by Marvin J. Ramírez
Denis Galeano Cornejo, new Nicaragua government representative in San Francisco, talks to El Reportero: Photo by Marvin J. Ramírez
Denis Galeano Cornejo is not a career diplomat, but his struggle in the trenches for democracy and free elections in Nicaragua, for those who fought, are his credentials for representing Nicaraguans in various cities and states of the U.S.
It’s not the same being behind a desk as Consul General of Nicaragua as being on the battlefield with a gun, after having led 5,000 of the more than 20,000 Resistance Party fighters camped in the Segovia mountains who battled against the same party that now named him Consul General: the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
The Front returned to power 17 years after having lost the elections under U.S. pressure, and previously defeated dictator Anastacio Somoza Debayle who governed Nicaragua with an iron fist for 45 years.
He said the governments of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, Arnoldo Alemán y Enrique Bolaños forgot the combatants who helped them rise to power, leaving behind the members of the Resistance, who were named neither to government nor consular positions.
“We were left behind, not included in the government,” only cronies and family members were named, he said. Now, he added, “we have to unite the country, we are not going to gain anything by fighting our own people. in order to talk of peace and reconciliation, we’ll have to extend our hand to our old enemies. If not, the poor and the 6,000 wounded in the war will suffer most.”
But Galeano Cornejo is already in action, learning the rules of the game of diplomacy, adapting to the chill of San Francisco and to a foreign language he has yet to learn, and working with a budget so tight that he is only allowed one assistant, Gloria Ledezma, a business administrator who started working under the Bolaños government.
A little less than two months since taking his new position, Galeano Cornejo has already been introduced to a countless number of people in the Bay Area community, and has joined with the other Central American consuls in organizing the most significant political and cultural event, the independence celebrations of each of the Central American countries on September 15. This event will be the third to be held separately from the Mexican Grito de Dolores, which had adopted Central Americans for years during its celebration. They celebrate Mexican independence on September 16.
The mobile consulates, started by his predecessor Mayra Centeno-St. Andrews, have become part of his consular agenda, as much as interventions for detained compatriots who need documentation and legal assistance to be able to return to Nicaragua. The consular program will be announced as soon as the sites are found – generally they are offered by volunteers – and the agenda set.
He accepted his new position without reservation from President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, who he said (Ortega) is on the right path for the development of social justice which was denied to the people of the Segovias. His guerrilla battle of six years, he says, was not against specific people, but against a system which denied basic needs to the rural population and the poorest citizens, particularly the democratic vote. Beyond this, he says, “the battle was for farmers who needed land and titles.”
For 43-year-old Galeano-Cornejo, who was born in Quilali, municipality of Nueva Segovia, politics is not part of his agenda, rather he is committed to fulfilling his obligations to attend to the Nicaraguans who need him. His goal is to serve Nicaragua, considered the second poorest country in Latin America, where according to the World Food Program, 82 percent of the population lives on $2 a day.
“Being of service to all, without distinctions of political party, and to help document the eight out of 10 Nicaraguans who are detained” is the most pressing item on his agenda, he told The Reporter. He also hopes that Nicaraguans re-register with the TPS, the temporary permit that some Central Americans enjoy, which will soon be expired. He asked that those who have not handed in their extension do so as soon as possible.
“We’ve only seen (at the consulate) about 15 of the 30 or 40 who applied before,” Galeano Cornejo said, adding that “it’s possible that many may have moved to other areas such as Miami or Los Angeles, where costs of living are lower.
The Citizenship and Immigration Service of the United States (USCIS) would offer a press conference on Friday, July 27 with Francisco Venegas, the Consul General in San Francisco for the Republic of Honduras, driven by Hondurans who reside in the U.S. under the Temporary Protected State (TPS), to submit their extension documents by the deadline of July 30. On this last day, a rise in fees wouls be in effect, bringing the fee for employment authorization from $250 to $420.
There are approximately 78,000 Honduran citizens and 4,000 Nicaraguans who could be eligible for the new registration. Up to now, approximately 45,604 beneficiaries of TPS-43,490 from Honduras and 2,114 from Nicaragua-have registered again, according to USCIS.
Those who do not submit their TPS extension form by July 30 will lose the benefits of TPS, including the employment authorization and protection against deportation from the U.S.
On the issue that remains controversial both within and outside of Nicaragua, the identification of citizens abroad, which is needed to vote abroad, Galeano Cornejo is waiting for it to become a reality so he can start processing them.
Also, he said that he is working on a plan to promote investment in Nicaragua, and that he will organize meetings with businesspeople to entice them to invest in his country.
“Nicaragua is one of the most secure countries in Central America, where one cannot be afraid to be kidnapped,” he said.
While his mind is full of all of the concerns that managing a consulate brings, his greatest happiness lies in the hope of seeing his family, who will arrive in San Francisco on August 1.
Married for 20 years to Elsa Cristina Jirón Martínez, Galeano Cornejo is the father of three sons, Denis, 21; Héctor, 18; Denis Roberto, 17; and one daughter Anahely, 19, of whom he is especially proud. While studying in high school, she also took courses in music and has mastered five instruments.
