US embassy cable - 03TEGUCIGALPA1880

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEGUCIGALPA 001880 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, EUR/WE, EB, AND INR/B 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, EINV, EAID, HO 
SUBJECT: COMMENTS OF FIRST LADY AND "DARK SIDE" 
CONGRESSIONAL REBELS WEAKEN HONDURAN PRESIDENT MADURO 
 
REF: TEGUCIGALPA 1778 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Roger Pierce; 
Reasons 1.5 (B) and (D) 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  On August 5, a Casa Presidential 
spokesperson told reporters that President Ricardo Maduro's 
wife, Aguas Ocana, had returned to her native Spain for an 
indefinite period of time on personal business.  Local media 
had reported on the departure the previous day, speculating 
that Ocana's trip was related to a controversy sparked by 
disparaging comments she made to the press about Maduro's 
ex-fiancee, and current Minister of Culture, Mireya Batres. 
While Minister Batres has so far chosen not to respond 
publicly to the remarks, Cesar Batres, her father, resigned 
his position as legal advisor to the President on land issues 
after the insults were published in several nationally 
circulated newspapers.  The bad publicity and loss of a 
valued advisor and close personal friend comes at exactly the 
wrong time for the Maduro Administration, which was stung a 
week earlier by press coverage of the discontent within the 
President's own National Party (PN).  END SUMMARY 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
First Lady Travels to Spain After Controversy 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) On August 5, a Casa Presidential spokesperson told 
reporters that President Ricardo Maduro's wife, Aguas Ocana 
had returned to her native Spain for an indefinite period of 
time on personal business.  The media had been told that 
President Maduro himself would be addressing them on the 
matter, but a spokesperson briefly spoke on the subject 
instead, saying only that the reasons for the trip were 
"strictly personal."  NOTE:  When Ocana left two days 
earlier, she took along two Honduran toddlers, Ledy 
Jacqueline, 3, and Kevin Jousue, 2, whom she was given 
protective custody over earlier this year after they were 
abandoned to an orphanage.  The biological parents have since 
tried to reclaim the children, and questions were raised 
about her legal right to take them out of the country.  The 
Attorney General's office investigated, however, and found 
that Ocana had followed proper procedures.  END NOTE 
 
3. (C) It is widely speculated, and EmbOffs have been told by 
sources within the administration, that President Maduro and 
Ocana's estrangement was exacerbated by Ocana's public 
remarks.  On July 18, La Tribuna newspaper published a 
lengthy interview with the First Lady, in which she said that 
Maduro made a mistake by appointing Mireya Batres, his 
ex-fiancee, as Minister of Culture, Arts, and Sports.  Maduro 
made the appointment over 18 months ago, when he first came 
into office.  Ocana said that it was not a well thought out 
decision, and that she had "never brought someone from the 
past into the present," implying that something other than 
job qualifications were behind Batres, appointment.  Though 
Minister Batres said she would not respond publicly to the 
comments, the remarks sparked a media frenzy, and Cesar 
Batres, Mireya's father, subsequently resigned his post as 
legal advisor to President Maduro on land issues.  NOTE:  See 
paragraphs nine and 10 for bio information on Mireya and 
Cesar Batres.  END NOTE. 
 
4. (C) EmbOffs have also been made aware of a reportedly 
significant disagreement between Maduro and Ocana over the 
disbursement of a large aid package from the Government of 
Spain.  Apparently, upon receiving the aid, Minister of the 
Presidency, Luis Cosenza, disbursed the money as he saw fit. 
Upon discovering this, Ocana, under the impression that the 
aid money would be disbursed under her discretion to 
particular NGO's that she had targeted, solicited the support 
of Maduro to override Cosenza.  Reportedly, Maduro refused to 
intervene on her behalf, leading the First Lady to reportedly 
fall into a "rampage."  COMMENT:  Post has heard rumors to 
the effect that Maduro and Ocana were not getting on well. 
These latest incidents may have been the straw that broke the 
camel's back.  However, it is too early to tell if some kind 
of reconciliation is still in the offing.  END COMMENT 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Congressional "Dark Side" Rebels Attack Maduro 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
5. (U) The less than flattering media attention surrounding 
Ocana's departure comes on the heals of the airing of dirty 
laundry within President Maduro's PN which occurred the week 
before.  On July 29, Rodolfo Irias Navas and Celin Discua 
Elvir, both members of Congress and leaders of the PN's more 
traditional faction, known colloquially as the "dark side," 
publicly announced that PN legislators are upset with 
President Maduro and his cabinet for not paying enough 
attention to problems in their home districts.  Together, 
they are leading a movement within the PN that threatens to 
withdraw support for President Maduro's cabinet and other 
appointed officials, and to rescind the permission given to a 
number of members of Congress that allows them to hold other 
public offices without officially giving up their 
congressional seat. 
 
6. (U) Irias, from La Ceiba and head of the National 
Congress' Committee on Energy and Fuel, took the lead on 
attacking President Maduro and his cabinet in the local 
press.  He said that President Maduro is responsible for the 
ruptured alliance with the Christian Democrats (DC) (reftel), 
and that his government has ignored calls from party members 
to initiate projects that would benefit their home districts 
and shore up electoral support for the PN.  The head of the 
PN block in Congress, Celin Discua Elvir, said that many 
members of the party were angry because Maduro and his 
cabinet do not suffer the consequences of ignoring the 
party's core voting blocks, but members of Congress, who have 
more contact with the people, are being punished.  Even 
Majority Whip of the National Congress Juan Orlando 
Hernandez, who represents a more progressive element within 
the PN, told local media that a high level of dissatisfaction 
exists within the PN because Maduro's government has not 
carried out development projects at the local level. 
 
7. (C) In a recent meeting with Charge, Johnny Handal, 1st 
Vice President of the National Congress, echoed these 
comments, adding that discontent was indeed widespread.  In 
his view, an "imperial" Minister of the Presidency Luis 
Cosenza was to blame.  Members of the Administration almost 
never meet with the PN leadership, preferring to meet only 
with trusted individuals instead; phone calls from others 
reportedly are not returned. 
 
8. (U) In retribution, rebellious PN legislators have 
targeted certain members of Congress now serving at other 
posts within the executive branch.  Among those whose 
permission to serve in a position other than congressional 
deputy could be rescinded are Minister of the Presidency Luis 
Cosenza, Minister of Finance Arturo Alvarado, Minister of 
Government and Justice Ramon Hernandez Alcerro, and Maduro's 
private secretary Ricardo Alvarez.  These officials represent 
the technocratic class within President Maduro's 
administration, and do not have a strong traditional 
political base. 
 
-------------- 
Damage Control 
-------------- 
 
9. (C) COMMENT:  The DC's split with the PN was a blow to 
President Maduro's ability to make good on numerous campaign 
promises (reftel).  Now, Maduro seems to be in danger of 
alienating a large section of his own party.  Ocana's 
departure to Spain comes at a time when many Hondurans 
already feel the President is preoccupied with personal and 
political issues at the expense of national priorities.  The 
road ahead for Maduro will not be an easy one.  He will have 
to commit considerable time, energy, and political capital to 
shore up the support needed within his own party, perhaps 
even going as far as reaching out to PN members of Congress 
with whom he has clashed in the past in order to secure 
support for critical legislation.  That said, Maduro has 
little ability to fund the type of pork barrel projects PN 
members of Congress are demanding.  END COMMENT 
 
------------- 
Mireya Batres 
------------- 
 
10. (SBU) Born on January 3, 1962, Mireya Batres Mejia 
received her undergraduate degree in education and 
linguistics from the University of Concordia in Montreal, 
Canada.  She also received a Master's in Education from the 
University of Alabama, and worked as a teacher at the 
American School in Tegucigalpa.  In 1998, Batres represented 
Honduras at the Central American Games, winning three bronze 
medals in racquetball.  Batres was formerly engaged to 
President Maduro.  The two met through Batres' ex-husband 
Mario Galiano, and dated for more than three years before 
separating in 2001, while Maduro campaigned for the 
presidency.  Immediately after taking office in January 2002, 
President Maduro appointed Batres as Minister of Culture, 
Arts, and Sports.  Batres is fluent in English, French, and 
Italian, and has three children. 
 
------------ 
Cesar Batres 
------------ 
 
11. (SBU) Cesar Augusto Batres Galeano, born October 29, 1934 
in the department of Lempira, is the father of Mireya Batres, 
President Maduro's ex-fiancee and current Minister of 
Culture.  Batres received a degree in law from the National 
Autonomous University of Honduras in 1957, and has served in 
various official capacities since the early 1950s.  In 1972, 
Batres served as the Minister of International Relations, and 
in 1977 he directed the Central American Economic Integration 
Bank.  In the late-1970s and again in the mid-1990s Batres 
represented Honduras on international commissions tasked with 
resolving the Honduras-El Salvador border dispute.  Despite 
Maduro's connection to his daughter, in 2000 Batres sat on 
the three-person arbitration panel which ruled that Maduro 
could run in the 2001 presidential election, even though he 
was born in Panama.  Batres served as a legal advisor to 
Maduro during his election campaign, and stayed on after the 
election as the President's advisor on land issues.  He was 
not effective in achieving progress in long-stalled American 
citizen land and investment disputes.  Batres has worked for 
several law firms over the years, and currently practices 
with Batres and Associates.  Batres is married with five 
children (including Mireya).  Batres is a long-time Maduro 
confidant and trusted advisor.  His public break with Maduro, 
ostensibly over Ocana's public comments, comes as a political 
and personal blow to Maduro. 
 
Pierce