affairs) while the above-mentioned tercerista
contained the Ortega brothers (Daniel and Humberto) and Victor
Tirado (ibid., 219). Christian further states:
On the so-called hard-line side fell Arce,
Borge, Ruiz and probably Carrión Cruz. They were less
concerned about the effect of the flight of educated and trained
people, less willing to concede ideological points in the interests
of social peace. They were capable of saying there would be a
Marxist revolutionary Nicaragua or no Nicaragua at all. Ruiz could
describe himself to other members of the government as a "prisoner
of ideology" (ibid., 220).
For further information on Henry Ruiz,
please consult the attached Radio Sandino report.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Investigative reporter specializing in
military affairs. La Prensa, Managua. 22 October 1996. Telephone
interview.
Christian, Shirley. 1986. Nicaragua:
Revolution in the Family. New York: Random House.
Radio Sandino [Managua, in Spanish]. 26
February 1991. "FSLN Commander Ruiz Denies Split Within Front"
(FBIS-LAT-91-040 28 Feb. 1991, 17)
Central America NewsPak [Austin, Tex.].
1993-1996.
Central America Report [Guatemala City].
1990-1996.
DIRB Country File. Nicaragua.